Or 'Untold Tales of Spider-Man #26'
Someday the truth about Untold Tales of Spider-Man will be known to all. For you see, it didn't really end with issue 25. No, you see, the clever artist and the crafty writer Pat Olliffe and Tom Defalco carried on the Untold Tales tradition with Spider-Girl #10-11. Dig this, friends: Untold Tales of Spider-Man covers previously unseen adventures of Spider-Man during his early career, specifically placed between Amazing Spider-Man #6 and Amazing Spider-Man #24. It was primarily scripted, plotted and pencilled by Kurt Busiek and Pat Olliffe, with help from Roger Stern, Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz.Here's where it get's interesting. Spider-Girl #10 and #11 chronicle our gal Mayday being sent to the past, during (and just prior to) the events of Amazing Spider-Man #25. In the tradition of Untold Tales, I'm going to explain how these two tales fit together. |
| Spidey grabs his Spider-Signal |
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| Peter agrees to help Liz study |
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| Flash threatens Pete, May meets Peter |
Now, if you've read Amazing Spider-Man #24, you'll know that Spidey uses his Spider-Signal beam to distract Flash Thompson and in dialog clearly states he collected it. Remember that bit, readers. When Spider-Girl arrives in the past (thanks to time-traveling villain Spyral) she meets her dear ol' dad as a teen at Midtown High in a scene which seems to be lifted from Amazing Spider-Man #25, with Flash threatening Pete after hearing he's been seen with Liz Allan. It even features similar dialog from the original story! True enough, Peter had been asked to Liz's house to help with studying in ASM #24, and he's shown leaving Liz's house at the very beginning of ASM #25.However Spider-Girl #10 is set a day before the events involving Jonah's Robot depicted in ASM #25, as Mayday clearly spends the night at Midtown High after encounter her father as both Peter and Spidey. Hang on, where does Spider-Girl #10 fit into this mess then, smarty pants?
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| Hold up, didn't you already pick that up? WHAA!?! |
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| Liz asks Peter to help her study again. |
Here's what I propose: Peter has been helping Liz study for the past couple of weeks following the events of ASM #24, meaning the scene on page one of ASM #25 is a different study night. This helps with explaining where May's arrival fits into the sequence of events, but doesn't help with explaining that pesky Spider-Signal retrieval scene right after it. Or does it? Flash refers to the events of ASM #24 as taking place 'a few weeks ago.' It's odd for the Spider-Signal to have been left on the roof 'yesterday' as Peter already collected it. So clearly Peter left his Spider-Signal on a rooftop at some point after ASM #24. That fits nicely, don't you think?
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| ...And Spider-Girl #10 |
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| Just for comparison, here's ASM #25... |
In Spider-Girl #10 we see the events of Amazing Spider-Man #25 unfolding from both Peter's and Mayday's perspective, including a fun scene with Mayday meeting her namesake, Aunt May. While this is taking place, Peter is at the Bugle seeing a man named Smythe's 'Spider-Slayer' robot for the first time. Again, the dialog is almost directly lifted from the original, as are many of the panels. Mayday decides to head out as Spider-Girl only to be spotted by Smythe's Robot, leading to a brief clash in Spider-Girl #11. I imagine this scene takes place between the panels in ASM #25. We don't see the 'Spider-Slayer' Robot's entire journey to Midtown High, so the encounter with Spider-Girl at the end of SG #10 and the beginning of SG #11 fits nicely before the Robot locks onto Peter's trail.
While Spider-Man is taking on the 'Spider-Slayer' Robot, May finds herself in combat with the Human Torch and is forced to flee, before heading back to Aunt May's house. Of Course, at this very moment Liz Allan and Betty Brant have arrived seeking Peter, only to encounter Mary Jane. Yet again this encounter from Spider-Girl #11 can fit nicely between the panels of Amazing Spider-Man #25. My only comment about this scene would be that now that Mayday has arrived, Mary Jane Watson perhaps stays longer talking to Aunt May. I bring this suggestion up as Peter has on his costume later in SG #11.
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| Between panels 3 and 5 here SG v Robot |
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| ...before it heads to Midtown. |
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| Betty and Liz meet Mary Jane... |
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| ...and then Mayday arrives. Oh my! |
Having sacrificed his costume to fool Jonah, Peter luckily has an extra one back home. Unluckily for him, Aunt May finds the spare costume at the end of the issue, stating she was tidying Peter's room after Mary Jane had left. Let's try to work this one out, shall we? Peter could- in theory -have ducked home to grab his spare costume before encountering Spider-Girl again, then stowing it hastily behind the bookcase where Aunt May would very soon later discover it before 'officially' returning home as Peter. It's the best workaround I can see, anyway.
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| While Pete fools JJJ, MJ leaves... |
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| ...with Mayday... |
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| ...who spends 20 mins looking for her dad... |
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| ...Pete grabs his spare suit, sends May home... |
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| ...hides his suit then returns home as Peter. |
As I mentioned, Spidey encounters Spider-Girl and the two do battle. Soon they are joined by the Human Torch and the fight continues until May finally tracks down the villainous Spyral. Spidey interrupts the Human Torch so that Spider-Girl can return home and is left confused by being called 'Dad.' Presumably Peter heads home after this, just as he does in Amazing Spider-Man #25. There you have it, the secret but not-official Untold Tales of Spider-Man #26. What do you think?
Until they reprint the Untold Tales of Spider-Man Omnibus with this missing gem, I remain
frogoat