Spectacular Spider-Man #2. The Goblin Lives

(Cover from November 1968.)

"The Goblin Lives!"

Written by Stan Lee.
Drawn by John Romita/Jim Mooney.
Inked by Frank Giacoia.
Lettering by Sam Rosen.

OK, so the big news I’ve been trumpeting about the site isn’t that big at all but it does mean the one glaring omission from its pages is finally filled as I’ve managed to get my hands on the one comic I hadn’t reviewed but always knew I needed to.

Long before the launch of 1976’s Spectacular Spider-Man, there was another comic of that title. Launched in 1968, it was one of Stan Lee’s early forays into larger format comics aimed at a slightly older (and wealthier) age group.

As it only lasted two issues, we have to conclude the world wasn’t yet ready for larger format comics aimed at a slightly older and wealthier age group. Still, no good deed is wasted. The story from issue #1 was recycled to create Amazing Spider-Man #116-118, and the second at least gave us the return of Spider-Man’s deadliest foe.

Spectacular Spider-Man #2 gives us a mammoth fifty-eight page epic as the Green Goblin makes his first comeback since his memory loss.

Attending a George Stacy slide show about the Green Goblin, Norman Osborn starts to get distinctly uncomfortable.

Then he gets sweaty.

Then he gets unconscious.

Next thing you know, his memories stirred, he’s back in full-on psycho mode and out to get his revenge on everyone’s favourite web-slinger.

For me, the tale has three highlights. The first being the scene where Norman Osborn’s tormented by his own half-memories, in hospital, before suddenly realising he’s the Goblin. You can practically hear thunder and lightning crashing around you as he suddenly sits bolt upright in bed, the Goblin's image looming maniacally behind him.

Second highlight’s the dinner party Osborn then throws, at which he taunts and teases Peter Parker in front of his closest friends. I seem to remember the scene being recycled in the original Spider-Man movie but this does it better, as Osborn seethes, scowls and leers his way through it. His insanity virtually a physical force thrusting itself out of the pages at you.

The third highlight’s the one that lets us know the strip’s well and truly arrived in the late 1960s, by having the Goblin use a psychedelic pumpkin on our hero. This sequence is terrific as Spider-Man’s tormented by visions of the Goblin, monsters, his own friends and finally gigantic versions of his main enemies. The double-page spread Romita and Mooney gives us here’s a wonder to behold and reminds us of Romita's mastery of the art of visual story-telling.

But what can be a threat can be a salvation as it gives Spider-Man a solution to the problem of how to get rid of the Goblin without killing Norman Osborn.

Turning the tables, Spidey uses a psychedelic pumpkin on its creator, reasoning that inflicting such a device on a mind with an already weakened grip on the cliff-face of sanity will send it plummeting and force Osborn to return to normal. It’s strong stuff, both visually and spiritually. Had any super-hero ever before set out to defeat a foe by snapping his mind?

This story’s fab. Unlike the Richard Raleigh tale, which was pretty routine, it’s like a pure distillation of all that made Spider-Man tales of this era great, with Peter Parker’s personal and heroic lives so hopelessly entangled on every level. I don’t know if it’s the best Spider-Man tale of its era but it’s certainly one of them and, perhaps as much as any other tale, it captures the very essence of what Spider-Man was about in those days. It’s also something of a tour de force by Romita and Mooney who, given the larger format, really do seem to have been inspired to give their all.

Great Thought Balloons Of Our Time: "How can I subject this gorgeous creature to the Green Goblin?" (Peter Parker, of Gwen Stacy.)

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5. The Red Skull

(Cover from 1968.)

"The Parents Of Peter Parker!"

Written by Stan Lee.

Drawn by Larry Lieber.

Inked by Mickey Demeo.

Lettered by Art Simek.

It's amazing what you discover when you accidentally break open a padlocked trunk in your basement. I once discovered my parents were exposed by the world's press as traitors at the time of their deaths.

Well, no I didn't but Peter Parker does. Faced with this revelation, our hero has no doubts what he must do. Out to clear their names - despite having no reason at all to think they were innocent - he heads off to Algeria and uncovers a plot involving that dastardly cranium of chaos the Red Skull.

Given its importance to the life of our hero, I'd like to say it's a momentous issue but the truth is it's a tale that's misconceived in more ways than one.

For a start you have the basic structure of the tale which starts with Spider-Man in Algeria before having a prolonged flashback to how he got there. It may be an attempt to start the story with a bang and a mystery in order to hook the reader, or it might be an attempt to add complexity to a plot that's startlingly straightforward, lacking twists, turns and supporting characters but, whatever, it doesn't really work. It would've been far better to relate events in the order they occurred, as happened in the Amazing Spider-Man comic each and every month.

There's also a problem with the choice of villain. Somehow, like Dr Doom before him, the Red Skull feels totally out of place in a Spider-Man story. We're used to Spidey dealing with people who want to become crime boss of New York City or to steal some valuable jewels. Having him up against a Hitler substitute with dreams of world conquest just feels completely wrong for our hero.

But the biggest problem with the thing is the central idea behind it that Peter Parker's parents were secret agents. For me, one of the appeals of Spider-Man is that, despite his power, Peter lives in a recognisably real world and his life was fundamentally dull until he got spider-powers. Being told his parents were secret agents, killed by the Red Skull, is simply too melodramatic an idea to ever rest easily on the strip's shoulders.

Maybe I'm just getting used to it, or maybe he genuinely improved but Larry Lieber's artwork's better here than it was in the last annual - although he clearly gets a huge helping hand in places from John Romita. The fact that Romita-drawn panels appear seemingly at random throughout the tale suggests Romita went through Lieber's pages and replaced any panels he thought weren't up to scratch. It probably wasn't too good for Lieber's ego but it does make the thing look better and it's oddly pleasing to play the game of, "Spot who drew what."

I think this is the first annual since Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 to feature all-new material, and the back-up strip is a Marie Severin drawn comedy in which Lee, Lieber and Romita are struggling to find a plot for the latest issue of Spider-Man. They think they have it until Roy Thomas walks in and reveals he's just used exactly the same plot for that month's issue of the Avengers. Humour's a personal thing but, frankly, it's terrible and not a patch on the similarly themed Steve Ditko tale that appeared in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1.

Proof of Stan Lee's notoriously bad memory. How does Spider-man get to Algeria? Simple. He hitches a lift in a flying car belonging to the Fantastic Four. The car's blatantly the one gifted to the FF in Fantastic Four #52 by the Black Panther. Clearly Stan the Man's forgotten all about this and has Mr Fantastic tell us it's a new device cooked up by SHIELD that the FF are testing for them. This is the second consecutive Spidey annual that's visually name-checked the FF's first meeting with the Panther. Clearly that story stuck in Larry's mind a whole lot better than it did in Stan's.

Amazing Spider-Man #67. Mysterio

(You need hands. John Romita's third consecutive classic cover, this time from December 1968.)

"To Squash A Spider!"

Written by Stan Lee
Layouts by John Romita
Pencilled by Jim Mooney
Inked by Jim Mooney
Lettering by Artie Simek

Bam, a giant fist crashes down, seeking to smash Spider-Man to the pulp that all super-villains want him to be. He's still trapped in the model amusement park, still only six inches tall and still stuck with Mysterio out to get him.

The rest of the issue's made up of Spidey trying to survive a series of amusement-park-style traps while striving to work out what's going on. He knows something's not quite right (apart from him only being six inches tall) but can't work out what. He quickly realises that Mysterio's desperately trying to keep him moving, trying to stop him finding the time to think.

But why's he doing that, when he seemingly no longer has anything to fear from his doll-sized opponent?

Spider-Man decides to risk it. Knowing his foe's history of illusion, he flings himself at the giant figure of his enemy, who promptly vanishes to avoid contact. Why does he do that? After all, the impact would have hurt Spider-Man more than him. It confirms Spidey's suspicions. However it may seem, he's not six inches tall and Mysterio's not gigantic.

Then he spots it - a tower at the heart of the park. It's the only building there with a light on. He heads for it, rips the roof off...

...and there he is, the villain of the piece, sat in his control room, the same size as Spider-Man and suddenly in trouble. Spidey knocks him out, relieves him of his boots and helmet, and that's that all sorted.

Well, it's not really. Maybe it's just me but it's not altogether clear what Mysterio's been doing. They appear to be in a real amusement park, which begs the question of how they got there, as Mysterio and Spider-Man were in a warehouse when the villain fired the gun that "shrunk" him, and Spidey at no point lost consciousness. So, how did Mysterio get him to an amusement park without him noticing? For that matter, how come a real life amusement park happens to have Mysterio's control tower in it? Did the staff and management never notice it was being built? As for the giant figure of Mysterio, what was it? Was it a giant robot? Was it an illusion? The same goes for the deadly attractions. Were they real or just illusion?

Oh well, maybe we just have to accept there's some things we'll never know. Like we'll never know why Mysterio turned to crime when he was supposedly the greatest special effects man Hollywood had ever seen. You'd have thought, with a talent like that, making a highly lucrative but honest living would be well within his capabilites.

On the art front, after a one issue absence, Jim Mooney's back and produces some lovely work, especially a sequence in a deadly hall of mirrors and another in a house of horrors.

On the supporting cast front, we may have lost Mary Jane but we've gained a new character, Randy Robertson, introduced as Joe Robertson's son and revealed to be a student at ESU, which, of course, means he's going to be meeting Peter Parker before long. And what's that we see at the very end of the story? A student protest? How will that affect the life of our hero?

Sob Watch, Gwen Stacy gets through a whole issue without crying. Well done, Gwendolyne, we knew you could do it if you tried.

Amazing Spider-Man #66. Mysterio

(Cover from November 1968.)

"The Madness Of Mysterio!"

Words by Stan Lee

Layouts by John Romita

Pencilling by Don Heck

Inks by Mickey Demeo

Lettering by Artie Simek

So, after finding a new artist last issue, this month it's back to Don Heck. Actually, this reversion to confusion doesn't matter that much; one, because Jim Mooney's back next month and, two, because there's something pleasingly cartoony about Heck's art in this tale.

As for the story, it's another of my favourites, as the perennially under-used Mysterio makes his return. We can tell he's made his return because he tells us so. Clearly suffering from the same affliction that struck Kraven the Hunter in his last appearance, he spends the first few pages talking to himself. He tells us how vital a model amusement park is to his plans and how he escaped captivity by using chemicals stolen from the prison pharmacy. Presumably, this is the same prison where the Shocker garnered the tools to create his first vibro-blaster. The regime at that place just never learn do they? Anyway, he's out for revenge on Spider-Man.

But first he has to get Spider-Man's attention.

To do this, he appears in a street, emerging from a cloud of smoke, and then vanishes. Now, with the class that only a criminal mastermind could muster, he hides down a drain, wondering why Spider-Man's not shown up. Probably because it's only seconds since you appeared, and what're the chances that he'd just happen to be in a street you randomly selected?

Well, plenty, as it turns out, because Peter Parker just happened to be right there in that street at that moment. Not that Myserio has any way of knowing this and not that he had any reason to expect it. Anyway, for once, Peter shows some kind of sense and can't be bothered to go after him. He's got better geese to cook, like having to sell his bike to pay the bills and the fact that Gwen's still not speaking to him.

Then it turns out she is. Coming across him, she tells him her dad's cleared up the whole, "Peter attacking Capt Stacy" thing of a few issues ago. At this point, she does the usual and bursts into tears. This is the fourth consecutive issue that Gwen Stacy has burst into tears. I've heard of hormones but really.

Elsewhere, Mysterio doesn't care about the failure of his previous master plan. He can always get attention another way.

He can do it by appearing on TV and declaring that he's going to destroy New York unless the arachnid adventurer meets him at the scene of their first battle. Happily, unlike me, Spider-Man remembers where the pair first fought and heads there. Seeing no need for subtlety - as the goldfish bowl wearing menace is expecting him - he tears his way in and confronts the villain who uses his smoke of mystery to bamboozle Spidey while he rains blows on him.

There's a pretty obvious point here which is that Mysterio could just shoot Spider-Man while he's disoriented. But, of course, Mysterio isn't a common-or-garden crook, he's a criminal mastermind and so is determined to do the deed with ridiculous amounts of extravagance.

Having annoyed Spidey a bit, he now reveals his master weapon, a big gun gizmo. Before Spider-Man can get out of the way, he fires it at him. The thing clearly hits our hero full on, although in the next panel, Mysterio says that Spider-Man's jumped out of the way of it.

Not that it matters because the gun's fired some kind of gas and therefore it makes no odds whether the thing was on target or not, merely whether our hero has the sense to hold his breath.

He doesn't.

Now, as the world goes all swirly on him, he starts to feel weird, telling us that he simultaneously feels like he's dying, and being born.

And then he finds out why.

Because, when the smoke clears, he finds himself a changed man. Where once he could look his foe straight in the goldfish bowl, now he's a mere six inches tall and in the model amusement park Mysterio was so proudly showing us earlier.

Now, at last, his foe can crush him like the bug he's named after.

Amazing Spider-Man #65. Spidey in jail

(Cover from October 1968.)

"The Impossible Escape!"

Words by Stan Lee

Layouts by John Romita

Pencils by Jim Mooney

Inks by Jim Mooney

Lettering by Artie Simek

So, like a dropped ball in a football match, we kick off where we left off, with Spider-Man out cold on the ground, as a baying mob try to close in on him and remove his mask.

Happily for him, Captain George Stacy's at hand and, in conjunction with a cop, holds them off, declaring that removing his mask might be a violation of his legal rights. Gwen, meanwhile, is worried about Peter Parker, goes in search of him and, when she fails to find him?

You've guessed it, she bursts into tears. This is her third bout of sobbing in two issues. If she hadn't become such a dull character, you might think she was emotionally unstable.

Someone else who might feel like crying is Spider-Man, who regains consciousness to find himself in a prison hospital. Realising that no one's in a rush to unmask him, he decides to bide his time and stay in bed, to give himself full opportunity to recover from the bumps and bruises of last issue.

But, of course, it's never a quiet life for Aunt May's favourite nephew - because he soon discovers there's a break-out in progress. As the would-be escapees have Captain Stacy hostage, Spider-Man decides to pretend he's on their side and that he's going to lead their jail-break. Then, one by one, in the darkness he's created by sabotaging the prison's fuse box, he polishes them off till there's only one left.

He polishes him off and that's it, job done. Captain Stacy tells him he should stand trial so he can clear his name. Spidey says he can't. Captain Stacy says why not? And Spidey departs the scene, knowing that, for Aunt May's sake, he can never run the risk of his real identity coming out. Captain Stacy meanwhile, tells the authorities that Spidey helped foil the escape, and the issue's over. It's a simple tale, noticeably atypical, with no super-villains, no actual threat to Spider-Man and no real doubt that he's going to thwart the jail-break but it's all the more pleasing and memorable for that and features one of my favourite covers from a period when classic covers had become the strip's norm.

When it comes to other news, there's a scene where Mary Jane's hanging around on a street corner, looking like a hooker. What she's doing on that street corner, looking like a hooker, is never explained and I quite like the idea that she actually is a hooker, although I suspect that was a million miles from John Romita's intention. I could be wrong but I think this is her last appearance for a startlingly long time. It seems that, for some reason, at this point Lee and Romita decided to drop her from the strip, and she goes out on a sour note, insulting Harry Osborn who's too worried about his dad's increasingly erratic behaviour to bother with MJ. In retrospect, it seems that, when Harry walks away from her, leaving her alone in the darkness, it's a metaphor for the strip itself walking away from her, as though it no longer has any use for a character it's fallen out of love with.

On the art front, at last things are more or less resolved. After the artistic roundabout of the last few issues, where it seemed like anyone who was free at the time was randomly chipping in with panels, things have settled down, with Romita doing the layouts and Jim Mooney (at last credited) doing the finished pencilling and inking. The strip looks great as a result. Mooney's one of my favourite Spider-Man artists, his work giving weight and depth to Romita's somewhat 2-D style, even if he could occasionally be a little heavy-handed with the inks.

Amazing Spider-Man #64. The Vulture

(Cover from September 1968.)

"The Vulture's Prey"

Written by Stan Lee

Art by John Romita and Don Heck (officially)

Inking by Mickey Demeo

Lettering by Sam Rosen

Sometimes, it doesn't matter how much experience of fighting crime a hero has, he really needs someone to give him a few pointers on the subject. This issue's a case in point. The tale kicks off with Spider-Man perched atop a building, clutching his injured arm, as the Vulture closes in for his deadly attack. Clearly the concept of keeping any weakness a secret from your foes is beyond the tactical might of Spider-Man, and the Vulture immediately picks up on the fact that our hero's injured. Then Spidey picks up on the fact that the Vulture's picked up on the fact that his arm's injured.

Of course he's picked up on it, you muppet! You're clutching it! Argh!

It'd be quite a nice touch if, at this point, the Vulture refuses to fight his arch-nemesis, on the grounds that defeating an injured foe would prove nothing, and flies off to return another day. After all, the reason he wanted everyone to see him beat Blackie Drago in the previous issue was to prove how tough he is.

Needless to say, such consistency is beyond the average super-fiend and, within moments, the pair are fighting. In trouble from the start, Spider-Man entangles the villain's legs with webbing. What with being able to fly, the Vulture's never likely to be deterred by that and flies straight at the Bugle building, aiming to mash Spidey to a pulp by sending him crashing into it.

Fortunately, our hero's tactical sense has improved since the opening panels and he has the sense to let go of the webbing by which the villain's swinging him. Unfortunately, he's landed on a sign which the Vulture promptly launches himself feet first at, sending large chunks of it falling toward the onlooking J Jonah Jameson. Good riddance some might say.

But not Joe "Robbie" Robertson who flings himself at JJ and pushes him aside. With his usual luck, the old blow-hard's fine but Robbie's injured. Jonah, his traditional lack of logic intact, blames Spidey and grabs him from behind to hold him ready for the Vulture's next attack. Spidey flings him aside but makes his arm worse in the process.

The fight resumes and Spidey, unable to hold onto the Vulture any longer, falls to the street below. Just in time, he fires off a load of webbing to create a cushion. But, despite landing on it, he lies still.

Anxious to see if he's finally achieved victory over his nemesis, the Vulture flies down and lands.

And still Spider-Man lies unmoving.

Is this it?

Is he finally dead?

Of course he's not.

The moment the villain gets close enough, our hero grabs him, digging his fingers into the hump on his opponent's back - the hump that contains his wings' power source. With that damaged, the Vulture could be captured, and so, with what power he has left, the winged wrong-doer flies off, leaving Spider-Man to call after him in taunting triumph.

But it's all front. Spidey's taken too much punishment and passes out - as the surrounding crowd close in, suddenly realising they have the chance at last to unmask the man of mystery.

An unusual issue in being basically one, long, twenty page, fight - the only breaks coming from inserts featuring the women in his life. Captain Stacy, recovered from his brainwashing, has finally remembered what happened when Peter Parker "attacked" him and tells Gwen that Peter was only trying to help him. Gwen bursts into tears (she's doing a lot of that these days). Then, making their way along the street, they bump into Betty Brant who tells them what's unfolding on the Bugle roof. Realising that Peter's in danger, Gwen bursts into tears (I said she was doing that a lot).

On a decidely less lachrymose tangent, Mary Jane's had a radical change of image, gaining herself a terrible new hairdo that isn't a patch on her classic style but does at least help to distinguish her more clearly from the previously near-identical Gwen Stacy.

On the art front, it's still a seemingly random patchwork of panels and pages by Romita, Heck and a still-uncredited Mooney. Next issue, that situation at least will start to be resolved.

Amazing Spider-Man #63. The two Vultures

(Cover from August 1968)

"Wings In The Night!"

Written by Stan Lee

Art by John Romita and Don Heck (officially)

Inking by Mickey Demeo

Lettering by Sam Rosen

Just in case anyone was in danger of forgetting how good a visual story-teller John Romita is, he kicks off the story with a classic of a splash page, all packed with menace and mood, as the original Vulture perches on a rooftop, gazing sullenly down at the rain-soaked city, for all the world like a malevolent gargoyle.

That's right, fifteen issues after dying, the original Vulture's back. It seemed a perverse, and frankly disrespectful, decision to kill him in the first place and it seems Lee and Romita have come to the same conclusion.

It's also clear, from the first few panels, that Romita's back too. OK, so he's never really been away but, for most of the last few issues, he's been happy to just do the layouts and the odd face, leaving the rest to Don Heck. However, right from the start of this tale, he's clearly far more involved, contributing strings of panels, in alternation with Heck.

They're not alone on this artistic roundabout because, as the story progresses, it's clear that Jim Mooney's contributing panels too and, in one or two cases, entire pages. For some reason Mooney isn't credited but, for long-time Supergirl fans, his style, especially when it comes to the way he does eyes, is impossible to miss.

As for the story, we're told, in flashback, that when he realised Blackie Drago'd done the dirty on him, the original Vulture was so fired up by lust for vengeance that he made a miracle recovery, climbed from his hospital bed, knocked out his guard, put on the fallen man's uniform and left the prison by pretending to be part of the search for Drago. Once away, he licked his wounds, built himself a new pair of wings and, when he was ready, returned as the Vulture. Blimey, maybe they should hand out "thirst-for-revenge" tablets on the NHS if a need for vengeance can cure a dying man so completely.

You might think that after this unlikely recovery the Vulture would be a happy man.

Not at all. He's not happy that people might think Blackie Drago's a better vulture than him and so, after liberating a spare pair of his wings from the city museum, he liberates Drago from the local jail.

Drago, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, thinks he's rescued him so they can team up. Er, that's right, Blackie, the last time you saw him, you told him, while laughing, that you were the one responsible for the fatal "accident" that had left him at death's door and that it was all a plot by you to steal his wings and identity. Of course he wants to team up with you.

In fact, the original Vulture plans to fight him in the skies above New York so that everyone can see his total defeat and recognise the original as the real deal.

That all cleared up, they start to fight, just as Peter Parker's approaching The Daily Bugle building. Earlier in the story, thanks to his webbing not sticking to a building in the torrential downpour, Peter hurt his arm and is in no mood to take on two Vultures at the same time. He leaves them to their fight, happy to stand on the Bugle rooftop with J Jonah Jameson and take snaps of the scrap.

But of course, he hasn't counted on the old Peter Parker luck, because there's a child on a nearby rooftop - a child who, thanks to the fighting, finds himself hanging from a crumbling roof edge.

That's it, our hero can stand idle no longer. Doing a disappearing act when Jameson's not looking, Pete changes into his Spider-Man guise and goes to the rescue. The sight of his old nemesis prompts the real Vulture to get the fight over with quickly, and Drago falls to a rooftop declaring that he knows when he's beat. He reckons that no one could beat the Vulture.

Really? Does that include Spider-Man?

Well, normally, Spidey can beat the Vulture - he's done it enough times in the past to prove that.

There's only one problem.

That injured arm.

After carrying the boy to safety, he can no longer move it, which means, as the issue draws to a close, that he's going to have to face one of New York's deadliest menaces, with just one arm.

Amazing Spider-Man #62. Medusa

(A not altogether honest cover from July 1968.)

"Make Way For... Medusa!"

Written by Stan Lee

Layouts by John Romita

Pencils by Don Heck

Inking by Mickey Demeo

Lettering by Sam Rosen

So, we get straight into the action, with Spider-Man's webbing being cut by a foe unseen.

Is it Doc Ock?

No.

Is it Electro?

No.

How about the Beetle? He's the sort to cut a man's webbing in half when he's not expecting it.

Nope.

As it turns out, it's no foe at all. At least, not in the conventional sense of the word. It's Medusa, still using the Madame part of her name, who's been sent on a misson by Black Bolt to find out if humans are yet ready to accept the presence of Inhumans amongst them. Medusa grabs the falling Spidey with her hair, to stop him going splat all over the pavement and, after flinging a quick bit of haughtiness his way, she sets off to get herself noticed.

And noticed she gets, as the boss of a hairspray company spots her and decides the tonsorial temptress is the perfect woman to plug his product. As Medusa has total control of her hair and therefore no need whatsoever for his product, she seems an unlikely candidate for the role. Nonetheless, the job's offered and, nonetheless, the job's accepted. She reasons that working with humans will give her the chance to study them at close quarters.

The only problem is, she has no patience whatsoever and, after throwing a hissy fit, storms out of the photo shoot. It's an odd depiction of Medusa's character we're being given in this story, bearing no great resemblance to her original behaviour as a villainness or her remodelled role as conscientious heroine.

Our ambitious executive, however, is not a man to be easily thwarted. He calls out to Spider-Man, who just happens to be passing, and tells him Medusa's gone mad, that she trashed his office and is now out to destroy New York. Through the ensuing fight, he aims to get maximum publicity for his hairspray. How? Who knows? And how a woman armed only with her hair could have any hope of destroying an entire metropolis is an issue not addressed.

Not surprisingly, Spidey's somewhat sceptical of the man's story but, taking no risks, goes to investigate. When he reaches her, he finds Medusa in the mood for a fight.

The fight isn't exactly epic. It only lasts a couple of pages before Spider-Man entangles her in enough webbing to hold The Thing. Let's face it, given her somewhat underpowered nature, it was never going to be much of a fight. A quick conversation and both parties realise they've been manipulated, before going their separate ways.

And that's it, a brief coda involving Mary Jane aside, that's the end of the story. It's not exactly substantial and has to be regarded as a light-hearted bit of filler before the more serious tales to come. The only thing of any real import that happens this issue is that Norman Osborn's still having those flashbacks - and now he's getting glimpses of a maskless Spider-Man.

It can only be a matter of time before those memories start to make sense to him...

Amazing Spider-Man #61. The Kingpin.

(Vat's all, folks. Cover from June 1968.)

"What A Tangled Web We Weave--!"

Written by Stan Lee

Layouts by John Romita

Pencils by Don Heck

Inking by Mickey Demeo

Lettering by Sam Rosen

Mickey Demeo's back! Why this should give me such pleasure, I don't know but, in his previous run on the title, I did grow quite attached to his inking and it has to be said, it does work remarkably well with Don Heck's pencils. He's so much better than that awful Mike Esposito who's been inking the last few issues.

What's that? Mickey Demeo is Mike Esposito?

I'll get my coat. :(

The story kicks off with a symbolic splash page showing a group of Peter Parker's friends and loved ones battling to escape the sticky entanglements of his webbing. Although, bearing in mind Mary Jane's presence - and her activities on her last appearance - it could also be interpreted as them doing a very strange kind of dance. Either way, the message is clear, that being involved in the life of Peter Parker does not a happy bunny make.

One particular unhappy bunny is Gwen Stacy who, thanks to The Daily Bugle, has just discovered her dad's a thief. In time-honoured fashion, he decides to do a runner and she goes with him, declaring that wherever he goes she goes. Gwen's mother is nowhere to be seen. Were we ever told what happened to her?

The point does bring up another question, the matter of parents in Spider-Man. Peter Parker's an orphan. Harry Osborn's mother's dead. Gwen Stacy's mother appears to be dead. As she seems to have been brought up by her Aunt Anna, it seems reasonable at this time to assume that Mary Jane's parents are dead. Unless memory fails me, I'm fairly sure that John Jameson's mother's also dead. If Flash Thompson has parents, they're never referred to. In fact, throughout Stan Lee's writing of the 1960s, there seems to be a preponderance of dead or missing parents but nowhere is this felt more strongly than in the pages of Spider-Man. Is this coincidence? Was it a deliberate policy? Does it reflect on the inner psychology of Lee? Bearing in mind Batman and Superman's orphaned state, is it merely a convention of super-hero comics? Only Lee could tell us.

Back home, Peter realises what a total plonker he's been. By exposing Stacy, he's put the ex-cop's life in danger and, by leaving Gwen alone with a potentially violent brainwashing victim, he's also exposed her to terrible risk. There's only one thing for it. Unlike the police - who seem not to have thought of descending on the Stacy residence to arrest the man - Petey, in his Spider-Man guise, heads over there...

...just in time to see some of the Kingpin's goons leaving the place.

The goons have arrived too late. The Stacys are already at the airport, but they get no further as two more of the Kingpin's men apprehend them there. At first Gwen, not unreasonably, thinks they're cops but soon cottons on to the fact that they're not.

The goons take them to the Kingpin's secret lab, which it's already been revealed is in Norman Osborn's chemical plant. Osborn, who's been having troubling flashbacks to the death of the Green Goblin, has almost accidentally stumbled on the lair but has been fobbed off by Kingie's science stooge, the worryingly named Winkler. Now, Gwen and the Captain are tied together under a huge vat of lead just asking to be dropped on them. Why he doesn't just shoot them is anyone's guess but that's criminal masterminds for you.

Spidey smashes in through a window and confronts the villain. How did he know where they were? Back at the Kingpin's club he checked out the site of the now-removed brainwashing machine and found a manufacturer's tag associated with Osborn's company. The usual fight breaks out. This time our hero's shown some foresight and put a gas mask on under his spider-mask, to make sure the Kingie's trick tie-pin can't work on him.

And that's when Norman Osborn finally stumbles on the Kingpin's lair. Spotting Winkler waving a gun around, he rugby-tackles the scientist but that makes Winkler accidentally fire the gun. The bullet hits the brainwashing machine. The machine explodes. The explosion snaps a cable and that vat of molten lead, begins to fall.

And Gwen and her dad are sat right beneath it!

Spidey swings to the rescue and gets the two captives out of the way. How Osborn survives the floor being flooded with boiling lead isn't revealed. Meanwhile, Spidey goes in pursuit of the Kingpin but, too late, the corpulent king of crime has fled in Osborn's private helicopter that just happened to be sat on the roof. Finally showing some appetite for their job, the police turn up and, irony of ironies, Gwendolyne helps to give the web-slinger some good PR by telling everyone of his part in the rescue.

So, Gwen Stacy, who just a few issues back hated Spider-Man and loved Peter Parker, is now a confirmed Spider-fan and hates Peter Parker. Clearly, it's not entered her head that Peter's grapple with her father in the previous issue might have had anything to do with her dad's brainwashing. Gwen, who just months earlier was quite the spunky, feisty, lively romantic counter-foil - MJ with a brain - is rapidly becoming the character Gerry Conway was so happy to get rid of.

I have to admit that, despite all this action and drama, my favourite scene this issue is one that's technically irrelevant. In it, Mary Jane and Harry go to the club to collect her pay for her previous night's work; only to find the place shut down and abandoned.

Leaving aside how great her hat is, and that we finally get the pleasure of seeing Mary Jane being unhappy, it's the little scenes like these - that, in strict terms, aren't really necessary to the story - that give the strip its distinctive feel and make it quite unlike other super-hero titles of the time.

It's interesting too what's happening with the art. Thanks to the credits, it's a little vague as to who's doing what by now. John Romita seems to be doing the layouts, with Don Heck doing the actual pencilling but some of the faces are clearly being drawn by Romita, and, in at least one panel, the whole figure of Spider-Man seems to have been done by him. It's a strange confusion of roles and styles that, involving various other artists, would affect the strip for a surprisingly long time to come. It wouldn't be true to say the title suffered because of it but it is odd that, for a lengthy period, what had become Marvel Comics' flagship title seemed incapable of settling on a single artist.

Amazing Spider-Man #60. The Kingpin

(The Kingpin decides to stand in for Spidey's dad and give him the good swing-around he never had as a child. Tomorrow, if he's lucky, he'll be taking him on the roundabouts. Cover from May 1968.)

"O, Bitter Victory!"

Written by Stan Lee

Layouts by John Romita

Pencils by Don Heck

Inking by Mike Esposito

Lettering by Sam Rosen

So now Spider-Man's in trouble. The Kingpin has a hold of him and is swinging him round and round and round.

Luckily Spider-man has a plan - to crash into something. Upon release, he crashes into the control panel of Kingie's brainwashing machine and sends it kaput. Flames burst forth. Smoke's everywhere. Confusion reigns. In that confusion, our hero escapes.

But not without a cost.

As a result of the explosion, he's suffering from double vision. He's in no state to return to the fray. The Kingpin, on the other hand, is suffering from nothing. Spider-Man's act of sabotage came too late to save Captain Stacy from a good brainwashing, and now Kingie can proceed with the next part of his plan - to send Stacy off to await his next set of orders.

Making his way back into the club's main hall, the brainwashed cop assures MJ, Gwen and Harry there's nothing to worry about, and everyone except Pete gets on with enjoying the evening. Where's Pete? He's gone back home to get some rest so he can be fully fit to fight the Kingpin next time round.

The next day, knowing something has to be done about Captain Stacy, Peter goes round to confront him and, in an act of self defence, ends up knocking him to the floor - just in time for Gwen to walk in and find him standing over the fallen pensioner.

Now, this is where Pete's total cluelessness about how to deal with people kicks in because, we can all see that it's right here that he should tell Gwen that Spider-Man's told him her dad's been brainwashed by the Kingpin. She won't believe him of course but it does mean that, when she notices her dad's acting oddly (ie, being evil) that the penny'll drop and she'll see that Pete was in the right all along.

Needless to say, showing the same failure to communicate that's repeatedly wrecked his love life for years, he keeps his silence, causing Gwen to throw him out and to declare to herself that she can never forgive him.

There's only one thing for it, Spidey's going to have to get some evidence that the captain's under the influence. He follows him and, hey presto, the ex-cop goes down the police station - where he practically seems to live despite being retired - and tries to steal some documents. Spidey gets it all on camera and, the next day, it's splashed all across the front of The Daily Bugle. Well, it makes sure everyone in the whole of New York knows there's something going on...

...but, if Gwen felt like she could never forgive him before, how's she going to react to him having been the one to dob her dad in?

Oh, Peter, if only you'd just learn to pass-on information, like other people do...