Tag: coke

Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: September 9, 1965
Cover: December 1965
12 cents
Masterful script by: Stan Lee
Magificent artwork by: Steve Ditko
Mellifluous lettering by: Sam Rosen
20 pages

He’s just like his father… cheerful, enthusiastic, and bright! He’s been like a son to me all these years! And, he was so happy, that I didn’t have the heart to spoil it… by telling him… how very ill I’ve been feeling…!

The cover is a clever idea, using the spider logo to get multiple images onto the page. I feel like it wastes the idea with its choice of images, all fairly similar and bland, shots of the action from this issue that could easily have been conveyed in a single image (see the first page below). A better use of that format would have been to have some variety amongst the 6 panels. A shot of kids from Peter’s college, a shot of Aunt May, a shot of Jameson and Foswell, etc… would have made for a much more interesting cover and better use of the gimmick.

For the previous 5 issues, Stan had given Steve plotting credit, but left that off this time. Perhaps by accident. The credit will be back next issue and for the rest of Ditko’s run.

This story begins a 3-part saga we’ll refer to as “The Master Planner Saga”. (Some people–at least one person–simply call the whole saga by this issue’s title instead.) Up until now, the series has almost been entirely single issue stories. The first proper 2-parter was the Crime-Master saga in #26–27. And we connected #17–19 for thematic parallels and some running motifs about May’s health and Peter’s self-confidence (motifs which will come into play heavily again), but they were really 3 loosely connected standalone issues. This is plainly a 3-part story with each chapter ending with a cliffhanger leaving the major plot threads unresolved

This can be read as the story that brings the saga of Spider-Man to its conclusion, the final chapter. It’s also the best story in the history of Marvel Comics.