amazing spider-man – Page 3

Amazing Spider-Man #19

Spidey Strikes Back!

Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: September 8, 1964
Cover: December 1965
12 cents
Written by: Spidey’s godfather, Stan Lee
Illustrated by: Spidey’s big daddy, Steve Ditko
Lettered by: S. Rosen (Spidey’s second cousin on his uncle’s side!)
22 pages

Previous	#264	Next
Strange Tales #127, Story B	Reading order	Tales to Astonish #61
Amazing Spider-Man #18	Amazing Spider-Man	Amazing Spider-Man #20

The conclusion of the “End of Spider-Man” trilogy sees Spider-Man’s triumphant return.

Recall the story so far. Spider-Man had been in a battle with Green Goblin when he learned Aunt May had been hospitalized; he ran away from the fight, provoking the whole town to talk about what a coward he is. In the next issue, he ran away from a fight with Sandman, fearing injuries to himself would leave nobody to look after Aunt May. A confluence of factors convinced him to retire the Spider-Man persona before Aunt May gave a well-timed speech which inspired him to change his mind. Now, he wants a rematch with the Sandman.

We tried to read Amazing Spider-Man #17-19 together, but Human Torch had at least one Strange Tales adventure in the middle, and Dr. Strange was involved in a two-part story in that same title, so we took a brief detour before wrapping up Spidey’s mini-saga.

That said, all the in-story information tells us is that Human Torch is weary from a battle he just had. That could be anything, one we saw or didn’t. However, if we trust Stan’s editor note, then Johnny is referring to Strange Tales #127. That doesn’t really make much sense, as that battle was in Utah. So why would Human Torch be in New York flying to his own house commenting on how he’s still exhausted from a battle in Utah. Did he not nap on the plane ride home?

Sandman and the Enforcers capture the Human Torch. Montana’s rope seems like a poor weapon against the Torch’s flame, but maybe it’s specially treated. Most likely, Human Torch’s weariness from the battle with that mystery villain in Utah is the only reason he was beaten.

Amazing Spider-Man #18

The End of Spider-Man!

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

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

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.

Amazing Spider-Man #17

The Return of the Green Goblin!

Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: July 9, 1964
Cover: October 1964
12 cents
Ruggedly written by: Stan Lee
Robustly drawn by: Steve Ditko
Recently lettered by: S. Rosen
22 pages

Previous	#258	Next
Sgt. Fury #11	Reading order	Amazing Spider-Man #18
Amazing Spider-Man #16	Amazing Spider-Man	Amazing Spider-Man #18

The Green Goblin returns. I was not impressed with this villain in his first appearance. I am not that impressed with him 60 years later. But he is perhaps Spider-Man’s most popular villain, considered by many to be the definitive Spider-Man villain. Why?

I have a theory, a cynical one, mind you. Perhaps Team Goblin folks can correct me. My theory is this: Green Goblin is the villain in all the best Spider-Man stories, most of which would work just as well if you substituted in any villain. Case in point: this story.

A classmate of Peter’s refers to the James Bond novels. The character had already made his way into at least two films by this point as well. We’ll look back to the current place in pop culture of James Bond when SHIELD gets introduced, to see if we detect any influence.

This remains the only series to really handle the out-of-costume soap opera well. Almost every other title needs to keep its focus on the mission or the villain. Here, the villain shows up for the fight on page 13. Stan and Steve are confident they can fill 12 pages with character work, and they can.

Green Goblin has a new glider. Last time, he had a flying broomstick instead. This is definitely cooler, and he notes it’s faster and more maneuverable… but the old one he specifically noted was designed to make fatal error impossible. He neglects to mention if this new glider has been so designed.

That bottom middle panel. We’ve basically seen it before.

The Green Goblin reveals his arsenal: pumpkin, ghost, frog, moon, bat. Of these weapons, the pumpkin will prove surprisingly enduring.

Amazing Spider-Man Annual 1, Story C

How Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Create Spider-Man!

Featuring: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
Release: June 11, 1964
Cover: 1964
25 cents
By: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
3 pages

Wonderful opening page with the creators, particularly that first panel with Stan and all the characters.

This story is an interesting little artifact. It pokes fun at the two creators and their relationship. Ditko drew the story, seemingly in good humor. This suggests their relationship had not yet fully deteriorated.

Within 2 years, Ditko would leave Marvel over bitter conflict with Stan. He had been refusing to speak to Stan long before he left the series. There are many with more expertise who can give you the behind-the-scenes details, though plenty remain uncertain or debated.

Amazing Spider-Man Annual 1, Story B

The Secrets of Spider-Man!

Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: June 11, 1964
Cover: 1964
25 cents
By: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
9ish pages

Confession time, here’s what I got. I haven’t decided the best way to break up issues with a lot of bonus content like this. My posts don’t cover entire issues, but stories within them. So what is a “story”?

This issue has 3 comic-sequence-like features: the main feature of 41 pages we just covered; a 9-numbered-page sequence we are covering now; and, a 3-page sequence I’ll cover in the subsequent post.

After the main feature, there is a 14-page gallery of all Spider-Man’s villains from the first 15 issues of the series: the Burglar, Chameleon, the Vulture, the terrible Tinkerer, Dr. Octopus, Sandman, Doctor Doom, the Lizard, the Living Brain, Electro, the Enforcers and the Big Man, Mysterio, the Green Goblin, and Kraven the Hunter. That’s quite the collection of villains for only 15 issues. All original except Dr. Doom. No other series can match.

That brings us to the featurette which is the main subject of this post: “The Secrets of Spider-Man!” This isn’t a narrative story, but it is told in standard comic panel format. We get a recap of the origin of Spider-Man followed by a detailed analysis of his powers and web shooters.

Amazing Spider-Man Annual 1

The Sinister Six!

Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: June 11, 1964
Cover: 1964
25 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Steve Ditko
Lettered by: S. Rosen
41 pages

It’s 1964. You’re young. You don’t have a lot of money. But you know some math. Most comics cost 12 cents. This one costs 25. You could get two comics for that price! But wait… those two comics between them would only net you 42-46 story pages. This one promises 72 pages! 72 big pages, at that.

Indeed, this first story is 41 pages, enough to give you your money’s worth. But there’re over 30 pages of bonus features as well!

Plus, most of those comics will give you one super-villain, two at most. This cover promises a sinister six villains for your hard-earned quarter.

If you’re not yet sold to drop two bits, the first page should do it. Aunt May and Betty Brant have been captured by the Sinister Six, and Spider-Man has lost his powers! Now that’s a story!

Amazing Spider-Man #16

Duel with Daredevil

Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: June 9, 1964
Cover: September 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee, master of the spoken word
Illustrated by: Steve Ditko, dean of dramatic drawings
Lettered by: S. Rosen, sultan of sparkling spelling
22 pages

Let me start by wishing a happy birthday to Steve Ditko, who would have been 93 today had he not passed away in 2018.

Ditko has created a number of new villains for this series, while maintaining a generally pretty high quality (Green Goblin excepted). The team has only once borrowed a villain so far, when Spider-Man fought Dr. Doom in issue 5. This is the second time borrowing a villain, but they dig deeper, bringing back Ringmaster from Incredible Hulk #3 two years earlier. We’ve read over 200 comics since we last met Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime.

Aunt May still insists Peter accept a blind date with Mary Jane Watson. Peter makes the reasonable protestation that he has a girlfriend. May notes they are not engaged. Does May just not like Betty for some reason? On the other hand, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a date. Peter could just offer to hang out with Mrs. Watson’s niece as a favor to Aunt May. I feel like they could compromise here.

Amazing Spider-Man #15

Kraven the Hunter!

Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: May 12, 1964
Cover: August 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee (because we couldn’t afford Mickey Spillane)
Illustrated by: Steve Ditko (because Picasso was out of town)
Lettered by: Art Simek (because his name fits this space)
22 pages

I feel like the golden era of Ditko coming up with cool Spider-Man villains may be over. At least Kraven is more interesting than Green Goblin. Like Green Goblin, it’s generally agreed the best story for each is the one where they die.

I will give Green Goblin and Kraven credit for one thing… they’re different from the other villains. They’re both unique, for better or worse.

But, while one form of Goblin or another was the villain or a background threat for the first four Spider-Man films, we’re seven films in without so much as a hint of Kraven. Guy’s gotta be a little insulted.

Kraven’s motive is different from the other villains we’ve met. He’s not interested in money, power or revenge. His goal is sport. His namesake is not an animal like many of Spider-Man’s villains, but his outfit does suggest a lion motif.

The story begins with the return of Spider-Man’s first super-villain foe: the Chameleon, who we learn is an old friend of Kraven the Hunter.

While Chameleon’s mask has the same basic idea as before, it’s been cleaned up and altered. This new look will endure for 60 years.

Amazing Spider-Man #14

The Grotesque Adventure of the Green Goblin

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.

Amazing Spider-Man #13

The Menace of… Mysterio!

Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: March 10, 1964
Cover: June 1964
12 cents
Author: Stan Lee
Artist: Steve Ditko
Lettered by: Art Simek
22 pages

I love the web dissolving on the cover.

Spider-Man has turned to crime. He commits a robbery and then gets away by crawling a wall and using webbing. He must be guilty. Jameson was right all along.

Of course, there was the time the Skrulls convinced everybody the Fantastic Four had turned to crime. Or the time Thor was framed by Mr. Hyde. Or the two times Wizard impersonated Human Torch to frame him for crimes. Spider-Man himself has been framed for crimes now by Chameleon and the Fox. And Jameson accused Spidey of being Electro and of being in cahoots with almost every other villain. So maybe the public shouldn’t jump to any conclusions.