Spider-Ham was created when Aunt May Porker irradiated herself conducting experiments with a nuclear powered hair-dryer. The radioactive pig then bit a spider, and that spider became... Spider-Ham!

Universe

Earth-8311

Place of Birth

Basement, Porker residence

Created by

Tom DeFalco, Mark Armstrong

First appearance

Marvel Tails #1
(November, 1983)

1 HistoryEdit
2 Powers and AbilitiesEdit
3 ParaphernaliaEdit
- 3.1 Equipment
- 3.2 Transportation
4 NotesEdit
5 TriviaEdit
6 LinksEdit
- 6.1 Discover and Discuss
- 6.2 Footnotes

HistoryEdit

When Peter, a spider, is bitten by radioactive May Porker, he finds himself transformed into a pig, but with his old spider abilities intact. Hilarity ensues as the Spectacular Spider-Ham does battle with his arch-foe, Ducktor Doom. Porker won't have to fight this battle alone, as Nick Furry and Captain Americat make cameo appearances and lend a hand. Minor characters include Hulk Bunny and other animal themed spoofs.

Extra info--

Peter Porker was born a spider (simply named Peter). Residing in the basement lab of May Porker, a slightly goofy animal scientist who had created "the world's first atomic powered hairdryer," hoping that "the introduction of nuclear fission into America's beauty salons" would "revolutionize the hair care industry". After dousing her head with water and activating the dryer, May Porker accidentally irradiated herself, and in a fit of delusion, bit Peter, who then found himself transformed into an anthropomorphic swine much like May Porker herself. Running from the Porker homestead disoriented, Peter soon came to realize that he still retained a spider's abilities:

"This is astounding! Am I a spider with the limitations of a pig? Or a pig with the proportionate strength and agility of a spider? I've become something greater than either spider or pig... I've become a Spider-Ham!"- Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham #15 (May 1987)

After this startling series of events, Peter (who adopted the surname "Porker", that of his benefactor May Porker, who after the accident reverted mentally to a state in which she believed she was Peter's loving aunt) dedicated himself and his new-found abilities to fighting injustice and the occasional animal parody of established Marvel Comics villains.

Porker, in his spider-themed alter-ego's first adventure teamed him with Captain Americat, as they attempted to foil the nefarious plot of "The Marauder", in a series of events that led to the creation of the Hulk-Bunny (Marvel Tails #1, "If He Should Punch Me").

Several months later, Spider-Ham encountered one of his only re-occurring menaces in the form of Ducktor Doom (Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham #1, "The Mysterious Island of Ducktor Doom"). Spider-Ham would meet again with Doom when Porker would foil the would-be world conqueror's plot to create an army of living super vegetables (Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham #6, "Salad Daze").

Other notable menaces Porker would face along the way include The Bull-Frog (a parody of the Marvel villain Man-Bull), the Buzzard (an opossum take on the Spider-Man adversary The Vulture), Hogzilla (a swine counterpart to the more popular Gojira, or as he's known in the United States, Godzilla), and The King-Pig (seemingly the swine equivalent of Marvel's mob-boss The Kingpin).

The series also included back up strips featuring such characters as Deerdevil (Daredevil), Goose Rider (Ghost Rider) and the Fantastic Fur (the Fantastic Four). Some of these back-ups were contradictory, presenting different anthropomorphic versions of characters in different stories, such as two Namor counterparts: the Sub-Merchandiser (a dog) and the Sub-Marsupial (possibly a wombat). (Note: the Asinine Torch (a donkey) that appeared in a story with the Sub-Marsupial and the Fantastic Fur's Simian Torch are not two variants of the Fantastic Four's Human Torch; since he was depicted as elderly in the 1980s, and referred to as an "old sparring partner" of the Sub-Marsupial's, he was obviously a counterpart to the golden age Human Torch.)

After the cancellation of his solo series, Marvel Tales, a monthly reprint series which specialized in reprints of Spider-Man's past adventures began carrying Porker as a back-up feature in 1987, beginning with issue #201 (cover dated July 1987).

These adventures appeared sporadically, in issues 201-212, 214-219, 223-230, 233, 236, 237 239, 240, and 247.

Amongst other characters, the Marvel Tales stories introduced the heavily-weaponed vigilante shark Punfisher (a parody of the Punisher).

Another notable appearance of the character was in the Marvel humor anthology title, What The--?!. In issue #3 of that title (cover dated October 1988), Porker met with Raven the Hunter (a parody of Spider-Man's nemesis Kraven the Hunter) in a story that satirized the popular "Kraven's Last Hunt" storyline which had been featured a year earlier in Marvel's Spider-Man titles. Spider-Ham also makes appearances in issues #18, 20, 22, and 24 of What The--?!

Even Marvel's once-popular 2099 line of titles wasn't safe, as seen in the 26th issue of What The--?! (cover dated Fall 1993), which featured "Spider-Ham 15.88", a humorous take-off on Peter Parker's future counterpart, Miguel O'Hara a.k.a. Spider-Man 2099.

Spider-Ham has also appeared on the cover Wha…Huh? #1 and was referred to, as a fictional character in the Earth-616 Marvel Universe, in Generation X #52.

Spider-Man Family #1 featured a sixteen-page Spider-Girl story, in which May Parker (Peter Parker's daughter) watches a DVD showing a small portion of a fictional Spider-Ham animated series, discovering that it was created by one of Spider-Man's enemies, Jack O'Lantern. Also in the issue, there is a partial reprint of Marvel Tails #1.

Spider-Ham was selected by fans and retailers to be the focus of the final variant cover by Mike Wieringo to the Spider-Man: The Other crossover, Amazing Spider-Man #528. [1]

In January 2007, J. Michael Straczynski authored the Ultimate Civil War Spider-Ham one-shot, featuring Spider-Ham's attempt to find his missing "thought balloons" against a Civil War parody.