Amazing Spider-Man #35. The Molten Man returns

(Still not actually molten. Cover from April 1966.)

"The Molten Man Regrets...!"

Scripted by Stan Lee.

Plotted, drawn and inked by Steve Ditko.

Lettered by Artie Simek.

Thwoop!

Puh-Twee!

Brrakkk!

This story's rubbish but it has great sound effects. In fact, pages 11 and 12 are virtually all sound effects as Stan Lee (I assume it was he who wrote them) reaches into his full repertoire of noises. My favourite has to be Spwat! a word that's probably never featured before or since in the long annals of literary history.

Frankly, this issue needs all the sound effects it can get to keep us interested because the story quickly degenerates into yet another Steve Ditko slug-fest. Mark Raxton, the Molten Man, is out of jail, having been released from custody with a suspended sentence. So, it's time for that all-important question. Has he learned his lesson?

Of course he hasn't. No sooner is he out of jail than Raxton almost immediately sets out to rob a jeweller's store.

But, wouldn't you just know it? Spider-Man turns up and thwarts him. Cue protracted punch-up.

This time, for once, Steve Ditko doesn't end the fight with Spider-Man simply knocking out his opponent. This time he does it by tying the Molten Man up with a rope. Under normal circumstances, such a change of methodology'd be welcome.

Except for the fact it's exactly the same method by which Spider-Man beat Raxton last time round.

You can't get away from it, by this stage in Ditko's tenure, the strip was running out of steam badly. Ditko might have been handy with a pencil and brush but, when it came to plots, the sad truth is he was no Stan Lee.

Ditko's artwork looks slightly different in this issue. Because I'm not too bright, it took me a while to figure out why. At first I thought he was using bigger panels but there's the same standard six or so to each page that we're used to from him. However, comparing this tale directly to last month's issue, it quickly becomes clear there's noticeably less black in it than we're used to. I don't know if this was a conscious choice on Ditko's part or if he was simply using new pens/brushes and it affected his style. Either way it's an appealing change of visual direction and, with an eerie propheticism, almost drifting towards the look of John Romita Sr in places.

Amazing Spider-Man #28. The Molten Man

(Cover from September 1965.)

"The Molten Man!"

Scripted by Stan Lee.

Plotted, drawn and inked by Steve Ditko.

Lettered by Sam Rosen.

Schooldays may or may not be the happiest days of our life but one thing's for certain, they have to end at some point. And this is the tale where Peter Parker's do just that as he graduates from high school. I once read an interview where Steve Ditko said he thought Peter Parker should always have been in high school and should never have gone to university. He's wrong, of course, the strip hit its peak when Peter Parker was at university and I doubt that's coincidence.

I wish I could say our hero leaves school with a tale that fully explores and exploits the inherent metaphors but the simple truth is it doesn't. The B plot, Spider-Man's latest adventure, is simply pants. Whatever Mark Raxton's later revival as a man driven mad by the pain of burning-up beneath his inferno-like skin, here the Molten Man's a damp squib. Leaving aside the fact he's not actually molten - he doesn't seem to be giving off any heat at all - his fight with Spider-Man's like a walking definition of the word pedestrian. Basically they throw punches at each other in his house for page after page until Spider-Man ties him up with his webbing, the fight seemingly ending when Steve Ditko gets bored with it.

And I think that's the major problem with the strip at this point in its history; snowed under with work, Stan Lee was now giving Ditko total freedom to plot the comics. The problem is Ditko's an artist not a writer and, just as the Fantastic Four suffered with the more freedom Lee gave to Jack Kirby, so this tale desperately needs a writer to inject a few twists, turns and a dose of ingenuity into proceedings. A story that's just two people throwing punches at each other until the artist runs out of pages is never going to grab anyone.

But that's enough of the fighting. Given its importance in Spider-history, we have to view Peter Parker's graduation as the A plot. In fact we don't hear too much about it until the last few pages, so it can hardly be said to dominate proceedings. What does stand out is the odd behaviour of Liz Allen who writes herself out of the strip for no noticeable reason. It's an odd development, not properly explained, and you wonder if there ever was any plan to explain it or if it'd just been decided to dispense with her and this was the quickest way to do it.

Of course, what could've been behind Liz Allen's departure could be an identity crisis. At one point in the story, Peter Parker calls her Liz Hilton. In an earlier tale, she suddenly became Liz Brant and, of course, there's the endless confusion as to whether she's Liz Allen or Liz Allan. With an identity crisis like that, no wonder she wanted to run away and hide.

Amazing Spider-Man #133. The Molten Man

(Cover from June 1974.)

"The Molten Man Breaks Out!"

Words by Gerry Conway.

Pencils by Ross Andru.

Inks by Giacoia and Hunt.

Lettering by Artie Simek.

Colours by P Goldberg.

Superman's a jerk. I know this because there's a website dedicated to the fact.

Sadly, he's not the only one. If there's anything this tale proves, it's that Spider-Man can match him, jerkness for jerkness. Even after he knows why the Molten Man's stealing bits of meteorite, he still keeps trying to stop him. Why? By stopping him he's reducing the chances of Raxton being cured, and therefore increasing his menace.

Speaking of the villain, just what's going on with his speech patterns? One moment he's talking like one of the Kingpin's hired goons, the next he's talking like Dr Doom. It comes across like, in different parts of the tale, he's being written by two different writers who lacked the time to swap notes.

Interesting that, last issue, we were told it was radio-active rocks that were causing Peter Parker's brush with death. This issue we're told it's radiation from Raxton's body. Perhaps Gerry Conway thought better of last month's explanation. After all, would deadly, radio-active meteorites really be publicly displayed in glass cases at a museum? There's no denying it makes more sense to blame it on Moltie instead.

Unfortunately, despite that, the rocks still seem to be heavily radio-active anyway. Looking at inconsistencies in the tale - and in Raxton's speech patterns - I'm wondering if it actually had more than one writer. Did editor Roy Thomas have a hand in some parts? Or could Gerry Conway simply not make his mind up about a number of things? Either way, like the damp squib of a death Raxton endures, it's a somewhat disappointing finale to a tale that started so well.

As for the hospital intern who abandons the seemingly dying Peter Parker, to deal with a, "Much more important," matter, I trust he won't be keeping his job for very long.

Amazing Spider-Man #132. The Molten Man

(Cover from May 1974.)

"The Master Plan Of The Molten Man!"

Words by Gerry Conway.

Art by John Romita/Paul Reinman/Tony Mortellaro.

Lettering by Artie Simek.

Colours by P Goldberg.

There are times when you just wish Spider-Man would shut up and think before he acts. This issue's a case in point as Gerry Conway continues his seeming quest to revive every old foe our hero has ever met. This time round we get the Molten Man.

And what a welcome return it is. I have to confess that, in the past, Moltie's never really lit my candle but, here, he's terrific, a man driven mad by his affliction, more interested in finding a cure for his plight than causing trouble but forced by his very nature to be a menace. You can't help feeling that, at a time like this Spidey should be more interested in helping Mark Raxton than in fighting him but, like I say, he doesn't always seem to believe in thinking before he acts.

And where does that policy leave him?

It leaves him lying at death's door as the tale draws to a close.

Will he learn anything from this?

Of course he won't.

A welcome return too for Liz Allen/Allan. You could hardly claim she's been missed in all these years but it's oddly pleasing to see her back again. I was going to knock Conway for having Peter say that Mary Jane and Liz never got on in the past, on the grounds that, as far as I was aware, they'd never even met. How wrong I was. There they are, in issue #25, having a pointed, if brief, encounter. Clearly Conway had a better memory for these things than I have.

Really, my only quibble with this tale is the heat issue. Spider-man seems able to hit the 300-degree Molten Man with impunity and to be hit with impunity. Peter Parker having a few blisters or the odd bit of heat rash after their encounter might at least have been some acknowledgement of the difficulties involved in battling such a foe.