THE SPOT versus SPIDER-MAN

Breakin'! (Marvel)
Where: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #100 When: March 1985 Why: Al Milgrom How: Al Milgrom

The Story So Far...
From a skyscraper overlooking Manhattan, Wilson Fisk employs a staff of scientists working to develop super-powers to bestow upon loyal agents, serving to maintain his grip on New York City's organized crime.

One such recipient was The Black Cat, whose new bad-luck powers come with strings attached, but as she and Spider-Man plot a confrontation to remove The Kingpin from their lives -- another super-powered agent emerges to run interference!

Dr. Johnathan Ohnn's experiments have covered his body with inter-dimensional portals - transforming him into The Spot! He works in secret, hidden from the cameras that monitor The Kingpin's empire, and with Spider-Man on his way, The Spot waits in ambush to settle the score before deciding his allegiance.

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Spider-Man 5 (Super-Human)
Intelligence: Draw 5 (Professor)
Speed: Spider-Man 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Spider-Man 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Spider-Man 5 (Cat-Like)
Fighting: Spider-Man 3 (Street Wise)
Energy: Draw 2 (Projectiles)
Total: Spider-Man 29 (Metahuman)

Dr. Jonathan Ohnn was assigned by The Kingpin to research and reproduce the dark energies of Cloak, but when a city-wide power outage interrupted his experiments, he stepped into a void of light & dark, transforming into The Spot!

The Spot's white figure is dotted with black voids that are functioning portals between the material world and a "Spotted Dimension". Similar to Cloak, he can use these portals for instantaneous teleportation of himself, or others, creating intricate redirections that can turn a person's punch back onto themselves!

We saw these classic Spot tactics employed in battle against Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #589, which also demonstrated his ability to project portals throughout surrounding space to set up handy ambushes.

Because The Spot's actions are intertwined with a dimension beyond the fabric of our reality, he's potentially able to attack without triggering Spider-Man's spider-senses -- one of his greatest advantages against the wallcrawler!

Ohnn's a scientist, not a fighter, but by deploying floating portals he can challenge Spidey's agility and maneuverability by throwing surprise punches from all directions. Keeping Spidey guessing is his best bet at levelling the playing field!

These guys have only met briefly before this match-up, but as we know, all Spidey really has to do is stay on his toes, keep his wits about him, and counter those attacks to have a shot at winning. Let's see how he did...

The Tape: Spider-Man Ranking: Spider-Man (#2)

What Went Down...

Spider-Man swings his way pensively through the city towards a rendezvous at The Kingpin's high-rise headquarters. He knows he's probably heading straight into dense security, but right as he wonders about the whereabouts of a strange new wildcard in the Manhattan crime ranks -- a black portal pops into existence!

The air is suddenly a swarm of tiny black holes as The Spot emerges from the largest portal in answer to Spider-Man's musings!

The sudden appearance sends Spider-Man into an unprepared tumble, navigating the array of portals, while twisting his body to spray a blanket of webbing back from whence he came!

The web closes in too quickly for Spot to catch such a wide net in a single portal, so he rapidly improvises a gathered cluster of nearby spots into a single doorway that sends the snare into the vacant void of another dimension.

Spot follows it through, using his inter-dimensional vantage point to reach through multiple smaller portals to throw two punches and a kick from opposite directions, while his head peeks out from a spot from up above.

Spidey's danger warning senses help him navigate the throng of hostile limbs, sending him leaping from the rooftop to stay clear of the blows.

Safely out of view clinging to the side of the building, Spidey crawls around the facade, forcing The Spot to seek out his prey as it circles around behind him.

The wall-crawler silently vaults over a brick structure jutting from the rooftop, and nimbly flips out of a squat to land directly behind The Spot's head poking out of a portal. He winds up to deliver a sucker punch right to the side of the head!

Spider-Man's fist swings without contact as it sinks into the stretching abyss of one of the portals Spot had preemptively amassed across his vulnerable cranium!

As Spot's disembodied hands wave judgmental fingers from nearby floating portals -- Spider-Man is struck with a moment of inspiration from the eeriness of it all. He feigns defeat, vowing to keep clear of the portals - fleeing for the relative safety of higher ground!

The Spot responds to his cowardice with a frisbee toss of dozens of portals that follow the web-slinger to the vantage point of the looming brick box.

A stiff left fist flies straight at the wallcrawler's jaw as he struggles to block it, followed by a wild right foot that kicks right in his face!

A right hook swings out of another portal -- knocking Spidey off his perch!

Down on the rooftop and completely surrounded by portals -- Spidey endures further punishment as they close in around him and he's struck with two disembodied fists from either side!

He struggles to march forward -- paying for his determination with a thrust kick to the back!

Spider-Man perseveres, taking the back of another fist to the base of his skull -- while a rising heel kick catches him low and sends him falling to the ground.

He keeps crawling forward, even as a right hand rains down from above!

The Spot applauds his opponent for running the gauntlet of his wild and unpredictable blows, but prematurely presumes victory from their impact.

Crawling towards The Spot's feet, Spider-Man reveals his true gambit!

With so many portals distributed around the rooftop, The Spot's body has become a predominantly white mass of mortal muscle and flesh!

With his target in reach -- Spidey unleashes a devastating left to the jaw!

As The Spot reels from the blow, Spidey sinks his fist into the scientist's exposed body! It's enough to send The Spot into a panicked retreat!

The rookie super-villain finds refuge within one of his portals, but from the array intrudes Spider-Man with a stern warning that he'd best rethink his life of crime!

The Hammer...

There might be an argument that The Spot made a successful getaway, but the proportionate strength of a spider helps Spider-Man not only endure the pummeling of a one-man gauntlet, but also inflict swift pain sufficient enough to drive him into a panicked retreat.

Unlike their much later encounter in Amazing Spider-Man #589, The Spot doesn't get away scot-free. If he were walking away, he might've limped. We can't forget that Spidey packs a punch, and Jonathan Ohnn's a hapless scientist. This one hurt: "Whew! He could have killed me!"

This was the second battle between the pair after The Spot's active debut in the last issue, and origin story in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #98.

It's nice to see their knowledge of each other, and tactics, evolving accordingly, but as we already know, this is all just preamble to a main event showdown with The Kingpin. Well worth your time, if you haven't read.

It's all part of a double-stuffed 100th issue that also boasts compelling B story revolving around Black Cat's relationships with Spidey and The Kingpin, and a simmering on-going subplot of the black symbiote working its way back to Spider-Man. Material that, for a long time, made this one of my favourite acquisitions from diving into the comic book store $2 bins in the early/mid nineties.

I'm reluctant to call it my "Local Comic Shop". There probably wasn't any closer store, but it was a solid forty-five minute trip to get there. Well worth it, of course. Tony, the steadfast proprietor throughout that heady decade, always treated me very well. It wasn't unusual for him to give me an extra discount from within the fortress-like elevated square that served as a 360 degree counter. Even on the cheap ones.

I scored some more issues of Spectacular Spider-Man from rummaging through those $2 and $1 boxes on a subsequent visit. I was already a big Sal Buscema fan by that point, so an affordable stack of Spectacular issues might not have been the cutting edge of trends, but was the next best thing to sliced gold, as far as I was concerned. There were great issues in there that we'll probably talk about some day in the future, but #100 was always just a bit special.

The Kingpin fight might've been a classic piece of Spidey business, but I always thought fondly of this issue for the appearance of The Spot.

Back in those days, wisdom probably had it that Spider-Man didn't have any real business regularly tangling with a master of inter-dimensional portals. That's the kind of thing Doctor Strange deals with. Spidey's at his best with super-powered mobsters, and villains with their own proportionate powers of an animal or insect.

Not surprisingly, The Spot stuck to his word, and apparently gave up his life of crime after today's fight. He was out of action for more than a decade, and when he finally showed up again in Spectacular Spider-Man #245, it was as a precursor to the formation of The Legion of Losers -- a quartet of unloved oddball villains led by The Grizzly. Not exactly the bombshell return of a fan-favourite badguy.

Yet, I always liked The Spot. Al Milgrom juggles The Spot's movement and powers brilliantly, effectively using his head portals to create uncanny expression with what passes for a mouth and eyes, while his limbs pop out of two-dimensional discs that hover in an implied three-dimensional reality.

Coming from the pages of Spectacular gave him a certain pedigree, in my mind, and tangential ties to Cloak supplied him with an interesting place in the world, and strikingly graphic design related to his powers, even if it looked better here than when Herb Trimpe ran through his first fight in issue #99.

Like a lot of great arch-villains, The Spot also challenges the hero with a direct counter to one of his key powers: in this case - agility.

His rapid distributions of portals, and body-contorting array of applications, including turning an opponent's attack back against them, forces a character like Spider-Man out of his routine comfort zone, provoking inventive new applications of his abilities to find a solution to the problem.

Spidey evades some of the attacks in today's featured fight thanks to his danger-warning spidey senses, but later iterations of the character will also further exploit The Spot's otherworldly abilities, making his inter-dimensional maneuverings logically more difficult to track.

In the last decade or so The Spot seems to have become a more regular fixture, tangling with various Marvel heroes, with a new mainstream peak coming from his role in the animated feature film Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. Something I never would've thought I'd be saying about the villain from the $2 box!

You can find more from the so-called "Spider-Verse" with Miles Morales, Spider-Man 2099, Ben Reilly, Spider-Boy, and more, by following links throughout this post, or by diving into the Secret Archive for a complete index of featured fights from the multiverse in order of publisher, series, and issue number.

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Winner: Spider-Man
#2 (--) Spider-Man
#652 (-177) The Spot

SPIDER-MAN versus THE SPOT
Marked (Marvel)
Where: Amazing Spider-man #589 When: May 2009
Why: Fred Van Lente How: Paulo Siqueira

The Story So Far...
Recruited into a crack team assembled to penetrate the domain of the Infinicide; the Spot ultimately betrayed his employer, MODOK, to serve the interests of The Mandarin! In an ironic twist of fate, Spot's capacity for treachery led Mandarin to use his mystic rings to entrap Spot in one of his own black portals, preventing another betrayal.

Thrust into the subspacial realm of the dark dimension without his intending, the Spot was trapped, unable to locate any viable point of exit. Lost in a maze of black portals, Dr. Jonathan Ohnn was driven to the brink of madness by his predicament. Unsuccessful in his attepts to make contact with others in the criminal fraternity, his only saving grace became the hope of being reunited with his son.

The father's goal was enough to finally lead him to freedom, but his return to the world led to the grim discovery that his son was now in a coma. After learning of the Russian mob's responsibility in his son's accident, the still unstable villain now turned his determination to exacting vengeance upon the guilty.

While the Spot hunts the hitmen who accidentally struck down his son; Peter Parker struggles to protect his Aunt May, whose charitable organization for the homeless has become the victim of the Russian mobster's protection racket.
With their paths on a collision course, Spot and Spider-man clash once again!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Spider-man 5 (Superhuman)
Intelligence: Draw 5 (Professor)
Speed: Spider-man 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Spider-man 5 (Cat-like)
Agility: Spider-man 5 (Average)
Fighting Ability: Spider-man 3 (Street Wise)
Energy Power: Draw 2 (Projectiles)


- A bite from a radioactive spider should have killed highschool nerd, Peter Parker, but instead it would irradiate his own blood, granting him extraordinary powers.

After turning to a life of profit, Peter is inspired to use his gifts for the greater good when his decision to allow a burglar to escape leads to the murder of his adopted parent and uncle, Ben Parker. Ben's sage-like advice, "with great power comes great responsibility", becomes a mantra for Parker as he becomes Spider-man!

Over the years his exploits as Spidey earn him a multitude of powerful enemies. Among his most lethal foes are: Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, Vulture, Chameleon, Kingpin, Jackal, Kraven the Hunter, Venom, Carnage, Sandman, Rhino, Lizard, Electro, and many more. Fortunately for Spidey, he finds himself in good stead with as many heroes as he does villains, eventuating in official membership with Captain America's Avengers, later known as the Secret Avengers.

Spider-man possesses the proportional strength, speed, and agility of a spider. Adding to his arsenal is a precognitive spider-sense that warns him of pending danger. Self-made mechanical webshooters round out Spidey's abilities, allowing him to ensnare opponents in a variety of modes; travel through the city by web-line; and form basic constructs based on the available quantities of his own formula of web-fluid.

- Working as a scientist for Wilson Fisk, Dr. Jonathan Ohnn fell upon a fate that would transform him forever. Whilst researching the radiations that facilitate the powers of Cloak, Ohnn accidentally replicated them, only to become bonded with the energies of an alternate form of interdimensional perception when a blackout threatened to negate his results. Covered in white and black, the scientist would become The Spot, launching himself into villainous infamy with the ability to use his black spots as portals to transport himself, or others, through space.

Math: Spider-man Ranking: Spider-man (#2)

What Went Down...
On a barge in Red Hook, the Spot slices and chokes his way through the members of rival mobs, killing toward the man responsible for his son's coma. When a black portal opens before Dmitri Ivankov, the Russian mobster stands alone.

Too slow to save the other crooks, Spidey swings in to save Ivankov with a kick that knocks the Spot from his hovering portal. Spidey follows with a strong right hook, but before he can tangle further with his foe, he vanishes through a portal!

Ivankov begs for Spider-man's protection, but when the hero offers an ultimatum that depends on his testifying against fellow underworld figures, the mobster scoffs the web-slinger. Trusting Spidey's better nature, the mobster successfully banks on being saved despite his resistance, but his assumptions depend on the wall crawler's ability to anticipate an opponent capable of evading his spider-sense through interdimensional travel!

Spot returns, emerging suddenly from a portal on the very wall Spider-man is climbing! With a simple hook, he sends the mobster hurtling helplessly into a fatal descent, but leaps after him to ensure a grim finish.

When Spidey plucks the criminal out of the Spot's reaches, the villain unleashes a multi-pronged assault, throwing a barrage of punches and kicks directly at Spidey through a series of "spot" portals. After securing Ivankov, Spider-man is able to catch one of the Spot's punches, only to be dragged into the dimensional pocket realm by his white and black assailant!

Concerned by the new lethal approach of the Legion of Loser alumnist, Spidey looks for a knock-out blow, but instead finds himself on the receiving end!

Staggered by his own punch, Spidey stumbles backward into a portal that sends him falling back into the real world. Landing on his back, Spider-man watches Spot emerge from a portal to capture Ivankov, but is quick enough to spring back to life to intervene - plucking the web-shackled mobster out of the air!

With the proportionate strength of a spider, Spider-man punches through a hull door to see daylight, but is caught in one of the Spot's materializing portals just as he attempts to leap to freedom! Disoriented, he loses Ivankov whilst slinging a web to stabalize himself. It's enough for Spot to capitalize!

The villain tosses the mobster into another portal that opens in the clouds high above the space needle in Seattle! Another last minute sling of a web saves Ivankov from certain doom, the web-line snagging him blind, by the foot!

Steadfast in his dedication to saving a life, Spider-man webs himself to the Russian with a declaration of his dedication. Finally the mute Spot pauses, reaching into one of his spots to extract a package addressed to his son!
With that, the villain retreats as suddenly as he had attacked, leaving Spider-man to seek justice by his terms instead. Spidey delivers the package, a treasured copy of Treasure Island gifted from father, to son, long ago.

The Hammer...
It was a hard fought battle, but in the end, the conclusion leads me to believe this can only be described as a draw. Not a bad result, given Spot's spotted past. Haw!

Despite the team only appearing in a single issue of Spectacular Spider-man [#246]; the Spot has come to be best known as a member of the Legion of Losers.
Yes, he's one of those villains. Ripe for mockery because he has a silly name and persona; I wonder if this might not be down to unfair press. I mean, come on, look at some of the greatest villains in comic history!... Okay, maybe not. It was, however, a bit of a thrill to come across a stand-alone issue that focused on the character's exploits.

A sense of imbalance was among the most disappointing qualities of the recent Brand New Day revamp of the Spidey-universe. While this fresh start was supposed to open new doors for the classic hero, it ultimately became an uncomfortable weekly wrestle between ham-fisted new villains, and heavy references to famous periods of the past.

Fortunately, a year later, Amazing Spider-man seems to have fully adjusted to the new status quo. Granted, we don't really ever seem to be seeing anything that couldn't have been done with Mary-Jane still in the picture, but the spider-marriage is as much a non-issue to the quality of stories, as it is an affront to the forty years of Spider-man history. Ahem.

Shift based tenure for creative teams means there's notable difference in approach to each story, even if the overall direction of the series is guarded by a brainstrust of influences. After jumping back in with Marc Guggenheim (and John Romita Jr) with relative success [#585], I couldn't help but notice the differences in approach to Spider-man/Peter Parker. I don't know if "subtle" is a word I'd use to describe Guggenheim's version, but the Van Lente script features dialogue that doesn't quite feel right for the famed quipster.
A lengthy running gag referring to Christian Bale's performance as Batman stood out as particularly puzzling. As much as popculture references have come to be part of the Spider-man lexicon, it was a series of sequences that didn't feel at all motivated by the scenes, or quite in line the humor of the character.

The cat and mouse of the fight was a great chance to explore the Spot's powers, and definitely points to some solid plotting. I hope these appearances can begin a larger role for the Spot, reminding us how deadly a villain he could be if ever motivated to rise above his own petty character flaws. As a fan of the old idea of an urban criminal eco-system, I even like the idea of just knowing the Spot might be hanging around, ready to clash or team-up with other forces in NYC.

Paulo Siqueira brings a different kind of energy to Spider-man than Romita, not quite as refined, but pleasantly reminiscent of Todd McFarlane in both the design of his Spider-man, and the sequences of action. It's the kind of throwback that I wouldn't want to see on a regular basis, but can really enjoy in short bursts.

In the bigger picture, most will now know all about J. Jonah Jameson's victory in the New York City mayoral battle. In a concept that very well should've happened long ago, Spidey's biggest detractor enters a position of power which promises to set up a variety of obstacles, some apparently including Mac Gargan!
I'll be looking very forward to that, as well as the appearance of more of those classic Spidey villains, which is something we've been promised in 2009.

The Fight: 4 The Issue: 4
Winner: Draw

Amazing Spider-man is published three times weekly, but alas, there is not yet any trade collection of this very recent issue. You'll find plenty of other trades, however, in the Infinite Wars Amazonian Gift Shoppe, where collections featuring most issues reviewed in the Secret Archives are waiting to be purchased. By using Amazon links provided on the site, you help sponsor future reviews!