Amazing Spider-Man #7. The Vulture's back

(Cover from December 1963.)

"The Return Of The Vulture!"

Words by Stan Lee.

Art by Steve Ditko.

Lettering by Artie Simek.

Well, here's an odd one. Only five issues after he last showed up, the Vulture makes his return appearance.

Admittedly, the fact he makes it's mostly down to the New York prison authorities who conveniently let him make use of their equipment to create a new anti-gravity device. Leaving aside the stupidity of those authorities for giving him the means to make his escape, it has to be some prison workshop they have that can be used to make anti-gravity devices.

But then, this is, presumably, the same prison workshop that enabled the Shocker to make his vibro-equipment, so it seems to be better equipped than the average mad scientist's lab.

What's also odd about this tale is it's mostly played for laughs, as though both Steve Ditko and Stan Lee know the Vulture isn't really that heavy-duty a villain (one punch from Spider-Man would take his head clean off) and therefore they'd better concentrate on the "fun" side of the tale.

I still don't have a clue how Spider-Man defeats the Vulture in this story. He shoots some webbing at the Vulture's wings, the Vulture says he can't fly because his wings are webbed and begins to plummet from on high till Spider-Man saves him by attaching a web parachute to him, allowing the feathered fiend to fall gently into the no doubt waiting hands of the authorities.

Why would webbing the Vulture's wings make him plummet? It's already been established that the Vulture flies via an anti-gravity device on his shoulders, and his wings have nothing to do with it. He even manages to fly at the start of the tale without the aid of his wings.

In fact, the most significant thing that happens in this issue is right at the end, when Peter Parker and Betty Brant start to get romantic behind a desk in the Bugle's office. Don't worry, The Amazing Spider-Man hasn't suddenly gone all X-certificate. When I say, "romantic," I mean, "romantic," and it's first time we've seen the smooth-tongued flirtatious side of Peter Parker that'd become especially evident in the John Romita years.

Amazing Spider-Man #6. The Lizard

(Cover from November 1963.)

"Face-To-Face With The Lizard!"

Words by Stan Lee.
Art by Steve Ditko.
Lettering by Artie Simek.

Scientists, will they never learn not to tamper with things that're best left to God, and God alone?

Well, not in the mighty world of Marvel Comics, they won't. And I suppose we should be glad of it or Spider-Man would have a very dull life and we'd have nothing to spend our 12 cents on each month. That's right, pilgrims, this is the issue when out favourite comic book goes monthly and, to celebrate, we get a trip to Florida.

This time out, the scientist who doesn't know to leave things to God and God alone is Dr Curt Connors who, in an attempt to grow back the arm he lost in the war, has drunk some reptile serum and promptly turned into the Lizard, scourge of the swamps and supreme photo opportunity for Peter Parker. Of course, Peter Parker has to survive this particular photo opportunity before he can get his money but what can you do?

I love this story. I love it for two reasons. One, it has the Lizard in it, who's probably my favourite Spider-Man villain. And, two, because of the dialogue.

In fact, the dialogue starts spectacularly badly, with the Lizard uttering the sort of cornball lines that monsters used to utter in the monster stories Marvel produced by the bucketful in the early 1960s. But then we switch to Peter Parker in New York and it's blatantly obvious Stan Lee's hit his stride with his characterisation of our hero, as Peter quips his way through a series of incidents before finally getting to meet his foe.

It's easy to credit Steve Ditko with a huge part of Spider-Man's early success - it is, after all, a visual medium - but I can't help feeling it was Stan Lee's voicing of our hero that was the real secret. Had there ever been a super hero before written quite liked Spider-Man? For me, that's why the strip made such a smooth transition from the Ditko era to the John Romita epoch. The style of art may have been dramatically different but Lee's dialogue stayed true to the spirit of old.

As for Florida, that's when the joking stops and our hero's in a fight for his life.

Like Dr Doom's plan last issue, the Lizard's scheme probably doesn't make any great sense. He wants to give the serum, that turned him into the Lizard, to the reptiles in the Florida swamps, to turn them into what are presumably meant to be an army of Lizard-Men. Except the formula was derived from lizards, so wouldn't it just make them more lizardy?

Happily we never get the chance to find out, as given the chance to administer the formula to all the creatures of the swamp, the Lizard, or Liz to his friends, spends all his time, boasting of how he's going to give the formula to the lizards while never actually doing it. Instead, he spends all his time, trying to squish Spider-Man. Something he very nearly manages. Happily, as is his wont, Spidey's whipped up an antidote in double-quick time and pours it down the Lizard's throat. Cue, one cured scientist and a friendship to last for life.

One friendship that's not on such firm ground is the one between Peter Parker and Liz Allan. Having been rescued from jewel thieves by him, in the museum, she's developed a crush on Spider-Man and has no time at all now for Peter Parker. As Peter Parker says, talking to no one in particular, as he does, "Only a guy with my nutty luck could end up being his own competition." You said it, tiger, but then we wouldn't want it any other way.

Amazing Spider-Man #5. Dr Doom

(Cover from October 1963.)

"Marked For Destruction By Dr. Doom!"

Written by Stan Lee.
Drawn by Steve Ditko.
Inked by Steve Ditko.
Lettered by Sam Rosen.

Need legal advice? Then Dr Doom's your man. The man who the Fantastic Four are convinced they can never arrest because he's broken no law, despite breaking just about every law under the sun every time he sets foot out of his castle, is back; and Spider-Man discovers that the best kind of attorney is a punch in the face.

As if flinging Dr Octopus and the Sandman at Spider-Man over the last two issues wasn't enough, now Stan Lee and Steve Ditko bring in the biggest gun in their arsenal, as arguably Marvel Comics' greatest villain makes a house call on Spider-Man's mag.

In fact, its a somewhat silly version of the good Doctor that we get; one who comes up with a plan that, like most super villain plans, makes no noticeable sense. You see, having decided he can't defeat the Fantastic Four on his own, our villain's decided to enlist the aid of Spider-Man.

The only trouble is, Spider-Man doesn't want to team up with Dr Doom and doesn't want to kill the Fantastic Four. Upon hearing this, Doom does what you expect him to do in such circumstances and, instead, tries to kill Spider-Man. You can't help feeling Doom's life would be so much less stressful if only he'd stop trying to kill everyone.

Needless to say, his latest attempt at homicide fails and Spider-Man escapes.

Doom, however, is really into this killing thing, like other people are really into the hula hoop, and later captures Flash Thompson who's disguised as Spider-Man. He then uses this captive "Spider-Man" as bait to lure the Fantastic Four into fighting him.

It's a great plan.

There's only three things wrong with it.

1. He doesn't actually tell the Fantastic Four where he is.

2. He doesn't need to give Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, and Sue and Johnny Storm a reason to fight him. In case he hasn't noticed, he's their arch-enemy and menace to mankind. All of which means they'd be perfectly happy to smack him in the kisser any old time.

3. He's said, at the start of the tale, that he wants to enlist Spider-Man because he can't beat the Fantastic Four on his own. So how come now, eight pages later, he's planning to take the Fantastic Four on on his own?

Actually, just like Victor's plan, as a tale it's somewhat unsatisfactory. Basically it's Dr Doom throwing unlikely gadget after unlikely gadget at Spider-Man who keeps dodging them, until, at last, Steve Ditko gets bored with it and Spider-Man finally fails to dodge one, at which point the Fantastic Four turn up and Dr Doom, who wanted the Fantastic Four to turn up, so he could defeat them, decides he can't defeat them and runs away. Oh, Victor, will you never learn?

So, despite it being Spider-Man's first run-in with an established Marvel villain, and his millionth encounter with the Human Torch in just five issues, the tale's more notable for the private life of Peter Parker, as Flash Thompson, who's been a somewhat two dimensional character so far, is revealed to be a huge Spider-Man fan, even to the extent of dressing up as the super hero in order to give Peter Parker a shock. Interesting that when Flash goes missing, it's Peter that Liz Allan and the other kids phone to try and sort the mess out for them. Clearly, they must, deep down, have plenty of respect for Peter, no matter what they say.

Meanwhile, Betty Brant reveals she has certain feelings for Peter Parker. Feelings that it seems are mutual. Peter Parker's remarkable ability to attract attractive women - despite him always claiming to be unlucky in love - has at last made its debut.

Amazing Spider-Man #4. The Sandman

(Cover from September 1963.)

"Nothing Can Stop The Sandman!"

Words by Stan Lee.
Art by Steve Ditko.

"Nothing can stop the Sandman," boasts the story's title. Well, nothing except the sea coming in, presumably.

But, despite that and the less than magnificent cover, the strip really had hit its stride by this point. After giving us one great villain last issue, the comic gives us yet another in the Sandman, a villain so powerful, he went on to become a recurring foe for both the Fantastic Four and even the Incredible Hulk. Anyone who can hold their own in such company's clearly not to be sneezed at.

Well, not unless his sand gets up your nose.

Admittedly his menace in this tale's somewhat undermined by the fact he's defeated by a vacuum cleaner, a device that wouldn't even defeat me but he gets some good knocks in first, including a surprisingly brutal scene, for the early 1960s, where he repeatedly head butts Spider-Man.

The humorous side of the strip really hasn't been in evidence before but, here, we can see it first start to show through, as Spider-Man's threatened with legal action by a gang of crooks he prevents from robbing a jewellery store, Peter Parker's forced by Aunt May to take an umbrella to school, J Jonah Jameson loses his trousers, and Peter Parker has girl trouble. Bit by bit, the elements that made The Amazing Spider-Man unstoppable are being added - presumably intuitively - to the strip.

It's clearly an issue for first appearances because not only do we get our first meeting with the Sandman, we also get our first encounter with two women who'll rapidly become important in the life of Spider-Man; Liz Allen/Allan and Betty Brant. When we first meet Liz, it seems Peter Parker's already made a date with her, a date he inevitably has to cancel, and Betty Brant's trying to avoid J Jonah Jameson.

Something that doesn't make its debut is Aunt May's ill health. Four issues in and there's still no sign of Aunt May fainting, having a heart attack or being in any way shape or form ill. Just when will all the facets that made May Parker so annoying make their debut?

Amazing Spider-Man #3. Dr Octopus

(Cover from July 1963.)

"Spider-Man vs Dr Octopus!"

Words by Stan Lee.

Art by Steve Ditko.

Lettering by John Duffy.

If a man's only as old as he feels, a hero's only as good as the villains he defeats. At last, after messing about in the minor leagues for his first few months of existence, Spider-Man gets to move up to the big-time with his first fight against his first major villain.

That villain's Dr Octopus and, just to show how major he is, he beats Spider-Man up on their first meeting and tosses him aside like a scrunched up sheet of notepaper.

But is our hero downhearted?

Too right he is. He's so downhearted he cancels his photographic commitments to the Bugle and wonders if he'll ever dare be Spider-Man again. Happily, a quick pep-talk from the Human Torch, and he's back in action.

After defeating the Vulture with a quickly knocked up gizmo of dubious scientific likelihood, last issue, this time he again whips up something in a hurry - a chemical that fuses two of Dr Octopus' tentacles together - before knocking him out with a sock to the jaw. In this instant are the two faces of Spider-Man unveiled; man of science and slugger. With a combination of talents like that, how could he ever have doubted himself?

It has to be said the Human Torch's excuse for not going to fight Dr Octopus is as lame as you can get. Apparently, he can't fight him because he's been using his flame too much lately and needs to rest it for a few days. So, instead, he gives an annoying lecture to the kids at Peter Parker's high school about how they should work hard at their exams. As I can't remember the Human Torch ever even sitting an exam in his entire life, I'm not sure it's advice then anyone, apart from Peter Parker, is likely to have been listening to.

Happily, by the tale's end, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko have thought better of it and we're told it was actually a virus that was preventing the fiery one from doing his duty.

Having read the tale a number of times now, I'm still not totally sure what Dr Octopus' plan is. He takes over a nuclear facility...

...and then what?

Well, he stands around for a bit, doing nothing much in particular until Spider-Man turns up. Earlier in the tale, Spider-Man was bemoaning the fact he didn't have anyone decent to fight. Maybe Dr Octopus has a similar mentality and prefers to do nothing until there's someone to hit. Oh well, he is an evil madman, after all. Perhaps he doesn't need a rational plan.

Actually, the evil madman thing is what's most interesting about this tale. Over subsequent appearances, the full-on insanity Octavius displays here became dramatically watered down till he could be seen as just bad, rather than mad. Here, it's on display in full-on Technicolor.

Steve Ditko's art in this issue's superb. It's not so much his pencilling that impresses, as his inking. His use of light and shade's astonishing and, from looking at it, I get the feeling it must've been an influence to some degree on Neal Adams. The similarity in the way areas of blackness are used leaps out at you in places.

Nomenclature alert! Now Magazine is no more. Suddenly the publication J Jonah Jameson owns is called the Daily Bugle, the strip's first ever mention of the newspaper.

Quiz of the Month.

Spot Dr Octopus's slight continuity error.

Now you know why he needs those glasses.

Amazing Spider-Man #2. The Vulture and the Tinkerer

(Cover from May 1963.)

"Duel To The Death With The Vulture!"

Words by Stan Lee.

Art by Steve Ditko.

Lettering by John Duffy.

A super-hero without a super-villain is as much use as a door without a handle; and, so far, Spider-Man's been bereft of any such foe. After all, the Chameleon had unusual abilities but could hardly be called super-powered.

But, at last, in issue #2 of his own title, Spider-Man gets his first outing against a foe of the super variety.

It'd be true to say the Vulture isn't one of the all-time greats but he is a suitably off-beat foe for an off-beat hero and there're none of the problems that'd later surface with the question of how a frail looking old man can take a punch from a man with the proportional strength of a spider. For most of their encounter, Spider-Man simply doesn't land a punch on him and, when they finally do get to grips, Spider-Man doesn't need to use fisticuffs because his brain does the job for him.

Why? Because Peter Parker really is a genius. Not only does he somehow work out that the Vulture flies by means of magnetism - despite the fact he has wings, whose presence would seem redundant in such a circumstance - but, in the space of just a few hours, he invents a device that negates magnetism. All of which poses the obvious question as to why he's always short of money. With talent like that, he should be making a fortune selling patents. Instead, he has to settle for selling photos of Spider-Man to Daily Bugle publisher J Jonah Jameson.

Except, he's not the Daily Bugle publisher.

Not yet.

It's interesting that, at this stage in the strip's history, there's no sign of the Daily Bugle. Instead Jameson's credited with running Now Magazine. It'll be interesting to see at what stage in Spider-Man's personal time-line Now becomes the Bugle.

I've not exactly been effusive about Steve Ditko's art before now, mostly because I think there was still an element of him finding his feet with the strip but this is the issue where his work really starts to come to life. In places, especially his close-ups of the Vulture's hands and face, it's absolutely beautiful.

But it's not all positive. In this story we get to see the first instance of a trend that'd carry on throughout the history of Spider-Man; that of the stupidity of the penal establishment in Marvel Comics' version of New York, as we're shown the Vulture in his prison cell, at the tale's conclusion.

And guess what?

That's right, he's still wearing his Vulture suit - complete with wings. I wonder if he'll just happen to escape at any point?

What am I on about? With prison security like that, you might as well ask will the sun rise tomorrow.

"The Terrible Tinkerer!"

Words by Stan Lee.

Art by Steve Ditko.

Lettering by Art Simek.

Aliens!

They're here!

And Spider-Man's up against them!

As I've mentioned before, it seemed de rigueur for Marvel Comics' heroes to encounter aliens on their first or second outing. Spider-Man's had to wait for his fifth before meeting them.

And when he does, he meets them with style.

The impression I get is this tale's been pretty much dismissed for years as little more than a bit of silly filler but I love it, mostly because it gives Ditko the chance to make full use of his background in drawing horror, mystery and sci-fi stories and it therefore looks great, easily the best looking tale he's produced so far.

As for the main villain of the piece, the Tinkerer; I wonder if Stan Lee and Steve Ditko had something against senior citizens? No sooner has Spider-Man despatched his first super-villain in the ageing form of the Vulture but now he's up against another old bloke, in the Tinkerer who, gratifyingly, is shown to be one of the aliens. Admittedly, in later appearances, the whole thing was retconned so the aliens in the story aren't really aliens at all, just actors - including Mysterio - pretending. That retcon was a mistake. The story works best when they're seen as the real deal - and so does the oddly Brothers Grimm-esque Tinkerer.

There's some strange science going on here again. How exactly is the air being forced out of Spider-Man's resisto-glass prison? Whatever the method is, it enables him to shoot his webbing through the air holes through which we're told it's being forced and thus make his escape. So, I suppose the world has reason to be grateful for technology that makes no sense.

Amazing Spider-Man #1. The Fantastic Four and the Chameleon

(Cover From March 1963.)

"Spider-Man!"

Words by Stan Lee.

Art by Steve Ditko.

Lettering by Johnny Dee.

They knew how to pack things in in the old days. With this landmark issue, we get not one but two Spider-Man stories and, rarely for Marvel Comics of this era, not one of them features aliens. If I'm remembering right, the Hulk met aliens in his second adventure, as did the Fantastic Four, and Thor met them in his first. Here, Spider-Man does get to ride a rocket, as did the Fantastic Four, while Daredevil got to ride in one in his second issue, but our hero never quite makes it into space.

Already the effects of the Marvel Method are there to be seen. For anyone who doesn't know, the way it worked was that, instead of writing a full script for the artist to draw, Stan Lee would give an outline to the artist who'd go off and work out the details of the plot for himself. Lee would then, upon receiving the artwork, try to make sense of the story the pictures were telling him and add dialogue and captions to them. In some cases, he wouldn't even do that, he'd just say, "Jack/Steve, wouldn't it be a great if Antman grew two heads?" and then leave Jack/Steve to work out the story.

Here, we seem to get one of those occasions where the artist's idea of what's going on isn't quite the same as the writer's. I think, from looking at the pictures, that Steve Ditko's telling the tale of an out of control space capsule that can't land because its lost its parachute, which Spider-Man duly replaces by fixing a new one to the nose cone, thus saving the life of John Jameson; whereas Stan Lee's words tell of a missing part that's sent the capsule out of control and needs to be replaced before the capsule can release its parachute and land.

Either way, Spider-Man proves his mettle by doing the job. There's some insanely brilliant artwork here as Spider-Man stands atop a speeding jet and snags the hurtling capsule with his webbing. Overall, Ditko's work is stronger this issue than it was for Spider-Man's origin tale, an improvement that'd continue for a good two years beyond this point.

It has to be said there are some unlikely happenings in this tale. For a start we get to see a space rocket that seems to be launching from the middle of New York City. Clearly safety standards at NASA were a lot laxer in those days. We also get to see jets flying higher than a supposedly orbiting capsule, and Spider-Man having no difficulty breathing miles above the Earth's surface.

And, as for the capsule landing on solid ground. Ouch!

"Spider-Man vs The Chameleon!"

Words by Stan Lee.

Art by Steve Ditko.

Lettering by John Duffi.

So, we've had the, "Our hero gets to ride on a space rocket," motif, now we get that other Stan Lee favourite of the age, "Master of disguise frames our hero." It happened to the Fantastic Four in their second outing, with the skrulls, and now it happens with Spider-Man and the Chameleon.

It has to be said it's a more mundane tale than the one the Fantastic Four endured. Being just a bloke with a bunch of masks, the Chameleon doesn't quite have the glamour of the skrulls but it is a chance for Spider-Man to show off what he can do, making full use his spider-sense to locate the villain's helicopter. Even though this tale appears to be the first time he's ever used it, somehow the Chameleon knows all about it and how to use it to contact him.

He also shows off his ability to whip up a parachute and to operate in the dark.

He does, as well, something I'm not sure he ever did again, where he effectively flies by creating a web catapult to send himself soaring into the air. It seemed to be de rigueur for Marvel heroes at that stage to be able to "fly" in some way, whether it be via the Torch's flame or Thor's hammer or the Hulk's leaping. Any old excuse to get them airborne seemed good enough.

But, nefarious as he is, the Chameleon's really just a sideshow. The real point of this story is, of course, Spider-Man's battle with the Fantastic Four, clearly thrown in to get readers of that mag to pay up for this one. And it's nice to see Spider-Man more than holds his own against them. It's the first time we've really got a sense of his full power and potential. Here he is fighting Marvel's mightiest heroes, including the Thing, to a standstill.

Despite his secret identity, our hero turns up at the Baxter Building, for his, "audition," in his Peter Parker guise. Someone ought to tell him that's not exactly the best way to preserve a secret identity.

We're told Spider-Man's wanted by the police. For what exactly, isn't clear.

On the art front, this story has a great splash page, with Spider-Man firing his webbing at a giant version of the Chameleon who looms like the Shadow over the skyscrapers of New York as the FF watch on. Not a natural super hero artist, Ditko's work seems to be getting more and more stylish as he goes along.