john jameson – Coke & Comics

Amazing Spider-Man #42

The Birth of a Super-Hero!

Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: August 9, 1966
Cover: November 1966
12 cents
Smilin’ Stan Lee, writer
Jazzy Johnny Romita, artist
Slammin’ Sammy Rosen, letterer
20 pages

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Amazing Spider-Man #41	Reading order	Amazing Spider-Man #43
Amazing Spider-Man #41	Amazing Spider-Man	Amazing Spider-Man #43

Oh well… I guess I better meet her and get it over with! She may not be as bad as I expect! She’ll probably be worse!

For the first few issues of his tenure, Romita has been inked by Mike Esposito. This issue we get to see Romita on his own to compare.

I claim this is a good comic. Even a very good comic. Lots of good things about it.

But it’s mostly remembered for a single panel that ends the issue. We’ll get there. Let’s see what else is going on first.

Amazing Spider-Man #41

The Horns of the Rhino!

Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: July 7, 1966
Cover: October 1966
12 cents
Stan Lee, writer
John Romita, artist
M. Demeo, inker
Art Simek, letterer
20 pages

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Daredevil #21	Reading order	Amazing Spider-Man #42
Amazing Spider-Man #40	Amazing Spider-Man	Amazing Spider-Man #42

I realize now– we never had anything in common! It’s just that she was the first girl I ever thought i loved!

One of the great things Ditko did was come up with a seemingly endless stream of memorable and enduring villains for Spider-Man to fight. A good many were animal-themed: the Chameleon, the Vulture, Dr. Octopus, the Lizard, the Scorpion, and the lion-themed Kraven the Hunter.

Romita needs to score with a bold new villain in that vein. The Rhino suffices.

For much of the Ditko run, Aunt May had been trying to set Peter up with Aunt Anna’s niece, Mary Jane Watson. Peter never made time for that date, and we’ve still never even seen Mary Jane’s face. Now we learn Mary Jane is moving out of Aunt Anna’s to get her own place.

A lot of teenagers in that neighborhood living with elderly aunts. I wonder how long she’d lived across the street from Peter without him ever even glimpsing her.

Amazing Spider-Man #1

Spider-Man
Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: December 10, 1962
Cover: March 1963
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Steve Ditko
14 pages

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Tales of Suspense #39, Story C	Reading order	Amazing Spider-Man #1, Story B
	Amazing Spider-Man	Amazing Spider-Man #1, Story B

I say that Spider-Man must be outlawed! There is no place for such a dangerous creature in our fair city!

Spider-Man is back! He appeared briefly, set to be a recurring star in Amazing Fantasy, a comic which was cancelled immediately after he appeared. Sometime between making that decision and now, we learn the publisher received lots of letters and postcards, so now Spider-Man gets his own comic. Probably good they brought him back, as he’ll go on to become Marvel’s most enduringly popular character.

We are still on December 10, 1962. A day with four major Marvel superhero milestones. The first was the crossover between the Fantastic Four and the Hulk. The second was the debut of Iron Man. The third of these is Spider-Man getting his own series.

Milestone #1 of December 10, 1962:
Fantastic Four meet the Hulk!
Milestone #2:
Iron Man
Miletone #3:
Amazing Spider-Man #1

The tale begins with a 2-panel recap of his origin from Amazing Fantasy #15. But, strangely, they leave out what most today would consider the most pivotal part, Peter’s culpability in Ben’s murder by letting the burglar run past him. True, it’s only two panels, but they seem to go out of their way to not mention it. He instead uses phrases like, “All because I was too late to save him!” and “…while I was busy showing off…”; so they keep Peter’s feelings of guilt but leave off the reason he feels so guilty. It seems like a rather intentional and conscious decision. But I don’t know why they made it.