12:01 PM
Brad
Plot Overview: Peter and the gang watch a tv report by J. Jonah Jameson that denounces Spider-Man as a menace to society. Peter takes the opportunity to conceal his identity and speaks out against Spider-Man. This draws harsh words from Flash Thompson and Peter leaves.
Meanwhile, Dr. Doom is in town after his latest defeat at the hands of the Fantastic Four. It replays the final scenes from Fantastic Four #17 in a really nice piece of continuity. Dr. Doom uses a spider to call to Spider-Man via his Spider Sense.
Spider-Man hears the call and comes to Dr. Doom. Doom offers Spider-Man a chance to team up with him. Together he thinks they'll be able to defeat the Fantastic Four. Spider-Man entertains the thought for a second before declining. He lashes out at Doom with his webbing but it ends up just being a Doombot. The real Dr. Doom appears and springs a trap door that Spider-Man easily evades. Doom fires at Spider-Man with his Finger Blaster until Spider-Man escapes through the window.
A brief time later, Flash Thompson decides to pay Peter Parker back for what he said about Spider-Man. He dresses as Spider-Man and means to surprise Peter Parker. Unfortunately for him, Dr. Doom is in the area. He has developed a sensor that works off of Spider Sense. Because Flash is so close to Parker, Doom mistakes him as Spider-Man. Doom easily captures Flash and heads back to his HQ.
Doom takes over all the television stations and threatens to kill Spider-Man unless the FF disband and surrender to him. Peter sees this and heads off to rescue Flash. Aunt May doesn't want him to go out so Peter pulls the master fuse out of the fuse box so that he has to leave the house.
Spider-Man tracks down Doom in an abandoned warehouse and sneaks in through a vent. Spider-Man's first move is to jam Doom's Finger Blaster with webbing. Doom tries a variety of other traps but Spider-Man manages to thwart them. Doom's last ploy is a disintegrator ray but Spider-Man also manages to avoid that trap. Doom resorts to a physical attack and seems to have Spider-Man reeling when he notices that the FF have arrived on the scene.
Doom flees the scene with the odds against him and Spider-Man makes an exit when he realizes that Aunt May will be worried. The FF arrive and find Flash Thompson dressed as Spider-Man. The Thing is not amused by finding a faker while Reed notices the webbing and comments that the real Spider-Man wasn't there.
Later on, JJJ admonishes Parker for not getting any pictures while Betty Brant admits to thinking he's wonderful. Peter is surprised by this revelation and later runs into Flash. Flash is bragging about his adventure and all of their classmates are impressed by his tall tale. Peter is not amused as the issue comes to a close.
My Take: I have mixed feelings on this issue. On the one hand, it was a really well crafted story and had some really good character development for a Silver Age issue. On the other hand, I'm not a fan of Spider-Man facing off with Dr. Doom. I feel like they aren't on the same level as far as threat level. I see Dr. Doom as more of a global level threat while I tend to see Spider-Man as a very street level kind of hero. It feels like Spider-Man would be out of his league against Dr. Doom. To the credit of this issue, they did communicate that Spider-Man was in over his head. He didn't really win or lose against Doom in this issue, he really just held him off long enough for the FF to arrive on the scene.
The FF again appeared in Spider-Man. That's the third time in 5 issues. That really makes it feel like they live in the same universe and adding Dr. Doom to the mix further creates a shared universe. I really liked how they did a flashback to the end of Fantastic Four #17 as it created a sense of continuity. That seems like a small matter today, but in 1963 this was revolutionary. You weren't seeing this kind of storytelling in DC Comics at the time. This really felt like a natural progression of time in the Marvel Universe. They've been toying with the shared universe concept since the Hulk and Thing fought in Fantastic Four #12 and now it feels like they're going full speed ahead with the idea.
Betty Brant also drops a big hint that she has some interest in Peter Parker. That was the first time I ever noticed that she became his love interest so quickly. I always thought that happened a dozen issues down the road or so. It will be interesting to see their relationship develop over the next several issues though.
Overall, I really enjoyed the story in this issue. Spider-Man and Dr. Doom had a pretty lengthy brawl. It also had all of the side stories you would want from an early Spider-Man tale. Flash Thompson being a bully, Peter having to work around Aunt May to go be Spider-Man, a Parker love interest and JJJ trashing Spider-Man as always. Amazing Spider-Man continues to be a really good book with every issue.
I give this ***1/4 out of *****.
Notes: Amazing Spider-Man is now being released on a monthly schedule.
Next Issue: Journey Into Mystery #97
Posted in: Amazing Spider-Man,Aunt May,Betty Brant,Dr. Doom,Flash Thompson,Human Torch,J. Jonah Jameson,Liz Allan,Reed Richards,Spider-Man,Sue Richards,Thing
0 comments:
Post a Comment