As you all know, superhero comic books are a serial medium, and superhero continuity, in particular, is an ever-changing status quo as characters change dramatically over the years. However, "classic" storylines are often viewed on their own and not as a part of whatever continuity was current at the time the story was released. As a result, when you look back at these storylines and the issues surrounding them, there often is a bit of a disconnect between viewing these stories as "timeless" and the reality that they are very much rooted in their own particular era.

So this is the first in a series (of indefinite length and regularity) of pieces looking at interesting overlaps in comic book continuity, beginning with the issue of Amazing Spider-Man directly following the two-part "Death of Gwen Stacy."

Enjoy!

Spider-Man's girlfriend, Gwen Stacy, was murdered by his nemesis, the Green Goblin (before the Goblin himself fell victim to his own fatal machinations) in mid-1973. That was a year after Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, was first introduced.

Well, a year later, Marvel obviously wished to raise Cage's profile, but it seems odd that they chose to do so in the issue directly following the end of the "Death of Gwen Stacy" storyline.

Check out the bizarre juxtaposition...

Great artwork by the art team of Gil Kane and John Romita, and Gerry Conway works in Cage as well as he can, but nothing really says "the show must go on" better than tying in a poorly-selling superhero into your main superhero title right after a major storyline in the more popular hero's magazine.

If you have suggestions for future odd pieces of overlapping continuity, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com, and maybe I'll feature your idea in a future installment of this feature!