The Slum Lord

Book: Spidey Super Stories

Issue No.: 37

Published: August 22, 1978

Title: “The Slum Lord” and two other stories

Cover Price: 35¢

Format: Original paper copy

I think this is the first issue of Spidey Super Stories I’ve found an original copy of. As you might recall, Super Stories was a co-production of Marvel Comics and the PBS TV show The Electric Company, and it was aimed at young readers. Given that younger target audience, I’ve theorized that it’s hard to find Spidey Super Stories in the back issue bins because little kids are less likely to take care of their comic books than teenagers. (This was especially true in the late 1970s when comic books were marketed more as entertainment and less as collectibles.)

My copy of Spidey Super Stories no. 37 is allegedly in “good” condition. But there’s a tear on the front cover, and there’s writing on the back cover — some kid named named John started to fill out the subscription coupon. But at least he didn’t cut the coupon out from the back cover!

When I saw that this book features the White Tiger, I had a short game of “Did I have this book when I was a kid?” I don’t remember reading a lot of Spidey Super Stories, but I have a vague memory of reading about White Tiger in a Super Stories book. It looks like White Tiger also guest-starred in the final issue of Super Stories, so maybe that’s the one I had. That one featured the Trapster as a villain, and I have a vague memory of the Trapster being in one of my Super Stories books.

The second story here features an appearance by Fargo North, Decoder (get it?). He’s a character from the Electric Company TV show. But you wouldn’t know that unless you were a regular watcher of the show. It seems weird to me that they didn’t give these characters more context. If The Electric Company could introduce its viewers to Spider-Man comic books, I don’t see why Spider-Man comic books wouldn’t want to do a better job introducing readers to The Electric Company.

I did watch The Electric Company as a youngster, but I had completely forgotten about Fargo North. I did find this YouTube clip where Big Bird (visiting from Sesame Street) gets Fargo to help him decode a message. It’s a fun segment, and now I wish I could find more Fargo North, Decoder stuff on YouTube.

The last story in this issue gets started when Spider-Man’s alter-ego, Peter Parker, is trying to enjoy a day at the beach. But then the Sandman steals Pete’s hot dog. Given that Sandman can, you know, turn into sand, the beach gives him lots of places to hide. Fortunately, Peter has his super suit with him, so he changes to Spider-Man and eventually gets the better of Sandman.

Because it’s ostensibly an educational teaching-kids-to-read book, there are no ads in Spidey Super Stories. Even with three stories, all those ad-free pages means there is room for a few single-page features. The single-page features in this issue are an origin story of White Tiger, a “secrets of Spider-Man” feature that explains some of Spidey’s super powers, and “Wit of the Web-Slinger.” That last one features Spider-Man telling a corny joke submitted by a reader. The joke submitter for this issue was a dude from Alabama, the same state where I was living in 1978! (It’s also the state where I live now.)

Next time — the 200th (!) issue of the World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!