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Cover: Sal Buscema

The Spectacular Spider-Man #143

Name: The Spectacular Spider-Man #143
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Oct 1988 · Marvel · 1.00 USD; 1.25 CAD; 0.50 GBP

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“Deadline in Dallas”

★ 1st appearance — Eduardo Lobo

About this Issue

The Spectacular Spider-Man #143 is the launch point for what collectors and critics recognize as one of Gerry Conway's most ambitious storytelling projects of the late Bronze Age: the 'Lobo Brothers Gang War,' a sprawling organized-crime saga that ran concurrently through both Spectacular Spider-Man and Web of Spider-Man across 1988–1989. By introducing Eduardo and Carlos Lobo — mutant werewolf drug lords from Texas who escalate into a full-scale turf war with the Kingpin — Conway seeded a multi-title long-form crime narrative that also drew in Hammerhead, the Chameleon, and the supporting cast in unusually substantive roles. The issue also marks the death of the Persuader and advances two additional dangling threads — the Gwen Stacy clone subplot and Peter Parker's ongoing 'Webs' book-tour storyline — demonstrating Conway's commitment to serialized continuity across every corner of the Spider-Man universe. For readers tracking the development of Spider-Man's street-level crime milieu in the post-Michelinie/McFarlane era, this issue is the essential first domino.

writer Gerry Conway · artist, inker Sal Buscema · colorist Bob Sharen · letterer Rick Parker · cover Sal Buscema

ComicBooks.com Value

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Raw (VF) $5

CGC 9.8 · 39 in census $59*

CGC 9.6 · 23 in census $27*

CGC 9.4 · 10 in census $20*

CGC 9.2 · 6 in census $20*

CGC 9.0 · 6 in census $20*

CGC 8.5 · 3 in census $20*

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CGC 8.0 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 7.5 · 3 in census $20*

CGC 7.0 none in existence

CGC 6.5 · 1 in census $20

CGC 6.0 none in existence

CGC 5.5 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 5.0 none in existence

CGC 4.5 none in existence

CGC 4.0 none in existence

CGC 3.5 · 1 in census $20*

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CGC 9.8 ▾ $120–$170 4 listings

CGC 9.8 $119.99 CGC 9.8 $121.37 CGC 9.8 $130 CGC 9.8 $169.99

CGC 9.6 ▾ $65–$70 4 listings

CGC 9.6 $65 CGC 9.6 $69.95 CGC 9.6 $69.99 CGC 9.6 $70

Raw — MINT ▾ $4.99 2 listings

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Raw — VF/NM ▾ $5.44–$7.99 3 listings

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VF+ $5.95 VF+ $6 VF+ $8.71

Raw — VF ▾ $4–$27.99 3 listings

VF $4 VF $4.19 VF · Newsstand $27.99

Raw — FN ▾ $7.99–$10.98 3 listings

FN $7.99 FN · Newsstand $9.99 FN $10.98

Raw — VG $2.99 1 listing

Raw / ungraded ▾ $1.04–$80 31 listings

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History

Gerry Conway returned to Marvel in 1988 as the simultaneous writer of both The Spectacular Spider-Man and Web of Spider-Man, a rare dual-title assignment that gave him editorial room to build the 'Lobo Brothers Gang War' as a genuine cross-title event. Issue #143 — titled 'Deadline in Dallas' — was penciled, inked, and covered entirely by Sal Buscema, Conway's longtime collaborator who had been the series' artistic backbone since the title's 1970s launch; colorist Bob Sharen and letterer Rick Parker rounded out the creative unit, all working under editor Jim Salicrup and editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco. Conway's return to Spectacular was itself a homecoming: he had written the series' very first issues in the 1970s, and he has since described his appreciation for how much more he understood Peter Parker at this later stage of his career.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Eduardo Lobo and Carlos Lobo (the Lobo Brothers), mutant werewolf crime lords who unite the mobs of South Texas under the cartel name 'Los Hermanos de la Luna' before clashing with the Kingpin.
Death of the Persuader (Roland Rayburn), the mind-controlling mutant who had been brainwashing the Punisher into the Arranger's service — killed by the Punisher himself after Frank Castle breaks free of his mental conditioning rather than slay an innocent Spider-Man.
Written by Gerry Conway; pencils, inks, and cover all by Sal Buscema; colored by Bob Sharen; lettered by Rick Parker; edited by Jim Salicrup; editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco.
Story title: 'Deadline in Dallas.' On-sale date: June 28, 1988; cover date: October 1988.
The issue simultaneously advances three concurrent Conway subplots: the Punisher's brainwashing arc, a cameo re-introduction of the Gwen Stacy clone (whose story continues in Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #8), and Peter Parker's 'Webs' photography-book publicity tour.
This issue is the opening chapter of the 'Lobo Brothers Gang War,' which ran across both Spectacular Spider-Man and Web of Spider-Man through Web of Spider-Man #55 (1989), also pulling in Hammerhead and the Chameleon as opportunistic rivals to the Kingpin.
Published in two contemporaneous formats: a Direct Edition and a Newsstand Edition, plus a Mark Jeweler Advertisement Insert variant; the issue has been reprinted in Dutch, Spanish (Planeta DeAgostini and Novedades), and in the 2024 Spanish Panini collection Marvel Héroes #124.
Carlos Lobo later reappeared — with a werewolf sister, Esmeralda — in the 'In the Midst of Wolves' arc of Scarlet Spider Vol. 2 (#13–15); Eduardo Lobo was temporarily resurrected as a clone during the 'Clone Conspiracy' storyline.