When you think of Copper Age key issues, you may think of stuff like Hulk 340 (the McFarlane Wolverine issue), or even New Mutants 98 (first appearance of Deadpool, which has emerged as a key issue over time.)
But then there are comics that — for the lack of a better term — I consider “personal” key issues. That would be individual issues that aren’t significant in the collecting world, but are personally significant; perhaps it was the first issue of a title you picked up, or an issue that introduced you to a certain artist, etc.
For, me Spectacular Spider-Man 115, cover dated June 1986, is a personal key issue.
At the time I started collecting monthly comics in ‘86, there were three core Spidey titles; Amazing, Spectacular (aka Peter Parker), and Web of. For whatever reason, I only added Spectacular to my pull-list, as well as Marvel Tales, the Spider-Man reprint book.
My first issue of Spectacular was 115, written by Peter David, and pencilled by Mark Beachum…whose, um, ability at rendering females was most appreciated by the 12-year-old I was, teetering on puberty.
Really though, come on, it’s beautifully drawn stuff, with great panel layouts; two pages from the issue below…
…and let’s also acknowledge Bob McLeod, for the fine inking job!
More info / resources:
Mark Beachum’s Wikipedia entry is here, and credits on comics.org are here!
If you’re looking for this back issue, first try your local comic shop or convention. If no luck, mycomicshop.com has it for a couple of bucks!
