Spidey Super Stories #32
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeSpidey Super Stories #32 holds a genuinely surprising distinction within Marvel's Bronze Age output: it marks the first cover appearance and interior team-up of Spider-Man and Jessica Drew's Spider-Woman in any Marvel continuity, arriving one week before Jessica Drew's own solo title debuted — meaning children reading this kids' educational tie-in comic glimpsed her classic costume before the mainstream Marvel Universe did. The issue also gave Captain Britain one of his earliest American comic appearances, tucked into an absurdist romp set at a thinly disguised Wimbledon, demonstrating how the Spidey Super Stories format could smuggle genuinely historic character introductions inside cheerful, literacy-focused storytelling aimed at six-year-olds. Because the series was co-produced with Children's Television Workshop for The Electric Company and designed for young readers rather than the direct-market collector, issues were read, folded, and discarded at the time — making high-grade survivorship genuinely uncommon and the issue's historical footprint easy to underestimate.
In "Who Is Spider-Woman?", Peter and Aunt May find themselves in London when a mysterious figure dubbed Spider-Woman is accused of theft on the news. With the help of Win Mortimer’s expressive art and Jim Salicrup’s tight storytelling, Spidey uncovers a web of deception tied to Dr. Octopus—only to team up with the surprisingly skeptical Captain Britain when the villain strikes again. The cover by Sal Buscema and Frank Giacoia captures the moment the stakes rise, all set in a 1978 world where even a vacation can turn into a high-stakes chase.
When Peter and Aunt May vacation in London, a news report paints Spider-Woman as a thief—only for Spidey to capture her and learn she’s been framed by Dr. Octopus. With the villain on the loose and Aunt May in danger, Spidey teams up with Captain Britain, leading to a wild showdown at Wimbledon where tennis and webs collide.
ComicBooks.com Value
Show all 13 grades ▾
This exact issue on ebay
Raw / ungraded ▾ $12.99–$60 3 listings
More listings for this title
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
By issue #32, the series was well into its run under writer Jim Salicrup, who had taken over from founding writer Jean Thomas after the first fifteen issues. Salicrup and the editorial team — which included A. J. Hays and Julie Mishkin — operated under an unusually rigorous dual-approval process: both Marvel Comics and the Children's Television Workshop reviewed scripts to ensure age-appropriate content, fidelity to Electric Company characters, and meaningful roles for female characters, the last of which may help explain why an issue spotlighting Spider-Woman was greenlit so close to her solo-series launch. Pencils were split between series mainstay Winslow Mortimer and Don Perlin, with inks by Mike Esposito, and the book's overall Marvel-side shepherd was John Romita Sr., who served as editor and drew select covers throughout the run.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: March 1978; release date: December 27, 1977 (per Marvel Database).
- First cover appearance of Jessica Drew (Spider-Woman) alongside Spider-Man — across any Marvel continuity — and their first interior team-up in the alternate-universe Earth-57780 setting.
- Published one week before Spider-Woman Vol. 1 #1, making this the first printed appearance of Jessica Drew in her classic costume.
- Issue contains three stories: 'And Along Came… The Spider-Woman,' 'The Secret Mission,' and 'Side-by-Side with Captain Britain!' — the last of which is one of Captain Britain's earliest appearances in a US Marvel comic.
- Main story plot: Peter Parker and Aunt May are vacationing in London; Doctor Octopus frames Spider-Woman as a thief; Spidey and Spider-Woman clear her name, then team with Captain Britain to defeat Doc Ock in a tennis match at the misspelled 'Wimbleton.'
- Written by Jim Salicrup; penciled by Don Perlin (confirmed per Grand Comics Database indexer note) and Winslow Mortimer; inked by Mike Esposito; edited by A. J. Hays and Julie Mishkin.
- Part of the 57-issue Spidey Super Stories run (1974–1982), a collaboration between Marvel Comics and Children's Television Workshop produced as a tie-in to the PBS series The Electric Company, aimed at readers ages 6–10.
- The series was subject to dual editorial review by both Marvel and the Children's Television Workshop, with a standing mandate to give female characters significant roles — a policy directly reflected in this issue's Spider-Woman-centered plot.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Spidey #13 (1981)
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.