Amazing Spider-Man #30

Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: August 10, 1965
Cover: November 1965
12 cents
Heroically written and edited by: Stan Lee
Homerically plotted and drawn by: Steve Ditko
Hastily lettered and bordered by: Artie Simek
20 pages

Previous	#436	Next
THUNDER Agents #1	INTERLUDE
Daredevil #11	Reading order	Sgt. Fury #23
Amazing Spider-Man #29	Amazing Spider-Man	Amazing Spider-Man #31

Why wouldn’t he listen?? What is it that always stands between us? The one secret he keeps locked within him– the secret he never shares, or talks about–!

We may as well start with the striking cover. Extremely unusual when compared to every cover we’ve yet seen. Look at how small Spider-Man is on the cover, your eyes hardly drawn to him. The covers usually have the hero big and bold. The issue’s super-villain is easy to miss at a glance. He’s a small figure up in the corner. What draws your eye is the falling water tower. Everything else is designed to give you a sense of scale, to make it look like Spider-Man might have a long drop ahead of him.

Similar to the recent Daredevil story we read, this is another story where behind-the-scenes drama has bled onto the page, but perhaps in ways more subtle.

Let’s try to keep off my soapbox for the moment and read the comic. The question is, which comic do I read? The comic that Ditko wrote? Or the one that Stan wrote? I guess we’ll go with what Stan wrote, since that’s what got published, and maybe we’ll note some oddities as we go.

The opening splash page is a great mini-cover for the story, one that again emphasizes the importance of the supporting cast.

We pick up right where last issue left off, with Betty still sick from her experience with the Scorpion, and Aunt May concealing her fainting from Peter. We jump to later in the evening, when May joins Anna Watson for the movies, which gives Peter an opportunity to go into action.

He passes near the issue’s criminal, who refers to himself as “The Cat Burglar”, but who the issue’s title suggests is called simply, “The Cat”. I’ve always called him “The Cat”. Characters in the comic will call him both those things.

We get the first important clue that something is going wrong in this issue when the Cat reflects that he’s a simple thief with simple tools who should be beneath Spider-Man’s notice. Remember that as Exhibit A.

The following page is Exhibit B. The Cat steals stocks, bonds, and papers from Jameson. Then, 4+ armed criminals in matching uniforms climb out of a fancy truck, whose ceiling unfolds to allow a ramp to extend. The crooks claim the Cat is behind the scheme.

To confuse matters more, the thought balloons of one of the mercenaries suggests this was his plan. “My plan was perfect”, he reflects. Emphasis mine. Or are we meant to believe the man in that uniform is the Cat himself?

Do you see the dichotomy already? Is the Cat a simple thief with simple tools breaking into houses to steal money. Or is he the leader of a technologically sophisticated gang of thieves stealing uranium derivatives? These things are tricky to reconcile, Stan.

When the Cat robs Jameson, Jameson sets a reward for his capture, then fears that reward will go to Spider-Man. He urgently insists Foswell find the Cat before Spider-Man does, leading Foswell to revive his “Patch” identity.

The single creepiest thing I’ve seen in any of these comics is the way Spider-Man smiles in Jameson’s nightmares.

We see an example of what will be a recurring gag. Peter uses a bit of hip slang and Aunt May doesn’t get it, because she’s old. And I don’t get it either. Because I’m not that old. In this case, Peter says, referring to May’s pie, “It was the most”. “The most what?” asks May.

Peter runs into Liz, and learns she has a job now. It’s his first time seeing her since graduation. Flash is following her to learn where she works. She wants nothing to do with him anymore and asks Peter to stall him. Today, we would call Flash’s behavior stalking. A restraining order would be appropriate.

We won’t see much resolution to this little Liz/Flash drama. She gets away from him today. And that’s it. She bows out of Peter’s life and out of the series. Peter and Flash are attending the same college, so Flash will still be around, and he’ll meet new girls in college, and won’t need to stalk his high school crush anymore. Not much fanfare. Liz did get a good bow-out speech back in issue 25, about how Peter never took her seriously. This brief exchange echoes that, but then she’s gone. This scene adds a bit of clarity, as she’s said her goodbye to Peter, but now she makes it clear she wants Flash out of her life too. She’s done with both boys. She’ll start her career while they go off to college and meet other women.

The Spider-Man series will continue for another 60 years and counting under other writers, who will often recycle past arcs and characters. So nobody’s gone forever. But I don’t expect we will see her in this blog anytime soon. This is goodbye for Liz.

Spider-Man encounters a violent crime he mistakes for the Cat.

We get a short scene with Ned and Betty. He seems to have just asked her a question of some sort.

Peter and Betty. We come a tense scene that may be turning point. Fans of Spider-Man know Peter and Betty don’t end up together, and more casual fans may not even know Betty, so can surmise this relationship won’t last forever. Now, Ned has asked Betty to marry him. Peter thinks he needs to propose as well to counter Ned’s proposal. But it wouldn’t be fair to propose without first revealing his secret. But then Betty chooses an awkward moment to reveal she could never love a man like Spider-Man, a man so constantly in danger. She needs someone who will provide stability.

Peter leaves in a huff, feeling Betty has rejected him. Betty is confused as to what her rejection of Spider-Man has to do with Peter. And Peter left before she could finish, before she could tell Peter she loves him more than Ned, and would prefer to be with him, if he’d ask her.

Spider-Man foils a bank robbery by ordinary looking bank robbers using no high-tech equipment. The fancy goons from earlier are nearby, and reveal the bank robbers were working for them. They communicate with their boss, the Cat, who believes they will need to eliminate Spider-Man. Remember, the Cat was a simple cat burglar hoping to stay under Spider-Man’s radar just a few pages ago.

Aunt May again feels dizzy and again hides this information from Peter.

We see the Cat’s face. He lives in a nondescript apartment, not a laboratory, and describes himself as “an ordinary second-story man”. Yet we are also supposed to believe he’s masterminded a series of well-financed high tech robberies. He talks about wanting to make just enough money to settle down, and then get his revenge on Spider-Man.

Who it isn’t clear he’s actually met. So far we’ve seen the Cat pull off one successful robbery.

The Cat proceeds to brag about having outsmarted Spider-Man, who, again, he hasn’t met.

Spider-Man confronts the Cat, who blows up a water tower to stop him, the scene which inspired the cover.

In the end, the police catch the Cat, sparing Jameson from having to pay Spider-Man any reward money.

We get a great final panel about how Spider-Man has come between Peter and Betty.

So what went wrong?

Before we get there, let me throw up all the warnings and caveats as clearly as I can that what follows is pure speculation on my part. I don’t really know what was going on between Lee and Ditko.

To contrast it with the Daredevil story we just read, I don’t really know what was going on between Lee and Wood either. But in that case, I had plenty of quotes on the subject from the men in question, and a barrage of discussion of those quotes on the internet. I cited a couple key sources of discussion. So I was on pretty safe ground with my claims, as I was mostly repeating what everybody else on the internet was saying, which was well in line with the facts and quotes in front of me.

I have found nobody else on the internet claiming what I want to claim now.

I will point you to what I do have, which claims far less than I want to hypothesize.

From Amazing Spider-Man #34, a letter on this issue reads:

Dear Stan and Steve,

What happened to Spidey? I’m referring to the botched up SPIDER-MAN #30. You seemed to have forgotten to put a plot in it. You started off with a crook called the Cat Burglar, who thinks he is too insignificant for Spidey to fight. Then you have a gang of masked crooks whose leader is the Cat. Somewhere along the line you mix up the two and end with the Cat Burglar being captured while being called the Cat. You never see the gang leader, so maybe the cat burglar is the gang leader, but you never say if anything happened to the gang. The two can’t be the same person, so the gang was not said to be apprehended or disbanded. If they were supposed to be the same, then the story failed miserably. If they were supposed to be two different people, the story failed even more. You are known for your slip-ups and nutty mistakes, but this is the first time you have come out with a whole magazine devoted to total confusion! I hope next month you will bring back what made Spidey such a great character– a plot!

Richard W

Stan responded:

The only thing we wanna know, Dick, is– what are you complaining about? From what you mention, it sounds to us like #30 was a ring-a-ding smasheroo! It’s not easy dreaming up plots that don’t make sense– they’re the toughest kind! So thanks for your lavish peans of praise, pal– but be careful– you know how susceptible we are to flattery!

Stan Lee

This issue was reprinted in Marvel Tales #169 from 1984, edited by Danny Fingeroth. The issue includes a segment, “Post Office of the Past”, which reprints letters on Amazing Spider-Man #30 and Lee’s responses.

In the reprint, Fingeroth added an editorial comment, responding to Stan’s response, to clarify why the reader at the time was so confused.

Actually, all that confusion resulted from a bona fide mistake in the original printing. The script for this issue’s story, should have said that the gang of crooks was working for the Master Planner, not the Cat. That will all become clear next issue, which starts the famous Master Planner trilogy. In respect for historical accuracy, I left that blunder as it stands in the story, on pages 3 and 12, but I wanted to point it out so nobody would be confused.

Danny Fingeroth

That’s really all I have to go off. Danny Fingeroth recognizes a “blunder”, basically two typos in the story.

I hypothesize that there are more mistakes than that and that the reasons for the mistakes run deeper than simple typos, and that what we see in this script is the complete breakdown of the working relationship between Stan and Steve.

Yes, obviously that gang works for the Master Planner and not the Cat, so the two times they call the Cat their boss should be crossed out.

The issue doesn’t end with a “next issue” blurb, and Stan loves to hype the next issue. It just ends with “The End”.

And then there’s usually a second box on the letters page to again hype the next issue.

In this case, Stan says this.

Here’s your chance to prove how loyal you are to ol’ Spidey! Without telling you anything about next ish, let’s see if you’ll all be sure to buy it! Remember, we’re putting you to a test now– for all you know, we may be scoring you! Anyway, till we meet again next month, keep your webs untangled and your spirits high– and be sure to wave when we all march by! Face front!

Stan Lee

Again, can we look past the humor and showmanship and try to read between the lines. Is it possible that Stan simply had no idea what next issue would be about? Because Steve hadn’t told him yet.

That letter writer was confused and rightfully so. Because the writer was confused.

Let me go through where I think edits needed to be made.

Page 12, panel 5: “I knew the Cat shouldn’t have trusted anyone except his own gang!

Fingeroth recommends changing “Cat” to “Master Planner” again. I hypothesize the changes should go deeper than that. Per Fingeroth’s interpretation of Lee’s plot this bank robbery was organized by the Master Planner and his goons who steal the science equipment were watching it. Per Lee’s script, the bank robbery was organized by the Cat.

But note that no high tech robbery and the goons didn’t seem as well resourced as Master Planner’s. Why? My hypothesis is that Ditko’s idea for this issue is that a lot of things are happening. While searching for the Cat, Spidey had just stumbled upon an unrelated crime, and now has done so again.

Then the scene changes to focus on the van. Perhaps the van had been monitoring Spider-Man, not the bank robbers. I would suggest that panels 5-7 are scripted incorrectly, and that there is no connection between the Master Planner and the bank robbery. I have no way of knowing Ditko’s true intent for those panels.

Most likely, they clarify the gang is not done and has a plan for a big job next issue. This would have helped the confused reader who was concerned the gang was never caught.

While it’s pretty common for villains in these stories to change their motivation from profit to revenge on the superhero that impacted their profits, it’s rarely good writing and makes even less sense here. The Cat had been trying to stay off the radar of characters like Spider-Man by being small-time. It would make more sense if he still wanted to just settle down with money and forget Spider-Man.

Also, he hasn’t met Spider-Man yet! What can he possibly want revenge for? Assuming we’ve made the other changes above and agreed the Cat is not the leader of Master Planner’s goons, then Spider-Man and the Cat haven’t met, and Spider-Man hasn’t foiled any of his plans.

Again, he hasn’t met Spider-Man yet. How did he outsmart him?

The script goes back and forth between “Cat” and “Cat Burglar” too many times. The script would be clearer if they referred to him as a cat burglar once or so, and then always called him “the Cat”.

Finally, the thing that would have helped a lot is a “next issue” blurb. That could have clarified that the Master Planner would return next issue with more schemes. A simple way to let us know that story is just beginning, and that the lack of resolution is not a mistake.

What do I think Ditko was trying to do with this issue? I think he was going for a “day in the life of Spider-Man” type of vibe by intersecting all these plot threads, some minor, some just for this issue, and some that will pay off in issues to come.

What are the minor threads? The bank robbery, and the man threatening his ex-employer Spider-Man mistakes for the Cat.

These are two crimes that Spider-Man deals with quickly in the midst of other things.

The major thread is the Cat’s story, including Foswell’s investigation, and Jameson’s reward money.

One continuing thread is about Peter’s social/romantic life, the drama with Liz and Betty. The drama with Betty will continue, and their apparent separation will pave the way for a new girl we will meet next issue.

Aunt May’s health will become a major plot thread next issue.

The Master Planner and his goons. These scenes were setting up an epic 3-part battle. This issue should have established the mysteries. Who is the Master Planner? What is he doing with all the scientific equipment? Will Spider-Man be able to stop him? Find out in coming issues.

I think Stan either didn’t understand all of that or found it too complex, and made the decision that the bank robbers and Master Planner’s goons all worked for the Cat.

I think the mistakes in this issue are very confusing, and that they go beyond small typos and reveal two creators whose professional relationship had deteriorated to the point where they were no longer speaking to each other, and this led to dialogue which didn’t fit the story being told by the art, makes no sense, and confused the readers.

It could have been a great story about Spider-Man’s search for the Cat tangled up with Peter’s fraught romantic life, with lots of threads winding through it which will pay off in the coming issues.

Next issue, Spider-Man confronts the goons from this issue again. Only next issue, they will no longer claim to be working for the Cat.

Rating: ★★★½, 60/100 (72 for Ditko’s story; 45 for Stan’s; we’ll compromise on 60)
Significance: ★★★☆☆

Characters:

• Aunt May
• Ned Leeds
• Betty Brant
• J. Jonah Jameson
• Spider-Man/Peter Parker
• Liz Allan
• Flash Thompson
• The Cat/Cat Burglar
• Betty’s friend
• Mrs. Watson
• Frederick Foswell/Patch

Story notes:

• Cop and news refers to criminal as the Cat Burglar; Spider-Man, Jameson, a bystander, and the Master Planner’s goons refer to him as the Cat.
• Jameson offers $1000 reward for Cat’s capture.
• Truck carrying load of uranium derivatives to Stark’s factory is ambushed.
• Foswell again uses Patch disguise to learn about the Cat.
• Peter runs into Liz, who is now a working girl. She is being stalked by Flash, who she doesn’t want to know where she works.
• Sophia Loren reference.
• Peter knocks out Flash to pursue the Cat; turns out it’s not the Cat. Peter gets back before Flash wakes up.
• Peter lies and claims Liz works at the Dillon Department Store.
• Ned had just asked Betty a question when Peter called. Betty reveals that Ned has asked her to marry him. Peter wants to propose as well, but he can’t do that without revealing he’s Spider-Man; it wouldn’t be fair. Because of her brother Bennet’s mistakes, Betty doesn’t want an adventurer, but someone steady and reliable, like she thought Peter was. Peter leaves before Betty can say she loves him. She knows she has some secret that comes between them. Peter can’t give up being Spider-Man, so he can’t have Betty.
• Spider-Man stops some bank robbers.
• Betty tried to call for Peter repeatedly.
• Both cops and Spider-Man corner the cat on rooftops.

Previous	#436	Next
THUNDER Agents #1	INTERLUDE
Daredevil #11	Reading order	Sgt. Fury #23
Amazing Spider-Man #29	Amazing Spider-Man	Amazing Spider-Man #31