Untold Tales of Spider-Man is one of my favorite Spidey titles ever. It told tales of the Web-Slinger at the beginning of his career, but rather than re-tell previous stories, Writer Kurt Busiek and artist Pat Oliffe featured adventures that took place in between the well-known early Amazing Spider-Man issues. That's not an easy feat to pull off effectively, but they did a great job with the concept, in my opinion. I am not sure if this series has ever been collected, but I highly recommend looking through the back issue bins for this gem of a title.
5 comments:
Nice cover here. The two sides look evenly matched, and I'd be curious about the story -- what set them against each other, and how things resolve at the end.
Off-topic, I had a rather strange inspiration while out walking last night. I don't know that you'd be able to find the art to pull it off, but I just wondered: What if Ambush Bug became the next Herald of Galactus?
I was at least collected once; I'm sitting here with the Omnibus (with the annuals & background material from the issues) right now.
I have to say that Kurt Busiek is one of the few authors that can wrote those kind of stories and make them work, I'm always amazed how throughoutly that man know Marvel continuity. Untold Tales is one of my favorite series as well, mostly because it had a rather mature feel, without renouncing to some bits of inguenuity that were proper of older comics, it was a really hard effect to pull, but they managed.
The late, great Mark Gruenwald was another one who liked to tie off long-neglected dangling plot threads over at Marvel. And I can just see him using Norman Osborn's pre-resurrection tenure (as leader of the Order of Scriers) to manipulate the Battling Bowmen into going after Spidey. Perhaps through the abductions of MJ and the Black Canary by the Hellgramite!
You can still get the Omnibus at Amazon, but $45 for the hardcover book.
http://www.amazon.com/Untold-Tales-Spider-Man-Omnibus-Busiek/dp/078516247X
My local Library system doesn't carry the Omnibus, but they do have "Spider-Man Visionaries: Kurt Busiek" which collects "Untold Tales of Spider-Man" #1 through 8.
http://www.amazon.com/Spider-Man-Visionaries-Kurt-Busiek-Vol/dp/0785122044/
It's on reserver now. Thanks for the tip!
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