I never dreamed of owning this one. I got it half off at the 2019 Heroes Con. Hard to believe the long, long journey to the original Lift A Heavy Thing is over. There’s so much going on at this point that Ditko opens with a recap page, letting you know May is dying, Curt’s working on it, Ock and his goons have the serum and Spider-Man’s buried under his flooding headquarters underwater. Stan calls it “possibly one of the most thoroughly satisfying Spider-Man sagas you have ever thrilled to!” As the first reader of these stories, I feel like you can tell he was impressed. Spidey’s still trapped on that first page, but tells himself he can’t give up, as we enter one of the most famous sequences in all of Spider-Man history right on page 2…
To say this sequence is ahead of its time is a massive understatement. I mean, we’ve seen the pace at which the average 60s comics clip by. Some single issues take place over 3 or 4 days, so compressed is the storytelling. Ditko giving this sequence 4 whole pages and ⅓ of the opening page, really selling both the impossibility of the task and Spider-Man’s never-say-die attitude, is simply unheard of. In today’s market, if this was done for the first time ever, it might take him a whole issue to get out. Writers and readers alike don’t mind letting an important moment breathe now, but for 1965, this is some crazy, crazy storytelling. And Stan rises to the occasion, too. Imagine being him and being presented with 4 and ⅓ pages of Spider-Man trying to lift something when you’re used to whole flashy, dramatic fight scenes often only lasting 2 or 3 pages. How do you script it? Ditko gives you the Aunt May and Uncle Ben ghosts to play with, but beyond that, it’s up to Stan to both make sure the tension isn’t lost and keep coming up with stuff for Spidey to say. And he nails it. This sequence is famous for a reason. It’s been referenced, remade, reimagined, parodied and deconstructed so much that it’s almost hard to see what an incredible thing it was. And even more incredible, despite this opening being so famous, people don’t talk about the next few pages. Spider-Man is far from out of the woods. Now that he’s strained himself nearly to death, he discovers his leg is injured, and he still has to escape a rapidly flooding underwater deathtrap, into which new torrents of water keep crashing. He gets the serum, but is blasted off his feet by a sudden hole in the wall and swept through the base on the tide, having to dodge around hunks of machinery and gear zooming past him almost til he drowns, and in his completely exhausted state, fights his way up to an air pocket without losing the serum. Ditko continues to keep the pace slow, make the escape agonizing, and Lee continues to enhance the work with the script. And then he’s STILL not safe…
Finally, more than halfway through the issue, beaten within an inch of his life, Spider-Man escapes the trap he was in last issue. Just unheard of. Maybe the most intense sequence any hero had been through in a Marvel comic to this point, and pulled off perfectly. Spidey not even noticing he’s won the battle is a great touch. And so, our hero hobbles the serum over to Curt Connors as fast as he can. Curt does his thing, and while he does, Spidey takes a sample of his own blood to test against, secretly, so Curt won’t know it’s his. When the serum is ready, Spider-Man tries it on his own blood first. It’s a success, and Spider-Man asks Curt to call the hospital and tell them he’s coming so they won’t freak out. When he arrives with the serum, he’s told May is “just barely” alive, but the doctor is eager to try to save her.
Great line form Betty there. The cops begin unmasking the goons, and most of them seem to be wanted felons. Spidey thinks he’s squared things with Foswell, and JJJ is over the moon with the news. Then Peter shows up at The Bugle with photos… and an obviously injured leg. Betty sees him and is worried.
A definitive end to Betty & Peter’s weird relationship. JJJ is ecstatic when Peter shows him the photos, but Peter won’t give them up cheap this time. He’s thinking of Aunt May’s bills and all the stuff he pawned, and demands $100 per photo. JJJ acts like he’s being robbed while thinking they’re worth twice as much, which is very good, then Peter makes him pay up right there. Check in hand, it’s back to the hospital. The doc tells him they’ll know if May will live in a few minutes, but seeing Peter’s face, he insists on checking him out while they wait.
“The Return of Kraven The Hunter!” plays more like a punchline than a sales pitch after this issue. ASM 31-33 is truly deserving of its rep as one of the all-time classics. All this, and Doc Ock even got away! The story didn’t have room for a showdown with him. He won’t be back until ASM 55. Yet another extremely unusual aspect of this story. In the letters, Stan assures you that next issue will be just as good as this one, but that would be a tall order even if it didn’t feature one of the dopiest villains. They can’t all be one of the best comics of all time…