Monday 11 May 2009

Amazing Spider-Man #93. The Prowler's back

Amazing Spider-Man #93, the Prowler
(Cover from February 1971)

"THE LADY AND -- THE PROWLER!"

Written by Stan Lee
Art by John Romita
Lettering by Artie Simek


What happens:
Gwen gets a call from her uncle in London, offering her the chance to stay with him and her aunt. When she tells Peter that she loves him even more than she hates Spider-Man, the reminder of the inescapable obstacle between them makes him tell her she should go to London.

But, later, he decides he was wrong, he can't live without her and he returns to her apartment to tell her the truth about himself.

Before he can do so, the Prowler appears. Thinking the favour he did for the hero at George Stacy's house was part of Spider-Man's plans to kill the ex-cop, he's determined to bring the wall-crawler to justice. Spider-Man doesn't want to fight but, the Prowler won't listen and, during the scrap, has a fall that hurts him badly. Spider-Man gets him to a hospital and then returns to Gwen.

But it's too late. She's already gone to London. Yet again being Spider-Man has wrecked his life.

The Verdict:
John Romita's back on pencilling duty and, appropriately for a man who used to draw romance comics, it's back in full-on soap opera mode. Poor old Gwen, she doesn't know if she's coming or going - literally - with the way Peter Parker carries on. No wonder she seems to spend all her time bawling her eyes out.

And Poor old Hobie Brown. He still can't quite grasp that he's totally outclassed by Spider-Man. For a start, the only reason he can even catch up with Spidey - who can swing from building to building in mere moments, whereas he can't - is because Spidey wants to talk sense to him.

They clearly work fast in New York. At the tale's climax, it can't be more than a few minutes since Spidey last saw Gwen in her apartment and, already, by the looks of it, someone new's moved in.

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