Saturday, November 3, 2012

The Amazing Spider-Man #32 and #33






1966

Written by Stan Lee

Art by Steve Ditko

So, as is often the case, the slow issue is followed by two issues of almost pure action. The Peter Parker drama from Empire State University is thrown aside for the next forty pages and is replaced by the type of classic plot that defines what a good Spider-Man comic can be.

As stated in the last entry, Aunt May is sick with some rare blood disease. In issue 32 Peter overhears the doctors saying that there is a strange radiation in Aunt May’s blood and it is killing her. Peter instantly remembers that the last time Aunt May was sick (probably the last time, but she’s been sick so often that I’ve lost count) he gave her a blood transfusion to save her. Now, that very blood transfusion could mean her death.

Also, the identity of the Master Planner is revealed: Dr. Octopus. He is trying to steal enough pieces of radioactive mumbo jumbo so that he can make his own warhead.
While Doc Ock is brooding on how he hates Spider-Man and wants so bad to jack up the world, Spider-Man goes to the one person he thinks will know enough about radioactivity and blood to save his Aunt May: Curt “The Lizard” Connors.

And here are all the elements of a good Spider-Man story: A loved one is ill and only Spider-Man can save them. An iconic villain is wreaking havoc on the city. The only person he can depend upon is a loose cannon. And all action occurs under the mysterious umbrella of radioactivity, the very source that granted Peter Parker the powers that changed his life.

The different plot lines are linked together by ISO 36, an element recommended by Doc Connors to save Aunt May. Connors is having it flown across the country in order to use it, but tragedy butts in. It turns out that ISO 36 is also the last element that Dr. Octopus needs to complete his warhead. Ohhhhhh Snap!

The ISO 36 is stolen and Dr. Octopus has poked the bear. Spider-Man goes nuts. He fights all of the purple henchmen from the last issue over and over again, has a deadly battle with Dr. Octopus which he wins handily, and then is trapped at the bottom of the ocean, under tons of wreckage while the leaking ceiling threatens to bring down the brine on him. 


At this moment of pure exhaustion, Spider-Man recalls why he is what he is. As he is trapped under the wreckage and struggles to summon the strength to escape, visions of Uncle Ben haunt him. He thinks something curious in these frames, and I found it rather moving. He thinks, “I’ll get the serum to Aunt May and maybe then I will no longer be haunted by the memory of my Uncle Ben” (Page 2).

I often think of the visions of Uncle Ben as moments of inspiration—moments where Ben appears and imparts some piece of wisdom—but here we see that that is not entirely true. The Ben moments are actually torturous and Spider-Man would do anything—any heroic feat he could manage—to be rid of them.
Spider-Man pulls himself up from the wreckage, defeats an army of Dr. Octopus’s henchmen, and gets the ISO 36 to Dr. Connors, thus saving his Aunt May. It’s a good, solid story.

One thing bugs me, though. And it’s a small thing, but it makes me wonder about the Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s environment at the time of writing these issues. As I understand it, the two of them were writing something like 15 million different comic books at the time. In the second issue while Dr. Connors is waiting for Spider-Man to get back with the ISO 36 he says, “There’s no way of knowing if it will assimilate with my own potion until we try it.” (Page 12, Issue #32). I read this and instantly thought, “Geez! Connors is going to try his own potion again. Do these goofball scientists never learn?”

But then the story ended sans The Lizard tearing New York City apart. I wonder if the issue went to print and then Stan Lee slapped his forehead realizing that he forgot that thread of the plot.