The Stop Button
blogging by Andrew Wickliffe
Category: The Amazing Spider-Man
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Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A group of highly trained men takes over a state-of-the-art skyscraper. They are led by an enigmatic leader whose primary contact on the team is the computer wizard. They have rigged the roof to explode. They have thirty or so hostages on the thirtieth floor, and they are…
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The Amazing Spider-Man is melodramatic trifle, but not in any sort of bad way. I mean, it doesn’t succeed but it does try a lot. Director Webb really goes for a high school romance, with such saccharine effectiveness it probably ought to be an ominous foreshadowing for leads Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone’s burgeoning romance.…
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Lot of Ditko homage on the last pages, even with the filmic–especially for the eighties–pacing of Peter suiting up in the red and blue. It’s sort of a weak finish to a great issue. Most of the issue–except some ill-advised attention on Hobgoblin (providing the action)–is Mary Jane telling Peter all about her life. DeFalco…
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I knew I liked these eighties Spider-Man issues. It just took DeFalco a while to bring it around (though it could all be the nostalgia talking). What’s important about this issue isn’t the beginning, which cops out of the previous cliffhanger and then strangely sends Black Cat off to Neverland instead of resolving a new…
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What a cliffhanger! Mary Jane reveals to Peter she knows he’s Spider-Man! All with some weak Ron Frenz faces. I actually liked most of Frenz’s work this issue, when he was doing the action stuff–the fight between Puma and Spider-Man had some nice moves and it worked. But when Peter gets back to Mary Jane…
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Why have a Native American superhero when you can have a Native American supervillain! The politics of Puma (this issue is his first appearance) are fantastic–successful Native Americans use their special abilities to become assassins for hire. It’s great. You’d never see this kind of thing today. Maybe Jason Aaron can do a Puma MAX…
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It’s a perfectly decent done-in-one. The issue opens with the Black Fox (I thought he was the Black Cat’s father, but maybe not) and he introduces the issue’s main story, the Red Ghost wanting to rob a bunch of stores so he can afford to build his death ray (or whatever it’s called). There’s some…
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Here’s my issue… yes, Spider-Man has lots of human problems–his aunt’s pissed at him, he’s got girlfriend trouble, he’s got job trouble. He’s apparently the only superhero in New York when there’s a superpowered terrorist blowing up toy stores. The list goes on and on. But let’s look at these problems. Aunt May’s pissed he…
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Where to start… I’m tempted to start with Rick Leonardi, who comes up with these great layered panels (or maybe Bill Anderson inked them to make them layered), but simply cannot keep any consistency when drawing people. Maybe he does all right when he’s got football helmets on them–it’s a football corruption story, luckily Peter…
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Tom DeFalco really likes expository dialogue and thought balloons, not to mention narration. Peter Parker cannot shut up he’s talking to himself so much, then there’s the Black Cat thinking about recent events to catch the reader up. Strangely, the issue opens on this amusing exchange between Jonah and Robbie about the best way to…
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Peter appears to be pushing Betty away at this point, but he might just be obtuse. The first appearance of Mysterio is decent, but not anything special. Lee spends a lot of time on Mysterio’s origin and the nature of his outfit–Lee’s pacing is great here, the amount of story he fits into the issue,…
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I can’t believe no one’s ever talked about Lee’s plotting pattern. It’s pretty apparent here, twelve issues in–Spider-Man somehow gets beat in the first fight, wins in the second. Meaning there have to be at least two fights a comic book. How things have changed… Marvel comics now do a cliffhanger in the middle of…
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I always forget how small the Marvel Universe is–if you’re going to get broken out of jail, might as well have Doctor Octopus do it. If you’re going to be a mobster and have a lawyer, it might as well be a lawyer whose sister is Spider-Man’s girlfriend. There’s a lot of cool action in…
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So I’m not imagining things–Lee was getting sick of the high school constraints. He sends Aunt May (all better after her operation, though she does need a blood transfusion, which apparently weakens Spider-Man, but it’s hard to gauge his abilities since… well, Lee always fluctuates them anyway to add drama to a fight) off the…
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I was going to open with a smart remark about Lee calling this issue a “book-length” story, but he really does fit a lot in. The whole arc with Electro, with lots of fight scenes, heist scenes, an origin and a prison break, plays second fiddle to the Peter Parker story. Lee puts Aunt May…
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So, there’s a point to about seventy percent of this issue. The rest is a back-up with Spider-Man battling the Human Torch, then the rest of the Fantastic Four, because Spider-Man wanted to show off for the Torch’s girlfriend. It’s an addle-brained waste of pages. The only possible purpose would be if Sue Storm ever…
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When I started reading these comics again, I had no expectations. I read them as a kid, but as I grew up, I really only read Silver Age on recommendation and no one ever recommended a reread of these. Most of these issues, so far, are absolutely fantastic. This issue, with the Vulture returning, has…
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Lee gets back on track (subtly developing Peter Parker too–the flirtations with Betty Brant at the Bugle give him the courage–apparently, it’s never pointed out–to ask Liz Allen out on a date), not just introducing the Lizard, but also sending Spider-Man to Florida. The comedy scenes with Peter and Jonah heading down are absolutely hilarious.…
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Guess who wins in a fight between Doctor Doom and Spider-Man? Guess who wins in the rematch? If you guessed Doctor Doom both times, you get a twelve cent sucker, which is what this issue cost when it came out. It’s a twelve cent sucker too. Lee opens it with some expository paragraph about how…
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It’s the first appearance of Betty Brant. I hadn’t been expected it, but now I’m looking forward to it. She and Peter’s romance was always effecting. Even here, her thought balloon foreshadows the eventual dating. Lee fits a bunch into this issue (oh, it’s the first appearance of the Sandman too), including the first battle…
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Besides the first appearance of Doctor Octopus–and the Spider-Signal–there are a couple other things I noticed. First, Spider-Man’s catching bad guys at the beginning of the issue. That brief scene is the first suggestion he’s actually been out crime fighting. Second, the banter starts this issue, between him and Doctor Octopus (or am I supposed…
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Again, Lee goes an interesting route here. There’s no real introduction to the supporting cast yet–Aunt May’s in the issue, but the police chief has more effect (I don’t think Aunt May has any lines)–and Spider-Man’s still all about the benjamins. I’m not sure what rent was back in the 1960s, but he must have…
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Brisk doesn’t even begin to describe how fast this issue moves. Not having read it in years–but having read Ultimate Spider-Man, seen the movie, etc–I forgot Lee didn’t give up on Peter Parker trying to find a way to make a living as Spider-Man for a while (or at least this issue). It’s a neat…
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The Beyonder and Mephisto place a bet on Spider-Man’s ability to sacrifice his personal wellbeing for others. How stupid a storyline is that one? It’s Spider-Man. The character’s entire premise is based on his personal misery. It’s a mess of an issue, as the Secret Wars II crossovers are clearly straining the entire Marvel line…
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I probably grew up on Tom DeFalco’s Spider-Man and never even knew it. All I think of when I hear the name now is Spider-Girl and that’s about it. I guess I did read another DeFalco Secret Wars II crossover Spider-Man issue and the result was me thinking I should read more. This issue just…
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This issue reveals Ronnie is not, as it turns out, in bed with the Kingpin. He just contracts him on special assignments. If Marvel had any real nads, they could do Kingpin owning Blackwater. But whatever. Ron Frenz draws a good Spider-Man comic. Not sure what I think of him overall, but this issue had…
The Stop Button 