And I thought I had a hard time for being too short.
In Spectacular Spider-Man Annual 10, we see Spidey shrunken to microscopic levels. It apparently is a parody of the movie Honey, I Shrunk the Kids which was released just one year before this story was published (what a coincidence!) and has similar gags. It is so silly that it is hard to believe that one-time power house Marvel had been reduced to such gimmicks during the 90s.
The story is that Spider-Man accidentally inhaled Ant-Man’s shrinking gas, and was continuing to shrink. Ant-Man tried to use his antidote, but was no help (as usual) so it was up to Harry Osborn to try and find a solution. He tries to apply a positron energy beam on Spider-Man while under an electronic microscope. Unfortunately, it just made the problem worse, Spider-man shrinking smaller than the smallest molecules. The comic ends with him encountering Psycho-Man, and concludes in Web of Spider-Man Annual 6. Yes, that’s right, they wanted you to buy another annual to follow up on the annual you just read. Good grief.
Silly story aside, Spectacular Spider-Man Annual 10 has some very redeeming qualities. For starters, “Into The Micro Universe” was scripted by Stan Lee himself and drawn by industry legend Rich Buckler. For those who do not know, Rich Buckler has authored many books explaining how to draw dynamically. In addition, Todd McFarlane, also a comic legend, has his work appear in this issue as well.
Is it appropriate that Spider-Man shrinks to the size of a bug? Perhaps. These annual issues are like having four issues for the price of one. Combined with the awesome creative team, this is an issue worth checking out and adding to your comic collection. The second story is illustrated by Todd McFarlane, someone with a style that’s easy to spot.