11:28 AM
Brad
Cover Date: August 1962
Plot Overview: Peter Parker is a social outcast that lives with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben. One day Peter heads to a science demonstration. A spider crawls through the test and becomes radioactive and bites Peter before it dies.
Peter leaves the scene and discovers that he can climb walls, leap great distances and has great strength. Peter decides to test his powers by entering a wrestling challenge against Crusher Hogan. Peter disguises himself and then makes short work of Hogan. An agent approaches Peter about doing television and Peter agrees.
Peter designs the Spiderman costume and his web shooters to better sell his upcoming act. Peter appears on television and wows the audience. As he's leaving the show he sees a police officer chasing a crook. Peter passes up doing anything and the crook escapes. The cop confronts Peter about this and Peter says he's just looking out for number 1 now.
Some weeks later Peter comes home to find out that his Uncle Ben has been murdered by a burglar. The burglar is hiding out in an old abandoned warehouse. Peter changes into Spider-Man and captures the burglar. He realizes that it's the same man that he chose not to stop. Spider-Man leaves him for the cops and mourns his failures. The issue ends with the line with great power comes great responsibility.
My Take: What can you say about this issue. It's one of the most iconic issues of all time. It introduces Marvel's biggest character and one of the biggest characters in comics. The art is pretty good, the concept is there right from the start. The story is short and to the point. It really is just a great and memorable issue. It doesn't even suffer from the Silver Age syndrome that the Marvel books have suffered from here and there.
Overall I'd give this issue ***** out of *****
Notes: This is the first appearance of Spider-Man, Aunt May, Flash Thompson and Uncle Ben. Uncle Ben of course dies by the end of the issue and has the rare honor of being one of the few characters in comics to stay dead. Spider-Man is pretty developed right out of the gate here. There was no Spider Sense but there were no real situations that would've triggered it. Spider-Man's costume is also more red and black then red and blue.
This is the last issue of Amazing Fantasy. It was cancelled with that issue even though it pitches another Spider-Man story for issue 16. Spider-Man got his own title when Martin Goodman later reviewed the sales figures for this issue and was stunned to realize that it was one of the highest selling issues for the fledgling Marvel.
Spider-Man of course broke a lot of the conventions of the superhero. He was a teenager and not a sidekick. That's a big difference from the likes of Robin and Speedy. Spider-Man also has a lot of daily life issues that he struggles with. He'll always be struggling with money and society being against him in general. Spider-Man will eventually become the symbol of Marvel Comics and one of their top titles.
Next Issue: Fantastic Four #6
Posted in: Amazing Fantasy,Aunt May,Flash Thompson,Spider-Man
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