I’m not sure when I got The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #20. I think it might have been Christmas of 1990. My parents, resigned to the fact that I was hopelessly in love with comic books (especially Spider-Man), got me a Marvel Comics collecting starter kit. I’m pretty sure it was this one—a short box that came with a sampling of the various Marvel Comics that had come out in the past few years.
Or it might have been in the back issue bins of Levi’s Bookstore, my first regular comics shop. Either way, this comic became a clear explanation for why I loved Spider-Man so much.
The story, based on an original story by Fred Schiller, written by Ken McDonald, Penciled by Mark Beachum, inked by Bob Wiacek, lettered by Jim Novak, and colored by Bob Sharen, starts with Arno Stark, the Iron Man of the far future time of 2020. He’s pretty much the character portrayed by the Marvel movies. Irreverent, brilliant, funny, and infuriating.
His mega-headquarters is suddenly invaded by a terrorist by the name of Robert Saunders. Iron Man quickly does the hero thing to stop him, but Saunders is killed during the conflict. Problem is that Saunders’ retinal patterns are the only thing that can shut down the mega bomb he activated within Iron Man’s compound.
But no worries—future Iron Man has a time machine. He’ll just go back in time and scan the retinal patterns of the young Saunders before he became a terrorist. You need a ticking clock, though, so in the case of this time machine, time moves forward for everyone, both past and future. Iron Man has to get those retinal patterns quickly and get back to 2020 before the bomb goes off and kills everyone he loves.
Once in 1986, Iron Man tracks the boy Saunders down to New York City, and his path accidentally crosses a battle between Spider-Man and The Blizzard. Iron Man shows more macho brashness from Iron Man as he swiftly dispatches The Blizzard. And without verbal explanation he grabs Saunders to grab the retinal pattern.
Enter Spider-Man, who isn’t okay with powerful people barging their way into scenes and pushing around the powerless without a word. Still, Iron Man’s one of the good ones, so there must be a reason. He gives Iron Man a chance to explain. Iron Man tries to shoo Spidey away, and the resulting action destroys the retinal scanner.
We get a speedy chase where Iron Man, again without explanation, announces he needs to take the young Saunders. Spidey bobs and weaves, but Saunders is gravely injured.
And then we get to this terrific scene. Spider-Man unloads on Iron Man and nearly beats the armor off of him. Peter Parker has a button, and it’s when you push around those smaller than you. Especially kids.
And the part that gives me goose bumps is that he can’t even summon a proper insult.
The part that makes me laugh and cry at the same time is when Saunders’ father, who is quite wealthy, offers Spider-Man a reward. And Spidey not only asks for a loan instead of an outright reward, but he asks for the exact amount of his rent, which is due tomorrow.
I won’t spoil the ending for those who care about that (though it’s a nearly 40-year-old story). But for me this is peak Spider-Man. He’s the humble guy down on the ground with us, but he’s not afraid to question when the bigger fish are doing something he finds questionable.