Spider-Man vs. The Chameleon
Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: December 10, 1962
Cover: March 1963
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Steve Ditko
10 pages
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| Amazing Spider-Man #1 | Reading order | Strange Tales #106 |
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How much does the job pay? I figure I’m worth your top salary!
We come now to the fourth and final Marvel superhero milestone of December 10, 1962
- Milestone #1 of December 10, 1962:
Fantastic Four meet the Hulk! - Milestone #2:
Iron Man - Miletone #3:
Amazing Spider-Man #1 - Milestone #4:
Fantastic Four meet Spider-Man!
A pretty exciting day in the history of Marvel superheroes indeed.
While the first story of Amazing Spider-Man #1 was largely a character-focused tale, this one gets more into the superhero action.
There are two main thrusts. The first is the meeting between Spider-Man and the FF! And of course, when they meet, they fight. The FF were understandably unhappy about Spider-Man breaking into their headquarters, and Spider-Man saw taking them on as a way of proving his worth to them.
He thought joining the Fantastic Four would be the secret to solving his money woes, but he learned they are a non-profit organization that pays no salary.
I am pretty excited for the universe-building on display. The idea that these stories are all happening in the same world, sometimes in the same city. Now, we’ve seen the Fantastic Four fight the Hulk; Spider-Man turning to the Fantastic Four when in financial trouble; and Spider-Man casually mentioning Ant-Man.
The rest of the tale focuses on Spider-Man’s first super-villain: The Chameleon!
Later stories would depict Chameleon as Russian. But there’s no evidence of that here. Quite the contrary, in fact. He talks about selling secrets to “Iron Curtain countries”. He talks about them as though they are other; the implication is that he is not from one of those countries.
Chameleon is a master of disguise who frames Spider-Man for his crimes. Spider-Man was already wanted for questioning thanks to Jameson, so this doesn’t help his reputation.
We start now to get hints of Spider-Man’s famous “spider-sense”. Though it’s not always clear what’s going on with it, just that he has a “spider-instinct” which senses danger. He is able to hear a message sent on a frequency only spiders can hear. He can use it to track a helicopter. He can also use it to detect a foe in the dark.
We see some of the same motifs as the previous story. Spider-Man is a temperamental teenager, often flying off at the handle. But you often see where he’s coming from, because life just never seems to cut him a break.
Spider-Man’s real name is Peter Parker. This is well-established. Yet the narrator refers to him as Peter Palmer. Twice. Not sure what can be inferred from this, so I’m just going to call it a typo. Now, some typos take off. The narrator accidentally referred to Jane Nelson as Jane Foster once and that seems to have stuck. This one will be forgotten.
The art in this half of the comic sometimes seems cruder than the first half. The webbing on Spider-Man’s face is often off. Ditko is the only person credited with art. Not sure if he was rushing or getting some help to finish the webbing. Or if he just had trouble with the face in smaller panels.
Neat! A web parachute!
The first tale in this issue ended with a note of Spider-Man wondering if he might turn to crime. The Fantastic Four have pondered in the past whether Thing might snap and go evil. And Hulk stories often end with Hulk, even with Bruce Banner’s brain largely in control, talking about the menace he represents. It’s definitely a recurring motif, that these heroes are on the edge of being villains. This story ends with the Fantastic Four wondering what will happen if Spider-Man goes bad.
Rating: ★★★★☆, 72/100
Significance: ★★★★★
I read this story in Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection vol. 1: Great Power.
Characters:
- Chameleon
- Peter Parker/Spider-Man
- Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic
- Susan Storm/Invisible Girl
- Johnny Storm/Human Torch
- Ben Grimm/Thing
- Professor Newton
Story notes:
- Narrator twice calls him Peter Palmer
- Spider-Man’s plan to get job with FF
- “spider instinct senses danger”; can be used to track a helicopter or sense a foe in the dark
- FF a non-profit
- Chameleon master of disguise with plans to sell plans to “Iron Curtain” countries
- Repeated mentions that Spider-Man is wanted by police
- Chameleon uses spider frequency waves to communicate with Spider-Man
- Robbery at Lark building
- Peter studying spider exhibit at museum
- Spider-Man self-describes as having the “proportionate strength of a spider”
| Previous | #47 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Amazing Spider-Man #1 | Reading order | Strange Tales #106 |
| Amazing Spider-Man #1 | Amazing Spider-Man | Amazing Spider-Man #2 |
