John Dunbar re-reads AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (AF 15, ASM 1-50)

[John Dunbar]

We have a wonderful thread, started by Richard Mantle, that examines the Amazing Spider-Man starting with issue #51.  I don't know why it took me so long to realize we don't have a thread that covers Spidey's beginning to the point where Richard starts.

Spider-Man is hands down my favorite Marvel hero and I love the early stuff.  Peter Parker felt like an outsider in high school.  He had girl troubles and money troubles.  I think a lot of us could identify with him when we were teenagers; I know I certainly did.  Those first 50 issues of Amazing, plus the Annuals and Amazing Fantasy 15, are among the cream of the Silver Age.  Outstanding artwork from Steve Ditko and John Romita.  Unforgettable dialogue from Stan Lee.  A fantastic rogues gallery and a wonderful supporting cast.  Just terrific, terrific stuff.

Join me, won't you?

[Fred W. Hill]

And after all we are talking about a kid who came up the incredible spider-web formula and the gizmos that enable him to spin them out from his wrists.  And all on a very meager budget, perhaps just the money he got from winning that wrestling contest.  Peter Parker must have also had considerable talents as a tailor to create his perfectly form-fitting Spider-Man costume, with a very complex design, entirely on his own, and then be able to duplicate that costume several times even before he graduated from high school.

[John Dunbar]

Amazing Spider-Man 7 (December 1963)

"The Return of the Vulture"

Written by: Stan Lee / Illustrated by: Steve Ditko / Lettered by Artie Simek

Cover By Steve Ditko

After his defeat by Spider-Man, the Vulture has been a model prisoner.  He has been allowed to work in the prison machine shop, where he has been secretly building a new flying device.  He tests it one night, and the next day uses it to escape over the prison walls.  At Midtown High, Peter Parker overhears news of the Vulture's escape on another student's radio.  He fakes being sick to leave and go change to Spider-Man, and Flash Thompson mocks him for it.  When he's alone at home, as he changes into costume, a frustrated Peter says:

This double identity jazz is for the birds!  I can't take much more ribbing as Peter Parker!  Sooner or later, someone's gonna lose a mouthful of teeth!

Spider-Man has the anti-magnetic inverter that defeated the Vulture last time.  He checks his web fluid, shooters, and his camera before he goes.  Then he uses his spider-sense to determine the street is empty before he leaves his house, which takes 20 minutes.  Soon he is in the heart of the city.  Meanwhile, the Vulture realizes he is being followed by a police helicopter.  He decides to test out his new modified wings, and easily evades the police.  After robbing a jewelry showcase, he flies low enough to evade police radar.  He also stymies cops on the ground by flying near people on the ground.  The police are hesitant to shoot, fearing a ricochet will hit a bystander.

Thanks to his spider-sense, Spidey finds the Vulture.  The villain realizes his foe is going to use the inverter on him but thinks to himself it will not work this time, thanks to the modifications he has made.  However, he pretends it does work and causes him to fall to the ground, to get Spider-Man to let his guard down.  Spidey loses sight of him as the Vulture zooms back up toward him.  His spider-sense is going crazy but he can't figure out why, as he doesn't see the Vulture until it is too late.  A double upper-cut staggers him.  The Vulture doesn't give him a chance to recover, and Spidey falls to a rooftop below.  The Vulture thinks Spidey is finished, and flies off.  But Spidey soon comes to, unfortunately, he thinks he has a broken arm.

Spidey returns home, and is nearly caught with his mask off by his Aunt May.  He avoids her by jumping up and clinging to the ceiling.  It takes him about a half hour to change clothes because of his injury.  He tells May he hurt himself playing volleyball, and she believes it (!), she takes him to the doctor, who says the arm is sprained.  May orders him to stop playing volleyball in the future.  At school, the kids make fun of his sprained arm, and he can barely contain his anger.

At his hideout, the Vulture plans his next haul - robbing J. Jonah Jameson's payroll.  At the same time, Peter is at the Daily Bugle building.  He flirts a bit with Betty Brant, and tries to sell pics of the Vulture to Jonah, who doesn't want to pay very much for them.  As Peter and Jonah bicker, the Vulture flies in and pulls a gun on Jonah.  He demands JJJ gives him everything in his safe.  Jonah begs him not to take his money and although he's really over the top about it, the Vulture can't be swayed.  Peter ducks out to change to Spidey, and races back into Jonah's office.  The Vulture throws Jonah at Spidey and flies off.  Spidey tells Jonah to stay in his office as it's a private battle between him and the Vulture; Jonah snaps at him that the two of them will wreck the place and says to let him go, and leave him for the police.

Spidey tries to catch the Vulture before he flies outside, with Jonah on his heels, yelling at him for the damage being caused.  The Vulture swoops down a few floors to the press room, followed closely by Spider-Man.  Spidey jumps on his back, and is making fun of his winged foe non-stop.  He's doing it to keep the Vulture so angry he won't notice his injured arm. but Spidey is soon slammed into the ceiling.  He's stunned a bit but manages to avoid falling into the giant press rollers.  The Vulture flies out a window and Spidey follows, but the Vulture was waiting.  He grabs Spidey by the wrist and flies upward, unaware that Spidey was warned of danger by his spider-sense as he swung out the window, and had allowed himself to get grabbed.  He lets the Vulture brag about catching him for a few minutes, and then webs his wings together.  The Vulture becomes hysterical and begs Spidey to save him.  Spidey gets on the Vulture's back and spins a web-parachute.  He attaches it to the Vulture's back and swings off (I guess he's going to let the police know this?).  Jonah yells to him, and Spidey naively thinks Jonah is going to apologize and maybe even give him a reward.  However, JJJ angrily tells him he holds him responsible for all the damage in the building.  He keeps ranting and Spidey has had enough - so he webs Jonah's mouth shut!

Peter changes back to his regular clothes and finds Betty hiding near an overturned desk.  He asks to join her, and tells her he was hiding in a closet because he's not the heroic type.  Betty says it's something they have in common, and she's glad he doesn't pretend to be something he's not.  Jonah runs by and Peter makes a wisecrack about Jonah being unable to talk being an improvement.  Betty feigns being angry, and Peter sweet talks her, telling her to put her head on his shoulder, and let the two of them enjoy the silence.  Betty asks what Jonah will say.

Nothing baby ... for at least an hour!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My rating: 8/10

This was a lot of fun.  Stan and Steve covered really well for the Vulture not being much of a threat to Spider-Man by giving Jonah a lot of character development.  He's been reasonable before other than his anti-Spidey vendetta, but here we see the familiar trope of him being a miserable skinflint.  First he lowballs Peter for his pictures, and then he begs and pleads the Vulture not to rob him.  There's no bravery, just a lot of whining - the whole scene is played for laughs.  Jonah is right, however, when he predicted that Spidey's fight with the Vulture would cause a bunch of damage.  His anger is partially justified, but since he completely blames Spidey, a reader likely has little sympathy for Jonah.

The other character bits are interesting.  Peter has a lot of rage bubbling just below the surface.  The kids at his school come across as very cruel, laughing at his sprained arm.  The budding relationship with Betty Brant is blooming nicely - Peter is anything but tongue-tied around her.  The bit with Aunt May was bad though.  She comes across as senile, and it is also played for laughs.  We're supposed to laugh at Jonah's antics - are we really supposed to laugh at Aunt May?

Ditko's art continues to be great.  The cover is simple but effective.  He puts a lot of effort into each panel.  It's very impressive, and quite a contrast to other solo series of the time that had different artists across several issues, like Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man, and the Human Torch.  There's a level of care being put into this series that the others won't get for a while (Thor, Iron Man), or not at all (Torch and Ant-Man).

[Ron M.]

I liked how the Vulture tricked Spider-Man into thinking it would be easy to beat him again. Spidey's getting a bit too sure of himself there. Never assume your enemy is stupid.

Pete calms down a bit after this, maybe because he gets to box Flash in the ring next time "Next issue, he does some very untypical things!", although he'll be raging again shortly before Ditko leaves him.

This is one of the few times in the early days when everything works out fine for Spider-Man at the end of a story.

I often thought reading these stories that we're supposed to get annoyed at Aunt May's well meaning interference. John Romita said one of the reasons he didn't want to draw Spider-Man was "I hated the old lady!" She doesn't come off looking very good in some of these issues, does she? Like the time she destroyed his only costume, making him buy that Halloween outfit with the faulty elastic.

Interesting he's not in his Halloween colors here. When exactly does he go purple and orangy, and how long does it last?

[Richard Willis]

John Dunbar said:

He tests it one night, and the next day uses it to escape over the prison walls.

Oddly, Ditko shows web-like “wings” on the Vulture’s prison shirt. I suppose he could have modified a shirt when no one was watching.

Then he uses his spider-sense to determine the street is empty before he leaves his house, which takes 20 minutes.

Someone being on the street is a “threat” that his spider sense can detect? Okay. After he leaves, a child sees him “swinging across the rooftops.” It would have been tough to depict his swinging across the rooftops of one- and two-story homes where he lives, so we don’t see it.

The villain realizes his foe is going to use the inverter on him but thinks to himself it will not work this time, thanks to the modifications he has made.

As the Vulture flies directly at him, Spidey produces his camera and takes a picture. Seems to me that this might lead to the Vulture guessing his secret identity. I don’t remember him so obviously using his camera before or since.

He demands JJJ gives him everything in his safe. Jonah begs him not to take his money and although he's really over the top about it, the Vulture can't be swayed.

Oddly, it seems that Jonah has the payroll in his office safe in cash. Why wouldn’t he be using paychecks? He also says that if the payroll is stolen he’ll be wiped out. He publishes a magazine and a daily newspaper and has no cash reserves (or is he just lying)?

Jonah snaps at him that the two of them will wreck the place and says to let him go, and leave him for the police.

It’s fun watching them crashing around in the Bugle offices. They both separately nearly bowl over Betty Brant and generally make a mess. To his credit, the Vulture doesn't use anyone as a human shield.

He lets the Vulture brag about catching him for a few minutes, and then webs his wings together. The Vulture becomes hysterical and begs Spidey to save him. Spidey gets on the Vulture's back and spins a web-parachute.

After they made a big deal over the Vulture’s anti-gravity device, why does he need a parachute to survive?

We're supposed to laugh at Jonah's antics - are we really supposed to laugh at Aunt May?

She doesn’t seem senile here, but she is so protective of Peter that she thinks he’ll fall over in a slight breeze. He’s all she’s got. I think we’re supposed to laugh at Peter being trapped by her excessive doting, which sometimes interferes with his changing to Spider-Man.

There's a level of care being put into this series that the others won't get for a while (Thor, Iron Man), or not at all (Torch and Ant-Man).

I think both Ditko and Lee had a lot of affection for the character. The others mentioned, whatever they later became, started out as mandates to create a bunch of heroes.

[Richard Willis]

The reprints, of course, can't be trusted for colors, so I'm using the images shot from the originals for the 40 Years of the Amazing Spider-Man CD-ROM set.

In Amazing Fantasy #15 his costume is an "Atlas-red" (I think a combination of red and yellow dots) and black high-lighted in blue. When first seen, the large spider on his back is blue. On the cover his costume is a richer red color. Unless I say otherwise, the following have a richer red on the cover and the yellowish red inside.

In Amazing Spider-Man #1, the cover is using a purplish blue color while the interior has black highlighted in gray instead of blue.

In ASM #2, #3 and #4, on the cover spidey is red and black with no highlighting. Inside, the highlighting is gray again. ASM #2 has a house ad showing all of the then-current Marvel heroes. In the ad Spidey is red and purple and Thor is bright blue.

In ASM #5, the cover has him red and black with no highlighting but the interior has changed to red and a gray-blue color.

In ASM #6 and #7, the cover has black highlighted by a gray-blue color, which is the same inside.

In ASM #8, the cover has black highlighted in gray-blue while the interior sometimes has black highlighted in gray-blue and sometimes there is no black at all. This seems to be the transition to no more black.

Beginning in ASM #9 (my first buy), the cover has black highlighted in gray-blue while the interior is red and dark blue with no black unless a shadow is called for. This continued for years.

It's hard to see the transition, but somewhere around issue #60 the dark blue has become bright blue and the red is not yellowish. This may be the time that colorist Sam Rosen said that new printers resulted in a different color palette. My previous memory of purple and red-orange were probably over-simplified. The combination I remembered was actually gray highlights (which looked a little purple) and Atlas-red.

[John Dunbar]

Ron M. said:

I liked how the Vulture tricked Spider-Man into thinking it would be easy to beat him again. Spidey's getting a bit too sure of himself there. Never assume your enemy is stupid.

He's very smart but prone to over-confidence at times.  And It's his first rematch will a super-villain, his recollection was an easy win last time.

Pete calms down a bit after this, maybe because he gets to box Flash in the ring next time "Next issue, he does some very untypical things!", although he'll be raging again shortly before Ditko leaves him.

One thing I don't like about the early stories is how cruel all the other kids are to Peter.  He doesn't seem to have any friends, and surely the other kids knew about Uncle Ben's murder - but they pick on him relentlessly.  Flash being a bully is one thing, but all his peers being so mean all the time seems a bit much.

This is one of the few times in the early days when everything works out fine for Spider-Man at the end of a story.

I often thought reading these stories that we're supposed to get annoyed at Aunt May's well meaning interference. John Romita said one of the reasons he didn't want to draw Spider-Man was "I hated the old lady!" She doesn't come off looking very good in some of these issues, does she? Like the time she destroyed his only costume, making him buy that Halloween outfit with the faulty elastic.

Sometimes she does come across well in the Ditko era but there's a lot of scenes where you wonder about her.  I mostly am surprised by how little panel time she gets in these early issues.

[Fred W. Hill]

I wonder if Ditko had bad experiences with his high school classmates that might've influenced his part in telling these early stories.  Whether working with Stan or other collaborators or on his own, Ditko's art reflected a dim view of most people.  I must confess I was so terribly introverted during my own high school years in the late '70s, in a small town in central California, south of Fresno, that I didn't have any real friends, although I was only bullied a few times during my freshman year by a jerk I shared a p.e. class with (and I loathed team sports, particularly football).  Yeah, Pete's classmates are cruel but reading many of the stories from the pocket book reprints (of AF #15 & ASM #1-18) circa 1978, they didn't strike me as unrealistic at all, and in later issues Ditko & Lee did portray Flash as maturing a bit, such that at one point when Peter got in trouble for fighting his classmates Flash stuck up for him by telling the principal the truth about what happened.  And since Ditko plotted that particular scene, seems evidence he believed even apparent jerks could shape up enough to do the right thing.  It's also clear from Stan's creation of Cap's Kookie Quartet version of the Avengers that he certainly believed villains could redeem themselves and become heroes.  Shades of gray in characters' behavior as well as their costumes!

[John Dunbar]

Richard Willis said:

John Dunbar said:

He tests it one night, and the next day uses it to escape over the prison walls.

Oddly, Ditko shows web-like “wings” on the Vulture’s prison shirt. I suppose he could have modified a shirt when no one was watching.

He tested it at night in his cell, after bed check.  He was probably concealing things under his shirt.

Then he uses his spider-sense to determine the street is empty before he leaves his house, which takes 20 minutes.

Someone being on the street is a “threat” that his spider sense can detect? Okay. After he leaves, a child sees him “swinging across the rooftops.” It would have been tough to depict his swinging across the rooftops of one- and two-story homes where he lives, so we don’t see it.

That was odd.  It's not a radar sense, and it doesn't talk to him.  And I think they left swinging out of the burbs out on purpose.  I remember in the '70s he would sometimes hitch a ride on top of city buses.

The villain realizes his foe is going to use the inverter on him but thinks to himself it will not work this time, thanks to the modifications he has made.

As the Vulture flies directly at him, Spidey produces his camera and takes a picture. Seems to me that this might lead to the Vulture guessing his secret identity. I don’t remember him so obviously using his camera before or since.

I skipped over that but you make a good point.  Peter had a deal with Jonah to leave his name out of the Bugle and give credit for his pictures to a Bugle staffer, but I'm sure with a bit of digging the Vulture could have found out Peter takes the photos.  He did everything but ask the Vulture to say "Cheese!".

He demands JJJ gives him everything in his safe. Jonah begs him not to take his money and although he's really over the top about it, the Vulture can't be swayed.

Oddly, it seems that Jonah has the payroll in his office safe in cash. Why wouldn’t he be using paychecks? He also says that if the payroll is stolen he’ll be wiped out. He publishes a magazine and a daily newspaper and has no cash reserves (or is he just lying)?

My guess is Jonah is lying, probably wanting to hide from the Vulture how much money he has in his safe, or safes.  I can think of a few reasons he would have a safe and not use paychecks - may not trust banks, avoid the costs of issuing paychecks, hiding money from the taxman, etc.  Also, despite being a skinflint, he may have wanted to have cash on hand to pay on the spot for exclusives from freelancers like Peter.

Jonah snaps at him that the two of them will wreck the place and says to let him go, and leave him for the police.

It’s fun watching them crashing around in the Bugle offices. They both separately nearly bowl over Betty Brant and generally make a mess. To his credit, the Vulture doesn't use anyone as a human shield.

The whole sequence was quite entertaining.  The Vulture was not thinking clearly, torn between wanting to escape and wanting to smash Spider-Man, since Spidey's insults were making very angry.

He lets the Vulture brag about catching him for a few minutes, and then webs his wings together. The Vulture becomes hysterical and begs Spidey to save him. Spidey gets on the Vulture's back and spins a web-parachute.

After they made a big deal over the Vulture’s anti-gravity device, why does he need a parachute to survive?

When Spidey pinned his wings with some webbing, the Vulture couldn't fly anymore.  The parachute stopped them from crashing to the ground, Wile E. Coyote style.  Once Spidey reached a rooftop, he got off the Vulture's back and attached the parachute (which he had been holding) to him.

We're supposed to laugh at Jonah's antics - are we really supposed to laugh at Aunt May?

She doesn’t seem senile here, but she is so protective of Peter that she thinks he’ll fall over in a slight breeze. He’s all she’s got. I think we’re supposed to laugh at Peter being trapped by her excessive doting, which sometimes interferes with his changing to Spider-Man.

Sometimes she comes across well but this was not one of the better moments imo.

There's a level of care being put into this series that the others won't get for a while (Thor, Iron Man), or not at all (Torch and Ant-Man).

I think both Ditko and Lee had a lot of affection for the character. The others mentioned, whatever they later became, started out as mandates to create a bunch of heroes.

I agree with you on that.

[Ron M.]

Ditko seems to have been kind of a nerd to me, and having been one myself, I can honestly say if he didn't have bad experiences with his high school classmates then he didn't go to high school. I can say from first hand experience that bullies don't care one bit if they hear a close family member of someone they dislike died. They might even make cruel comments about their death hoping to really hurt their target.

Marvel Tales definitely made the blue purple in several issues. I'd guess it was like that in the originals, since the same issues didn't make Thor or the Torch purple.

[Richard Willis]

The impression I have is that the kids picking on Peter were doing it to suck up to Flash Thompson. They were sheep following a strong leader. Happens every day.

[Richard Willis]

John Dunbar (the mod of maple) said:

When Spidey pinned his wings with some webbing, the Vulture couldn't fly anymore. The parachute stopped them from crashing to the ground, Wile E. Coyote style. Once Spidey reached a rooftop, he got off the Vulture's back and attached the parachute (which he had been holding) to him.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought the Vulture's flying ability was like Hawkman's:
Wings to maneuver but an anti-gravity device to stay aloft. If this is the case he wouldn't have to fear falling to his death. He just wouldn't be able to make fancy movements, or any movements.

[Fred W. Hill]

Yep, from playgrounds to workplaces and to national politics, around the world.  Lots of toadies eagerly sucking up to whoever appears to be the top dog.

Richard Willis said:

The impression I have is that the kids picking on Peter were doing it to suck up to Flash Thompson. They were sheep following a strong leader. Happens every day.