Amazing Spider-Man #30

The Claws of the Cat!

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#436Next
THUNDER Agents #1INTERLUDE
Daredevil #11Reading orderSgt. Fury #23
Amazing Spider-Man #29Amazing Spider-ManAmazing 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.

Continue reading “Amazing Spider-Man #30”