Untold Tales of Spider-Man

Untold Tales of Spider-Man is the name of a comic book series starring Spider-Man published by Marvel Comics for 26 issues (#1-25, and a #-1 between #'s 22 and 23) from September, 1995 to October, 1997.

The comic was part of an experiment for Marvel where they published a number of new titles for only .99 cents, in the hope that they would attract new, young readers who might have been put off by the then $1.50/1.95 standard prices for comic books. Uniquely among those titles, Untold Tales stories' were retcons; they presented new stories set in Spider-Man's early super-hero career.

The series was primarily written by Kurt Busiek and pencilled by Pat Olliffe, though Roger Stern, Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz also contributed. Tom Brevoort was the editor of the title throughout its run. The critical and fan approval of the comic boosted Brevoort and Busiek's career and by the time the series had finished both had achieved key positions on the bestselling Heroes Return titles Avengers and Iron Man.

The Series

Each issue of Untold Tales of Spider-Man featured a single self contained story, though the book did have broad character arcs and subplots which developed throughout the series.

The title kept to a strong continuity, with the events in each issue taking place between specific stories from the first two years of The Amazing Spider-Man by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee. As those stories were originally told in the early 1960s the title had a somewhat retro style in its depiction of the world around Spider-Man.

The series spotlighted Spider-Man's early interactions with established characters such as J. Jonah Jameson, the Human Torch, Betty Brant, Mary Jane Watson, the Vulture, Sandman and the Green Goblin. It also introduced a number of new characters into the Spider-man mythos, including the Scorcher, Bat-Wing, the Space-Men, Commanda and the Headsman. Of those listed only the Scorcher has been properly acknowledged in modern continuity. One character, Sally Avril (Bluebird) was originally seen as a minor character in Amazing Fantasy #15, and fleshed out by Busiek and Olliffe for inclusion in Untold Tales.

During Marvel's "Flashback" stunt in July, 1997, when for one month all Marvel titles were numbered -1 and each was meant to be set before Fantastic Four #1, the title went even further back to tell a James Bond influenced story which involved Spider-Man's parents on an espionage mission before the character was even born.

Spin-Offs

The immediate initial good response to the series led to a number of spin-offs and companion projects. First came Amazing Fantasy #16-18, (December, 1995 - March, 1996) which had been begun prior to the publication of Untold Tales, but which followed a similar concept; it continued the numbering of the series which had ended with Spider-Man's introduction in #15. The book, which was presented in the Marvels-style with acetate covers and slick paper, featured stories set between Amazing Fantasy #15 and Amazing Spider-man #1, just after Spider-Man's very first adventure. It featured painted art by Paul Lee.

There was also Untold Tales of Spider-Man: Strange Encounters (1998) plotted by Busiek, pencilled by Neil Vokes, scripted by Roger Stern and published in Marvel's bound "Prestige Format". The story depicted Spider-Man's first meeting with Doctor Strange.

Finally, there were two Annuals for the series. The first of these, Untold Tales of Spider-Man '96 (1996) is notable for featuring a plot suggested by Batman: The Animated Series` Paul Dini, written by Busiek and drawn by Mike Allred in which Spider-Man goes on a date with the Invisible Girl. The second annual, Untold Tales of Spider-Man '97 ((1997), by Busiek and artist Tom Lyle) features a story which was continued in that year's The Amazing Spider-Man '97 Annual, set 10 years later in the modern continuity.

Continuity Status?

Due to its retcon nature and the lack of consistent acknowledgements in modern stories that the events portrayed in the series actually occurred, Untold Tales' status as official Spider-Man canon is somewhat in doubt.

The single biggest factor which supports its inclusion as bona fide continuity is the character of the Scorcher; introduced in Untold Tales #1 he has gone on to appear in Thunderbolts (1999) and most recently Secret War (2005), both of which are modern stories set in contemporary continuity. Also the previously mentioned crossover between the Untold Tales of Spider-Man '97 and The Amazing Spider-Man '97 Annuals supports this case.

But there are problems with the titles' inclusion as canon. Specifically no mention as been made, aside from the brief examples mentioned above, in Spider-Man's 40+ year publication history of most of the characters introduced in the series. This becomes most problematic with respect to the supporting characters the series introduced - Sally, Jason and Tiny, as well as a supporting character's death which effected Spider-Man dramatically in the series, all of which would normally be expected to have been referenced occasionally in the modern stories if they had occurred to the character.

However, the title was very popular with many long time readers, and there has been very little negative fan sentiment directed towards it, making its presumptive canonical status generally uncontroversial.

Sales

In the end, the experiment involving .99 cent comics was judged to be a failure. Reportedly retailers had little inclination to stock an item with negligible profit margins and newstands refused outright to take the .99c line [1], leading in the latter case to an attempt to put two titles together at $1.95, undermining the aim of providing cheap comics to lure in new readers. Kurt Busiek is on record as saying he felt the title was completely wrong for attracting new readers and that his suggestion of "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" would have worked much better [2]. Furthermore the general audience was largely indifferent to the series. As a result of all this sales were low throughout the run. However Untold Tales out lived all her sister titles (such as Avengers Unplugged and Marvel Fanfare Vol.2) long before its eventual cancellation only when Busiek moved on from the book.

Sources

• The Grand Comic Book Database
• The Marvel Chronology Project
• The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators