Amazing Spider-Man #148.The Jackal and the Tarantula

(Cover from September 1975.)

"Jackal, Jackal... Who's Got The Jackal?"

Words by Gerry Conway.
Art by Ross Andru.
Inks by Esposito and Hunt.
Lettering by John Costanza.
Colours by Petra Goldberg.


There are well over a hundred frames in a typical comic book but a single frame is all it takes to define an issue. Steve Ditko allegedly quit Spider-Man in protest at the Green Goblin being revealed to be Norman Osborn. God alone knows what he'd have done had the Jackal been revealed to be Professor Warren.

And yet that's exactly what happens here.

Happily, Ross Andru didn't quit in protest but you wouldn't have blamed him if he had. It has to be the stupidest revelation in the history of literature. A twist that must have been born of desperation. All these months there's been the mystery of who the Jackal was and what he was about, so Gerry Conway had to come up with something. And it seems like, in the end, this was the only thing he could think of. Not only is it ludicrous but it deprives us once and for all of Professor Warren who's been a good old reliable mainstay of the strip for years. The only worse person it could have turned out to have been was Joe Robertson.

That aside, what did I actually make of this tale? It's a good, solid story with some nice character stuff, that seems to fit more than usual into its twenty pages without feeling at any point, crammed in. There's even time for Peter Parker to take a nice relaxing bath.

There's also time for a good old fashioned punch-up, plus the revelation that Spider-Man's spider-sense only works when he's being snuck up on by people it already knows to be his enemies. How it already knows them to be his enemies is anyone's guess.

Highlights of the issue are Mary Jane going round to Peter's place to give him a piece of her mind, and Spidey's fight in the dark with the Tarantula. Exactly why Spidey's so eager to get the fight out into the daylight is another matter, seeing as how his spider-sense should give him a vital advantage in the gloom but the fight's pretty cool while it lasts, allowing Andru to make an appropriately Ditkoesque use of light and shade. Good to see the Spider-Signal getting a rare outing too. I suppose it had to come in handy for something at some point.

One final point is that I don't understand this issue's title at all. I have the feeling it's a reference to some sort of catchphrase but, if so, I don't have a clue whose catchphrase it might be.

Amazing Spider-Man #147.The Tarantula's back

(Cover from August 1975.)

"The Tarantula Is A Very Dangerous Beast!"

Words by Gerry Conway.

Pencils by Ross Andru.

Inks by Esposito and Hunt.

Lettering by Sam Rosen.

Colours by Stan G.

Latest in the long line of stupid things for the New York prison authorities to do is stand by like lemons while the Tarantula makes a pair of steel-spiked shoes in the prison workshop. He tells us he's been working on these things for months.

What?

And at no point has it occurred to the guards that allowing a man, notorious for stabbing people with his footwear, to make pointy steel shoes might be a bad thing? They even do nothing while he's stood there, speaking aloud, in front of them, about his plans. Needless to say he promptly uses them to escape - followed no doubt by a dozen other super-villains who've presumably also been using the prison workshop to rebuild their criminal careers.

That aside, this is a story of distinctly surreal tastes, with Spider-Man and the Tarantula fighting each other on a bus as the driver completely ignores their presence before tearing off his head to reveal himself to be the Jackal - not to mention the presence on the vehicle of Gwen Stacy.

Except it's not Gwen Stacy. It's a clone and, for all our hero knows, there could be a whole army of them out there.

Actually, that would've been a pretty good storyline but it was not to be. For now, there's only one clone in sight; one who seems to be under the Jackal's complete control, judging by the way she just stands there, a strangely lunatic blankness on her face, as the villain flings our hero off the Brooklyn Bridge in echo of the original Gwen's demise. All put together, it feels more like a dream our hero would have than any kind of objective reality. And it's all the better for that. I love this story. It's one of my favourites from the Ross Andru/Gerry Conway era precisely because of its madness.

On less dramatic but just as crucial matters, it's nice to see Mary Jane and Aunt May having a heart-to-heart, with the older woman giving MJ some sound advice. Interesting that, despite believing the Gwen clone to be the original article, Aunt May would appear to be fully on Mary Jane's side in the battle for Peter Parker's heart.

Amazing Spider-Man #135. The Punisher and the Tarantula

(Cover from August 1974.)

"Shoot-Out In Central Park!"

Words by Gerry Conway.

Pencils by Ross Andru.

Inks by Frank Giacoia.

Lettering by Artie Simek.

Colours by L Lessmann.

There aren't many Spider-Man stories I despise.

This is one of them.

Don't get me wrong. It's perfectly well written and Ross Andru's art is as good as - if not better than - ever. The problem's down to one man.

The Punisher.

Having brought him back at the climax of last issue, the tale adopts a pattern that would become familiar, with the Punisher showing up, thinking Spider-Man's a criminal, trying to kill him and then, having seen the error of his ways, teaming up with him.

And therein lies the problem. While it's easy to believe the Punisher would be willing to team up with Spidey, it's hard to see why Spidey would want to do likewise with the Punisher. Leaving aside the fact that the gun-toting nut-job keeps trying to kill him, the man's a psycho. Take the scene where he and our hero crash the Tarantula's lair. The Punisher instantly opens fire with a machine gun.

That's right, he tries to cut the villain down in a hail of bullets.

Now, the Tarantula might be a nasty piece of work but since when is Spidey going to be happy working with a man whose first instinct is to kill? Unfortunately, there's a moral bankruptcy to the tale. You can argue about whether it's right or not to kill those who are happy to kill others. What can never be claimed is that Spider-Man's happy to see men die. He isn't. No matter who he's come up against, he's never once tried to kill. He even refused to kill the Goblin, a foe he had every reason to want to send to the cemetery. Now, we're supposed to believe he's happy to team up with a man whose whole philosophy must logically be repugnant to him. It's a tale that really needs a proper investigation of the rights and wrongs of the Punisher's mentality, not a cheery acceptance of his ways.

On other matters, Peter Parker tries to disguise his true identity by claiming his disappearance during all the action was down to him having fallen overboard. Leaving aside the fact that, during such a long gap, the boat would've left him far behind, as Spider-Man was last seen jumping into the same water, it's hard to see how he thinks this is going to fool anyone. While it fools MJ, it doesn't con Flash. Big surprise. Turning up in the same place that Spidey was last seen is practically screaming out at everyone, "Hey, look at me! I'm Spider-Man!"

Not that the other passengers are bright enough to work that out. They have to be the most uniformly stupid bunch of people assembled in one place. Having seen our hero fighting the Tarantula and knocking him out - not to mention rescuing a crewman who fell into the water - they then decide Spidey was in league with the villain and try to lynch him. Some people simply don't deserve saving.

Still, there's one good thing comes out of this issue. Its climax; as Harry Osborn finally makes the move into becoming the Green Goblin.

Amazing Spider-Man #134. The Tarantula makes his debut

(Cover from July 1974.)

"Danger Is A Man Named... Tarantula!"

Words by Gerry Conway.

Pencils by Ross Adnru.

Inks by Giacoia and Hunt.

Lettering by Artie Simek.

Colours by L Lessmann.

Mayors. They don't build 'em tough in New York - at least not in the world of comicdom.

Where most politicians would refuse to deal with kidnappers; here, the city's chief seemingly can't wait to get the Tarantula and his men the money they want. Suddenly, I see why Spider-Man's home town's crawling with more criminals than you can shake a fist at. With jellyfish like that in charge, it must seem like paradise to them.

Still, not to worry. If our politicians won't save us from low-life, there's always the Punisher.

That's right. After an absence of just four issues, Frank Castle is back - and just as stupid and blinkered as always. It's interesting that, at this stage, he's still being billed as a villain, on the cover.

As for the official rogue of the piece, I've always had a soft spot for the Tarantula. In retrospect, it seems astonishing that it took so long into his career before anyone came up with an evil counterpart to Spidey - especially one called Tarantula but it seems that, sometimes, even the obvious can elude everyone.

So, now that he's here, is this brand new villain actually any good?

It depends what you mean by good. I mean, OK, there's no denying that, compared to Spider-Man, he's distinctly second rate, devoid of super-powers and, when you get down to it, little more than a New World version of Batroc the Leaper (or should I say Batroc ze Leepair?). And it's disappointing that what should be Spidey's new arch-nemesis is so easily disposed of. Basically, one punch and it's all over. You can't help feeling that Conway, Andru and Marvel Comics completely threw away a golden chance to create an all-time great villain here.

But, whatever his physical failings, there's an appealing nastiness about him and he has a cool costume. Plus, the venom in his shoes is clearly unbelievably strong because, at one point, it even manages to make the spider emblem disappear from our hero's chest. Man, that's mighty stuff.

On the supporting character front, nice to see Liz Allen completely unbothered by last issue's death of her half-brother. You know? The half-brother whose welfare she was so concerned about? Please, Miss, Gerry Conway's ignoring characterisation again.

Also nice to see Mary Jane back to being flippant in the face of danger. Although, the way Ross Andru draws her when she declares that the boat must be being hi-jacked does make her seem somewhat demented - and, frankly, a bit frightening.

Flash Thompson, after all these years, is finally starting to suspect that Peter Parker's really Spider-Man.

Harry Osborn, after all these years, finally knows that Peter Parker's Spider-Man.