Thursday, September 15, 2011

The Amazing Spiderman #1-5

I was reading these old Spidey comics from 1963. I thought it might be fun to post the plots for people that have not actually read them....

Amazing Fantasy #15: Spiderman's first appearance and origin. Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider and acquires spider powers. His family needs money and he tries to earn some as a wrestler and is too self absorbed to stop a robbery. The criminal breaks into his house and shoots his Uncle Ben. At the end, he realizes that "with great power comes great responsibility."

Amazing Spiderman #1: J.Jonah Jameson's first appearance. JJJ begins his war on Spiderman, which cripples Peter's attempts to make money in show biz. Then, he tries to join the Fantastic Four, who explain to him that they are a non-profit and can't pay him. Later, Peter saves Jameson's son, John, from crashing his space capsule. This does not endear him to JJJ.  In a second story, the Chameleon makes his first appearance.

#2: The Vulture is introduced in a solid story. In a second story, the Tinkerer is introduced. Peter defeats the Tinkerer and an alien invasion.

#3: Doc Oc is introduced. Peter spends the early part of the story thinking he's the shit. Then, he's humiliated by Doc Oc (who also considers himself the bee's knees). Peter loses his confidence, but later realizes he has to be a hero and defeats Doc Oc.

#4: The Sandman is introduced. By this point, the stories and scripts are dramatically improving. From the beginning, Spiderman has more problems than any other hero ever, making him the most human. In one of my favorite comic book moments of all time, Pete defeats Sandman with a vacuum cleaner.

#5: Dr. Doom tries to enlist Spiderman as his ally, but is rebuffed. Doom decides to destroy Spiderman and captures Flash Thompson, who was in a Spidey costume. Flash wanted to embarrass Peter, but ended up Doom's prisoner. Spiderman and Doom battle it out in a major mismatch. Pete is saved when the Fantastic Four arrive at the last minute.

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