Torment (comics)
| "Torment" | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| Publication date | August – December 1990 |
| Genre | |
| Title(s) | Spider-Man #1-5 |
| Main character(s) |
Spider-Man Lizard Calypso |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Todd McFarlane |
| Artist(s) | Todd McFarlane |
| Letterer(s) | Rick Parker |
| Colorist(s) |
Bob Sharen (#1-3) Todd McFarlane (#4) Gregory Wright (#5) |
| Editor(s) | Jim Salicrup |
| Hardcover | |
"Torment" is a story arc written by Todd McFarlane, which encompassed the first five issues of the new ongoing Spider-Man comic book. It was published in 1990 by Marvel Comics. The comic was a record-breaking sales success and helped start the next stage of development in the Modern Age of Comic Books, which would lead to the formation of Image Comics and the rise of the speculator market.
The Lizard is going on a murdering spree before Spider-Man tries to stop him. The Lizard poisons Spider-Man and throws him off of a building. It is later revealed that Calypso is hypnotizing The Lizard to do her bidding. Spider-Man defeats both Calypso and The Lizard, but Spider-Man believes The Lizard dies from Calypso's effect on his brain.
McFarlane had been the artist for The Amazing Spider-Man for a long time, and it was for Spider-Man #1 that McFarlane moved to be the artist and the writer, even though "the itch, the creative itch, of writing at the point wasn't so much that I wanted to be a writer. Because to me, I just wanted to draw. It was being in control of what I was drawing. The only way I was going to get there was to go, 'Well, I have to make up the story.'"
Editor Jim Salicrup has said it came about organically. He explained, "I encouraged Todd to get more involved and start inking his own work. ... he was such a naturally good storyteller, and thinking about everything he was doing. Todd was willing to go off and write backups or do whatever he could just to starting writing and learn the whole writing thing. I felt he was so vital to what we were doing with Spider-Man at the time that I found myself doing something I never thought I'd want to do, which was to add yet another Spider-Man book".
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