Written by Tom DeFalco
Drawn by Mark Armstrong
Published by Marvel Comics

While DC had Captain Carrot And His Amazing Zoo Crew, Marvel also entered the Funny Animal Superhero genre one year later, in 1983, with the debut of Spider-Ham, an anthropomorphic talking Pig with the powers of Spider-Man. Created by Tom DeFalco, Larry Hama, and Mark Armstrong, the character debuted in this special one-shot issue (the title is a play on Marvel Tales, which was a long-running series that reprinted Spider-Man stories), which featured a 19-page lead story starring the character.

Although Spider-Ham gets top billing on the cover, this is more of a team-up story. In this world, Peter Porker works as a freelance photographer for a newspaper called the Daily Beagle, run by J. Jonah Jackal, alongside reporter Steve Mouser, who is secretly the superhero Captain Americat, and Peter and Steve are aware of each other’s secret identities.

The book doesn’t waste time with origin stories for either hero; it just gets right to the action. The two heroes stop a bunch of greedy gophers from robbing a jewelry store. Then they switch into their civilian clothes and head to the Daily Beagle, where Jonah berates them for being late and then gives them a new assignment. Video City is a huge arcade, which has lately been several acts of sabotage from a mysterious masked marauder, as well as daily protests from a Parents’ group that wants the place shut down because they think video games are bad for children (this was an actual concern from many parents, back in the day). So Jonah sends them to cover the story and see if there’s a connection between the saboteur and the protestors.

Peter and Steve go to the arcade, where they meet Bartholomew Bark (a dog, of course), the owner of Video City. They also meet Alice Groundy (a groundhog), head of the protestors, Randolph Rodent (a rat), a businessman who wants to buy the Video City building so he can tear it down and build a jelly bean factory on the location, and Quincy Quakers (a duck), who owns an amusement park that’s next door to the arcade, who’s been losing money because kids would rather play video games than ride rollercoasters and merry-go-rounds.

Bartholomew gives them a tour of the arcade and introduces them to Dr. Bruce Bunny, the chief electrical engineer who designed most of the arcades, including his newest one, Gamma Gambit. Apparently, this video game uses actual gamma radiation because while Bruce is inside one of them, working on it, he’s trapped inside it by The Masked Marauder, who attempts to sabotage it. This leads to Bruce transforming into a giant green Hulk-Bunny and going on a rampage.

Changing into their superhero costumes, Spider-Ham tries to stop Hulk-Bunny while Captain Americat confronts the Marauder. No spoilers, except to say that in the end, the Marauder is caught and unmasked, the Hulk-Bunny is stopped and transforms back into Bruce Bunny. So Alls Well That Ends Well.

The issue also contains a 5-page backup story, featuring a Ghost Rider parody called Goose Rider. Written and drawn by Steve Mellnor, Goose Rider just wants to go relax at the movies one night, but keep running into trouble.

This is a fun little issue, Tom DeFalco effortlessly writes it for an all-ages audience. There’s also plenty of visual site-gags in both stories, especially the Goose Rider tale. The best compliment I can give this issue is that 42 year later it still stands the test of time and would be good introduction to comic books for any young child.

Marvel Tails Starring Peter Porker The Spectacular Spider-Ham (1983) #1