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The Amazing Spider-Man #7

Published: December 1963

Containing: "The Return of The Vulture"

Synopsis: The Vulture returns with an augmented magnetic flying device immune to mechanical interference, and goes on a new series of heists as Peter has to deal with a sprained arm after blindly going into battle.

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@frankendykes-monster : This might be the lightest issue we've covered yet in terms of narrative depth. We have officially reached a point where a "standard" Spider-Man story that's easily recognizable regardless of date of origin or medium is born.

The Vulture is making his second and final stint as a solo villain in this run, and admittedly I might miss him. I think many adaptations miss something by not focusing on the fact that he's a machinist, probably a consequence of so many Spider-Man villains existing now that it's easy to shuffle around characterizations and motivations, not that this original incarnation of the character is three-dimensional or anything. I feel like this is one of the first major instances of "lost in translation" between Ditko and Lee because that's the only explanation I can muster up for me just not getting exactly how The Vulture's powers work. I assumed that the magnetic device is basically levitation and that the wings are for steering in mid-air, but the wings being gummed up at the end nullifies his ability to fly? Who knows. His hands being free and thus him being able to hold a gun is a chuckle worthy sight.

Betty Brant is thrust a bit more into the role of Peter's primary love interest of the run as of this issue, with the finale being a focus on them and their burgeoning taking-notice of one another. It feels natural as we're still in the very early stages (read: the talking stage). While the letters pages usually don't reveal anything of note that needs to be brought up here, I do find it funny that one reader asks that Peter have a proper girlfriend that's a bad bitch and up to date on the latest music trends. Give it a few years, Sidney, it's coming.

Probably the most notable thing about this issue is how much Ditko gives it his all in terms of fleshing out the environments, the fights across the skyline or inside the Daily Bugle make the similar brawl inside the high school from #4 look downright drab in comparison. There's a lot more time dedicated to onlookers unable to do anything in the face of costumed persons fighting in mid-air above them, it lends itself to a great realization of three-dimensional space even when page space only has room for the fight or the reaction to it. We finally find out that Peter lives in Forest Hills, in Queens, on Long Island, which furthers highlights how huge NYC is and how quaint it must be in some way to see Spider-Man and The Vulture fight above rooftops overhead.

@duel1971 : Fun! I think about half of my favorite Ditko art I’ve seen on this journey so far is contained in this one issue. Every panel shines with a brilliant grasp of anatomy, action, weight, proportion… it’s awesome. The Vulture is sort of a boring villain on paper, in my opinion, but his striking visual design and the incredible action sequences made me forget that entirely. We also get our best close-up yet of Spider-Man’s web shooter, showing off how nifty and clean its design is.

The best action set-piece in this story involves Peter fighting the Vulture in the Daily Bugle offices while the staff scrambles for cover and Jonah has a breakdown. If I’m not mistaken this is the first time a villain has come directly to JJJ’s office, making a somewhat historic precedent.

There’s not much to talk about here in terms of new story developments (other than Peter sharing a moment with Betty Brant) but the action and script are so tight and well-done that it’s hard to say anything negative about it. This issue to me feels like a well-earned victory lap after eight issues of consistent innovation.

[amazing-spider-man-book-club]

The Amazing Spider-Man #6

Published: November 1963

Containing: "Face to Face with...The Lizard!"

Introducing: Curtis Connors/The Lizard, Martha Connors, Billy Connors

Synopsis: Peter is sent down to Florida to get some photos on a mysterious figure, The Lizard, who is terrorizing the everglades, but soon must discover a way to help this new villain become human again.

Read alongside us here:

https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/The-Amazing-Spider-Man-1963/Issue-6?id=4028

@frankendykes-monster: There's something so humorous to me about naming a villain "The Lizard" after already having one named "The Chameleon". The off-brand model even if they share nothing in common. I had to look up when it was discovered that dinosaurs are more closely related to birds than reptiles but no luck unlike last issue's forcing me to look up how spiders communicate.

The introduction of The Lizard rings like a horror film, the setting in Florida couldn't help but make me think of The Alligator People (1959). Virtually all the tropes like the monster staking a claim in hostile territory and scientific mishaps and an ancient castle ooze charm, it's only the near ending when The Lizard wants to create more reptilian humanoids that you're forcibly reminded that this is a supervillain we're dealing with.

I have to wonder if The Lizard was originally intended to be a one-and-done given the character never returns during Ditko's time on the title but Curt Conners does. Much like Mysterio returning to his first costume, it's something that's only established as an ongoing threat when John Romita takes over. I have to say the character's design is probably the first Ditko one that's something of an acquired taste, had he worn a purple coat and had black eyes with white pupils like on the cover, it would have been more cohesive and threatening, though I'm not a giant fan of more animalistic subsequent designs decades down the line. This issue's title page is another all-time favorite of mine for how much it reads as a three-dimensional space. Ditko occasionally goes all-out, though at the same time I feel like we see way more of Spider-Man sans webbing in this issue (whenever the character is far enough away from the camera that drawing them would be too much of a hassle. Blah.)

I have to wonder what people reading this for the first time have to make of Liz Allen and Betty Brant being Peter's love interests, because if it wasn't a full-time thing last issue, it certainly is now. Betty's appearances in the live-action Spider-Man films have more or less been cameos, is what I'm saying. Given Liz's newfound interest in Spider-Man I think it's quaint if disappointing that it isn't until Civil War, over 40 years after this, that she discovers it's Peter under the mask alongside the rest of the world. Womp womp.

Probably the most realistic thing about this issue is Jameson accidentally starting a tabloid frenzy wherein he demands Spider-Man go down to Florida to fight The Lizard. It's ridiculous but plausible enough that I could see people actually read papers and developing a strong opinion on the matter.

@duel1971 : This issue may be my favorite so far. The story takes Peter out of NYC and down to Florida on J Jonah Jameson’s dime to get pictures of the Lizard. This leads to Peter and Jameson being traveling partners, a concept I would happily read a full-length story about but which is only touched upon briefly here.

Curtis Connors has one of the most well-realized supervillain origins we’ve seen yet in ASM. The tragic nature of the character feels iconic: the loss of an arm motivates him to recklessly experiment on himself and leads to a complete physical transformation that renders him a threat to his beloved family and, as the issue draws on, civilization itself. (Or at least Florida.) In addition, lizards being a natural predator of spiders makes the Lizard’s ability to physically outmaneuver and outmatch Spider-Man feel ordained by nature.

Some parts of the story feel a little clunky – in particular, I’m not sure what a serum that turned a man into a lizard would do to actual lizards. The story doesn’t seem to have a firm idea either, but apparently it would be very bad. I appreciated the attempt to raise the stakes, but found Curtis’s alienation from and eventual reconciliation with his family to be much more compelling.

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The Amazing Spider-Man #5

Published: October 1963

Containing: "Marked for Destruction by Doctor Doom!"

Synopsis: Doctor Doom hides away in NYC in an effort to use Spider-Man as a means to strike the Fantastic Four, and Flash Thompson is captured in Peter's place forcing the latter to take action.

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@frankendykes-monster : I had to look up if spiders actually communicated through radio waves or whatever given that Doctor Doom is the second villain in the series to now contact Spider-Man through frequencies attuned to spiders. I did find out that spiders can communicate through every available means you'd assume from animals aside from radio waves, probably a predictable end but whatever I needed to see if it was a real thing.

The Amazing Spider-Man has now been bumped up to monthly publication status, with #4 having been released in September of 1963. It's a quick way of realizing that the character was almost immediately becoming the crown jewel in Marvel's line-up, and frankly what a great issue to celebrate this milestone. You can tell we've settled into a groove given that all of zero new characters are introduced here, but we do get Flash Thompson and Liz Allen *and* Betty Brant as fully named cast members with their respective relationships to Peter also having been settled in; though I think it might be some time before Liz and Betty realize that they're romantic rivals. I love the subtle dichotomy between Peter and Spider-Man; Peter figures it would be cool to let Doctor Doom just kill Flash but knows he can't stand aside, more and more subtle hints at the character's eventual emotional breakthrough near the end of this run.

Something funny to me is that Jameson admits so casually that he's in the news business for money which is the reason for nonstop Spider-Man coverage. Funny because even in-story, Spider-Man is the little guy, surely The Fantastic Four or The Hulk are more newsworthy items. A reasonable critique on my part given they didn't *have* to make Spider-Man have three crossovers with that team so far.

This isn't a fan blog for the Kirby/Lee Fantastic Four run so not much to cover with Doctor Doom beyond him being the definitive comic book supervillain. Everything about him is marvelous and on display here. It's interesting that this issue takes place immediately after Fantastic Four #17 (Ditko was a noted comics reader, Kirby wasn't, hence when the latter handles Spider-Man in other titles, Peter just shows up disregarding anything actually happening in this series), but Lee doesn't leave a little editorial note pointing readers to that issue. Doom being able to whip up multiple new lairs in NYC is beyond hilarious to me, he's easily the most stereotypical character Peter has had to face so far but that's probably more than anything a showcase of how low the relative stakes have been so far. Remember when The Vulture was just hiding out in a barn planning petty thefts? Doom has a right to gloat about his prowess on multiple levels given that that's what we've seen so far.

One thing I'm not keen on is that we've fully entered an era where Spider-Man's webbing can do things just because an action scene calls for it, like here where Peter can make web balls that break open that reveal thicker webbing inside or creating huge shields to defend against ice attacks. There's a general rule of thumb on Spider-Man does with webs and this goes far beyond that, a rare instance of this reminding us that this is still the earliest portrayal of the character and not everything stuck (no pun intended).

This is our first issue where Spider-Man's suit is finally colored blue instead of using a soft purple as the secondary color. Lee's narration has started to enter that self-aware era that people constantly associate with him, and while it by no means detracts from the issue I can't say I'm a huge fan of the fourth wall breaking by highlighting that there may be better comics out there or apologizing for taking so long to get to the final fight, for example, but I digress.

@duel1971 : This story pits Peter against Doctor Doom, arch-nemesis of the Fantastic Four. The FF themselves don’t appear for more than a cameo, allowing the story to focus on the conflict between Doom and Spider-Man. In typical bombastic fashion, the narration boasts that the fight between Spidey and Doom will be the “gol-dangest, ding-bustedest, rip-snortin’est super-characters fight you’ve ever seen!” I don’t know about all that, but the fight is in fact really cool, featuring some innovative panel layouts by Ditko and creative use of Peter’s webbing.

I love Doctor Doom but the moments in this issue that really stuck with me all involved ASM regulars. Liz Allan, who Peter struck out with previously, speculates that Spider-Man is a dreamboat under his mask. J Jonah Jameson admits explicitly that his feud with Spider-Man is a tactic to sell more newspapers and magazines, revealing how hollow he is beneath his bluster. And, most notably, Flash Thompson dresses up as Spider-Man to try and prank Peter and ends up getting kidnapped by Doctor Doom.

Doppelganger Spider-Men are a recurring theme by now, and putting Flash in the role is interesting to me given how he would develop in later years under different writers. In terms of this story, however, we just get to laugh at the bully’s expense for once, and Peter has a devilish moment where he considers just leaving Flash to die. He does, in fact, forget to actually save Flash at the end after defeating Doom, leading to a very funny scene where Ben Grimm threatens to beat him up after the Fantastic Four find him cowering in the wrecked lab.

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The Amazing Spider-Man #4

Published: September 1963

Containing: "Nothing Can Stop...The Sandman!"

Introducing: The Sandman/Flint Marko, Betty Brant

Synopsis: Peter struggles to cope with the combined onslaught of character defamation in The Daily Bugle and the arrival of new supervillain The Sandman.

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https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/The-Amazing-Spider-Man-1963/Issue-4?id=4007

@frankendykes-monster : Something like our first "routine" Spider-Man issue, not much comes to us in the form of new developments, after six prior stories across four issues, we've settled into a formula it appears. As such there's not much to bring up beyond what's new.

If I recall (given the erratic scheduling of our posts so far), this is our first time hearing that J. Jonah Jameson is publisher of The Daily Bugle, given that NOW Magazine was introduced back in #2. It's fascinating to hear Peter talk about Jameson as if they hardly know each other when it's Peter that has to supply the photos of Spider-Man. The power of the press is at an all-time high as Peter can't seem to manage to get much done with this much bad publicity. One thing of note is that this is Spider-Man's first time trying out doing something good for other people, though in the reactionary world of superhero comics that translates to "trying to stop some guys from committing petty theft." The police of NYC seem to have come to terms with the fact that Spider-Man is a fact of life, though mostly because they also have to worry about whoever Spider-Man fights in a given issue.

The Sandman is, once again, not a psychologically-complex character by any means, but it's another opportunity for Ditko to flex his skills as character design; the opening splash page is probably my favorite piece of art from the entire run though that's mostly due to how it commands so much impression of three-dimensional space. Flint Marko doesn't even have a costume so much as just his clothes. The Sandman is probably the most far-fetched character we'll be introduced to across the entire run (not that I've done it myself but I feel like he'll stop making sense if you think about how his powers work for more than five seconds or so). Most people are content to just have Flint turn one of his hands into a giant sledgehammer to try and smash Spider-Man with so seeing all the unusual ways he contorts his body here is a treat.

We get our first glimpse at the fact that Liz Allen, finally named, will be one of Peter's love interests, though because this is a Spider-Man comic he completely botches that up. Betty Brant also makes her debut though not with much fanfare; she'll become more important later on.

What is probably most interesting about this issue is the fact that it's 1963 and Peter has a TV in his room er I mean the mental toll that not only being Spider-Man but the reaction of the world around him to his actions does to Peter. Much more so than last issue, Peter is put through the emotional wringer here trying desperately to plan ahead for situations only to forget about something else, staying in control just to lose his cool immediately, worried desperately about possibilities when he needs to be focused on the "now." It's what helps make Spider-Man the proverbial teenage superhero, not in the literal sense but more thematically with how everything is the biggest and most tragic and messed up deal ever when you're a teen.

@duel1971 : Another great issue introducing another classic villain! Sandman is in theory extremely powerful and certainly gives Peter a run for his money initially but in the end is defeated by a simple vacuum cleaner. Not quite science hero stuff but it’s fun.

Loved all the little details of Peter’s personal life in this issue: sewing up his costume while watching the news, fumbling a date with a girl because of his secret identity, and playing a hilarious prank on J.J.J. (whose smear campaign has, if anything, gotten even worse in this issue).

The public hysteria around Spider-Man seems to be escalating, and the story ends on a bit of a downer note as a bunch of chatty pedestrians express their very mixed feelings on our hero. Peter resolves to continue his superhero career, but can’t help but have doubts.

It goes without saying that the art is great to look at but Sandman’s powers allow for some stunningly inventive visuals. Most if not all of these original designs by Ditko are hard to improve on and Sandman’s striking design is a great example because he’s still wearing that exact same shirt to this day.

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The Amazing Spider-Man #3

Published: July 1963

Containing: "The Strangest Foe of All Time...Doctor Octopus"

Introducing: Doctor Octopus/Otto Octavius

Synopsis: Peter grows overconfident in his prowess as a fighter as soon as he must contend with a new opponent, Doctor Octopus, who proves to be his superior in brains and brawn.

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@frankendykes-monster : We all know that Doctor Octopus is just a normal guy right? When he lifts someone up using all of his metal arms, his legs have to support their body weight. He can't just slap Spider-Man and it actually hurt Peter. At least at the end of this story Peter knocks him out with a single punch.

Anyhow, Peter, having bested two supervillains at this point, now has a new mini character arc of wanting a genuine challenge from his adversaries. Be careful what you wish for... It doesn't come up in this issue specifically but Peter is definitely a "wishes they were the bully" type if there was ever an example of that, and him just having a ball taking out petty thieves is an extant manifestation of that. There's something mildly humorous about Peter being so dejected about losing a first fight against Doctor Octopus, he didn't have an easy time initially going up against The Chameleon or The Vulture, but I guess being slapped across the face and tossed out the window because you're not worth the effort is particularly humiliating.

Slowly the world becomes more accustomed to Spider-Man existing. His run-ins with the police and military are on his terms (he flees the scene and doesn't have to worry about being pursued) and people like Flash Thompson regard him as a true hero. Once again we are thrust into another guest star appearance by The Human Torch as the Fantastic Four are called in first to deal with Doctor Octopus. It's a quaint scenario that, while in this run alone there will be enough characters and concepts introduced (this issue also gives our first use of the Spider-Signal hidden on Peter's belt) to support the fact that Spider-Man can be an entirely solo act, his standing as the "little guy" who's operating under the scope of most other Marvel characters is well established here.

Doctor Octopus is a step up in the big leagues. Even at this early stage (let me remind everyone that this is only #3 and we already have an arch-enemy) we see that the super-villains are fitting into neat little thematically complementary compartments that really attach themselves to Spider-Man. We again have a villain with an animal motif, this one was also created by a freak accident, and in ten more issues or so we'll have a new niche where villains are popping literally in response to Spider-Man creating an environment where they're allowed to exist; not necessarily a concept exclusive to Spider-Man, but it's being executed here better than any Batman comic I can think of.

Anyone expecting any sympathy for Otto Octavius might be surprised to see there is absolutely nothing here, which is fine by me, I personally prefer villains who don't have much going on internally beyond evillll. Lee's dialogue tells us that the nuclear meltdown that Otto was trapped in gave him brain damage, but earlier in the story where he proclaims to himself that he is the master of radiation indicates to me at least that he was going to go ballistic at some point.

It has to be mentioned that Ditko's art again reaches new heights. He is the master of three-dimensional space with panels like Otto being rescued from the debree or any of the stalking in and around the atomic research center having a surprising amount of death. The more abstracted lighting such as that seen in the atomic explosion or the security camera light engulfing Otto are also nice touches. I'm gonna miss Otto controlling his arms with little dials on his chest, as they're immediately switched over to being an extension of his body. Doctor Octopus won't be getting a proper costume this run, just various lab suits. I love how Ditko's figures frequently resemble puppets without the strings, it's just the perfect style to realize such unconventional characters.

Finally, we get our first pin-up, nothing too special, just one of Spider-Man, but also, our first letters page! Comics were required to have two text pages to qualify for mail shipment under traditional distribution models, but I don't think using that space for the letters page became frequent until the 1960's. I'm not sure how much we'll delve into the letters page, unless we get a solid showcase of "wow comics fans were always like this", and also because since it took three months for letters to come in and be processed, an issue from that long ago will be yesterday's post as far as this blog is concerned. For right now, it's clear Spider-Man was beloved out the gate, as he should be.

@duel1971 : This issue was so exciting to read again. I’d completely forgotten Doc Ock got introduced so early. It’s an iconic first appearance – Ditko completely outdid himself with Ock’s design and nearly every panel the character appears in oozes with style. He’s referred to in this issue exclusively as Doctor Octopus, with no mention of his real name [editor's note: Otto Octavius is said in narration one time] or his eventual nickname. Otherwise he’s basically the character he would be for decades to come. As is so often the case with these early stories, they got him right the first time.

Dr. Octopus is physically and mentally the strongest foe Spider-Man has faced yet. In their first confrontation, Ock rips Peter’s web in half (a first) and tosses him out a window. To add insult to injury, Peter isn’t even able to get any pictures of the fight so he can pay the bills. He slips into a funk, unsure if he can even continue as Spider-Man at all after such a defeat.

While this isn’t the first time Johnny Storm has appeared in this comic, his presence here feels like the foundation for the rich history these characters would eventually share together. Peter’s earnest admiration for The Human Torch inspires him to take on Ock again, this time fighting smarter instead of harder. Peter Parker the young inventor facing off against Dr. Octopus the mad scientist is a brilliant escalation of the science-based problems Peter has faced in previous stories.

In the end, Peter wins and pays a visit as Spider-Man to offer thanks to Johnny, who isn’t in on the secret identity and has no idea what’s going on. The last panel features the Human Torch wishing Spider-Man had stuck around longer. Oh, boys.

Other things that excite me: our first pin-up and our first letters column!

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The Amazing Spider-Man #2 (1963)

Published: May 1963

Containing: "Duel to The Death with The Vulture!", "The Uncanny Threat of The Terrible Tinkerer!"

Introducing: The Vulture (unnamed), Professor Cobbwell, The Terrible Tinkerer (unnamed)

Synopsis: Peter solves his and his aunt's financial issues by realizing he can take photos of crime sprees committed by The Vulture, but gets too close to the action and is forced into battle as Spider-Man. Peter suspects something is strange about an anonymous tech repair man and investigates only to stumble upon an alien conspiracy.

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@frankendykes-monster : Hoo boy, between now and up to #15 or so, it's going to be a nonstop parade of introductions of major Spider-Man villains. Ditko's design sensibilities were already assured with Spider-Man's costume alone, but we're now seeing about eight victory laps. The Vulture in some ways feels like a throwback to 1940's super villains with very simple motivations (gotta rob banks you know) and powers (flight!). But the green feathers and simple design of it literally just being a bird suit with only his head and hands exposed is glorious.

Peter takes a breather this issue as we now develop the ever-so-popular "Peter sells pictures of Spider-Man", or, just pictures of The Vulture in this issue. Jameson is such an unscrupulous hack that he's ready to buy photos after a single conversation with Peter, and at non-contract rate of "don't ask me how I take these photos and don't credit me." It's been long enough since our last post that I'm actually blanking if the Daily Bugle was brought up in #1, but Jameson is the publisher of NOW Magazine. Won't last long. Only three issues of Spider-Man in and we're developing some running tropes: Peter is a science student, Peter is mocked by Flash Thompson, Peter tells Aunt May don't worry about money, Peter is still learning the ropes on how to be Spider-Man, etc.

I'm delighted that Peter has his own little lair for his Spider-Man stuff in his bed room. One thing that's never addressed with the character is that he has a utility belt *underneath* his form fitting costume, and his wrist gauntlets have the web-shooting nozzle that peeks out from right behind his gloves. Ditko gives us some nice diagrams of how it all works so the audience is never out of the loop. What's fascinating about Peter's ongoing character arc is that we still aren't at a superhero "proper" stage. None of Spider-Man's actions are motivated by altruism, he's still just in the red enough to be concerned about the rent more than anything.

Slowly but surely the world gets accustomed to superheroes. Stuff like crowd shots of people reacting to one of The Vulture's robberies makes a comic like Marvels feel inevitable. Both The Vulture and Spider-Man have to account for how the other would react before they even meet each other. This is still an era of comics where "world-building" meant "introduce more characters" so the plausibility of people's actions makes it all the better.

Ditko is really flexing his artistic skills by this point. The splash page for "Duel" is jaw dropping in terms of its weight and perspective and The Vulture is so fully realized in close-up. This is our first issue with a Marvel Comics logo proper in the upper left corner on the cover, here just a profile of Spider-Man, a concept designed by Ditko to give more brand unity to the comics line. Spider-Man is still red-and-blue on covers but these early issues' internal coloring has settled on faint purple? As his secondary color? It won't last long, but it's a bit blah.

Another solid issue overall and...wait...oh yeah the second story. Hm, this one is strange. While #1 gave us two stories that threaded closely together, this is definitely the b-story, the backup. Spider-Man having to stop an alien invasion feels like something that Ditko would shoot down after it was proposed by Lee but this made it all the way to print in the way it did. The Terrible Tinkerer feels like the hardest villain introduced in this run to get a read on, mostly because the "less is more" approach concerning his motivations, origins, appearance, etc. are all left out. He won't be returning for well over 100 issues a decade from now, so this would be a good opportunity to say "well they can't all be winners" if the character hadn't made it into Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) in a minor role.

@duel1971 : More pieces of the mythos fall into place here – we’ve got the introduction of an iconic villain and Peter adopting his gimmick of taking photos as Spider-Man and selling them to J. Jonah Jameson. This story is mostly fun action without too much that I wanna dig into, but I do love that we get Jameson yelling “Get me pictures of the Vulture!” as the first version of his catchphrase.

Feels worth noting that Peter continues to shine as a scientist and inventor in this early story, creating a device that disables the Vulture’s wings.

“The Uncanny Threat of the Terrible Tinkerer”: God, I love this one. Instead of a new costumed supervillain we’re treated to a short alien invasion story featuring a mysterious old man called the Tinkerer. It’s such an atypical Spider-Man story in the grand scheme of things, but at the time of its writing, there was no such thing as a typical Spider-Man story. Putting aside the fact that Peter has and will continue to mostly fight gaudy criminals, this story meshes well with his character. The focus on Peter’s scientific ability opens up the door for a tale of weird science and aliens. The actual science fiction element of it isn’t given much development given its brevity, but it’s a great little story and glimpse of what could have been.

[amazing-spider-man-book-club]

Amazing Spider-Man #1 (1963)

Published: March 1963

Containing: "Spider-Man: Freak! Public Menace!", "The Chameleon!"

Introducing: J. Jonah Jameson, John Jameson, The Chameleon (unnamed)

Synopsis: following the death of his uncle, Peter now has to leverage his identity as Spider-Man to find cash quick as a means of taking care of himself and his Aunt May. Various attempts to do so are stopped by his need to maintain a secret identity, his slandering by media mogul J. Jonah Jameson, and indifference by the public at large.

Read alongside us here:

@frankendykes-monster : After the better part of a year, material originally intended for Amazing Fantasy can now be taken off the shelf and published in The Amazing Spider-Man. For as much as these are two separate stories, our first one is divided into three parts and they chain together incredibly well with the new through-line of Peter desperately needing to make money.

Peter's origins are oh so quickly recapped in less than a page and transition immediately to the new status quo he finds himself in, at least for this single issue. Lee's narration on the title page is right, there hasn't been a character like Spider-Man yet, he can't even begin to worry about altruism or emotionally come to terms with his actual ongoing motivations (which will not come to a head for quite some time, keep following this blog!) because he needs to help cover the rent first. I think a lot of subsequent Spider-Man media neglect this lowest point of Peter's life now that I think about it; I'm not sure why, it makes for great material even if it isn't a "fun" read to see Spider-Man suffer. We get to see some nice stuff like Peter making a parachute out of his webbing, which at certain points in this run might feel more like a Green Lantern ring in terms of objects that said web fluid can be molded into. Spider-sense is also used several times, which is a power I've never been hugely into if only because it's convenient for writers to forget Peter has said ability whenever he needs to be punched in the face by someone right in front of him. Said ability was created by Ditko on the spot when asked by Lee how Spider-Man could see and fight people in the dark (just draw squiggly lines above his head and call it a day.)

I actually had no recollection of why Peter can't go back to show business as Spider-Man beyond the ingenious "you can't cash a check signed to Spider-Man" bit, but it's because of the debut of one J. Jonah Jameson. I mentioned in the post for Amazing Fantasy #15 that many of the plethora of characters "introduced" there would only become retroactively important after Ditko left the title...welp...can't say that here. Jameson will become arguably the second most important and frequently appearing character after Peter and immediately hits the ground running.

I think it's a popular interpretation of the character now to say that his thoughts on the subject of Spider-Man are misguided when he, a character inside the story, does not have the benefit of knowledge the we the readers do. It's fair game to say something is off about Spider-Man, this completely anonymous individual that can climb walls and swing across buildings and has already gotten into the habit of being a vigilante. Peter's relationship with Jameson isn't at all developed here, they don't even meet, but that will change soon enough.

Spider-Man exists in the same fictional space as other characters published by Marvel, huh, that was fast. I actually had to double check and see if this was published the same month as Fantastic Four #12, which guest stars The Hulk. It was. Truly the Marvel Age of Comics is upon us (I feel like I've already said this). My general thoughts going forward are...meh? Ditko is going to introduce enough characters and concepts that The Amazing Spider-Man isn't really hurting to team up with or fight other superheroes, but if they're here to stay for the time being, one of his get rich quick schemes being that he wants to join The Fantastic Four isn't a bad one.

And our first proper supervillain of the run, The Chameleon! The Chameleon isn't one of the "heavy hitters" amongst this rogues gallery, more a perpetual b-lister, but he mostly gets by on his excellent design; a blank canvas face that he can easily slide life-like masks over. Though, this is a concept that Ditko had already visited in Out of This World #6 (1957):

That would be the end of things for this issue, a nice transitional piece in the fallout of Spider-Man's origin, but some cracks behind the scenes are already starting to show. Even though the character is officially titled Spider-Man, with the hyphen, the text within the issue can't seem to recall if it's spelled that way or not. The second story has Peter referred to as "Peter Palmer" several times, though this isn't a blunder that would be repeated across several issues (see: Bruce Banner being referred to as Bob Banner). Ditko, upon being given the plot for this issue, reportedly hated the sequence wherein Spider-Man jacks a plane to save John Jameson in a plummeting space craft, comparing it to the likes of a high school football player joining the Super Bowl.

Where the plot that Lee provided Ditko came from is unknown, people looking into the subject like Stan Taylor and Stephen Bissette have come to the conclusion that they actually were provided by Jack Kirby to Lee to pass on to whomever ended up taking over Spider-Man, but the evidence isn't conclusive so I'll not state that that was the case. Ditko wasn't the type to be into flights to space, or making Communist villains like The Chameleon's motivations here, is what I will say. Ditko is clearly already developing very clear ideas on who Spider-Man is and where to take him, and any influence Kirby had on the conception of the character will quickly be shed. This will not be the last time we here of Ditko rejecting or altering ideas presented to him by Lee however.

@duel1971 : So very excited that we can start talking about J Jonah Jameson. In this story we see only one side of the man: a loudmouthed, ungrateful bully. He’s a perfect antagonist for Peter at this point in his story. Peter and his aunt are broke and desperate. Jameson is financially secure and has a platform that allows him to totally destroy Spider-Man’s reputation practically overnight. The fact that Jonah doesn’t actually know he’s targeting a struggling high school student at the moment is his only real defense.

The parallels between the Jameson and Parker families are something I’ll be writing more about as we go. John Jameson is successful and beloved where Spider-Man is shunned and hated, and Jonah has all the power in the world while Aunt May has almost none. Their similarity is in their loyalty to each other: part of Jonah’s hatred of Spider-Man in this issue seems to be fueled by thinking Peter was out to steal John’s glory in some way or another. (I say “seems to be” because it’s hard to take anything he says at face value.)

Second story: This one is really interesting to me because of how ambiguous Peter’s character arc is in it. He continually tries to do the right thing: first trying to impress the Fantastic Four in a desperate bid for a steady paycheck, and then aiding the cops in stopping the Chameleon. Both times, he is rejected and he remains an outlaw at story’s end. The last page features the Fantastic Four reflecting that someone as powerful as Spider-Man may well be a threat someday.

Of course, we know Peter didn’t turn to evil. But things aren’t going well! In spite of being powerful enough to take on the entire Fantastic Four by himself, he’s just a kid who’s worried about his aunt and doesn’t know why everyone hates him so much. It’s all too easy to imagine the path his life might’ve taken.

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Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962)

Published: August 1962

Containing: "Spider-Man!", "There are Martians Among Us!", "Man in The Mummy Case!", "The Bell-Ringer!"

Introducing: Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Ben Parker, May Parker, Flash Thompson, Liz Allen (unnamed), Mr. Warren (unnamed), Crusher Hogan, Sally Avril (unnamed), Seymour O'Reilly (unnamed), Maxie Shiffman (unnamed), The Burgler, Officer Baxter Bigelow (unnamed)

Synopsis: Peter Parker, social outcast, becomes vindictive and egotistical following being bitten by a radioactive spider and gaining spider-like abilities. After a brief stint in show business, his Uncle Ben is murdered by a burgler that Peter did nothing to stop earlier.

Read alongside us here:

@frankendykes-monster : One thing I don't want to do with this blog is discuss the in's and out's of how we got here because I feel like that'd be boring to most people beyond some anecdotals, but as we continue farther along the "behind the scenes" of The Amazing Spider-Man will become harder to ignore. That said:

Amazing Fantasy #15 is the only comic named "Amazing Fantasy". The series started out as Amazing Adventures, and was a typical Marvel horror/science fiction series being headlined by a Jack Kirby story followed by multiple stories by any number of freelancers (Dick Ayers, Don Heck, Larry Lieber, Joe Sinnott, etc.). With #7 the series is renamed as Amazing Adult Fantasy and becomes a 100% Steve Ditko showcase, but Spider-Man marks an intended shift towards replacing the line with superheroes; August 1962 is also the month where Ant-Man becomes the main feature in Tales to Astonish and Thor is introduced in Journey into Mystery. Truly, the "Marvel Age" of comics was upon us.

As a two-part story that only takes up 12 pages, "Spider-Man!" gets an incredible amount of work done. It's arguably the most superfluous issue of the entire Ditko/Lee run to return to if only because unlike so many other superheroes, Spider-Man's origin is a very "don't fix what isn't broken". Fans of Spider-Man (2002) or Spectacular Spider-Man especially will notice that's there not much here that they aren't already aware of, though most of the characters introduced here play no important role for the duration of the run, and will only be retroactively made more important by future creative talent down the line.

One thing that will become apparent throughout the run, however, is that this "source text" incarnation of Peter is a vindictive jackass starting out. In this issue we see proclamations that the rest of the world can walk off a cliff, and his disinterest in stopping the burgler is nothing more than an expression of that attitude. Being nice costs nothing, but being rude and egotistical doesn't either (or does it...considering your family member might be murdered later on...)

Stan Lee's narration seems prophetic in retrospect given that his aggrandizing prose makes it out that Spider-Man is nothing more than completely destined to become one of the biggest characters in pop culture. The juxtaposition of it with the slouching demurred pose of Peter on the title page and the context which it finds itself at the story's end just highlights that something big is on the way.

Amazing Fantasy #15, despite the text note that Lee provides at the end of the issue, would be the final one published as it was cancelled to make room in Marvel's distribution line up for a revival of Two-Gun Kid three months later. Several Spider-Man stories that were already done would end up on the shelf until The Amazing Spider-Man #1 is published. It heightens the tragedy of this story in a way that makes it compliment the twist-ending pulp horror that Ditko's output entirely consisted of. In this issue alone, Peter's fame going to his head and it biting him in the ass isn't out of place compared to anything that would have happened in Tales From The Crypt a decade earlier.

I have to wonder how much of this issue is a rush job because the early Spider-Man stories we will be discussing over the next several weeks are not the highlight of Ditko's career to out it nicely. There's not a lot of room for large panels that have a nice balance of negative space like what one would expect from Ditko in the early 1960's. Spider-Man's original costume was meant to be black (blue serving as a highlight) and the spider symbol on his back being blue. Didn't stick. For contrast take a look at the title page for two of the other stories in this issue.

@duel1971 : A good amount of ground ground gets covered in this relatively short origin story. We see Peter as a wallflower, a masked wrestler, an inventor, and most importantly as a loving son. These are all facets of the gem that is Peter Parker. He comes across as a relatable everyman because the details of his civilian life are filled in with care. Our first look at peter at home establishes there is a core of love in his home life, that he feels safe there away from the world that doesn’t fully understand him. Peter doesn’t quite transform into a superhero in Amazing Fantasy #15, but we learn the things that drive him: love for his family, and anger that it has been broken.

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Officially announcing The Amazing Spider-Man Book Club with @frankendykes-monster and @duel1971

@frankendykes-monster : Hello out there all future readers! This new blog is going to serve as coverage for the entirety of Steve Ditko and Stan Lee's run on The Amazing Spider-Man from 1962 - 1966. I had wanted to do something big for Tumblr for years now given the enthusiasm surrounding the character on here juxtaposed with a certain lack of interest for the "source text" of the character. Some of my plans were pretty dry before I decided that we should read and discuss every issue alongside you!

Some points to note:

We will cover Spider-Man's appearances in Amazing Fantasy #15, Amazing Spider-Man #1 - 38, and Amazing Spider-Man Annual 1 - 2. When Ditko leaves the title, so do we. This is not to say Spider-Man sucks afterwards (like some Ditko partisans out there would have you believe...) but rather because Ditko's departure from the title and John Romita Sr. stepping in represents an entirely new creative era that, by Romita's own admission, was built on what Ditko had already done. This is covering the body of work that is the "foundation" of Spider-Man, nothing more. Every post will include an online link to the issue in question so you can read alongside us.

This is for fun. This means some of our commentary may not the most insightful or some of our sources may not be credited beyond "it is known." As of right now I don't personally have access to the entirety of Ditko's writings on the subject of his time here, unfortunately. Along with that there's no consistent time frame when these posts will come out, starting even now when this announcement was supposed to be yesterday but I just didn't feel like it. Annual 1, 2, and #38 will serve as our "year in review" posts so right now we are looking at 41 posts in the future before this blog is complete.

@duel1971 : I've been blogging about comics on this site for a little over a decade. I have no other qualifications except a passion for Spider-Man, and one time, I saw Brian Michael Bendis get confronted by a guy wearing a “kill brian michael bendis” shirt at a con. Excited to do this little project with my bud Rachael.

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Testing.