Suddenly…The Smasher!

The Deadly Designs of the Disruptor!
Script: Stan Lee, Gerry Conway
Art: John Romita, Jim Mooney, T. Mortellaro
Lettering: Sam Rosen, Artie Simek
Coloring: Stan G.
Originally published: February 1973

Countdown to Chaos!
Script: Stan Lee, Gerry Conway
Art: John Romita, Jim Mooney, Tony Mortellaro
Lettering: Sam Rosen, Duffy
Coloring: Stan G.
Originally published: March 1973

Ok, these three issues are weird, because they’re basically a reprinting of the story “Lo, This Monster” from Spectacular Spider-Man Magazing #1, only updated to fit into the current story line. I’m reading them, but basically ignoring anything that deals with the recycled plot (which I will consider non-canon and non-existent). Instead, I’ll be focusing on all the subplots that get resolved and forwarded over the course of this retread.

So here’s what happens:

• Spider-Man gets his real mask back from the Bugle
• Gwen feels guilty about the Aunt May situation
• Peter confronts Gwen about Flash, finds out he’s an idiot
• Peter still has an ulcer
• Aunt May likes working for Dr. Octopus, and his “business associates” are being nice to her while Ock is in jail

Rating:

Squash! Goes the Spider!

Ok, we’re now done with the interlude in the middle of Amazing 105, and the events of this issue directly follow the end of that one. This issue also sees the welcome return of John Romita, even if it is only a brief return.

So where were we? Spencer Smythe had just used a bunch of security cameras to discover that Spider-Man is Peter Parker. Furthermore, Spider-Man is being blames for a robbery Smythe committed using his Spider Slayer robot. Here’s what happens now:

• Spidey realizes the camera spotted him, freaks out
• Spidey visits Curt Connors’s lab to make a Peter Parker mask
• As Smythe is watching with a bunch of mob bosses, Pete appears on camera with his Peter mask over his Spider-Man mask; when he removes the Peter mask, everyone believes the view of Peter they got was all a ruse
• Flash Thompson seems to be buggin out – he might be shell shocked
• Smythe goes after Spidey with a new Spider Slayer that’s twice as big and can actually transport the mad roboticist inside
• Smythe captures Spider-Man

The Smythe story is still pretty retarded, but the character stuff with Harry and MJ, Pete and Gwen, and Flash was all pretty good.

Rating:

And Spidey Makes Four!

This Team-Up features Spidey and the Human Torch against the Sandman. Um, isn’t that what happened last time? Yes. The difference here is that the Sandman is joined by some friends – it’s Spidey and the Torch versus the Frightful Four (sort of).

Hmm…different writer than issue 1. Maybe I wasn’t the only one unhappy with Roy Thomas’s performance?

The Torch is depressed, I guess about breaking up with Crystal? I think that’s what’s happened anyway. He seeks out Spider-Man for comfort. Spider-Man, royal douche that he is, basically tells Johnny to screw off.

Meanwhile, the Wizard, Paste-Pot Pete Trapster and the Sandman are discussing reforming the Frightful Four — and the Wizard wants Spider-Man to be their fourth member! What is up?

The next day, Johnny is again stewing in his own juices when the doorbell rings. Seeing that it’s Spider-Man, Johnny heads downstairs to greet him, only to have Spidey sock him right in the jaw! When he recovers, the Torch notices that Spidey isn’t alone: the Sandman is there with him. Curiouser and curiouser. When the Torch questions Spidey about this, the webhead responds with a backhanded bitchslap.

Johnny actually lets Spider-Man pummel him a few more times before he actually starts to fight back. Throughout the whole ordeal, Spider-Man remains mysteriously quiet. Off to the side, the Wizard and the Trapster have joined Sandman and are waiting for the two heroes to fight it out. After a short time the Torch begins to clue in that somehow the Frightful Three in the corner are controlling Spider-Man, but he still has no option but to fight back and protect himself. Unfortunately, the Torch is too concerned about Spidey to fight as hard as he maybe should, and the wallcrawler is able to subdue and knock out young Mr. Storm.

When Johnny awakes he is bound in paste and a straightjacket. He witnesses the Wizard trying to break into the Negative Zone, while Sandman slaps around an entranced Spider-Man. At no point does anybody consider unmasking Spidey. Everything’s going smoothly for the bad guys until Annihilus shows up and starts taking control.

While the baddies are distracted, Johnny frees himself and starts fighting. Since they have to deal with Annihilus, the Wizard orders Spider-Man to kill the Human Torch. Sheesh. Spider-Man does a number on the Torch, but as he’s getting pummeled Johnny is able to remind Spidey that he is not a patsy, that he is in fact a free man. This magically snaps Spider-Man out of his trance, and the forces of good are ready to take on the villains together.

They quickly round up the human bad guys, but what about Annihilus? Well, Spidey is smart enough to simply turn off the Negative Zone machine thing that Annihilus is feeding off of, saving the day.

This issue was better than the first one but still kinda weak. I was going to write more of a review, but I’m tired and I think I’ll head to bed.

Rating:

The Thing– Amok!

The Thing, now able to change back and forth to normal human form, is losing his mind and running amok in the city. The Human Torch goes after him. At the end, the Hulk shows up.

Peter Parker appears in a cameo at the Bugle.

Rating:

In the Grip of the Goblin!

The Green Goblin remembers everything, including Peter’s identity. When he sees Spider-Man, he vows not to let him leave alive. We open on Spidey getting knocked over by the Goblin on his glider. Just as he recovers, the Goblin hits Spidey with some hallucinogenic gas and then hits him with his fist. Spider-Man tries to come after him and gain some ground, but the Goblin keeps ahead. As they make their way outside, Spidey tries reasoning and tries fighting, but there’s just no keeping the Goblin down. The battle only ends when Peter’s able to rest under a ledge, and Osborn thinks that Spidey has fallen to his death.

The Green Goblin is a problem for Peter, because he knows Spidey’s real identity. What can he do to stop him? Sure, convenient amnesia has helped him twice in the past, but what’s he going to do now? Kill his best friend’s dad? Lost in anxious depression, Pete’s thoughts turn to Gwen. He resolves to stop being a negative nelly, to buck up, and to fight back. With this new-found gumption, he goes home and brushes his teeth. Good plan there, Parker.

When Harry Osborn gets back to the apartment, he’s pissed at Peter about the whole business with MJ in the last issue. Pete proclaims his innocence, but Harry isn’t buying it. A nervous wreck, Harry starts downing some pills for a headache and to help him sleep. Pete calls him on this, but Harry just snaps at him. Interesting…will Harry start to get on the drugs?

The next morning, Peter is wearing some insane gold chains.

This makes MJ horny, which makes Harry mad. Pete confronts MJ about it, and she spills the beans off-panel. What’s the deal? Only time will tell. Harry skulks off and runs into a moustachioed man offering him relief from his girl troubles – relief in the form of DRUGZ0RZ!!1!

Pete goes on a mission to find the Green Goblin, MJ breaks up with Harry, the world is in a crazy turmoil. Furious about the break-up and blaming Peter, Harry kicks Parker out of the apartment and onto his ass. When Pete acquiesces, Harry does a complete 180 and tells him to stay. It’s the drugs, they’re making him nuts! Pete leaves, and when he returns he finds Harry collapsed. As he’s about to call the doctor, the Green Goblin shows up and it’s obvious that shit is about to blow up.

Another awesome issue. I’m so happy Marvel decided to forgo the comics code and do this drug story. It’s really fantastic, and a great background to everything that’s going on with the Goblin. I’m super excited about the next few issues.

Rating:

…And So Enters the Amazing Spider-Man

…Under the Name of Ritual–
Writer: Gerry Conway
Artist: Gene Colan
Inker: Sam Grainger
Letterer: Sam Rosen
Originally published: August 1971

Another couple guest-spots for Spidey, and again in a fairly large co-starring role. Daredevil 77 opens with Daredevil pining away after some girl. Unaware of this, Spider-Man sees him go by and envies his care-free life – Pete is still pining after Gwen, who “can’t stand the sight of Spider-Man.” These superheroes have such turbulent personal lives.

Meanwhile…Foggy Nelson gets kidnapped! This does not get resolved in this issue. I assume he ends up being fine.

We then return to a couple more pages of Peter brooding. When Mary-Jane shows up at his apartment (with blonde hair and a big metal chain- what’s that about?), Pete acts like a douche and rushes her out. You see, he has to go be Spider-Man and check out some crowd that’s forming on the street.

Outside, there’s some huge glowing teardrop thing that says it wants to talk to Namor. Conveniently enough, Namor is in the crowd surrounding the object, so he just takes off his jacket and starts to talk to it. Just then, Daredevil shows up and asks Namor to screw off and take his giant glowing teardrop with him. Ever the hothead, Namor responds with fisticuffs. Unfortunately for DD, the Sub-Mariner “whip[s him] into cottage cheese”. Daredevil fights back and things are fairly violent for awhile, until Spider-Man shows up. Actually, it’s still violent then, just with one more player in the mix.

THEN THE GLOWING TEARDROP EXPLODES!

Inside is a smoking hot lady. She makes Namor and Spider-Man come with her to some bizarro land (that we don’t see yet). As they enter the teardrop, it vanishes. Everyone around, including Daredevil, has they’re memory wiped – they cannot remember any of what just transpired.

Namor and Spidey’s story continues in Sub-Mariner 40, where they find themselves floating around amongst some crazy circles and swirls. That nutty chick who lured them in isn’t super forthcoming with explanations, but eventually they end up in (or just seeing a vision of?) some “city of the Black Sea”. Apparently this is supposed to mean something to Namor, but Spider-Man and myself are both extremely confused. Their guide lady explains that she is of a race of telepaths that built this city, and she starts jibberjabbering about gods and shit, and then some big scary guy named Turalla.

Apparently, Namor (and Spidey) are there to fight Turalla, though this obviously comes as a surprise to Spider-Man. Namor agrees — he seems to know more than he’s letting on. Spidey is understandably ticked, and forces the Sub-Mariner to spill some beans. Apparently the Black Sea people are some legend in Atlantis, supposedly driven out by persecution a long time ago. As a royal, Namor thus owes the Black Sea people a debt for this, so that’s why he’s getting involved.

Anyway, the two of them end up fighting this Turalla guy and knock him down. Unfortunately this just pisses the guy off, and he decides to fight back using his vicious forbidden mindblasts. Luckily, just before the blast turns fatal, the old dead king’s brother (in Boston) strikes out at Turalla with a mindblast of his own, saving the day.

With the task finished, Namor and Spider-Man get returned to NYC.

I really dug this. It was fairly engaging and it was totally different from the normal Spider-Man stuff I read.

Rating:

To Smash the Spider!

Solid issue. Gwen, Jameson and apparently the whole city are starting an anti-Spider-Man crusade. Gwen volunteers to help a former cop turned politician, Sam Bullit. Bullit is running for DA and, little to Gwen’s knowledge, is planning on using Stacy’s death to further his campaign. The dude is ultra-conservative and a little bit crazy.

Peter’s having a major crisis of conscience when Bullit and his goons show up and grab him. Bullit knows that Pete’s snapped a lot of pictures of Spidey, and he wants Pete’s help in catching the webslinger.

Interesting quote from Bullit – who at one point is called a fascist:

Son, I’m try to clean up this city! Nobody’s gonna stop me! Anyone who doesn’t help me is on the side of the lawless!

Hmm…sounds kind of familiar.

When Pete refuses to help Bullit, his men give Parker a wee bit of a beating. Once they leave he quickly turns into Spider-Man and chases after them. Afterwords Pete goes home, still dressed as Spidey, only to find Gwen and Bullit in his apartment!

Rating:

And Death Shall Come!

We open with Spider-Man realizing he has only a small amount of time to save himself before he is splattered on the pavement below. To complicate his predicament, he’s all out of web fluid. He is, however, able to grab onto some of Doc Ock’s tentacles and use them to swing through a window. He’s safe! Whew!

Spider-Man is able to hide in the building a get a brief reprieve from Dr. Octopus’s tentacles. He even is able to throw a spider tracer on them, so he can make sure to keep track of Ock later. Spidey decides that his best move for the time-being is to head home and get some rest. On the way home, Pete starts feeling ill. He runs into Captain George Stacy, who helps Peter home after the poor boy faints.

Pete wakes up to Gwen and her dad looking after him. He’s basically completely recovered. When Captain Stacy mentions this, it causes Pete to question how much Stacy has guessed about Pete’s secret identity. Pete goes back home and has an idea for how to defeat Doc Ock. He fills up his web shooters with a new web fluid he’s cooked up, but the exact nature of it remains a mystery. He also gives himself a new button to fire the fluid – right on his belt. Intriguing…

Spidey goes out to find Ock by following his spider tracer. He’s drawn towards a building where he finds – Doc Ock waiting for him! Ock found the tracer and laid a trap for Spidey, grabbing him as he approached. Ock proceeds to knock the crap out of Spidey up on the building’s roof. Luckily, Spider-Man eventually gets free, moves towards Ock and starts shooting webbing at his tentacles.

It take Ock a moment to realize that those tentacles will no longer obey him! That was Spidey’s secret plan! His webbing contained some sort of chemical that disrupted the signals from Ock’s brain. How did he come up with this? I’m not exactly sure. Seems kinda far-fetched. The afflicted tentacles start striking out randomly, then start attacking Doc Ock himself. This whole idea is really preposterous and just about ruins the whole issue for me.

Down below, Captain Stacy arrives among the crowd gathered below. Back on the roof, the tentacles are going nuts and smash the building’s chimney. The pieces of brick start falling to the ground, straight towards some stupid little kid. Captain Stacy jumps out and knocks the kid out of the way, but the bricks end up crushing Stacy!

Spidey rushes down to try and help Stacy, who is alive but incredibly weak. As he begins to rush Stacy to a doctor, we can hear the crowd in the background accusing Spider-Man of killing the retired captain. Stacy tells Spidey there’s no time, and begs him to be let down. As he’s dying, Stacy reveals that he knows that Spider-Man is really Peter, and asks Pete to take care of Gwen after he’s gone.

Stacy dies, and Spider-Man kinda flips out. He blames himself for Stacy’s death, and immediately draws parallels to his Uncle Ben’s death. This is not going to be good for Spidey’s psyche. As the issue ends, Spider-Man is holding Stacy’s body, wondering what will happen if Gwen learns that Peter caused her father’s death.

This issue was ok. I probably built it up a lot in my head, which is always a bad idea. I would probably give it four stars if it wasn’t for the completely unbelievable way in which Spider-Man was able to subdue Doctor Octopus. That really took me out of the story, and I think Stan probably could have come up with something a little better. Oh well, it is what it is – a classic issue that, like many others, has some flaws.

[Note on order: Captain Stacy mentions Pete's flu in this issue, and Pete remembers that the last time he saw Stacy he did indeed have the flu. This messes up having this issue (along with ASM 88 and 89) so far after ASM 87. That's not a huge deal, I can fit these in elsewhere I guess.]

Rating:

The Arms of Doctor Octopus!

Well folks, this is the beginning of a pretty huge event in Spider-Man’s history: the death of Captain George Stacy! The story opens with Doc Ock’s mechanical arms on display in a museum. Unbeknownst to anyone, Dr. Octopus – miles away in solitary confinement – has been practicing to extend the range of his mental control over the arms. Back in the museum, the arms suddenly spring to life under Ock’s mental commands and make their escape. Outside Spidey tries to stop them, but is forced to let them escape when a damaged building threatens the lives of some innocent bystanders.

Later, Peter sees Gwen at school and gets chewed out by Professor Warren for missing so much class and letting his grades slip.

Also later, Doc Ock’s arms reach his prison, break in, and bust him out.

Also later, J. Jonah Jameson and his son Col. John Jameson prepare to board a Pentagon 747 flying a General Su from Chicago to the UN in New York. As the plane takes off, it picks up an unexpected guest – Doc Ock, who clings to the exterior and then forces his way in through the luggage hold. He busts in, quickly incapacitates the MPs stationed on the plane, and captures a miscellaneous ununiformed woman – I guess she’s a flight attendant or something, which seems weird on a military flight.

The thing is, Octopus didn’t even realize the significance of the flight he hijacked. It’s only when one of the pilots slips up that he realizes General Su (a terrible stereotype, BTW) is even onboard. When he does find out, though, visions of ransom start dancing through his head. He demands to be met with $10 million upon landing.

Upon hearing the news, Robbie Robertson and Peter rush to the airport – to get the scoop, but also concerned that harm to the General Su could start a war. When they get to JFK airport they find none other than Capt. Stacy. To make matters more complicated, the airport is also filled with demonstrators protesting both for and against Su.

Pete knows that he must do something. He changes into Spider-Man and manages to make his way on top of the landed plane. He’s able to quickly sneak aboard and blind Ock with some webbing. It’s enough for him to briefly release his hostages, but it also really pisses him off. While pummeling Spider-Man, Ock manages to get some of his tentacles into the cockpit, and begins to actually pilot the plane down the runway. Realizing how crazy dangerous this is, Spider-Man bails – jumps right out of the moving plane – right before the plane explodes in a huge ball of fire!

Almost everyone assumes Doc Ock died in the blaze, but Spidey questions whether they can actually be certain of that.

Great issue! Even without my foreknowledge about how this is all going to end, you do get this sense that everything’s building up to something big. Sure, this issue could be a stand-alone, but there are enough loose threads that you get a feeling something bigger is in the works.

(BTW, there’s nothing in this that contradicts any of my order from my last post.)

Rating:

Unmasked at Last!

Awesome cover and splash page. They both look fantastic.

Pete is still in front of that microscope, and finally decides to take a look and see if he’s losing his powers. When he tries, though, he realizes he can’t focus at all – his vision has become too blurry. Pete decides the only person he can turn to for help is Dr. Curt Connors. Unfortunately, that dude is in Florida.

On his way home, Spidey remembers that it’s the night of Gwen’s surprise birthday party and he’s not only forgotten about it, but he didn’t get a gift either. Solution? Rob a jewelry store. He comes to his senses eventually and returns the pearls he stole, but clearly something is wrong with him. Shortly after he ends up completely losing his grip on a building and falling onto a rooftop. Pete takes off his mask and comes to the sad (though inaccurate) realization that his career as Spider-Man is over.

Great art in these scenes, too.

At Gwen’s party, everybody is worried about Pete for awhile, then they just decide to cut loose and have fun. Once the party is over Gwen starts crying – she was just faking the fun! Aww. THEN PETER SHOWS UP AND TELLS EVERYONE THAT HE’S SPIDER-MAN!!!!!!

Holy shit, right?

Pete then leaves. Everybody’s freaking out, partly because of the revelation and partly because Pete was obviously sick. Harry recalls the time Doc Ock unmasked Spider-Man awhile back – revealing Peter – and how everybody “realized” he was faking. He comes to the conclusion that Peter’s faking again, but he can’t figure out why. Gwen questions this, though, and wonders if Peter might actually be Spider-Man…

(yes, he might)

Peter’s freaking out and decides to go get medical help – as Spider-Man, consequences be damned. It turns out that Spider-Man just has the flu. Pff. Lame. As soon as Spidey hears this – sorry “a few minutes later” – he has completely recovered. What. The. Fuck.

Now that Spidey’s feeling better, he realizes how crazy it was to tell everyone his secret identity. He comes up with a pretty smart plan. He gets into his Peter Parker clothes, covers his face with webbing, and goes to visit the Prowler – that kid Hobie who he helped a few issues back. Since Hobey owes him a favour, Pete arranges it so that Hobey shows up in Spidey’s outfit at a designated time and place, so that the gang will see both Peter and Spider-Man at the same time. Pretty neat.

Everything works out great.

Rating:

Beware… the Black Widow!

It totally threw me off that Spider-Man claims the Black Widow is a “female copy of [him]self”. I’m not crazy familiar with the character, but she’s shown up in a bunch of Avengers stuff that I’ve read and I never noticed any spider-like powers, despite the name. It’s also weird that the splash page calls her a “new costumed adventurer”: this is the same Black Widow that’s been around for awhile – though, admittedly, she does get a new (smoking hot) costume.

Anyway, this issue starts with Spidey apparently swinging home after his encounter with the Kingpin (since apparently all the shit I read since then was in the wrong spot – see previous post). We’re then treated to a little Black Widow recap in a nutshell. When Spider-Man gets home, he finds Gwen, Capt. Stacy and Harry waiting for him. As far as they know, he’s been taken captive by Spider-Man. Pete is covered in bruises from his fight (wait – I just realized Spider-Man never actually got involved with the fight. Why was he bruised?!), and Gwen first drops the L-bomb, then asks Pete to promise to never have anything to do with Spider-Man again. Ouch.

In addition to his usual girl problems, Pete has a case of his not-infrequent dizzy/groggy spells, and he feels like his powers may be fading. This usually means he’ll be fighting somebody less powerful than himself later, and that Stan needed a reason for him to not be able to beat the crap out of this lesser foe. In this case it’s pretty obvious that he’ll end up fighting the Black Widow.

Speaking of Natasha, we cut back to her in her new costume, testing out her new web-shooter – which she readily admits is “just like a female imitation of the original wall-crawling, web-shooting Spider-Man”. Man, shit like that makes me cringe. She wants to find the secret to Spider-Man’s powers, so she sets out to find him.

It’s weird, apparently she does have Spider-Man’s powers, or at least some of them. She’s shown clinging to walls. Why didn’t I know about this? Perhaps I am stupid. But, later she says she gets her powers or whatever from training and special weapons. How would those help her walk on walls? What am I missing?

For some reason they start fighting. It’s really ridiculous actually, and pretty unbelievable. They end up fighting more or less to a standstill, but the Black Widow is still amazed by Spidey’s powers, even in his weakened state. She goes back home and decides she should just be herself, gosh darnit. And wouldn’t ya know it? We get to see her be herself in her own monthly book that’s just starting! Pff.

Anyway, Pete goes home and is still feeling like ass. He decides to test his own blood, but he’s afraid to look at the results. It ends with Pete realizing he’s really afraid to lose his powers.

This issue was alright. The Black Widow stuff was kinda weird and dumb, and it’s pretty annoying that it was just a crossover to launch her own stupid book. Most of the Peter stuff was pretty good, though – everything with Gwen, him being afraid of losing his powers, all that jazz.

This issue has the third Spider-Man Woody Allen reference.

Rating:

Hostage!

The entire island of Manhatten is taken hostage by an efficient army led by the ram-headed Aries (of the Zodiac crime syndicate). The Fantastic Four are out of town, Spider-Man doesn’t want to worry Aunt May, and most of the Avengers are either away in New Jersey or have been captured. The only Avenger who can do something is the Black Panther, and he seeks out Matt Murdock – Daredevil – to help him.

They find and attack Aries, but only end up pissing him off. Aries decides the best thing for everyone is a public execution of the four Avengers members that he’s captured – Thor, Quicksilver, Captain America and Iron Man. This upsets some people, and Daredevil – in a typically daring maneuver – managers to free the Avengers. After that, it’s all over.

Bitchin issue, really cool story and really well-told. It seems like a huge, major thing that happened to all of the city. I’m hoping it at least gets a mention in Amazing Spider-Man, but I kind of doubt it will. Oh well, that’s why it’s important for me to branch out into some of these other comics sometimes I guess.

Rating:

The Surfer and the Spider!

The Flame and the Fury!
Story: Stan Lee
Illustration: John Buscema
Embellishment: Dan Adkins
Lettering: Sam Rosen
Originally published: April 1970

Love the artwork. The Silver Surfer usually looks pretty badass.

After a collision with a meteor, the Silver Surfer is injured and putting about New York City when he has a run-in with none other than Spider-Man. They get off on the wrong foot, as is wont to happen, and start to fight on a roof. The Surfer is basically just trying to recover, but Spider-Man keeps it up. This always seems to happen to Spidey when he’s around other heroes.

Eventually the military gets called in to deal with the situation. In the confusion, a little kid gets stuck on the Surfer’s board as it flies around the city. When the Surfer risks his own life to save the kid, everybody learns an important lesson.

In the next issue the Surfer realizes that humans hate all that is different from them, and decides to clothe himself like the natives so as to blend in and avoid their attacks. The plan doesn’t entirely work though, since he’s still silver and carrying / flying on a huge silver surfboard.

The Surfer goes to visit his friends the Fantastic Four and, through another misunderstanding, they end up fighting. Spidey just appears in a flashback in this issue.

The theme of these issues is mankind’s rashness and penchant for violence over reason (and the Surfer falling into the same trap). They really hammer it in, but I didn’t really get tired of it or anything. It’s a true enough point that I don’t usually mind when people make it. This issue really read like an old 50s sci-fi to me, like some of the Asimov shorts or radio shows like X Minus One and Dimension X. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

There’s a great line in here (italics mine):

They long for peace, yet gird for war! They search for love, yet harbor hate! If man is sane…then the universe itself is steeped in madness!

How awesome is that?

Rating:

The Schemer!

The Kingpin Strikes Back!
Author: Stan Lee
Illustrators: John Romita, John Buscema, Jim Mooney
Letterer: Sam Rosen
Originally published: May 1970

The Secret of the Schemer!
Script: Stan Lee
Art: J. Romita, J. Buscema, Mooney
Lettering: Sam Rosen
Originally published: June 1970

I haven’t read any of these in awhile, so I’m excited to get going again!

In this issue we meet a new criminal, the Schemer, who is intent on taking over the city’s crime scene. Apparently there has been a bit of a power vacuum since the disappearance of the Kingpin, and the Schemer wants to fill the void. The Schemer’s not-half-bad plan is to use guerilla tactics to attack the Kingpin’s forces. Once their attacks begin, though, they run into a wee problem: Spider-Man. The whole situation freaks Spidey out a bit. The Kingpin is kind of a big deal, and anybody willing to tangle with him must have major cajones (big testicles).

If you’ll recall: the last time Spider-Man tangled with Kingpin, the crimelord escaped in a car driven by his mysterious woman, presumably his wife. In this issue we finally get a proper introduction to this woman, Vanessa. We learn that she and the Kingpin have a son together, Richard, and that he is missing in Europe, and possibly dead. A newspaper article about the incident implies that he may have even commit suicide, and Vanessa angrily blames the entire situation on the Kingpin and his life of crime. Kingpin (who I’m fairly certain still doesn’t have a real name at this point) is quite angry about this. His frustration leads him to stop hiding and return to the action of the underworld.

Back in his civilian life, Pete and the gang see Flash off for his return to Vietnam. With a completely uncharacteristic lack of jealousy, Pete watches Gwen (and MJ) give Flash a huge kiss goodbye — on the lips no less — without even exploding into a rage. Later, Harry and MJ go to watch Easy Rider. Awesome. THEN A TRUCK FALLS ON PETER AND GWEN!

Peter holds the truck off the ground, protecting Gwen, but she was injured in the fall. Besides Gwen’s injury, this is obviously a pretty bad position to be in – anybody seeing Pete holding a truck on his back might think something was up. Pete is able to prop the truck up with a parking meter until some cops and ambulances show up, so I guess that worked out. He also throws a tracer on the car that sideswept the truck, causing it to crash.

Unsurprisingly, the car in question was being driven by the Schemer’s men. Spidey tracks them down and attacks the crap out of them. Spidey’s able to take out all the regular hoods that are there, but the Schemer himself gets away.

When Pete goes to the hospital to check on Gwen, she’s pissed off at him. What else is new, though? AMIRITE?!

There was nothing particularly spectacular about this issue, but I still enjoyed it. Possibly because it’s just been awhile since I’ve read any Spidey, possibly because I just watched Spider-Man 2 and I’m in a mood for this kinda thing, possibly because it just actually was pretty decent.

At the beginning of the next issue, we learn that some unnamed source has a $5000 reward out for the Schemer. Could this mystery party be the Kingpin? Yes, but we don’t find that out until the next issue. In an attempt to find the Schemer, Spidey does a little breaking and entering and assault against on of the crime boss’s hoods. Unfortunately, he’s not able to get any info out of the dude, so he just goes moping around the city.

Also: it’s winter and snowing a lot, and Gwen’s birthday is coming up. Pete goes to visit the recovering Gwen, who is trying to decide whether to forgive him or not. She asks a couple of questions about the accident and Peter freaks out and leaves. That outta help her trust him.

Meanwhile, the Schemer is in his hideout: a car covered in snow. WTF?! That‘s his hideout?! And he supposed to be a major threat and potential crime lord? Talk about taking away any of this dude’s credibility. This is just about the lamest ever. The Schemer drives his hideout over the the Kingpin’s lair – an actual building – and attack’s some of the assorted henchmen he finds. The Kingpin is annoyed about this, and Vanessa is annoyed that he cares.

Spider-Man finds the Schemer’s mobile car/base and discovers that it:

• has a battering ram
• can go underwater
• can fly

The Schemer gets away again, then goes and breaks into the Kingpin’s house. Then something really weird happens. Vanessa looks into the Schemer’s eyes and gets hypnotized or something. Spidey shows up and annoys me by declaring yet again that he forgot how fast the Kingpin can move – just like he does every single time they fight. While the two are trading blows, both the Schemer and Vanessa disappear! Kingpin takes off after them, and Spider-Man is left alone with no resolution to his problems.

This issue was terrible compared to the last one. It was boring and it was poorly-written, in my opinion. Crap-fest! Let’s get this over with…

Wrapping up this arc is ASM #85. With a little bit of revisionism it turns out everybody was wrong and Vanessa is not gone. She is, in fact, fine and was hiding in the shadows (super believable, that). Meanwhile the Schemer is driving away in his base car and crashes. Darn the luck, now he needs to go get parts to fix it. I can’t believe this is a plot.

Back at Peter’s place, Gwen and Captain Stacy drop by to ask him how he always manages to get such good photos of Spider-Man. Pete flips out again, totally not managing to keep his cool. His brilliant plan is to excuse himself and then show up as Spider-Man and ask for Pete. What the fuck?! Worst plan ever! Completely unbelievable resolution to the problem. Bahh!

Later, the Kingpin is relaxing with the newspaper. He finds it weird that there are photos of his fight with the Schemer taken within his own house, but he is distracted by what he sees in one photo – Vanessa helping the Schemer escape. Oh noes! Dude flies off the handle and looks like he’s about to wail on her. Luckily the scene changes before we’re forced to witness any spousal abuse.

Spidey catches up with the Schemer, captures him, and takes him to the address specified to claim the reward. Surprise of surprises, it’s a trap by the Kingpin. Spidey gets trapped and the Kingpin confronts the Schemer, who turns out to be the Kingpin’s son Richard. Big surprise. Well, maybe not for me, but it was for the Kingpin, who went into a mad shock and basically went catatonic. Spider-Man escapes and, instead of capturing any of the bad guys, he just leaves.

Another shit issue. This arc went downhill fast. What a shame.

Rating:

And Then Came Electro!

This issue starts off with Peter feeling down on himself as usual, but things pick up quickly when we learn that Mary-Jane’s hair is no longer in an ugly perm. Later, Harry also shaves off his ugly moustache! Double-whammy!

In this issue Spidey tries to earn some cash by going on television. Apparently he didn’t learn his lesson all those other times he tried to get involved in show business. After we get past this lame setup, we’re introduced to a new electrician at the TV station – namely one Max Dillon, a man who somehow manages to withstand what should have been a fatal electrocution. Once again, any mystery and suspense is destroyed by the cover and title of the issue and we know that he must actually be Electro. I mean, I knew that anyway from his name, but 1970 audiences may not have. That mystery would have only lasted a few panels anyway, though, as we’re then treated to a recap of Spidey’s history with Electro.

Electro decides to take revenge on Spider-Man by unmasking him on live TV. This plan does not work out too well for Electro. Spider-Man gets him to touch his hands and feet together, and Electro gets short-circuited. Unfortunately, Spider-Man also gets knocked out and Electro gets away.

Our little Petey sure is smitten with Gwen. They’ve really been laying it on thick lately, though not really in a bad way.

Rating:

On the Trail of the Chameleon!

The art in this issue looks crazy fucking weird, even though it’s the same credits as the last little while. Everybody looks like they’re about 12 years old. What the shit. It’s not bad, really, just… weird. Well, it’s bad when JJ’s hair is all scaly, but other than that it’s ok.

In this issue Petey patches things up with Gwen just in time to go to the museum with her, where her dad is guarding some expensive paintings. They obviously get stolen. The identity of the thief and the manner in which the paintings were stolen might have been an interesting point of mystery and suspense if it hadn’t been given away on the cover and last month’s teaser. Yup, it was the Chameleon. Way to spoil your own story, Stan.

Well anyway, Spidey goes after the Chameleon the next day. Chameleon’s trying to steal a bunch of money and makes the mistake of disguising himself as Peter Parker. Spiderman, on the other hand, makes the dumb mistake of admitting his secret identity when he says (in front of everybody) “You chose the identity of the one person I knew you couldn’t be!”. What the fuck, is Spider-Man insane? Does he know what a secret identity is? Stupid ass.

Fortunately for Peter everybody else is just as dumb as him, and they don’t figure it out.

Rating:

The Night of the Prowler!

To Prowl No More!
Author: Stan Lee
Innovator: John Buscema
Illustrator: Jim Mooney
Letterer: Sam Rosen
Originally published: December 1969

I haven’t really said anything lately, but I’ve been digging Buscema & Mooney’s art. It’s nice to get something fresh in here – not to imply that Romita’s art was getting stale by any means. It’s just good to have a new perspective.

A good chunk of this story focuses on Peter’s relationship with Gwen. She’s getting suspicious of his frequent mysterious disappearances and turns to Flash for advice. When Pete sees Gwen with Flash he totally misreads the situation and gets completely down.

We’re also introduced to Hobie Brown a young, down-on-his-luck inventor. As much as I’ve ribbed Stan Lee in the past for all his characters named “Blackie”, there have been a lot of recent issues that discuss race and race relations and Stan’s done a pretty good job of dealing with the issue. Hobie Brown is another example of this: he’s black and, when he’s forced to deal with a racist boss, good ol’ J. Jonah Jameson himself sticks up for the kid and shows his disgust for the boss’s racism. It’s a really great scene, and seeing the good in JJ is a nice change from the two-dimensional curmudgeon we normally get.

With Hobie’s prospects down the tubes, he decides to use his inventions to become a costumed villain. He’s not even really evil, he just figures a villain will get more immediate publicity for his inventions. It’s a pretty cool plan, especially when he comes up with the idea to have his civilian alter-ego return the stolen loot and become a hero.

When the newly-christened Prowler tries to rob the Bugle’s payroll, he runs into an angry but uncostumed Peter Parker. After knocking out the security guard, the Prowler tackles Pete. The issues ends with Peter unsure of how to deal with situation, since he certainly can’t use his powers in front of JJ.

Amazing Spider-Man #79 opens with Peter falling right out the window! (And a note explaining that they’re wrapping up this three-issue arc in only two issues, and they won’t be doing any more continued multi-issue stories, which I think is a real shame). Panicked, the Prowler takes off. Then he fights Spider-Man for awhile and I get bored.

The next day Peter tells off Gwen for hanging with Flash and then Spider-Man fights the Prowler again. Again, I get bored. When Spider-Man finally beats him, Hobie gives him the whole sob story. Like a sucker, Spidey empathizes and lets the kid go. Nice, eh?

Cool art, kinda interesting first half, pretty shitty resolution.

Rating:

The Lizard Lives!

In the Blaze of Battle!
Author: Stan Lee
Innovator: John Buscema
Adaptor: Jim Mooney
Letterer: Sam Rosen
Consultant: John Romita
Originally published: October 1969

I think #76 here is the first issue without a Romita credit since he came onboard. So long Romita, hello Buscema and Mooney.

Spidey fights the Lizard. The Human Torch shows up and gets in the way. Spider-Man wins the fight and turns the Lizard back into regular old Curt Connors.

Rating:

The Web Closes!

If This Be Bedlam!
Script Writer: Stan Lee
Innovator: Johnny Romita
Illustrator: Jim Mooney
Letterer: Sam Rosen
Originally published: July 1969

Call Him…Fear!
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: Gene Colan
Inked by: George Klein
Lettered by: Artie Simek
Originally published: July 1969

Death Without Warning!
Author: Stan Lee
Innovator: John Romita
Illustrator: Jim Mooney
Letterer: Artie Simek
Originally published: August 1969

Continuing the saga of the ancient stone tablet. In this issue it is retrieved from the Shocker’s girlfriend by the Maggia, a crime organization headed by Silvermane. They also bail the Kingpin’s man Wilson out of jail and kidnap Curt Connors, all in a bid to discover the tablet’s secret. Spider-Man is really a kind of background player in this issue. It wasn’t bad overall, but the suspense regarding the tablet is long past interesting. They need to just reveal what the hell the deal with it is, and move on.

The secret is finally revealed in Amazing Spider-Man 74. We learn that the tablet contains not written language, but chemical symbols – a recipe for a valuable serum. Throughout the whole thing, Silvermane hints that he needs said serum to improve his own health and help with his aging. Curt Connors eventually is able to completely translate the tablet and make the serum. Silvermane drinks it, and it is confirmed that the secret of the tablet is that of the mythical fountain of youth – Silvermane’s youth is restored.

This second issue was actually pretty solid. I was expecting to be pretty disappointed when the big reveal on the tablet finally came, but this wasn’t too bad. Also, Harry Osborn got the best damned moustache so that helped the book quite a bit too:

Next, Spidey makes a brief cameo in Daredevil’s mag, where it appears that Matt Murdock is dead. He isn’t, though.

Issue 75 blows your socks off. The big tease is that somebody dies, but nobody cares because there’s something way more exciting – another character named Blackie! Woo!

Anyway, Silvermane keeps getting younger and younger. Spider-Man shows up and starts fighting everyone, Curt Connors turns into the Lizard and takes off. There’s general mayhem. Eventually Silvermane turns into a little kid and then disappears completely. He’s the guy that dies I guess. Spider-Man rescues Connors’s family, but the Lizard is at large and crazy.

#75 has an awesome cover.

Rating:

Burn, Namor…Burn!

I was supposed to read this before ASM 72 but it really made no difference, so…who cares? Nobody.

Neat: The original, android Human Torch is in this issue. Or is he? It actually turns out that it’s Toro, the Human Torch’s old sidekick. He and Namor fight the Mad Thinker.

Spider-Man appears while listening to a terrorist threat.

Rating:

Rocked by…The Shocker!

Shocker attacks Captain Stacy, steals the tablet. Spider-Man beats him up, but the tablet is now missing and hidden. WTF is with this tablet man, just tell me what the motherfuck it says. It’s not interesting anymore, we need some more damned information.

Flash is back, Peter fights with him, Gwen gets pissed at him.

Aunt May goes on vacation.

Still boring, unfortunately.

Rating:

The Speedster and the Spider!

Basically everything turns around here for Spidey: Jameson recovers (from shock, not actually a heart attack), he gives to tablet to Capt. Stacy, Pete’s pictures vindicate Spidey and the protesting students. Everything’s fine.

Quicksilver shows up and is trying to get in good with the Avengers. QS thinks Spider-Man’s a crook and tries to capture him. It doesn’t really go anywhere.

Pretty boring story again, unfortunately.

Rating:

Crisis on the Campus!

Mission: Crush the Kingpin!
Script: Stan Lee
Storyboards: John Romita
Illustration: Jim Mooney
Letterer: Sam Rosen
Originally published: February 1969

Spider-Man Wanted!
Author: Stan Lee
Innovator: John Romita
Illustrator: Jim Mooney
Letterer: Sam Rosen
Originally published: March 1969

The Kingpin is after an ancient, mysterious clay tablet that nobody can read. This appeals to both the linguist and wannabe-archaeologist in me.

Kingpin’s right-hand-man here is named Wilson, which is also the Kingpin’s name. It’s not important, but it’s weird. I guess Stan hadn’t figured out the Kingpin’s real name yet.

There’s a brouhaha on campus over the school’s decision to convert a student building into fancy private dorms for visiting alumni. The students are protesting but Parker acts like a dick and sides with the school administration. What a fuckin lamer. Later, he regrets it. Some guy named Josh calls Peter “whitey”:

The Kingpin uses the events on campus to steal the tablet. Spider-Man shows up. Kingpin beats Spider-Man, hurts Robbie’s son Randy, and gets the tablet.

Anna Watson refers to herself in the third person (actually, she just calls May “Anna” – dumber, but not as funny):

Next issue!

The Kingpin has the tablet and is laying in wait for Spider-Man. Spidey shows up, beats the Kingpin, gets the tablet. The Kingpin tells the cops that Spider-Man’s a bad guy and then they try to shoot Spidey. He vows to be a “menace” if that’s how they’re going to treat him.

Meanwhile, Gwen questions whether Peter might be a pussy.

We get the first mention of the Kingpin’s wife.

Next issue!

Bullet holes in Spider-Man’s shirt (from when the Kingpin’s men shot a dummy in the last issue) = nice continuity detail.

Apparently Spider-Man’s a crook now and he keeps the tablet. In addition to being a crook he is now also way more whiney than usual and spends a good deal of this issue complaining about all his bad luck.

The whole Gwen/cowardice thing leads to a fight. It’s uninteresting.

Um…the Kingpin breaks out of jail and then fights Spider-Man. When Spider-Man starts to kick his ass, Mrs. Kingpin shows up and drives him home.

In an interesting turn of events, Spider-Man threatens Jameson to the point of giving the old bastard a heart attack. As this issue ends, Jameson is basically dead. Will he recover? Probably.

OK, I’m done for now. These issues were kinda weak.

Rating:

The Name Is…Yellowjacket!

Writer: Joe Casey
Pencils: Will Rosado
Inks: Tom Palmer
Colors: Wil Quintana
Originally published: March 2007

…Till Death Do Us Part!
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: John Buscema
Inker: Mickey Demeo
Letterer: Sam Rosen
Originally published: January 1969

Writer: Joe Casey
Pencils: Will Rosado
Inks: Tom Palmer
Colors: Wil Quintana
Originally published: March 2007

Writer: Joe Casey
Pencils: Will Rosado
Inks: Tom Palmer
Colors: Wil Quintana
Originally published: April 2007

Writer: Joe Casey
Pencils: Will Rosado
Inks: Tom Palmer
Colors: Wil Quintana
Originally published: May 2007

In Avengers #59 a new super-hero, the mysterious Yellowjacket, shows up in town and tackles a few crooks. The next morning, Goliath – Hank Pym – doesn’t show up for an Avengers meeting. Just as everyone starts wondering where Hank is, Yellowjacket appears claiming that’s he killed Goliath. He kidnaps the Wasp, then makes out with her and lets her go. The rest of the Avengers show up as she’s leaving and they attack Yellowjacket – until Wasp stops them! When they ask her what’s up, she says she’s going to marry him! WTF?!

Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes #005 starts in basically the same spot as Avengers 59. There are some crooks, Yellowjacket shows up and trounces ‘em. (This time it’s a hell of a lot bloodier, which is sweet. Yellowjacket really seems like a lunatic.) It covers basically the same events, but shows much more of the background that’s going on – continuing investigation of Vision by SHIELD, Hawkeye’s relationship with the Black Widow, T’Challa’s secret life as a school teacher. When Yellowjacket shows up in Avengers Mansion in this issue, we see Jarvis scan the intruder and determine he is none other than – Hank Pym, Goliath! In this version of the story, all the Avengers realize it’s Hank but don’t let on at first. They suspect that he’s had some sort of breakdown (he has) and doesn’t really realize who he is (he doesn’t).

This is a nice retcon. It’s pretty insane to believe the Avengers wouldn’t recognize their teammate, and I like how this book handles it. They even have a SHIELD psychologist around who tells them to humour this new personality, so as not to harm Hank’s obviously fragile mind. This goes a long way towards explaining why the Avengers actually fight Yellowjacket in Avengers 59. Cool.

The issue ends right before Hank kidnaps the Wasp.

In Avengers #60, we continue the elaborate charade. To be honest, the retcon doesn’t work that well in this issue – there are still some moments when it’s painfully clear that the Avengers have no idea who Yellowjacket is. It works well enough, though, that will a little bit of suspension of disbelief, a little bit of slack, we can buy the whole thing. Sort of.

Anyway, because the story of Wasp apparently abandoning Hank for this Yellowjacket character – his supposed murderer – wasn’t enough for those 1960s action-hounds, there’s a whole other mess thrown into the mix. At the wedding ceremony, the caterers turn out to be the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime! Man, talk about nutty. The event is hella rolodex, as weddings in the Marvel universe tend to be: there are super heroes up the wazoo.

This issue is actually shockingly lame. The fight with the Circus of Crime is really stupid, the big reveal is really stupid…I don’t know, it just kind of a huge let down.

Switching back to Earth’s MIghtiest Heroes, we again get to see the events of the wedding. This time we learn that whole wedding is a SHIELD operation. Everybody on staff, including the minister, is a SHIELD agent. The point? The Wasp seems to think it will snap Hank out of his psychosis. Everybody – the other Avengers (active and otherwise), SHIELD – is pissed at the Wasp for doing it, but they still go along with it.

Meanwhile, that Death Tiger character is still after the Black Panther. He shows up outside the wedding and is stopped by SHIELD agents on patrol. The issue ends with Princess Python’s dumb snake jumping out of the dumb cake.

EMH 7 continues, with Yellowjacket flipping out and revealing himself as Goliath – basically the end of Avengers 60. Once the smoke has cleared Hank gets carted off by SHEILD for a thorough examination, and we learn that SHIELD lost some agents. Knowing full-well that the Circus of Crime are a bunch of lame douchebags, they wonder how that could be…but we know it musta been bad ol’ Death Tiger. The Black Panther, God bless him, figures it out pretty quickly after seeing the bodies.

A couple days later, Death Tiger shows up at the public school where Black Panther is teaching, but doesn’t do anything really..at first. Later, this bullied kid that the Panther is trying to help goes off the deep-end. He’s preparing the blow the brains out of his tormentor when Death Tiger shows up again, this time in the school. Death Tiger and the Black Panther fight like crazy in the middle of a classroom and, after the Panther ends up getting knocked out of window, out in an alley (I think…). The Panther puts up a good fight, but is eventually knocked down. Just as the Tiger is about to finish Panther off, the nutso kid with gun shoots the Death Tiger! Yeah!

The obvious message is that all schoolchildren should carry guns and, hopefully, be capable of murder. Right? Actually, the Panther looks pretty shaken up and disappointed in the kid. But whatever.

Back at the Avengers mansion, Vision is down in the dumps about all the humans in the city hating him. In the last page of the issue, he goes up to the roof and runs into the evil escaped adaptoid.

Finally we reach the end of this saga. EMH 8 opens with the crazy-gun-kid in the police station, and the Black Panther showing up (in super-hero costume, rather than teacher-costume) to talk to him and chastise him. He ends up revealing to the kid who he is, and does thank him for his actions. He tells the dumb kid to accept the consequences of his actions like a man, and to use them as a source of strength. Nice, I guess.

Back at the mansion, there’s a big-ass fight with the super-adaptoid. The adaptoid mostly picks on Vision, and tries to get him riled up with insults and attacks on innocent bystanders. Vision wipes the floor with him in a very anti-climactic fight, but it does warm the public’s opinion of him.

After that, it’s just a bit of wrap-up. T’Challa’s still teaching and becomes Avengers chairman, Hawkeye and Black Widow break up, and Captain American and Iron Man hug. It’s all warm and fuzzy.

Spider-Man shows up to heckle J. Jonah Jameson at one point in Avengers 59, and at the wedding in Avengers 60 and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes 6.

Ok, so overall these issues were OK, but sorta boring. The wedding thing really threw the whole story off in my opinion, but I don’t know who to blame for that. It was in the original series, so it can’t really be ignored. Then again, Casey chose to write about this point in Avengers history… I didn’t mind reading this series, but I certainly wasn’t as enthralled as I was with the first series.

Rating:

The Goblin Lives!

The cover is a fucking sweet painting by Romita. Nice!

This starts off with a lecture by Captain Stacy about the Goblin. Norman Osborn is there and he doesn’t yet remember that he’s the Goblin. That means that at least the first part of this issue has to take place during or before Amazing Spider-Man #66. In fact, since Peter and Harry are hanging out with Norman, this must be before he disappeared, which happened sometime in Amazing Spider-Man #63.

It actually all fits together pretty well, because that’s also right around when Captain Stacy regained his memory and realized Peter wasn’t a bad guy – meaning there’s no reason he couldn’t be hanging out with Pete at the start of this issue. Cool. I love when stuff fits together.

Anyway, at that lecture, Norman Osborn has a bit of a freakout and needs to be taken to the hospital. A few pages later, Osborn finally does remember that he’s the Goblin in one really great, beautiful-looking page. Once he realizes this, he bolts out of his hospital room and takes off. This, you see, is the beginning of his disappearance that happens in issue #63. Osborn heads off to one of his old hideouts, gets in an old costume and vows almighty revenge on Spider-Man!

At this point we have to assume there’s a jump forward to my present point in the timeline. The Goblin has now remembered Spider-Man’s true identity as well and, though Peter wants a confrontation as soon as possible, the Goblin is biding his time. Osborn invites Harry, Peter, MJ and Gwen to a party. Without any plausible excuse Peter is forced to attend, even though he knows that he’s jeopardizing his secret identity and the lives of his friends.

Once at the party, Osborn toys with Peter. They both know each other’s identities, but Peter can’t reveal anything until the Goblin makes a move. When it becomes obvious that Osborn’s about to lose control of himself, Peter creates a smoke bomb to get his friends out and to safety. Furious, Osborn takes off to go attack Aunt May, knowing that Peter will follow.

When they converge again at May’s house, not only does the Goblin give Spidey a bit of a thrashing initially, he also decides to tell Aunt May about Peter’s secret identity. What’s Spider-Man to do? He can’t kill Osborn, but he can’t let Osborn live with his secret, either. He opts to just try to lure the Goblin away for the time being. The plan works, but then Osborn hits him with a “psychedelic pumpkin” and Spider-Man starts tripping like a motherfucker. After having a seriously bad trip for a couple pages, Spider-Man’s powers allow him to come out of the haze just in time!

Spider-Man comes back and beats the snot out of the Goblin. Unmasking his foe, Spider-Man goes with the only crazy-ass long-shot plan he has to keep the Goblin quiet about his secret: he exposes Osborn to one of his own psychedelic pumpkins. Aided by the hallucinogens, Peter basically hypnotizes Osborn into despising the very thought of the Green Goblin, and of Spider-Man. Somehow this works and Osborn disassociates himself from his evil alter-ego, ripping his costume from his body in disgust. It also somehow erases Osborn’s memory of Spider-Man’s true identity.

The question Spider-Man and I both have is: will it be permanent? (I know the answer though: no.)

This was a great Goblin story. I really liked this Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine but, unfortunately, this issue was it’s last! It’s kind of a shame, because I think the slightly different format gave Romita the chance to do some really awesome art and Stan Lee the ability to do longer, more interesting stories.

Rating: