Amazing Spider-Man #15. Kraven makes his debut

(Cover from August 1964.)

"Kraven The Hunter!"

Written by Stan Lee.
Drawn by Steve Ditko.
Inked by Steve Ditko.
Lettered by Artie Simek.

As Clint Eastwood could tell you, a man has to know his limitations, and the Chameleon certainly does.

In case we'd forgotten about the menacing master of disguise - Spider-Man's first ever foe - he's back again. But this time, having decided he can't tackle Spider-Man himself, he brings in his best mate in all the world; Kraven the Hunter, who's something of a nutjob and lives only to fight things. He starts off by fighting some snakes and gorillas, down at the dockside, before turning his attention to Spider-Man.

The only problem is he's out of his depth and so he cheats.

The only problem is that doesn't work either.

So, he runs away and, when that doesn't work, he gets captured and deported. As a first outing for our villain it's all a bit of a wash out. Still, he may be a cheat, a braggart, a coward, a bully and a man who talks to himself but Kraven is at least persistent and he'll be back to mildly annoy Spider-Man on repeated occasions.

Someone else who'll be back is Mary Jane Watson whose name makes its first appearance here - although it has to do so without the company of the girl herself who's supposed to be meeting Peter Parker for a kind of blind date - courtesy of Aunt May - but pulls out with a headache.

It's just as well because, by this stage in the strip's history, Peter Parker has two girls, Betty Brant and Liz Allan fighting over him. How could the strip possibly find room for another? And just how did Puny Parker become such a babe magnet?

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.

Amazing Spider-Man #80. The Chameleon

(Cover from Jan 1970.)

"On The Trail Of... The Chameleon!"

Written by Stan Lee
Art by John Buscema, John Romita and Jim Mooney
Lettering by Sam Rosen

Back at his pad, Peter Parker's still moaning about Gwen Stacy having dumped him for Flash Thompson. As every reader knows, she's not dumped him for anyone, but Peter's insistence on never actually talking to his girlfriend about anything that matters has led him to this conclusion. That's when Harry Osborn walks in.

And he's not alone.

No, he doesn't have Mary Jane with him. She's still missing in inaction. He's got Flash with him. Pete loses his rag with Flash and Flash tells him what a plonker he's being. There's nothing going on between him and the gorgeous blonde. She was just asking him for advice about Pete.

She was?

Yes.

Feeling a proper Charlie, Peter calls Gwen and, after a certain amount of frostiness, she confirms what Flash was saying.

So, now that everyone's friends again, Pete's off to the museum with his girlfriend. There, they spot her dad. Despite being retired, he's in charge of museum security. The odd thing is, that when he passes them, he doesn't seem to recognise them - and Peter's spider-sense is tingling like nobody's business.

Now there's a scream.

The museum's priceless paintings...

...they're gone!

And Captain Stacy was the only one who could have done it!

Ha ha ha ha, gloats the Chameleon, back at his apartment. It was simplicity itself for a villain of his genius to get into the museum, disguised as Captain Stacy and steal the paintings. Only a master of disguise such as himself could have pulled off the deed.

Back in his apartment, Peter Parker's suddenly thinking the same thing. He knows Captain Stacy can't be guilty, therefore it must have been an impostor. And there's no one better at being an impostor than the Chameleon. Actually, it's so long since they last met, it's a wonder Pete even remembers him.

Pete leaps into action, then swings into action, then squats into action, as he asks Bugle sub-editor Joe Robertson to plant a story in his newspaper. As it turns out, Robertson doesn't need to plant a story. He's got a real one up his sleeve that'll serve the function perfectly. It involves a meeting involving the transfer of millions of dollars. Robertson'll give it front page coverage. Peter reasons that if that doesn't attract the Chameleon's attention, nothing will.

Spider-Man sneaks into the building where the meeting's being held. Opening a panel in the ceiling, he's spotted by one of the attendees who calls out as Spidey drops down onto the table. In the confusion he's caused, he tries to work out which of those present is the Chameleon in disguise. He goes for the one who's acting most suspiciously.

He's gone for the wrong one.

And now the police burst in, accompanied by Jonah. Why he'd be there is anyone's guess but needless to say, he's more hindrance to the lawmen than asset as he inadvertently stands in the line of fire as he demands they shoot our hero.

Emerging onto the roof, Spidey needs to find the Chameleon.

He spots him, in the street below, out to make his escape. It has to be him. He's certain of it. He swings down and grabs the villain who's made the biggest mistake of his life by assuming the identity of the one person Spider-Man knows it can't be. Peter Parker.

Again the police try to shoot Spider-Man. Again Jameson gets in the way. You're starting to wonder if he does this on purpose. We've seen him do it in previous stories as well.

"Peter Parker" attempts to flee the scene by flinging a hand grenade at his potential captors. Spider-Man muffles the blast with webbing and then grabs the villain as he tries to flee in a stolen car.

Now for the big unmasking. Jameson is shocked. It's the Chameleon!

And so, as another tale comes to a happy conclusion, Spider-Man departs the scene, leaving everyone to wonder how he could possibly have known which of them was the villain of the piece. That'll just have to remain Spider-Man's secret.

Mary Jane vigil.

Number of consecutive months without Mary Jane now: fifteen.