Amazing Spider-Man #93. The Prowler's back

(Cover from February 1971)

"THE LADY AND -- THE PROWLER!"

Written by Stan Lee
Art by John Romita
Lettering by Artie Simek

What happens:
Gwen gets a call from her uncle in London, offering her the chance to stay with him and her aunt. When she tells Peter that she loves him even more than she hates Spider-Man, the reminder of the inescapable obstacle between them makes him tell her she should go to London.

But, later, he decides he was wrong, he can't live without her and he returns to her apartment to tell her the truth about himself.

Before he can do so, the Prowler appears. Thinking the favour he did for the hero at George Stacy's house was part of Spider-Man's plans to kill the ex-cop, he's determined to bring the wall-crawler to justice. Spider-Man doesn't want to fight but, the Prowler won't listen and, during the scrap, has a fall that hurts him badly. Spider-Man gets him to a hospital and then returns to Gwen.

But it's too late. She's already gone to London. Yet again being Spider-Man has wrecked his life.

The Verdict:
John Romita's back on pencilling duty and, appropriately for a man who used to draw romance comics, it's back in full-on soap opera mode. Poor old Gwen, she doesn't know if she's coming or going - literally - with the way Peter Parker carries on. No wonder she seems to spend all her time bawling her eyes out.

And Poor old Hobie Brown. He still can't quite grasp that he's totally outclassed by Spider-Man. For a start, the only reason he can even catch up with Spidey - who can swing from building to building in mere moments, whereas he can't - is because Spidey wants to talk sense to him.

They clearly work fast in New York. At the tale's climax, it can't be more than a few minutes since Spidey last saw Gwen in her apartment and, already, by the looks of it, someone new's moved in.

Amazing Spider-Man #87. Spider-Man unmasked

(Cover from August 1970.)

"UNMASKED AT LAST!"

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

What happens:

Fearing he's losing his spider-powers, Peter tries to check a sample of his blood under the microscope but his vision's so blurry that he can't see clearly enough to know what it should be telling him.

Across town, there's a party at the Stacy residence. The whole gang's there but Peter's not shown up.

Then he shows up.

He shows up, dazed, mask in hand, telling everyone that he's Spider-Man. Suddenly realising what he's done, the delirious youngster flees the building. He can't go on like this. He's losing the plot. He needs to see a doctor, so he goes to the hospital where, after passing out, he's told he's simply had a king-sized does of the flu. He's not losing his super-powers! He needs to put right what was said at the party.

He approaches Hobie Brown - the Prowler - and asks him to be at a certain place at a certain time, then returns to the Stacy residence, where the gang are still gathered. As he tells them to ignore his earlier outburst, that he was delirious and didn't know what he was saying, Spider-Man appears at the window. Unknown to everyone but him, it's actually the Prowler in disguise. After his brief appearance, the stand-in Spidey leaves and Peter's in the clear. Now no one will ever suspect him again of being Spider-Man.


The Verdict:

It's the first story since issue #50 where we don't get to see Spider-Man fighting anyone, Instead the story concentrates on Peter Parker's private life. As with that previous tale, it gives us the possibility that we'll never again see Spider-Man, although it doesn't do it as memorably because this time there's no dilemma for our hero. If he's lost his powers he'll simply have no choice but to hang up his mask.

On the art front, another issue credited to Romita and Mooney but, somehow the artwork doesn't look like it normally does. I can only assume Romita's influence on this issue was weaker than usual. Mooney also seems to be inking the strip differently, his inking seems lighter than normal. Is he using different brushes?


Peter's personal life:

Peter's act should have fooled everyone but he still gets the feeling Captain Stacy's suspicious. In one panel, we see the captain's thought balloons as the Prowler leaves, and those thoughts indicate the ex-cop's been fooled by the charade, which may mean Peter's simply being paranoid.

Amazing Spider-Man #79. The Prowler

(It's Christmas, and Peter Parker's having a smashing time. Cover from December 1969.)

"To Prowl No More!"

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

Now the Prowler's got problems. All he meant to do was steal some money, return it in his civilian disguise and look like a hero. Now he's suddenly found himself as a murderer, having flung Bugle photographer Peter Parker through a skyscraper window.

In fact, he did nothing of the sort. In order to get away without arousing J Jonah Jameson's suspicion, out hero has flung himself from the window, acting like it was the gentle push from the Prowler that did it. There is one fairly obvious flaw in the Parker plan, which is that, in order to survive the fall, he has to use his spider powers, while out of disguise, and in full view of half of New York.

Happily for him, it turns out there's no one around at all to see him do this, not even when he lands in the middle of the street in one of the world' busiest Metropoli. Who said Peter Parker never has any luck? Well, Peter Parker said it, in every issue, ever. He was wrong.

Now he changes into Spider-Man and sets off to deal with the miscreant.

The miscreant, meanwhile, flees the Bugle offices in a panic. How did a simple window cleaner get himself into this mess?

His mess just got a whole lot bigger because, on the roof, Spider-Man intercepts him. The Prowler's armed to the teeth and has claws but simply can't lay a glove on our hero and, after an action-packed but ultimately futile fight, flees.

Back home, the memory of what he thinks he's done goes round and round in Hobie Brown's head. He needs to do something to redeem himself.

Spider-Man! He reasons that if he captures Spider-Man and brings him to justice, it'll prove to the world - and to himself - that he's not a bad guy.

He goes about trying to prove to the world that he's not a bad guy in a very strange manner, by committing a string of crimes in order to get Spider-Man's attention. He gets his attention all right and, after checking potential targets in the area, Spidey finds him in double-quick time.

This is where all logic flies out the window. As he robs a jeweller's store, Hobie's delighted that he's discovered (presumably from the Bugle) that Peter Parker's still alive, which does pose the question as to why he's still robbing places to attract Spider-Man to capture him to redeem himself for the murder of Peter Parker. Oh well, no one ever said that comics or costumed cavorters had to make complete and total sense.

The last time the pair met, the Prowler got away by firing gas at our hero. He tries it again. The only problem is Spidey's wearing a gas mask under his spider mask. With that discovery, the plan to capture Spider-Man goes right out the window and the Prowler flees.

He doesn't get very far. Spidey zaps him with his webbing and it's game over, the super-villain career of Hobie Brown comes to an end. Spider-Man unmasks him and Hobie tells him the whole sorry tale of how he became the Prowler.

And now Spidey shows that being a hero is about more than just nabbing bad guys. Sometimes, it's about letting them go. Seeing something of himself in the youth and recognising that what he needs most if he's to go straight is a second chance, he tells him to go back to his girlfriend and sort things out. If this were the 1970s' cop show The Sweeney, this would be one of those episodes where they finished the show with the sad version of the theme tune. As it happens, this is a comic book and so it has to settle for Spidey swinging off, silhouetted by the moon. It's an odd tale with a villain who doesn't really want to be a villain and who clearly never has the power to challenge Spidey but that's what makes it one of the more appealing tales of this era as it shows the strip's main strength by concentrating on the character of Hobie Brown to give us a tale of how, when we make a single wrong turning in life, things can quickly escalate beyond our control.

Mary Jane vigil.

Number of consecutive months without Mary Jane now: 14

Amazing Spider-Man #78. The Prowler

(Cover from November 1969.)

"The Night Of The Prowler!"

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

It's 1969 and John Romita Jr makes his first ever contribution to the strip by coming up with the idea of the Prowler but, in the world of fiction, Peter Parker's got problems.

Yes, he's still worried about his relationship with Gwen.

Not as worried as she is. She's so worried in fact that she's called in Flash Thompson for advice on how to deal with Pete. Asking Flash Thompson how to deal with Pete might seem like asking Dr Doom how to live in peace and harmony with those around you but, fair play to him. he's known Peter as long as anyone and she figures that if anyone can shed light on the boy's psyche, Flash can. That does bring to mind something that had never struck me before. That, seventy eight issues, and seven years, into the strip's run we still don't know Flash Thompson's first name. I mean, it seems unlikely that his parents (assuming that, unlike many in the Spiderverse, he actually has them) decided to christen him "Flash".

But Peter Parker has better things to worry about than Flash's name. Having seen Gwen and Thompson together in a coffee shop, he's more concerned about his motives. He walks the streets alone, pausing only to knock out a couple of would-be muggers and, along the line, looks up to envy a late-night window cleaner and the no-doubt carefree existence he must have.

Meanwhile, the window cleaner's looking down at Pete, thinking what a care-free life he must have. The window cleaner's Hobie Brown who, thankfully for us is another character in the habit of talking to himself. He feels like a loser. He has an idea for these great devices that could make window cleaning so much easier but he can't even get his boss to listen.

It turns out the window he's cleaning is that of Daily Bugle publisher J Jonah Jameson, out of hospital and back to working all hours that God sends him. He yanks open the window and chews Hobie out over how long it's taking him to do the window.

But it seems that, for once, we've misjudged Jonah. In his own charmless way he's trying to warn Hobie that his boss is on the war path about his sloth-like window cleaning. Now his boss storms in. Jameson covers for Hobie, saying it was he who held the youth up by complaining to him about the prices his boss charges. Then the boss says something vaguely racist and JJ threatens to deck him. It's scenes like this that make you love Spider-Man, where even a panto villain like Jonah can have a moral streak within him.

Hobie returns home. He's had it with window cleaning. If he can't use the devices he's invented to make money honestly, he'll do it dishonestly. He'll become a super-villain and commit a robbery. Then, as Hobie Brown, he'll "find" the abandoned loot and hand it in for the reward. He gets busy. He whips himself up a costume and now he's Hobie Brown no longer. He's the Prowler and he's ready for action.

Elsewhere, Peter's dropped in to the Bugle offices. He needs an advance from Jameson. He doesn't get it. He just gets the customary rant. Seemingly, it's only other people's employees he stands up for. As for The Prowler. He's decided that the best way to get publicity is to steal from a newspaper. There's only one problem. Just as he's stealing the Bugle's payroll, who walks in but Peter Parker.

Pete's about to tangle with him.

But now J Jonah Jameson walks in.

So, now what does our hero do? He can't let the Prowler get away but, with Jonah watching, how can he be seen holding his own against a super-villain?

Mary Jane vigil.

Number of consecutive months without Mary Jane now: 13