Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham #1

History

Spider-Ham originated in a proposal by editor Larry Hama and writer Tom DeFalco, both of whom shared an enthusiasm for Carl Barks-style funny-animal comics; editor-in-chief Jim Shooter approved the concept, which debuted as the one-shot Marvel Tails (November 1983), drawn by Mark Armstrong. The character proved popular enough that Marvel greenlit an ongoing series under the Star Comics imprint — its kid-skewing publishing label — with Steve Skeates taking over scripting duties from DeFalco while Armstrong continued on art, and Larry Hama editing both the original one-shot and the ongoing series. The book's two-part format — a lead Spider-Ham adventure followed by a Steve Mellor-illustrated backup starring other anthropomorphic animal heroes — was established from this debut issue.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Published January 22, 1985 (on-sale date) with a May 1985 cover date under Marvel's Star Comics imprint; written by Steve Skeates, penciled by Mark Armstrong, inked by Joe Albelo, with a cover by Michael Golden.
• First solo ongoing series for Spider-Ham (Peter Porker), following his debut in the 1983 one-shot Marvel Tails Starring Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham; the series ran 17 bi-monthly issues through September 1987.
• Title story is 'The Mysterious Island of Ducktor Doom!' — the first full appearance of Ducktor Doom (a duck parody of Doctor Doom), who becomes Spider-Ham's primary recurring villain throughout the series.
• First appearances of Daily Beagle supporting characters J. Jeremiah Jackal Jr., Bunsen Bunny, and Upton Adam Stray — the trio of newsboy-style intern sidekicks central to the ongoing series' formula.
• First appearances (in flashback cameo only) of the Fantastic Fur team roster: Mooster Fantastic, The Simian Torch, The Invisible Gorilla, and Ben Grizzly (The Thang), as well as Forbush Man (with Irving Forbush also cameo-appearing).
• Edited by Larry Hama (series editor), Tom DeFalco (executive editor), and Jim Shooter (editor-in-chief) — the same editorial team that conceived the character for the 1983 one-shot.
• The issue was reprinted in Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 (Marvel, 2019), making the full run broadly accessible for the first time in a collected edition.
• Spider-Ham's feature film debut in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), voiced by John Mulaney, dramatically raised the profile of the character whose ongoing series began with this issue; Marvel marked the series' 25th anniversary with a special one-shot in 2010 written by original co-creator Tom DeFalco.

Cast · 21 characters

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Variants (2)