{"id":11157,"date":"2021-11-05T00:00:28","date_gmt":"2021-11-05T04:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/?p=11157"},"modified":"2020-09-30T10:53:08","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T14:53:08","slug":"asm-068","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/2021\/11\/05\/asm-068\/","title":{"rendered":"ASM 068"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Another famous cover. How many products has that Spider-Man appeared on over the decades? Suddenly: Transparency. Of a sort. This month, Romita is credited with \u201cstoryboards,\u201d while Jim Mooney is credited with \u201cillustration.\u201d Much less demeaning to Mooney. During this period where Romita was just laying out the book, it was largely because he was Lee\u2019s new golden goose. Lee frequently called Romita \u201cThe next Jack Kirby,\u201d and like Jack Kirby, pushed him to oversee and correct other artists across the line, spreading him too thin. Years before getting the title officially, Romita more or less became Marvel\u2019s art director. At this point, Jack Kirby is just months from quitting Marvel, exasperated by never getting story credits, having already decided he wouldn\u2019t give Marvel anymore new characters, while the relationship between Lee & Romita is going very well, so it\u2019s only natural, I guess. Lee always seemed to want a house style for Marvel; First Kirby\u2019s, then Romita\u2019s. Anyway. This one starts with The Kingpin being briefed on a newly discovered clay tablet. This will prove momentous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This might seem like a weird time to rip your shirt off and fight 6 big bruisers to prove how tough you are, but that\u2019s just how Kingpin rolls. As he does so, he makes what I believe is his first-ever claim that what appears to be fat on him is actually solid muscle. After he beats them, he fires them, saying he can\u2019t stand losers. He orders up \u201ctwice as many\u201d for his next workout, and says once he gets that clay tablet, he\u2019ll be ready for his final battle with Spider-Man. Who, speaking of whom, is swinging home lamenting that he hasn\u2019t taken any photos in a while. Then he finds his bedroom window locked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There he is, Randy Robertson, the newest member of the supporting cast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Josh will be around a bit more, too, but he\u2019s not in it for the long haul. JJJ is raging about not getting pictures of Spider-Man and Mysterio, but Robbie is distracted, worrying something\u2019s wrong with Randy. Elsewhere, Peter & Gwen stop in to see Aunt May, who\u2019s looking a lot better. She notes these 2 have been seeing a lot of each other, and says how happy it makes her. But after they leave, Anna Watson finds her looking very ill, with May saying she didn\u2019t want to spoil the kids\u2019 happiness. That\u2019s no good, but we jump to the next morning, where Peter stumbles on a demonstration against that alumni housing, with Randy front and center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stan was trying to walk a weird line in a lot of books at this time. Trying to seem like he was on the kids\u2019 side when it came to social issues, but also unwilling to fully commit. His heroes would usually privately support the right causes, but not actively and publicly. It was an odd choice, and he made it often. Things get more tense at the protest, with someone even recognizing Randy as the son of Robbie and calling his dad an \u201cUncle Tom,\u201d but Josh & Randy squash that, and then Josh leads the protesters in rushing and occupying the exhibit hall. This is being broadcast on TV, which causes JJJ & Robbie to rush down there for the story, and lets Kingpin see an opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Whatever weird middle ground Stan is trying to live in, you can always tell he\u2019s on the right side. For all his faults, the way he was keyed into social issues and seemed to be on the side of the kids is kind of remarkable considering how old he already was by this time. We\u2019ve already seen later issues where he really gets into politics in ASM, but even in this, where the issue is made up, he\u2019s making it clear where he stands on the real protests happening in the world outside this comic (And while debate will continue forever about who did what in the 60s Marvel comics, at the end of the day, Stan controlled what got published, so I feel fine giving him credit for this). Very cool. Anyway, Peter takes the opportunity to get some protest photos for JJJ, but behind the building, Kingpin and his goons are rolling up. Their first move is to set off a bomb near the protesters, so they\u2019ll get blamed for it, and then use the confusion to break into the exhibition hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 2nd time in 3 issues the villain of the story has encountered Peter Parker before Spider-Man. It\u2019s very funny to me that part of Kingpin\u2019s character design is that that gem on his neck is always glowing. Into the 80s, everyone dutifully followed that. \u201cJust shining like a star at all times.\u201d Anyway, he makes for the tablet, with Randy standing up to him, saying he\u2019ll ruin their demonstration. Luckily for Randy, Spider-Man bursts in. Even as he tells the demonstrators to flee and call the cops, Randy still wants a piece of Kingpin. You gotta give him his courage. Meanwhile, Joe has shown up outside, and knows his son is in there with Kingpin, but the cops won\u2019t let him in. Kingpin starts trying to gas the remaining guards, but then Spidey is on him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Spidey hit Kingpin with one of his own goons! That\u2019s hilarious. And here comes Randy, who Kingpin obviously just smashes into a wall. Guts will only get ya so far, Randy, but we appreciate your trying. This sets off Spidey, who rains a storm of blows on Kingpin, putting him down long enough to check on Randy and make sure he\u2019s ok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s sad how relevant this protest material feels. Guns pulled on them, arrested for the actions of upsetters using them\u2026 Sadly relevant. But, this is fiction, so things will probably work out ok next issue…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another famous cover. How many products has that Spider-Man appeared on over the decades? Suddenly: Transparency. Of a sort. This month, Romita is credited with \u201cstoryboards,\u201d while Jim Mooney is credited with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[9,36,35,16,13,18,26,17,100,24,2,6],"class_list":["post-11157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1960s","tag-amazing-spider-man","tag-aunt-anna","tag-aunt-may","tag-gwen-stacy","tag-j-jonah-jameson","tag-jim-mooney","tag-joe-robertson","tag-john-romita","tag-kingpin","tag-randy-robertson","tag-spider-man","tag-stan-lee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11157"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11168,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11157\/revisions\/11168"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}