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Almost 50 Years On, One of Spider-Man’s Best Stories Is So Cringe Now We Can Never Talk About It
Spider-Man is one of Marvel’s top characters, and you can only get to the unimaginable level of popularity and respect that someone like Spidey has through having some of the most beloved stories in comics under your belt. There are plenty of classic Spider-Man stories that just about every Marvel Comics fan has heard of, from “Kraven’s Last Hunt” to Spider-Man Blue, but one of the most action-packed Spider-Man stories of all isn’t remembered in the slightest. It has some truly original scenarios, elevated Flash Thompson from a side character to something more, and introduced a loveable hero partner in Razorback. It has everything it needs to be a classic storyline, with one minor hiccup; it’s aged horribly.
On the surface, a story where Spider-Man, Flash, and a well-meaning but hardheaded hog-themed hero shut down an evil cult of hate puppeteered by Man-Beast should be great. If you took only the major plot points, it would be, and it even includes one of Spider-Man’s coolest feats of strength and willpower to date. Yet, all of that great potential is wasted on a story wrapped up in destructive stereotypes and blatant sexism, to be generous.
The Best Bits of a Bad Situation
This storyline took place from Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #12 to #15. In it, Flash Thompson came to blows with the Legion of Light, a cult run by Brother Power and Sister Light, the latter of whom was Flash’s love, Sha Shan. Spider-Man got involved to save Flash and uncovered a major conspiracy when Arkansas-based superhero Razorback joined them, looking for his little sister Bobby Sue, who ran away to follow the Legion. They think something major is fishy with the group, which turns out to be on the money, as the entire thing was a plot run by Hate-Monger, who was really Man-Beast, seeking to gather as many people as possible to infect them with hate and have humanity rip itself apart.
This dynamic was great all around. Spider-Man acted as a mentor to Razorback, who was eager to learn and bounced off Peter very well. Flash had been a major Spidey side character for a while, but this was his first time taking center stage, and his determination was awesome to see, setting the path for his eventual rise to become a superhero in his own right. The action itself was top-notch, and the scene of Spider-Man holding up an entire baseball stadium with nothing more than leverage, sheer will, and help from his new friend has always stood as one of my favorite Spider-Man moments. It’s so epic and unique. How many other heroes have held up a stadium?
The story even wrapped up in a great and thematic way. Spider-Man beat Man-Beast with assistance from Bobby Sue. The villain spread so thin from infecting everyone with hate that he couldn’t stand up to two people at once, showing how teamwork is stronger than hate. Bobby Sue also refused to return home with her brother, saying she left to find her own meaning in life, and she was still looking. The heroic trio won with genuine friendship and love, while Man-Beast only knew how to pretend to give people that. It’d be a great message if the story weren’t riddled with terrible, dated ideals.
A Genuinely Great Spider-Man Story Ruined by Hate
While the outline of this story is great, you can’t even enjoy it because there are simply far too many obvious, horrible aspects that are constantly punching the reader in the face. Obviously, a lot of older stories are often plagued by dated views that you have to look past to read, but this one is just plain in your face about it. The most obvious and egregious weak spot is Sha Shan, who stands as not just a racist stereotype of Vietnamese people, but a damsel in distress so sexist it’s too much even for the ‘70s.
To quickly summarize, Sha Shan was not only a byproduct of mysticism stereotypes of Asian people during that time period, but she was basically just a walking plot device. The entire plot centers around her working with Brother Power, real name Achmed Korba, because her father told her it was essential that her pure good heart balance his pure evil one for the sake of the universe. Man-Beast made it so they could unleash blasts of pure light, but only when in physical contact. She worked with the monstrous villains, fully knowing their plans, at her father’s behest, but this plan was plain stupid.
Sha Shan had absolutely no agency, only doing what her father and abusive husband told her. This could be argued as her fighting to preserve the balance, like her father told her was necessary, but that makes no sense, because she would wind up fighting Achmed at the conclusion anyway. Why did she have to wait until Man-Beast’s plan was already in effect to fight? Why didn’t she try to help Flash and the others in any way, instead of only crying out for them while actively fighting them? Sha Shan’s only purpose in this story was to get Flash involved and give him a reason to fight, which is horrible because she is literally half of the cult’s leadership and should be way more essential.
Then, of course, there’s the depiction of the Legion of Light itself. A cult based around spreading a message of love, only for its upper brass to really be preparing its members as warriors of hate, could be an interesting and even pointed examination of real-life comparisons. Yet, the people who join the Legion of Light are all depicted as idiots and hippies, almost placing the blame on them for falling for the lies. The entire thing feels just a little tasteless, and definitely wastes such a thought-provoking setup to do nothing else but gather people together. The story could have dug into why so many people bought into the Legion so easily, but instead, that was just ignored.
Overall, this story had so much potential to be awesome and had legitimately pulse-pounding moments where Spider-Man did feats of pure dynamic heroism. Unfortunately, nothing can ever be done about this story because its foundation is a product of a far less understanding time. Don’t even get me started on the paper-thin “characterization” for the would-be villain Brother Power. This story has epic moments, but they’re drowned out by the mud encasing it. What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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