Spider-Man and Zoids facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Spider-Man and Zoids
Cover of Spider-Man and Zoids #49, published Feb. 7, 1987.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel UK
Schedule	Weekly
Format	Ongoing series
Publication date	March 1986 - February 1987
Number of issues	51

Spider-Man and Zoids was a cool comic book series from Marvel UK. It was made to go along with the popular Zoids toys! This comic had two main parts: it reprinted exciting Spider-Man stories, and it also featured brand-new adventures of the Zoids. These Zoids stories were unique and not connected to the Zoids anime cartoons you might know. They were created especially for the original Zoids model kits released in the UK and Australia. Spider-Man and Zoids is also special because it showed some of the first work by a famous writer named Grant Morrison. He wrote an amazing and intense story called the Black Zoid storyline.

The Zoids' Story: How It All Began

Zoidstar's Past

Long ago, a blue-skinned alien race called the Zoidaryans lived on a planet called Zoidstar. They created huge mechanical beasts known as Zoids. These powerful machines helped them conquer and rule many other worlds. Their empire even reached into the part of space where Earth is!

The Zoidaryans loved to fight. When they ran out of new enemies, they started using their Zoids to battle each other. These were epic fights to the finish! This time was called their "golden age" or "Heroic Combat." But soon, they realized they were slowly disappearing because of all the fighting. So, they decided that androids (robot pilots) would control the Zoids in battle instead. This way, the Zoidaryans could still enjoy the fights without risking their own lives.

The Blue Moon Mystery

Far away, at the edge of the Zoidaryan Empire, some Zoid fleets were still patrolling. One fleet got lost because of a meteor shower and crashed on Zoidstar's Blue Moon. Only one Zoidaryan survived. Android technicians rescued him and gave him a special exoskeleton suit to help his injured body.

The Blue Moon was super cold, and the crashed Zoids stopped working. So, the androids started changing them to survive the cold. They heated the Zoids, which turned their original blue color to red! This is how the Red Zoid mutants were born.

Eventually, the last Zoidaryan made it back to Zoidstar. He found that his people had vanished, probably because of the meteor shower. But the Zoidaryan automated factories were still making Zoids, and these machines kept fighting even though their creators were gone.

The Namer's Prophecy

Realizing he was the very last of his kind, the Zoidaryan called himself "Namer." He gave each fighting machine a name that described its abilities. For example, he named one "Spiderzoid" because it was "Small and fleet of foot, yet cunning and deadly in battle." As he named them, the Namer made a big prediction: when the changed Red Zoids from the Blue Moon returned, there would be a final, huge battle.

Adventures on Zoidstar

The Red Zoids Arrive

The Red Zoids, led by a powerful Zoid named Redhorn, landed on Zoidstar. They tried to take control. The Blue Zoids, feeling threatened, stopped fighting each other for a moment. They united under the mighty Zoidzilla to push the Red Zoids away. A huge war began, and Redhorn even forced some Blue Zoids to turn red. He soon gained a strong ally in Mammoth, a Blue Zoid who willingly joined the Red side.

Humans Crash Land

In the year 2274, a human spaceship called the Celeste crashed right into this war! The ship was supposed to take prisoners to Zoidstar, which they thought was an empty planet where a prison could be built. But when the Celeste reached Zoidstar's orbit, it was hit by a fireball. The survivors were stranded on the planet, and many were quickly defeated by the Zoids.

Captain Drew Heller led the remaining humans. They teamed up with the Namer and tried to survive and find a way to escape Zoidstar. Early on, they managed to capture a Spiderzoid. Captain Heller's son, Griff, was the only one small enough to fit inside it, so he became its pilot. He used it to defend the humans from other Zoids.

Krark's Grand Plan

While the Blue and Red Zoids fought, a third power was growing. Krark, the ultimate Red Zoid mutation, was called the Prince of Darkness by the Namer. He wanted to unite all the Zoids. The two armies just wanted to keep fighting each other, but Krark had a bigger goal: he wanted to leave Zoidstar and create a new Zoid Empire, ruling the entire Galaxy! He had some success, but many Zoids didn't understand his ideas and just wanted to keep battling.

The comic stories showed Krark's plans, the battles between the Blue and Red Zoids, and the humans' struggle to survive. There were also some unusual stories. One tale was about an old Cosmozoid who was tired of fighting. He searched for a legendary place called Metalon, where Zoids could find eternal peace. But he discovered too late that Metalon was a place where Zoids fought forever, and he was trapped! Another story showed a Blue Zoid android and a Red Zoid android realizing how much damage the Zoids had caused to planets. The Blue Zoid android felt helpless as his friends continued their war.

Secrets and Betrayals

Later, the comic revealed that Silverman, the person in charge of the prisoner program for the Celeste ship, was actually an android! He was like the robots from the movies The Terminator and Alien. When his true identity was discovered, he tried to eliminate the human crew so he could be the only one to escape Zoidstar.

It turned out that the United States government and a bad company called Cybersol Corporation knew about the Zoids. The Celeste mission was a test to see how humans would react, before a bigger plan to capture and copy the Zoids for military use, all for Cybersol's benefit. Heller and Silverman fought in an old Zoid factory, and everyone thought Silverman was gone.

Other stories introduced a second surviving Zoidaryan named Clada. He called himself the commander of the Blue Zoid army, though Zoidzilla saw him as just a factory leader. An annual story showed that Namer and Clada knew each other from long ago. Namer had built an unbeatable Zoid called Zrk, which Clada piloted to many victories. Clada's pride led the Namer to challenge him to Heroic Combat. Knowing Zrk's weak points, Namer defeated him. Their old rivalry came to a head in the present, with Namer defeating Clada but temporarily losing the trust of the Celeste crew.

Meanwhile, Mammoth tricked Redhorn into being defeated by both Zoidzilla and Krark. This allowed Mammoth to take command of the Red Zoids. But Redhorn's android pilot survived! He tried to rebuild his Zoid body, fighting the Celeste crew in the process. As the humans gained control of a large Zoid called the Great Gorgon, Heller started having bad dreams about Silverman. He also discovered that one of his arms was bionic, which made him question who he was. It was also revealed that Cybersol gave him the bionic arm after they caused an accident that badly injured him and took his wife, Celeste. Now, Cybersol was preparing to send a team of mercenaries to Zoidstar to capture Zoids.

The Black Zoid Saga

Silverman wasn't gone! Using the technology from the Zoid factory, he built a giant Black Zoid. This powerful being had amazing weapons and kept shedding its outer layers to reveal a new, dangerous form underneath. From issues 40 to 46, Silverman raged across Zoidstar. He was filled with hatred and wanted to make Heller suffer.

Zoidzilla's android pilot was destroyed, and the Blue army was in chaos. So, the Namer took command and had them rebuild their leader. The Black Zoid attacked and defeated many Blue forces. The mighty Gore managed to hit it, but the Black Zoid shed its outer shell. Its next form, armed with a blade, defeated Gore. A terrified Heller tried but failed to stop it in Gorgon. Meanwhile, Krark took advantage of this (and Mammoth's poor leadership of the Red Zoids) to form his united Zoid army.

Griff piloted Zoidzilla against the Black Zoid. He almost lost his mind because of a dangerous mental connection. His attacks initially brought down the Black Zoid, but its next form, with wings, brought Zoidzilla down. At this point, Krark arrived with his alliance, and a fierce air battle brought down the Black Zoid. However, the Black Zoid revived with its final form – a walking head! It was finally defeated by a giant welding device from a Blue Zoid factory, which the Namer and the Celeste crew used as a weapon. Silverman then emerged from the wreckage to attack Heller directly. The captain fought back fiercely. When Silverman's body was destroyed, his head detached and grew small legs (like the creature in the movie The Thing). Heller had to defeat it completely. One of the ending scenes showed one of Silverman's arms still moving and a speech bubble saying, "I... hate you.... Heller," suggesting he might not be truly gone.

The next few issues showed mercenaries getting ready to invade Zoidstar for the Cybersol Corporation. Griff struggled to control his mind against Zoidzilla's influence and lost his memory. The Celeste crew and Heller continued to survive with the Namer on Zoidstar. Redhorn returned and defeated Mammoth to regain control of the Red Zoids, with a hint that Mammoth might also return. The Blue Zoids were rebuilding. A new type of "Renegade" Zoids was created by automated Zoid factories to fight Krark's army. Krark also gained new recruits as his plans moved forward. Issue 50 also revealed a strange alien lifeform was behind the Zoid Wars, using it for something even worse, all as part of "a game," with the entire universe as "their playroom," and everyone in it "nothing but toys." The most worrying part was that "the game is about to begin."

• Spider-Man and Zoids at the Comic Book DB