Here it is, the astonishing conclusion I promised you! I have absolute faith in Paul’s ability to be a better sidekick than Alpha.
Spidey Super Stories (Vol. 1) #9
Published: c. March, 1975?
Cover Date: June, 1975
“The Ape Escape”
Writer: Jean Thomas
Artist: Winslow Mortimer
Inker: Mike Esposito and Tony Mortellaro
I… I have no words for that; I can’t.
There was an interview of Slott at a convention that was posted on this site – it was like he was in a room overlooking the convention floor. I can’t remember when it was, but at one point the interviewer asked Slott a question about characters he had created during his ASM run and he gave an answer like “X” as if X was the only character he had created. Then someone offscreen reminds him about Alpha and Slott tells the interviewer “Oh, right. Alpha.” And Slott doesn’t say anything else about Alpha. It just comes across like Slott realizes that Alpha was a failure and he doesn’t want to say anything else about him.
I wonder what really happened with Alpha behind the scenes at Marvel? Looking back now, it was the most bizarre way imaginable of celebrating Spider-man’s 50th anniversary. I mean 50 years! And they add a “poochie” to the title. Then proceed to literally call out the fact that he’s a poochie and drop him from the title after 2 issues. Was this something forced on Slott, to add a sidekick? Did Slott want it and the editors told him to the drop the storyline? It was one of the biggest misfires of Slotts run and thats really saying a lot. And to waste the character’s 50th anniversary on that? It makes no sense.
Oh, man, I forgot about Alpha! I say bring back Paul!