Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham

In the mid-1980s, Marvel Comics unleashed a delightfully absurd corner of its universe with Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham, a 17-issue series that reimagined classic superhero tropes through a pun-filled, animal-centric lens. The series follows Peter Porker, a pig bitten by a radioactive spider, as he dons the Spider-Ham identity to fight a menagerie of barnyard villains, including the hot-tempered J. Jonah Jackal and his nephew J. Jeremiah Jackal Jr., with occasional help from sidekick Bunsen Bunny. Written primarily by Steve Skeates, Mike Carlin, and Steve Mellor, and drawn by a rotating team of Joe Albelo, Mark Armstrong, and Fred Hembeck, the book leaned into slapstick humor and pop-culture parody. Though short-lived, it remains a fondly remembered example of Marvel’s willingness to play with its own mythology, proving that even a pig can swing through the city with style.