Amazing Spider-Man #104. Kraven, Gog and Ka-Zar

(A not noticeably accurate representation of what goes on within the comic. Cover from January 1972.)

"The Beauty and the Brute"

Story by Roy Thomas
Art by Gil Kane
Inks by Frank Giacoia
Lettering by Artie Simek

Spinning spiders, I'm back, after a six month absence, and poor old Spidey's still stuck in that quicksand. How could I have abandoned him at such a vital time? Well, thanks to the vagaries of misfiring technology, all-too easily. But how will he get out of this mess?

Happily, Ka-Zar's there to rescue him and the pair set off together to deal with Kraven.

Bearing in mind that he's already come across Mary Jane - way back when he was trying to do away with Norman Osborn - it is a bit baffling that Kraven's decided he wants to take Gwen as his mate. You'd've thought sweet Gwendolyne'd seem a bit insipid after MJ but still, he clearly works on the principle that beggars can't be choosers.

Despite Roy Thomas' tendency towards escapism with these tales, it's a surprisingly nasty outing, with Ka-Zar being hanged by the neck at one point and the poor hapless Gog drowning in quicksand of a sort that only seems to exist in the land of fiction. Still, it's nice to see a more human side to J Jonah Jameson, even if it is forced on him by the seeming death of Peter and Gwen. Plus, Thomas and Kane neatly avoid the problem of having to explain to the other characters how Spider-Man and Petey both happen to be in the Savage Land at the same time. They do it by contriving to have no one notice that Spidey's there - apart from one panel when JJ thinks he's spotted him then decides it's just his paranoia taking over.

This "invisibility" does pose the question of why Spidey's actually present in this tale at all; as it might as well be a Ka-Zar solo outing. Admittedly, Spidey does dispose of Gog but it's Ka-Zar who disposes of #1 villain Kraven, and the truth is Zabu could probably have despatched the monster in exactly the same manner as our hero does.

Maybe it's my imagination but Gog's origin seems to be a nod to Ray Harryhausen's classic 1950s' movie Twenty Million Miles to Earth. For some reason, this reference makes me very happy.

Amazing Spider-Man #103. Ka-Zar, Kraven & Gog

(Cover from December 1971.)

"WALK THE SAVAGE LAND!"

Written by Roy Thomas
Drawn by Gil Kane
Inked by Frank Giacoia
Lettered by Artie Simek

What happens:
The Daily Bugle's in financial trouble. It needs a big story and it needs it now. So J Jonah Jameson decides to mount an expedition to the Savage Land to get photos of a giant creature called Gog, rumoured to be lurking there. Among the team he takes are Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy but, once there, Gog appears and takes Gwen, with Peter sent flying into a river.

Away from the prying eyes of the others, Peter changes into his Spider-Man suit and goes after the beast. But, getting over-confident, he lands in quicksand and, at the tale's end, is rapidly sinking, with no means of escape.

The Verdict:
So, after last issue's take on Dracula, this month we get Roy Thomas' take on King Kong in what has to be one of the silliest adventures Spider-Man's ever had. It's interesting to contrast Thomas' approach to that of Stan Lee. Whereas Lee had worked hard to tie Spidey into the real world, keeping his adventures in New York and introducing real life political and social issues, Thomas goes for out-and-out fantasy. I have to say I prefer the Lee approach. I'm a big fan of Thomas' work on things like the Avengers and Conan but, somehow it never quite feels like it belongs on a strip like Spider-Man. It's a beautifully drawn tale though from Gil Kane. I especially like the Daily Bugle scenes with the editorial conference.

I have to say the handling of Gwen Stacy in this issue irks me. For one thing, she's blubbing her eyes out again - I really wish she'd stop doing that - and, for another, the whole blundering around in the jungle in a bikini is terrible. I know Roy Thomas has been accused of sexism over the years but this is taking liberties.

Peter Parker uses a gun. Peter Parker should never use a gun.

Interesting to see that Kraven wants Gwen for his mate. Clearly we should never read anything into the fact that he barges around looking like the sixth member of the Village People.

Amazing Spider-Man #58. The Spider-Slayer's back

(Grargh! Jameson smash! Cover from March 1968.)

"To Kill A Spider-Man!"

Written by Stan Lee

Layouts by John Romita

Pencils by Don Heck

Inks by Mickey Demeo

Lettering by Sam Rosen

Argh! We've been lied to. At the end of last issue, we were told in no uncertain terms that Spider-Man was dead. Now, in the first panel of this tale, we're told he's alive, and that only someone with Ka-Zar's jungle-honed senses would be able to detect the spark of life that still resides within him - which would be fine if it hadn't been Ka-Zar and his "jungle-honed" senses that had told us our hero was dead in the first place. Here's a lesson for us all. If you're not feeling well, consult a doctor, not a dinosaur-fighting English lord in a furry loin cloth. Not, of course, that we wanted Spider-Man dead. Let's face it, such news would hardly be good for the comic's future circulation figures. It'd just be nice to know where we stand.

And the fact that Spidey still lives isn't the only good news awaiting us in these pages because, at last, Spider-Man has his memory back. Time for him to return home and start to sort everything out with those who've been wondering where he's been for these last few days.

So, what happens in this one? What happens is that Professor Smythe reappears. For those who arn't familiar with him - or whose memories are as bad as Spider-Man's has been lately - he's the mad scientist who turned up in issue #25 with an infallible robot guaranteed to destroy Spider-Man. It failed of course - as infallible plots to kill super-heroes tend to - but now he's back with a bigger and better robot. And this one can't fail because it can somehow home in on spideryness. Needless to say J Jonah Jameson shows the levels of common sense we all associate with him and happily teams up with Smythe for another round of Spider-bashing.

There's a problem. Smythe's gone completely mad and is out to not just capture Spidey but kill him. Once the Slayer's found our hero, Smythe rests control of the robot from Jameson and sets about trying to zap Spider-Man into a bloody mess.

Spidey has to think fast. He has to find Smythe's lab.

Thanks to the phone book, he finds it and heads there. Smythe, watching the whole thing through the robot's viewer, is delighted because Spidey's heading in completely the wrong direction. He and Jameson are at the Daily Bugle, nowhere near Spider-Man's intended destination. Spidey's doomed.

Or is he?

No he's not because, when he gets there, we soon learn the method to Spidey's madness. He knows the Spider-Slayer's drawn towards Spideryness (how he knows this is anyone's guess as nobody's ever told him it is) and has reasoned that Smythe must therefore have a lab full of spiders for research purposes. Hey presto, the moment the robot gets there, the presence of so many spiders overload its sensors and it blows up. Take that, Spider-Slayer!

There's just time for a quick reunion with Ka-Zar at the end and yet another tale of drama and intrigue ends happily.

This is the second consecutive tale that's basically a retelling of an earlier story. Were Lee and Romita starting to run out of ideas? It also doesn't feature Mary Jane, which, in my book is rarely a good thing. Fortunately, the next issue redresses both concerns with what is one of my favourite tales of the era and also sees the return of one of Spidey's greatest foes...

Amazing Spider-Man #57. Ka-Zar and Zabu

(Let's face it, jackpot; you just hit the tiger. Cover from February 1968.)

"The Coming Of Ka-Zar!"

Written by Stan Lee.

Layouts by John Romita.

Pencilled by Don Heck.

Inked by Mickey Demeo.

Lettered by Sam Rosen.

So, after over a year of John Romita, the strip gets a new penciller. It's not a complete break because Romita's still doing the layouts but the actual pencilling's being done by Don Heck. Heck was an odd artist. Some of his work - such as his art on the early Iron Man tales - could be surprisingly pleasing to the eye but other work by him could be actively painful to behold. A lot depended on his inkers and whether they had the sense to ignore his tendency to randomly place dead black areas on his drawings. His work on Spider-Man is somewhere between the two. Not his best but a long way from his worst and is certainly helped by Romita's simple but elegant layouts, especially Romita's tendency to concentrate on the characters' faces wherever possible.

At the tale's launch, we find Spider-Man still without a clue who he really is and feeling hungry. He snatches a sandwich from a rooftop party and heads off to find a place to sleep. He finds it, on a ledge at the nearest railway station.

Meanwhile, as our hero settles down for a good night's sleep, Aunt May finds that sleep eludes her. Concerned for her missing nephew, she drags herself from her bed - you've guessed it - just long enough to have one of her attacks.

In a heated meeting, questions are being asked, Various VIPs are demanding to know why John Jameson let Spider-Man go when he had a chance to capture him. Jameson points out that his orders were to retrieve the nullifier, not to arrest Spider-Man. Captain Stacy defends him but someone not in the mood to defend him is Jameson's own father who's still hell-bent on getting Spidey. Suddenly, things start to become a repeat of issue #15 where JJ recruited Kraven the Hunter to catch Spider-Man.

This time, he has the sense to recruit a hero, Ka-Zar who's just arrived in town with his sabre-toothed tiger Zabu. Apparently, the jungle lord has business in the city. Jameson doesn't care about that. He just wants Ka-Zar to bash up Spidey. Ka-Zar, being a man of judgement, doesn't like the cut of Jameson's jib but agrees to listen to him regardless.

Meanwhile, Harry's still fretting about Peter's disappearance. He decides to check in the missing student's room and, on a cupboard floor, finds one of Spider-Man's spider-tracers. It can only mean one thing.

Spider-Man has kidnapped Peter Parker.

Waking from his slumbers, Spidey hears a report on a nearby radio that claims he's kidnapped someone called Peter Parker. It also claims that the only person to have spoken up in Spider-Man's defence is John Jameson. With Jameson as his only defender, Spidey decides that he should go and see the man. He finds him at police HQ, with Captain Stacy. He tells them he's lost his memory.

But, just as he's getting somewhere, Gwen walks in. Sadly, after the highs of recent issues, Gwen's now reduced to standard super-hero girlfriend mode - a mode she'll never really escape from now on - and tearfully demands to know what he's done with Peter, while futilely pummelling Spidey with her fists. Clearly this is getting him nowhere and Spidey takes off, leaving those present to wonder just what he might do in his current state.

Another concerned about what Spider-Man might do is Ka-Zar. Convinced by the tale Jameson Senior's just spun him, the lord of the savage land sets off to find him.

He's not the only one because Spidey's out to find Spidey. He reasons that maybe he can find out more about himself by visiting the offices of a newspaper. So, he drops in on The Daily Bugle, where JJ's delighted to discover he's lost his memory. The jackalesque publisher uses this knowledge to try and trick Spider-Man into removing his mask.

And it's about to work!

That's when Ka-Zar smashes in through the window. Jameson's less than pleased. He was on the verge of discovering Spidey's secret identity. Ka-Zar's not intersted in all that. All he cares about is that Spider-Man's trying to escape. So, Ka-Zar goes after him and the mandatory slug-fest breaks out, culminating in Central Park where Spidey decks Ka-Zar with one punch.

Sadly, he's in no position to enjoy his victory because that's when Zabu arrives and, looking to defend his master, leaps at Spider-Man. Man and sabre-tooth land in the water...

...but only the big cat emerges.

Recovered from the knock-out blow, Ka-Zar leaps into the water to search for the missing. And, emerging from the water with his foe's limp body, the lord of the jungle declares that Spider-Man is dead.