10 Greatest Spider-Man Writers Not Named Stan Lee Or Steve Ditko
4. Tom DeFalco
Tom DeFalco has been connected to Spider-Man for more than 30 years, first filling in occasionally as a writer on such series as Marvel Team-Up and Spectacular Spider-Man, and then overseeing all of the Spider-books as the group editor before being named lead scripter on the Amazing Spider-Man with issue #251. Despite the tumultuous editorial environment at Marvel in the mid-80s, DeFalco and artist Ron Frenz were responsible for the continuation of a pseudo Golden Age of Spider-Man that started with writer Roger Stern (more on him as a bit) and lasted until the end of the 1980s. Some key stories from the DeFalco/Frenz run included the entire black suit saga, which later led to the creation of the ultra-popular Venom; the unexpectedly epic Spider-Man vs. Firelord two-parter (Amazing Spider-Man #269-270); and the stunningly sentimental Whatever Happened to Crusher Hogan in Amazing Spider-Man #271. Due to editorial differences, DeFalco eventually left the title, but returned in the 1990s to write a number of stories that run the gamut between excellent and not-so-good. Still, even with some duds on his resume (numerous issues of the Clone Saga come to mind), DeFalco managed to script some fun, if not forgotten stories during this period, such as The Rebirth of Electro and Identity Crisis. After his second stint on Amazing Spider-Man, DeFalco rose to even greater popularity when he and Frenz teamed up to create an alternative universe where Peter and Mary Janes daughter May, had survived. Spider-Girl was a cult hit and became the longest-running superhero book with a lead female character ever published by Marvel (100 issues).
Mark is a professional writer living in Brooklyn and is the founder of the Chasing Amazing Blog, which documents his quest to collect every issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and the Superior Spider-Talk podcast. He also pens the "Gimmick or Good?" column at Comics Should Be Good blog.
