Did a Spider-Man Comic Predict the 1977 Blackout?

What Happened in the Comic?

Spider-Man and the Wasp were fighting against the villain Equinox who can shoot fire out of his arms.  A blast hit a building and the power transformer went down causing blackouts all over the city.  This issue came out in July, 1977. The same week as the real blackout.

What Happened in Real Life?

From July 13th, 1977 to July 14th, 1977 the only neighborhoods in New York City that were not affected were the Southern Queens, and neighborhoods of the Rockaways.  This resulted in city wide looting and arson.  However the cause was not a super villain but rather lightening that struck Buchanan South, a substation on the Hudson River, tripping two circuit breakers in Westchester County. The Buchanan South substation converted the 345,000 volts of electricity from Indian Point  to lower voltage for commercial use. A loose locking nut combined with a tardy upgrade cycle ensured that the breaker was not able to reclose and allow power to flow again.

This blackout is all over pop culture.  In the film Men in Black it was caused from a practical joke.  In 1977  The Trammps released the song “The Night the Lights Went Out”.  In 1999 Spike Lee put out the film Summer of Sam where the blackout is a key theme.

See this and other comic book predictions at Cracked.com.