Obscure Comics: Spider-Man: Homecoming Part 2, Fight Or Flight

There are comic book series almost every comic fan knows, there are comic book characters that most everyone knows, there are specific comic books most every comic reader knows, and then there are the more obscure issues that slip through the cracks.  What makes obscure comics so interesting and vital is discovering those books that most don't know were ever printed, or that top tier creators worked on "that book" or on "that character." Obscure Comics are fun to find, interesting to know about, but that border between being great reads and terrible comics.

The story of Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man and Marvel Comics, and Spider-Man and Sony, is a long tale that involves a lot of toys during its history. Many can remember the Mego Spider-Man toy, even if you never owned one or were alive when it came out, but Spider-Man and toys have been a marriage that has been longer and more sustained then his marriage with Mary Jane (plus no devil is trying to own it). Whether it is Marvel trying to make money off of Spider-Man through toys, or Sony getting a cut of that toy money during the many years they've had the Spider-Man license and been making Spider-Man movies, most of those toys until 2018 were being sold at Toys R' Us.  The last large retail chain devoted only to toys, Toys R' Us sadly left the United States and closed most of its stores in 2018 after 70 years of business.  The year before that, though, in 2017, Spider-Man: Homecoming came to theaters, and while trying to sell more of those sweet Spider-Man toys, Toys R' Us decided they needed an extra gimmick to attract buyers: a comic book.

Obscure Comics: Spider-Man: Homecoming: Fight or Flight

When it comes to comic tie-ins, Sony loves doing them for Spider-Man, as we have discussed here, and here in our first Spider-Man: Homecoming Obscure Comics. So it is no surprise that when Sony teamed up with Marvel for Spider-Man: Homecoming, Sony had several Marvel comic book tie-ins.  The main comic tie-ins were the standard prelude comic for Spider-Man: Homecoming that adapted Captain America Civil War from MCU Peter Parker's point of view.  The next one we covered before, Spider-Man: Homecoming: School of Shock, but that came out when the Blu-Ray / DVD of the movie was released.  Before that, when the film was still in theaters and the toys were hot on the shelf. Toys R' Us set up a promotion that anyone spending $20 on Spider-Man: Homecoming toys, or just Marvel toys depending on the location, would get a free Spider-Man: Homecoming comic.  Under a cover by Andrea DiVito (who did a good amount of Spider-Man: Homecoming comic work), written by Mark Sumerak, and drawn by Craig Rousseau, this give away free physical comic was traditional comic book size, and not a digital release.

The 8-page story is exactly what you'd expect from a Toys R' Us tie-in comic, and from the cover, as it takes place mostly at a Toys R' Us (most likely in New York) and features their mascot Geoffery the Giraffe. (In fact, his inclusion and use in the comic are the worst part of the comic, such as page 5 and page 8.)

This weird story focuses on Ellie, who is turning six and is at Toys R' Us looking for that perfect birthday toy.  However, she becomes distracted from her looking as Spider-Man, chasing the Beetle, ends up outside Toys R' Us trying to stop the nefarious villain. Following the theme of Spider-Man: Homecoming: School of Shock, this is another comic where Spider-Man is chasing a bank-robbing super-villain, though this time, except for Spider-Man's costume, you wouldn't know this comic was set in Marvel Cinematic Universe, as the Beetle is the classic comic book version, making its MCU canon very loose if the Beetle character shows up in the MCU.  It is an odd story and could be shown easily as the quintessential promotional tie-in comic.

Much Cheaper Now, and Never Re-Printed