Four reasons you really oughta consider checking out King-Size Spider-Man Special #1

1.) It has one of the best recap pages in the history of Marvel' s recap pages, one that's right up there with the better ones from The Incredible Hercules.

Not only does it feature the Dumpy Spider-Man's six-word origin (which Chris Sims called "the single greatest origin recap in the history of comics"), but it also pre-empts continuity confusion, as if they were totally reading my mind: "WARNING THE FOLLOWING STORIES DID NOT REALLY HAPPEN! (...well, they're happening while you're reading hem, but they don't cout for the Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man, before or after Brand New Day, which is the only Spider-Man that matters.)"

And when I was flipping through this in the shop, I saw one of the stories—a Spider-Man/Falcon team-up—was set way back in the past, when The Falcon wore green and didn't have any wings yet, and I was already fretting over Spider-Man's fake history, which I don't understand any more thanks to the BND reboot.

As funny as this page is, I don't entirely agree with the last bit—"unless you just want to read a few fun stories. Then these count."—because while the lead Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover story is definitely fun, the rest of book isn't. The Falcon/Spidey story is by Keith Giffen and pencilled by Rick Burchett, but is just all kinds of okay; Burchett's art, which I'm a big fan of, looks decidedly un Burchett-like here, presumably due to the inking and coloring. And there's a Chris Giarrusso Mini-Marvels story, but it's a reprint of an older story I've already read two or three tims, so was a lot less fun this time around.



2.) It includes the above panel, which is my new favorite panel of anything ever.

It's even more amusing in context, as Spidey's just kinda crawling around the ceiling quietly for a few panels while MJ walks through the apartment, gets a piece of cake, and then finally proceeds to ask him what he's doing.



3.) There's a Patsy Walker shower scene, which occurrs right in the middle of her chatting with her friends Millie The Model and Mary Jane Watson.

This is welcome reinforcement of my belief that whenever models hang out together, they end up showering, bathing and/or changing clothes.



4.) And then there's the panel on the right, in which Marvel Girl announces a roll call that would make for a great Avengers line-up.