User blog:Nausiated/Buggin' for Spider-Man

So recently I've been going through and updating Wiki summaries for Amazing Spider-Man, because I've got the first... Oh I don't know.... 10+ years of the series in trade format, and it was next on my list. Anyway, this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who's been a long time reader of the ol' web-slinger, there is a LOT of continuity with Spider-Man. Tons of the stuff. Go figure that Marvel's most iconic character is going to have a HUGE supporting cast, but it's there. And *MAN* is there a lot of stuff to watch out for, characters appearing in each issue alone is the hardest part. That's because they've gone back and retconned so much stuff about Spider-Man's past, pretty much anyone who's appeared in a Spider-Man book can get a full article write up on this here Wiki. This is thanks to writers wanting to write about Spider-Man's "early days" for nostalga factors and to expand on characters from the bygone days when Stan Lee was the mastermind behind the title. It's always been a constant in Spider-Man books that some plot threat or another is a throw back to something that happened previously. You look back at two characters in particular (And I know, this is going to make some of you cringe) but Norman Osborn and Mile Warren (and dare I say, clones?) borrow heavily from past Spider-Man tales and bring it forward and tie it into everything. It seems every person who did Spider-Man drew from the well spring that was Stan's original work. Even J. Michael Strazinsky did it with the whole Grey Goblin plotline. It's crazy. Then there's all the flashback stories. That all started with "Untold Tales of Spider-Man" back in the mid 90's back in the day when Spider-Man had fifty different books going all at once... These days it's a little less grand and more specific.. I don't read a lot of new comics these days until they come out in a tradepaperback and I'm of the mind to read them, but last I checked they were doing a limited series based on Spider-Man's brief career in showbiz. Yeah, you know when Spider-Man tried to get fame before his Uncle Ben was shot? Somehow they took what was about two pages of exposition and mythos building and extended it into a whole limited series. Go figure. On of the biggest stretches I've ever seen though was from the aforementioned "Untold Tales" series. I want you to do something for me. Got a minute? Have a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 on hand? Doesn't matter if there's a reprint. This is great... Ready? Okay, so turn to like Page 2 where Peter Parker is trying to ask a girl named Sally out on a date, and she turns him down. Looks pretty innocent doesn't it. You know, just a random character with no bearing on the Spider-Man plot, just a high school girl that's a toss away character for exposition of how much hard luck ol' Pete had getting date. Seems pretty normal, standard comic book stuff, they do stuff like that all the time. We'll never see Sally again, much less figure out what her last name is. Right? WRONG! Thanks to Untold Tales, we find out that her name is Sally Avril (Got ahead and look her up on here) And whamo, she has a WHOLE FRIGGIN' BACK STORY AND EVERYTHING! Somewhere in those "untold tales", she decided to become a super-hero and gets herself scragged because, well... She wasn't very good at it. Great writing I suppose, but the big problem I've had with that Untold Tale stuff is that while the writer is good at weaving everything together, a grandiose development of a bit character doesn't fit into the previously established cannon. Not a lick. I mean, does it really matter? It's not like Sally Avril had a big impact on the Spider-Man mythos, so why make a big deal? Well take a look at it conversely. Whenever a cast member in Spider-Man dies tragically, and the death has something to do with Spider-Man, Peter is wracked with guilt and blames himself FOREVER. Best example is Gwen Stacy. Okay, yeah big difference, Pete actually dated and was going to marry Gwen, and yeah Spider-Man is indirectly responsible for both her death, and the death of her dad -- oh and then there's all the mental anguish with the clones... --- ahg stay on topic boy.... And Sally is just a girl who rejected Peter when he asked her out... But still, Peter is a guy with a strong sense of guilt, and even if Sally was just a bit character from our point of view, I think Peter would hold the guilt of a dead classmate over his own head a lot longer than say, after the plot thread was quashed... But hey, that's just me. Anyway... I have Spider-Man on the brain, I just finished going through the first six years of Amazing Spider-Man just now, and my mind (when spending a quiet Sunday afternoon nursing a hang over and writing Wiki stuff) just leads to all these questions and ideas. So I'm done... But you super-sleuths out there should crack open some of those old Spider-Man comics and go on a little scavenger hunt for me, and try to find the following little dillies I've came across in my travels today. A No-Prize to whoever finds these:
 * What issues have typos where instead of Peter being called Spider-Man, he's called Superman.
 * Can you find the issue where they spell Liz Allen's name wrong?
 * Or how about the issue where Peter Parker gets inspiration to not give up from a Batman comic book?
 * According to a poster hanging up in the Coffee Bean, who should be elected president? Oh and what issue did you find that my cunning friend?
 * Finally, they also spell Anna and Mary Jane's last name incorrectly in one issue, which one was that?