Amazing Spider-Man #18

Featuring: Spider-Man (for the moment)
Release: August 11, 1964
Cover: November 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee, author of “The Fantastic Four”
Illustrated by: Steve Ditko, illustrator of “Dr. Strange”
Lettered by: Sam Rosen, letterer of… “Patsy Walker”???
22 pages

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Amazing Spider-Man #17	Reading order	Strange Tales #126
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Check out that cover. Quite the contrast with pretty much every other superhero cover. The superhero is usually portrayed as tough, dramatically standing against the odds. In the worst case, the cover might show the villain winning, but the superhero remains defiant. This one has Spider-Man cowering and hiding from the villain.

In this story, Peter decides to quit being Spider-Man. He’s thought about it before, but he’s about to actually quit for the first time. It won’t be the last time, or even necessarily the most famous time. A similar story will get told and retold across decades of Spider-Man stories and even make its way into Spider-Man 2. (More directly, the film borrowed from Amazing Spider-Man #50, which borrowed from this issue.)

Note we’re reading this and the last issue together because they make a strong arc when read together. In terms of continuity, it has been weeks since the conclusion of the last issue, so it’s likely several other heroes’ adventures we’ve read occurred in the interim.

The story begins with everybody reacting to Spider-Man’s retreat: heroes, villains, people on the street… guy can’t run away from a single fight without everybody having an opinion. Ditko is great at people reacting to things.

Wasp notes that wasps and spiders are natural enemies. Always found that a weird thing to say. But she’s said it before and she’ll say it again; it’s an obsession of hers whenever the topic of Spider-man comes up.

This is an excellent comic for helping shape the nature of the relationship between Human Torch and Spider-Man. They’ve had some banter and conflict before, but also teamed up. A friendly rivalry. We saw how friendly last issue when Johnny attended the Spider-Man Fan Club meeting and then was quick to help Spider-Man against the Goblin. Now, he seems uncertain. He witnessed Spider-Man’s cowardice firsthand, but still wants to think better of his friend.

In an attempt to give Spider-Man a chance to explain, he sends a message to meet where they last met, which was the Statue of Liberty. It’s much easier for the Torch to get there than Spider-Man, but it was Spidey who suggested it last time. For better or worse, it will become their regular meeting place. Johnny waits there until nightfall, but Spider-Man never shows.

Of course, Spider-Man has not been sighted lately because Peter Parker has been tending to his aunt, who is recovering from a heart attack.

This issue gets to the essence of Spider-Man perhaps better than any other yet. It’s all about a sense of responsibility, and the struggle to balance conflicting responsibilities. Peter has to look after May; he is concerned about money and paying for her medicine. He is a high school student. He has a girlfriend Betty he’s been neglecting. It’s not clear there’s time for all these things and to swing around the city in tights fighting criminals.

So that Peter can go to school, May’s friend Anna Watkins will help out. They reference the niece of Mrs. Watkins. I have to wonder if this is another mistake on Stan’s part, like when he called Liz’s dad Mr. Brant last issue, or when he couldn’t decide if Banner’s first name was Bruce or Bob. In issue 15, we met May’s friend Mrs. Watson, and we’ve heard a lot about Mrs. Watson’s niece. We saw Mrs. Watson only briefly, so it’s hard to tell from the art if this is supposed to be the same person. We never learned Mrs. Watson’s first name. We’ll see in forthcoming issues evidence compound that there is no Mrs. Watkins, and this woman is indeed Mrs. Watson.

Peter and the doctor has been concealing from May how sick she is. The doctor isn’t named but it’s clear it’s the same doctor we met in issue 12, who appears to be different from the two doctors for May we had met prior to that.

They are running low on medicine, and their savings is almost depleted. Peter is worried they soon will not be able to afford the medicine. He puts on the Spider-Man suit again in an attempt to earn some money. He tries to make a deal with a trading card company, but they reject him due to his cowardice against Green Goblin, calling him a has-been. He attempts to sell his webbing to a paste company, but they reject it because of the property that it soon dissolves.

In a more civilized society, this would of course not be an issue. If May needs the medicine to live, and she lives in a nation capable of producing sufficient medicine, then she should get the medicine. The idea that she can’t afford it suggests that her very right to life is dependent on the society finding her (or her teenage nephew) sufficiently useful and productive.

Liz invites Peter to see a new Peter Sellers movie at the drive-in. Peter Sellers was in several movies that year, but I choose to believe she was inviting Peter to see Dr. Strangelove.

Besides time and money considerations, Peter has become acutely aware of the risk associated with being Spider-Man. He can’t afford to get hurt when Aunt May needs him. So when he comes across burglars, he calls the police. When he comes across Sandman, he runs and hides. We see the panel that the issue’s cover was taken from. Plenty of people see him run from Sandman, cementing his new image in the public consciousness.

The whole world has basically turned on Spider-Man at this point, except for Flash. Flash never gives up on Spider-Man. In an attempt to prove he’s right, Flash foolishly puts on a Spider-Man costume. This is not the first time he’s done so, and the last time got him captured by Dr. Doom. Lessons not learned.

Given how few black faces we’ve seen in these comics, it’s probably worth noting that one of the police officers appears to be a black man. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to the original page to see what the coloring looked like in 1964.

Peter’s already feeling overwhelmed by life’s stresses when he sees Betty leaving the cinema with another man. Has he lost her already?

It’s the last straw. Peter is going to get his priorities in order. He’ll take care of Aunt May; he’ll be better to Betty. He’s going to need a job, perhaps in a lab. This will leave no time for being Spider-Man, so he’s done. He quits. He is Spider-Man no more. Costume in the trash. This is the end of Spider-Man.

But then Aunt May has some timely words, about the strength of the Parkers, about not quitting. And Peter wavers.

Peter reads an article where Jonah calls him the biggest phony since the Cardiff Giant. I had to look up the reference. It’s a famous hoax where somebody made and buried a statue which they tried to pass off as the petrified remains of a giant man; the giant was successfully exhibited. P.T. Barnum made a copy of the giant for his own exhibitions. Of Barnum’s giant, it was said (though not by Barnum) that, “a sucker is born every minute.” The quote referred to the fools who paid money to see the fake fake giant as opposed to the real fake giant.

Peter comes to a decision. He says: “…a man can’t change his destiny… and I was born to be… Spider-Man!!!”

Interestingly, Spider-Man’s attempt to market his likeness to trading cards reminded me of the Marvel Universe trading cards I collected as a child. The 1992 series included quotes from all the characters, and that was the quote from the Spider-Man card. At the time, I recall being surprised the quote wasn’t “With great power…”. I now realize it’s because the narrator said that famous quote, not Spider-Man himself.

Stan claims at the issue’s end this is the first story with an adventure hero who never fights a foe. Stan is prone to exaggeration, but that may well be true. It is certainly unique in our reading, an entirely character-driven and almost action-free story. All the better for it.

If somebody wants to understand what Spider-Man is really all about, this is the perfect issue to show them.

The issue includes a letter from Frank Brunner, aged 15 (who will one day become famous for his work illustrating Dr. Strange)

Dear Stan and Steve,

I’ve just finished SPIDER-MAN #15 with that fugitive from a Tarzan movie, Kraven, and for a villain with no complex super-powers it turned out to be a darn good story! You even threw in the Chameleon for kicks which reminds me, I’ve a kick about how you had him appear for only a few seconds at a time and what a pushover he was! His admitting he was no match for Spider-Man was very unvillainlike– I thought all villains were conceited. Also, why did the Chameleon have to come back to Spidey’s turf? He could have set up a crime wave somewhere else and eluded Spidey. Your letters pages are great– I get a kick out of the funny ones and highly original offerings

Frank Brunner, Brooklyn, NY

The letters page also invites us to guess was M.M.M.S stands for.

To my mind, this story isn’t quite over. While both this issue and the last one somewhat stand alone, they are strongly tied together in a single arc. Next issue will wrap up this arc, so I would like to read it next, as I like to read story arcs together.

However, I also want to be aware of chronology, and Human Torch plays a key role in this arc, and the story will be explicit that he has an adventure in his own series mid-arc. Also, I like to read whole issues at once, and Human Torch shares his comic with Dr. Strange, who is about to become embroiled in his own epic 2-part adventure (coincidentally, also one of the best stories of all time). So we will pause this Spider-Man arc to check in on Human Torch, Thing, and Dr. Strange, and then come back here to see how Spider-Man makes his triumphant return.

Rating: ★★★★★, 90/100
Significance: ★★★★☆

I read this story in Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus vol. 1. You can also find it in Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Spider-Man vol. 2. Or on Kindle.

Characters:

• Spider-Man/Peter Parker
• Green Goblin
• J. Jonah Jameson
• Dr. Octopus
• Kraven
• Vulture
• Mr. Fantastic
• Invisible Girl
• Human Torch
• Thing
• Iron Man
• Thor
• Giant-Man
• Captain America
• Wasp
• Daredevil
• Aunt May
• Anna Watkins (Watson?)
• Flash Thompson
• Liz Allan
• Seymour?
• Aunt May’s doctor
• Betty Brant
• Sandman
• Rocky Roberts
• Betty’s date

Minor characters:

• Irv (police officer)

(That was a lot of characters to type!)

Story notes:

• Weeks have passed since end of last issue.
• May has a neighbor Anna Watkins; it’s possible she is meant to be Mrs. Watson, and the name is a typo.
• Peter has been focused on taking care of Aunt May, and not going out as Spider-Man.
• ACE Picture Co. makes trading cards with sports stars and actors; rejects Spider-Man because he’s a has-been.
• Spider-Man calls the police on burglars; can’t risk himself because Aunt May needs him.
• Burglars breaking into jewelry store on Forty-seventh Street.
• Aunt May’s doctor appears to be the same doctor we saw in issue 12. We’d met what appear to be two different doctors before that.
• Flashbacks to Sinister Six battle from Amazing Spider-Man Annual 1.
• Jameson awarded “Good Citizenship” medal for editorials against Spider-Man.
• Spider-Man tries to sell webbing to Peerless Paste Co.; they reject it because it dissolves after a few minutes.
• Sandman has escaped prison, apparently.
• Town sees Spider-Man running away from Sandman.
• Mrs. Watkins’ niece is away, so she has to cook dinner for her husband.
• Spider sense allows Peter to sense Flash around the corner losing a fight.
• Betty goes to a movie with… not Peter. Her date is unnamed.
• Peter decides to quit being Spider-Man, but changes his mind.
• Doctor says May doesn’t need medicine anymore; just in time, as they were out and couldn’t afford more.

Previous	#259	Next
Amazing Spider-Man #17	Reading order	Strange Tales #126
Amazing Spider-Man #17	Amazing Spider-Man	Amazing Spider-Man #19