In the 70s & 80s, this one would have certainly said “Spidey Goes Wild!” on the cover. Ditko gets his plot credit back this month. The surprisingly boring splash is just The Master Planner’s secret undersea headquarters. Stan never woulda gone for that if he and Ditko were, like, talking. Guess who The Master Planner is.
Ock’s lost a lot of weight since ASM Annual 1. But he’s debuting a version of the weird goggles he’ll be wearing more often than not for decades (And even came back with in ASM 427 after dying in regular glasses). Well, now we know why the purple guys were stealing atomic equipment, but here comes this…
Holy crap. It’s the exact same gag Wolfman did in ASM 195. I can’t believe it. Wolfman was so dedicated to shaking things up and trying new things, and he did a remake of this? Why?
A very nice twist by Ditko with Aunt May. What could burden the most perpetually guilty-feeling hero in comics more than maybe accidentally killing his mother? Also, it was ASM 10, for the record. I’ll take my No Prize off the air. A despondent Peter Parker goes home, rages and destroys furniture (How will he explain that?), and vows to save her, no matter the cost. He tries to call Curt Connors in Florida, and eventually learns he’s moved back to New York. Handy! So Spider-Man steals Aunt May’s blood sample from the hospital, then takes it to Curt, explaining what’s happened to “a friend.” Connors will do anything to help him after the whole Lizard thing, as usual, and mentions a new serum he read about, ISO-36, that could help. Spidey says to order it, and he’ll pay whatever the cost is.
And so begins the long tradition of these 2 doing Super Science together. Well, you can guess where this is going. Ock’s goons find out about the ISO-36, and he dispatches them to steal it and they do, all in 6 panels. Curt is notified by phone that goons matching the description of The Master Planner’s gang stole it right off the tarmac at the airport, and a desperate Spider-Man goes to get it back. He decides Frederick Foswell could tell him where The Master Planner is, and after being told he just left when he swings in JJJ’s window and startles Betty, swings down to the street and basically kidnaps Foswell.
As we see May’s doctor say they’ve done all they can, but she’s slipping into a coma, we cut back to Spidey destroying a chop shop, including ripping down a staircase like on the cover, but those guys don’t know anything, either. Cut to Curt worrying that even if Spider-Man gets the serum, they don’t know if it will work with his process, then cut to Spidey in an undisclosed location, finding a secret staircase down to a room full of Master Planner goons. What luck!
Spidey sees more goons coming in through a secret door, and launches himself into it as the door closes, hoping to find the serum. Doc Ock gets a warning, but is delighted, thinking he can use the serum as bait to kill Spidey once and for all. So, in short order, Spider-Man finds his way into a room with the serum on a pedestal. It even has a spotlight shining on it in case he didn’t notice.
Our man’s way too furious to be nice, and sticks to the floor and whips Ock around the room by his arms. Then he starts trying to knot them up, just throwing caution to the wind. In a short but brutal fight, Ock throws some heavy equipment and Spider-Man manages to smash 3 major support pillars in 2 pages, so the room is now collapsing.
Oh, yes. It’s finally here. We’ve seen it referenced, remade, even parodied a million times by now. But next issue, Spider-Man Must Lift A Heavy Thing for the first time. Sure no wonder this story’s so well-remembered, though. Ditko’s ratched the tension through the roof. Evening knowing what happened, it’s still exciting. Really superior comics making. An artist at the height of his powers.