AMAZING SPIDER-MAN VINTAGE ANNUAL

The latest edition of The Avengers comic comes with a surprise free gift: The Amazing Spider-Man Vintage Annual. 

I think it was a surprise to the producers of The Avengers comic too. The cover of the issue boldly states "Free Plasma Pistol! With super-sticky darts!" This piece of plastic tat is nowhere to be found.
Instead, what we are given is this collection of Stan Lee/Steve Ditko stories – the origin; the first issue; first story with the Lizard (probably because he was in the latest movie) and the Sinister Six story from the first annual, which is a favourite of mine. There’s also a couple of comics articles by the pair; ‘The Secrets of Spider-Man’ and ‘How Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Create Spider-Man’.

The book is printed on glossy paper, all made to look aged – the same brown marks repeatedly show up throughout.

Meanwhile in the Avengers comic – the Micronauts appear!

The Micronauts were a fun and well-drawn comic by Michael Golden in the late 70s based on toys. I was surprised to see them appear here as I would assume the rights had reverted back to the manufacturers or somebody or other years ago (similar to Rom, whose guest appearance in The Hulk in the 1980s means that there’s a chapter missing in the latest collection of the green one’s exploits). And sure enough, although the characters are all still there with names intact they now refer to themselves as Microns.

Anyway, if you want a nice hardback book of Lee/Ditko goodness for a good cheap price pick this up while it’s still available.