Posted in: Comics | Tagged: marvel, spider-man

Marvel Changes Mind Over Reprinting Peter Parker Child Abuse Story

Spider-Man and Power Pack child abuse stories were among the material removed from a trade paperback of Spider-Man PSA issues.

The solicitation of the SPIDER-MAN: THE PSAS TPB caused much commentary. This collection of public service announcement comic books from Marvel starring Spider-Man was to be an archive to treasure, looking at how various topics of public concern were covered by government funded comics featuring Spidey.

Well, sadly, Marvel have pulled the rug from under our curious feet. Of the original anthology, only SPIDER-MAN, STORM & POWER MAN, FAST LANE #1-4, SPIDER-MAN: SKATING ON THIN ICE and SPIDER-MAN: DOUBLE TROUBLE will remain, with the following removed;

SPIDER-MAN VS. THE PRODIGY; SPIDER-MAN & POWER PACK; SPIDER-MAN AGAINST VERBAL ABUSE; SPIDER-MAN & THE NEW MUTANTS FEATURING SKIDS; ADVENTURES IN READING STARRING SPIDER-MAN; SPIDER-MAN: CHAOS AT THE CONSTRUCTION SITE; SPIDER-MAN: RIOT AT ROBOTWORLD; SPIDER-MAN BATTLES THE MYTH MONSTER; ; SPIDER-MAN: HIT & RUN; SPIDER-MAN: CHAOS IN CALGARY; SPIDER-MAN: DEAD BALL; SPIDER-MAN: HOW TO BEAT THE BULLY/JUBILEE: PEER PRESSURE; SPIDER-MAN: FATHERHOOD; SPIDER-MAN ON BULLYING PREVENTION; HEROES VS. PLAQUE: WHEN PLAQUE ATTACKS; and SPIDER-MAN: YOU'RE HIRED!

They have been replaced with Amazing Spider-Man #96-#98 and  Spectacular Spider-Man #1000

They've basically turned a book featuring all manner of topics of concern into one purely addressing drug use and abuse.

Which means the price point has reduced from 456 pages at $34.99 to  200 pages at  $24.99.

And we've lost the following…

Spider-Man and Power Pack was released by Marvel in 1985 in cooperation with the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse.  In the Spider-Man story, the hero tells a young abuse victim that he too was abused as a child.  In the Power Pack story, the team helps a teen age girl who has run away from home rather than admit that her father has been abusing her.  The issue was distributed by various volunteer organizations, as well as being printed as a part of the Sunday comic section of several major newspapers.  The comic also recieved a special citation from President Ronald Reagan.

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