Eclipso #70
Eclipso #70 (Arédit-Artima, April 1980) holds a clear and specific distinction: it is the first French-language appearance of D'Spayre, the fear-feeding demon created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne who would go on to become one of Marvel's most enduring mystical antagonists. By bringing Marvel Team-Up #68 to French readers under the title 'Spider-Man et l'Homme-Chose,' the issue gave an entire generation of Franco-Belgian comics fans their introduction to a villain whose thematic grip — preying on despair rather than brute force — felt genuinely distinct from the costumed rogues that dominated the era. The Arédit-Artima Eclipso series was itself one of the primary conduits through which Marvel's Bronze Age horror-superhero hybrids reached France, and this issue sits at a particularly rich intersection: a team-up format, a supernatural debut, and the Nexus of Realities mythology all collected in a compact digest. For researchers of international Marvel publishing history, it documents how quickly Arédit moved to translate significant new characters — only about two years after D'Spayre's U.S. debut.
"Spider-Man et l'Homme-Chose" delivers a standout tale from Chris Claremont and John Byrne, where Peter and Mary Jane stumble upon Man-Thing on display in a traveling circus. The story sees Spidey return the creature to its Florida swamp, where it regains strength and sets off toward a remote house—leading to a confrontation with d'Spayre and a sorcerer’s young apprentice. With dynamic art by Byrne and inks by Wiacek, the cover captures the moment of discovery, while the interior brings the swamp’s eerie beauty to life.
In "Spider-Man et l'Homme-Chose," Peter and Mary Jane stumble upon the Man-Thing displayed as a sideshow curiosity in a traveling circus. When Spider-Man returns the creature to its native Florida swamp, the Man-Thing stirs with new intent—heading toward a remote house where d'Spayre holds an ancient sorcerer and his young apprentice. The story unfolds with eerie suspense as Spidey and the swamp-born giant confront the villain’s dark schemes. In the end, the two unlikely allies share a quiet moment beneath the stars, the swamp humming with unseen life.
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The Arédit-Artima Eclipso series launched in April 1968 as one of the first Comics Pocket titles devoted entirely to American superhero material, and it ran until 1983 — making it one of the publisher's longest-lived digest anthologies. Arédit/Artima, headquartered in Tourcoing in northern France and absorbed by the Presses de la Cité in 1962, licensed Marvel content that rival French publisher Lug had declined or not acquired, filling a genuine gap in the French market for horror-tinged superhero stories. The underlying source material for issue #70 — Marvel Team-Up #68 (April 1978), written by Chris Claremont with pencils by John Byrne, inks by Bob Wiacek, and colors by Phil Rachelson, edited by Archie Goodwin — was itself a Bronze Age one-shot that introduced D'Spayre; Arédit reprinted it in black-and-white digest format, mirroring the splash page as noted in the Grand Comics Database, consistent with the publisher's standard production approach for the Comics Pocket line.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published April 1, 1980 by Arédit-Artima as part of the long-running Comics Pocket digest series, which ran from 1966 to 1984.
- French title: 'Spider-Man et l'Homme-Chose' ('Spider-Man and Man-Thing'), translated from Marvel Team-Up #68 (April 1978).
- Contains the first French-language appearance of D'Spayre (listed in the Grand Comics Database and corroborated by the French Marvel encyclopedia marvel-world.com as 'VF: Eclipso n°70').
- D'Spayre was created by writer Chris Claremont and penciller John Byrne; the original U.S. story was inked by Bob Wiacek, colored by Phil Rachelson, and edited by Archie Goodwin.
- Other characters appearing in the reprinted story: Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Man-Thing, Mary Jane Watson, Dakimh the Enchanter, Jennifer Kale, and Amos Jardine.
- The Grand Comics Database notes that the cover image is a mirrored version of the splash page from Marvel Team-Up #68.
- The issue is listed at 132 pages in the GCD, consistent with the standard Arédit Comics Pocket digest format (approximately 5" x 7", black-and-white interior), priced at 5 French francs.
- D'Spayre went on to appear throughout Marvel's mystical canon — including Doctor Strange, Uncanny X-Men, Cloak & Dagger, and the Cloak & Dagger MCU television series — making this French debut issue the starting point of a character with lasting narrative reach.
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Reprints
↩ Reprints Captain America #109 (1969), Giant-Size Man-Thing #4 (1975), Marvel Chillers #2 (1975), Marvel Team-Up #68 (1978), Marvel Premiere #45 (1978), Marvel Premiere #46 (1979)
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