Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: April 9, 1964
Cover: July 1964
12 cents
Writen by: Stan Lee (The poor man’s Shakespeare)
Illustrated by: Steve Ditko (The poor man’s Da Vinci)
Lettered by: Art Simek (The poor man’s rich man)
22 pages
There are things to like about this comic. The new villain is pretty goofy, perfect for a one-off issue of frivolity. Bring back the Enforcers and throw in the Hulk, and you have a recipe for a fun time.
But look to this first panel. It’s very interesting. A great panel, actually. You see the villain’s mask in the foreground and the shadowed villain in the background. Spider-Man has had a few unmasking scenes of late. Electro turned out to be someone he’d never heard of. Big Man turned out to be Peter’s colleague, Fred Foswell. This opening panel suggests we will get another dramatic unmasking… except we won’t.
They will save the unmasking for a later issue. Spider-Man actually fails to decisively defeat this goofy villain. Which suggests the Green Goblin will return. A bad idea. The character might be fun for one issue, but not as a recurring villain. Especially when Spider-Man aready has such a robust rogues gallery of far more interesting characters: Chameleon, Vulture, Tinkerer, Dr. Octopus, Sandman, Lizard, Living Brain, Electro, Big Man, Enforcers, and Mysterio.
The second panel is a line that’s rather amusing with the benefit of hindsight. “I made the controls simple enough that there’s no chance of fatal error.” If you’ve read further in Amazing Spider-Man, you know he will redesign his flying device and forget that particular design principle. I had suggested this panel to my friend Brian for his Past Was Close Behind series.
The Green Goblin refers to his device as a “flying broomstick”, keeping to a magic/fairy tale theme.
Moving on to the rest of the page, we see the return of the Enforcers. This development is exciting. They made a good “goon squad”, definitely better than Dr. Doom’s henchmen. The idea that they’ll be the backup muscle to a rotating cast of supervillains is a good one. The Big Man is in jail, so now they’ll work for Green Goblin. Montana briefly tries to claim they don’t take orders, but it takes very little to persuade them otherwise.
Liz’s interests seem to have changed. She has already started becoming more flirtatious with Peter. Now she clarifies that she has outgrown being impressed with Flash’s antics, and is looking for a brainy boyfriend who is likely to be successful in life. Like Peter. These attentions will not go unnoticed by Betty.
Spider-Man has been invited to Hollywood to star in a movie. The Fantastic Four were invited to star in a movie once. How did that work out for them? Admiral?
It’s a trap!
To my mind, inviting Spider-Man to film a movie is unnecessarily elaborate. Earlier in the issue, Green Goblin lures Spider-Man to him just by flying around suspiciously.
Once alone in the New Mexico desert, we learn the movie was, in fact, a trap. This leads to a pretty good battle between Spider-Man, Green Goblin, and the Enforcers. Again, if Green Goblin were a one-off villain, I may find him charming. But please do not ever expect me to take him seriously.
We pause the action to check in with Spider-Man’s supporting cast. We see what 5 different people are up to. No other title (maybe excepting Sgt. Fury) has a supporting cast larger than 2. Very few have a single character who has demonstrated more than a single note to their personality. Yet, this title boasts (at least!) 5 individuals whose personalities are distinct and evolving and worth our attention: Aunt May, Liz Allan, Flash Thompson, Betty Brant, and J. Jonah Jameson.
I do like how Ditko depicts the darkness of the cave they end up trapped in.
And who was trying to hide out from the world that keeps hounding him in this cave? Why, it’s the Hulk. He is not happy to be disturbed. Let the rumble begin.
Notably, this is the first meeting between Spider-Man and Hulk. As we’ve seen, Hulk and Namor are the glue binding all the disparate titles together.
The Enforcers are captured by the army. Hulk and Green Goblin escape. The ending reminds us Green Goblin’s identity remains a mystery. This suggests he will return. A shame.
As with the opening of the issue, Ditko does a good job framing the panels to make it clear we are purposely not seeing the villain’s face. This is the only interesting aspect of Green Goblin.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 53/100
Significance: ★★★★☆
I read this story in Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection vol. 1: Great Power. You can also find it in Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Spider-Man vol. 2. Or on Kindle.
Characters:
- Green Goblin
- Spider-Man/Peter Parker
- Montana
- Fancy Dan
- Ox
- B.J. Cosmos
- Liz Allan
- Flash Thompson
- Betty Brant
- J. Jonah Jameson
- Aunt May
- Hulk
Story notes:
- Green Goblin has basement laboratory; he builds his own flying broomstick.
- Green Goblin’s identity a mystery.
- Green Goblin seems to mix up Ox and Montana.
- Sparks shoot out of Green Goblin’s fingers.
- Amazing Spider-Man #10 referred to as “months ago”.
- Hollywood producer B.J. Cosmos of Cosmos Productions had hit with “The Nameless Thing from the Black Lagoon in the Murky Swamp”; has plans to make the same movie, but now called “The Uknown Thing…”.
- B.J. considers Tony Curtis or a Beatle for the part of Spider-Man.
- Peter got 100% on exam; Liz is impressed.
- Spider-Man offered $50,000 to star in “The Spider-Man Story”.
- Betty expresses jealousy of Liz.
- Peter notes he’s a high school senior.
- Spider-Man, Green Goblin, and Enforcers travel to Hollywood. They then proceed to New Mexico.
- Spider-stamina means Spider-Man can hold his breath twice as long as a normal person.
- B.J. has idea for Hulk movie: “The Honey and the Hulk”; Doris Day will sing the theme song.
- Ending clarifies Green Goblin’s identity remains a secret.
#207 story in reading order
Next: Journey Into Mystery #105
Previous: Fantastic Four #28
Goblin design so out there even a nine year old indifferent to Ditko couldn’t resist.