Say It Ain't So, Pete!

Long before the Green Goblin had his way with Gwen Stacy, "Puny" Parker had to deal with "the most unexpected guest-villian of all!"--namely Skip --An "older boy" with white hair and er... rather strange sexual leanings.

Incredible as it may seem, the book was a goofy one-shot team-up put out in 1984 by a joint effort of Marvel and the National Committee for prevention on Child Abuse. A worthy cause, but Gee Whiz!! --Talk about going a long way to make a point!

Legitimized by the team of Spider-Man regulars Jim Salicrup, Jim Mooney and Mike Esposito, (Hell, John Byrne did the cover) our man Pete attempts to console a young boy who is really distressed because his older (and hot) babysitter came onto him(?). In his attempts to make the lad feel better he relates a tale that on first reading made my jaw hit the floor. I'm still blown away that Marvel decided to portray their top-tier character Spider-Man as a victim of sexual abuse, but nonetheless, here's the three pages that changed the web-slinger forever...




Yoof!
Though I've won several bets concerning the existence of this little tale it still staggers the minds of the unsuspecting. Don't get me started on how Mooney only drew Skip's head from like three angles at most-- and how prespective makes little sense in some panels (exactly where is Skip standing when they're playing pool?). Plus Skip goes from condesending wise-ass to homosexual predator with a taste for little nerdy boys in less than half a page. Also I love that despite Pete's painful confession of being buggered, ol' Uncle Ben never puts down his paper. (And such a nice couch, too --ick.) But like I said... I won't go into it.

Skip of course later discovered his mutant abilities and changed his name to Magneto.

Next time --The story of Johnny Storm's chance encounter with Chuck Berry.
'Til then--face front, True Believer!