The Spectacular Spider-Man #243

Name: The Spectacular Spider-Man #243
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Feb 1997 · Marvel · 1.50 USD; 2.10 CAD

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“Who Am I?”

★ 1st appearance — Alyosha Kravinoff

About this Issue

Spectacular Spider-Man #243 ('Who Am I?') serves as the narrative payoff of a multi-part psychological thriller in which the Chameleon — impersonating Dr. Ashley Kafka inside Ravencroft Institute — manipulates a captive Spider-Man into doubting his own identity as Peter Parker, delivering one of J.M. DeMatteis's most psychologically intense Spider-Man stories. The issue is also the first cameo appearance of Alexei Kravinoff (later known as Alyosha Kraven), the son of the original Kraven the Hunter, whose shadowy appearance confronting the fleeing Chameleon in the final pages planted the seed for the next major arc in the series. Additionally, #243 continues the early active appearances of the enigmatic new Jack O'Lantern (later identified as Daniel Berkhart operating as 'Mad Jack'), whose unresolved identity became one of DeMatteis's most deliberately teased mysteries of his Spectacular run.

writer J. M. DeMatteis · artist Luke Ross · inker John Stanisci · colorist John Kalisz · letterer Richard Starkings · letterer Liz Agraphiotis · letterer Kiff Scholl · letterer Comicraft · cover Luke Ross

ComicBooks.com Value

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Raw (NM) $4

CGC 9.8 · 17 in census $41

CGC 9.6 · 8 in census $21

CGC 9.4 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 9.2 · 4 in census $20*

CGC 9.0 · 1 in census $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

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CGC $38 CGC $199.99

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NM $4.99 NM $5.99 NM $6 NM $7.99 NM $10.99 NM · Newsstand $19.33 NM $24

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VF $5 VF $7.99 VF · Newsstand $15 VF · Newsstand $29.99

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Raw / ungraded ▾ $1.5–$195 34 listings

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History

J.M. DeMatteis wrote the issue as part of a sustained creative stretch on Spectacular Spider-Man, paired with penciler Luke Ross — a combination critics of the era noted as stylistically unusual given DeMatteis's long association with the more expressionistic Sal Buscema. DeMatteis intentionally left the new Jack O'Lantern/Mad Jack's true identity unresolved as an ongoing subplot, but he departed the title with issue #258 before completing the storyline; Tom DeFalco later closed the thread in Spider-Man: Mysterio Manifesto, revealing Mad Jack to be Daniel Berkhart, a resolution that the Marvel Database notes did not entirely align with what DeMatteis had originally planned. Ralph Macchio and Bob Harras served as editors on the issue.

Trivia · 8 facts

Title of the story: 'Who Am I?' — released December 26, 1996 with a February 1997 cover date.
First cameo appearance of Alexei Kravinoff (Alyosha Kraven), son of the original Kraven the Hunter and an unknown mutant woman, created by J.M. DeMatteis and Luke Ross; his first full appearance follows in Spectacular Spider-Man #244.
The Chameleon (Dmitri Smerdyakov), disguised as Dr. Ashley Kafka, psychologically convinces a captive Spider-Man that he is an ordinary man named Herbert Smith — and by the issue's end has learned that Peter Parker is Spider-Man.
The new Jack O'Lantern (Daniel Berkhart, later confirmed as 'Mad Jack') appears, using mind-control candle wax on an injured John Jameson and explicitly stating he is not the same person who originally wore the costume.
First appearance of Maguire, Jack O'Lantern's pet cat, who serves as his only confidant as he schemes against J. Jonah Jameson through his son John.
Creative team: Writer J.M. DeMatteis; Penciler Luke Ross; Inker John Stanisci; Colorists Chris Lichtner and John Kalisz; Letterers Richard Starkings and Comicraft; Editors Ralph Macchio and Bob Harras.
A Newsstand Edition of the issue was also published, with a slightly different on-sale date (February 1, 1997) from the direct edition.
Steve Levins (the second Jack O'Lantern, listed in the catalog's character index) is NOT the Jack O'Lantern who appears in this issue — that figure is Daniel Berkhart; Levins's own first appearance is Captain America #396 (January 1992).