Spidey #7
Spidey (FR) #7 is part of the first sustained, licensed French-language presentation of the broader Marvel universe to young Francophone readers, arriving during what scholars of the medium recognise as Éditions LUG's creative and commercial peak in the early 1980s. The issue delivered a child-oriented Sandman-versus-Human-Torch adventure drawn from Marvel's Spidey Super Stories line — a series specifically engineered to introduce Marvel's villain and hero roster to new readers — alongside original Human Torch backup strips that LUG produced in-house, making the comic a genuine hybrid of American reprint culture and French original production. By translating the Invisible Woman as 'Jane Storm' rather than 'Susan Storm,' the LUG localization practice created its own layer of publishing history that French collectors track as a distinct edition. As one of nine issues in this short-lived volume (1980–1981), it documents a transitional moment when LUG was weighing the cost of commissioning original material against the economics of pure reprinting — a tension that would ultimately reshape the entire company's direction.
In "Doc Ock est de retour !", Peter Parker and Mary Jane find themselves caught in the chaos of a high-stakes concert—complete with a star performer inspired by Elton John—when Doctor Octopus strikes again, stealing the box office and leaving Spider-Man unconscious in his wake. With Win Mortimer’s dynamic art and Mike Esposito’s inks bringing the action to life, this 1980 Spidey tale delivers a classic clash of wits and metal, all under Jean-Yves Mitton’s striking cover.
In "Doc Ock est de retour !", Peter and Mary Jane head to a high-energy concert inspired by Elton John when Doc Ock crashes the show—swiping the box office and making off with both the cash and an unconscious Spider-Man. The story unfolds with a classic clash of chaos and heroism, all set against the electric buzz of a live performance.
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Éditions LUG, the Lyon-based publisher founded in 1950 by Marcel Navarro and Auguste Vistel, had been reprinting Marvel Comics in French since the launch of its magazine Strange in the early 1970s. The Spidey series launched in 1979 as part of LUG's expanding Marvel line, which also included Titans and Nova, and was structured around translated Spidey Super Stories content — a Marvel title created in tandem with the Children's Television Workshop and aimed at readers aged 6–10. LUG supplemented the reprints with original Human Torch backup stories produced in-house, but the expense of commissioning those original pages eventually proved unsustainable, pushing LUG toward developing entirely proprietary French heroes instead. Issue #7 sits precisely in that creative and economic inflection point, cover-dated July 1980.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published by Éditions LUG (Lyon, France) with a cover date of July 1980; one of nine issues in the first Spidey (FR) volume, which ran from 1980 to 1981.
- The lead story features the Human Torch (La Torche / Johnny Storm) as the main character, with the Invisible Girl (L'Invisible / rendered as 'Jane Storm' in the French edition) as his ally against the Sandman (L'Homme Sable).
- Story synopsis: Sandman lures the Human Torch into an ambush, but the Invisible Girl intervenes to assist him — adapted from the Spidey Super Stories source material.
- The source material reprinted in this issue derives from Marvel's Spidey Super Stories (1974–1982), a children-oriented series written primarily by Jim Salicrup and drawn mostly by Win Mortimer, subject to joint editorial oversight by Marvel Comics and the Children's Television Workshop.
- In addition to the Spidey Super Stories reprints, the Spidey (FR) series incorporated original Human Torch backup strips produced by LUG in-house, as well as reprints of Italian stories from the Supergulp volume.
- The Invisible Woman is localised in this French edition as 'Jane Storm' rather than 'Susan Storm,' a naming convention specific to LUG's translations.
- According to the Marvel Appendix, the stories in this volume are considered to potentially take place on Earth-616.
- Issue #7 was subsequently collected in Spidey Album #3 (collecting issues #7 through #9), released in December 1980.
Cast · 26 characters
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Reprints
↩ Reprints Spidey Super Stories #14 (1975), Spidey Super Stories #21 (1977), Spidey Super Stories #23 (1977)
Reprinted in Spécial Strange #20 (1980), Mustang #55 (1980), Titans #27 (1980), Strange #128 (1980)
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