{"id":18286,"date":"2023-09-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/?p=18286"},"modified":"2022-03-10T23:17:33","modified_gmt":"2022-03-11T03:17:33","slug":"asm-015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/2023\/09\/07\/asm-015\/","title":{"rendered":"ASM 015"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I saw a copy of a Stan Lee script not too long ago. His scripts were written to the letterer, since he was scripting from completed pencils. For the caption boxes, where he almost always had a joke at the letterer\u2019s expense, it just said \u201cYOUR NAME\u201d instead of the letterer who got the job. It seemed pretty mean, but maybe it\u2019s different in context. Anyway, it\u2019s time for my all-time least favorite major Spider-Man rogue to make his stupid, stupid debut. Even the single most incredible run of classic villains ever can\u2019t be perfect all the time. I mean, think about it. Batman is pretty wildly considered to have the best villains, but they weren\u2019t all churned out one month after the other by 2 guys. The Kirby\/Lee FF is rightly considered maybe the most incredible generator of new ideas in comics history, but despite casually producing Dr. Doom in their 5th issue, they were years in before they REALLY started cooking. But Spider-Man has Chameleon, Vulture, Doc Ock, Sandman, Lizard and Electro in its first 12 issues, and then Mysterio, Green Goblin, Kraven & Scorpion by 20. There are 3 villains on that list who haven\u2019t been chosen to be in movies yet. Kraven is being set up to STAR in a movie, despite being the absolute worst of the bunch. The only villain in that first 20 issues that doesn\u2019t catch fire is The Living Brain, and, I mean, obviously. I seem to be in the minority thinking Kraven is really stupid, tho, so\u2026 pretty impressive. This was an eBay find, surprisingly cheap. I mean, coverless, so that\u2019ll knock some of the cost down, but even so, it\u2019s the first appearance of a major villain, and I got really lucky (Especially if that dumb movie gets made). At any rate, with no cover, we\u2019re already into it, the rare splash from this era that isn\u2019t basically just a 2nd cover and actually beings the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hey, look who\u2019s back, 14 issues later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That Liz\/Betty interaction doesn\u2019t quiiiiite work with UTS 16<\/a>, but too late. Look what a dork Kraven looks like. I cannot believe, will never believe, this guy is considered one of the greatest villains all because of Kraven\u2019s Last Hunt, but\u2026 well, anyway, might as well let him do his intro:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To take out the 2nd gorilla, Kraven produces one of the drugged spikes on his belt for the first time. Spider-Man quickly realizes he\u2019s not needed here, and hangs around long enough to see Kraven lift one of the gorillas over his head before changing and running back. When JJJ finds out Peter forgot to get any photos, he\u2019s furious. Liz wants to straighten Peter\u2019s tie, upsetting both Betty & Flash, a lot happens in 2 panels. Then JJJ gets Kraven to announce that he\u2019s here to hunt \u201cThe most dangerous man of all, Spider-Man!\u201d Even JJJ is forced to point out that you can\u2019t, like, hunt a human being for sport, and Kraven just says, \u201cWe shall see,\u201d because he is such a terrible character. The scene breaks up, Betty\u2019s mad at Peter, Flash is mad at Liz, Peter is dejected all over the place. Back at Chameleon\u2019s place, he gives Kraven all the info he could collect about Spider-Man, Kraven saying he needs to study his prey.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marvel needs to print Rocky, Nails & Pee Wee: Origins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Love that Ditko action. And despite the fight ending, it continues right onto the next page:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kraven the Hunter, who\u2019s most famous for killing himself in the name of \u201chonor,\u201d cheats in his first fight. All that dreck in Kraven\u2019s Last Hunt was so out of character. It\u2019s right there in the name, he\u2019s a craven coward. This has been a lot of consecutive pages, but the next one\u2019s (Unknowingly) a pretty big deal\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Good call getting MJ in before this by Busiek. Kinda funny that May has decided MJ would be someone to settle down with, for several reasons. Betty really gives him some grief for the Liz thing, more than is really warranted, but he doesn\u2019t have time to worry about that, as Kraven walks out of JJJ\u2019s office, having planned Spider-Man\u2019s defeat together. But, JJJ says, it has to be legal, he won\u2019t tolerate something that violates the law. I got news for you, JJJ, it is literally impossible for Kraven to fight Spider-Man in the street legally, and I think you know that. Later, at school, Peter\u2019s shakes are so bad he\u2019s dropping things in science lab and attracting some unwanted attention. Flash takes the chance to ridicule him, but Liz once again defends him, and Random Unnamed Other Girl agrees with her. He worries about Kraven for the rest of the day, worries what would happen to Aunt May if he died. He decides to go out and try to get a tracer on Kraven, but his hands are shaking so bad, he can\u2019t shoot a web. So he just starts hopping from rooftop to rooftop. Elsewhere, Chameleon & Kraven prep for the big finale, and then a little while later, Spider-Man spots Kraven casually walking into a park. It is, of course, Chameleon in disguise, with Kraven waiting to spring his trap nearby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ditko including that breaking chain link seems as much for Stan\u2019s benefit as the audience\u2019s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You really get all the dumb Kraven stuff right off the bat. The drugs, the drums, the whole kit. But it\u2019s Steve Ditko, so you also get that great magnetic clamp gag. That really puts our hero in a bad way. Spider-Man is in serious trouble, and as with The Enforcers, even the dopiest villain can be exciting on Ditko pages. Our hampered hero runs for it, dodging nets and putting some distance between them before dousing the manacles in liquid web fluid, which dulls the attraction and the sound. Freed up, he\u2019s able to begin turning things around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Spider-Man totally finds Kraven in the woods. 3 times, even, as the terrible villain gets more and more desperate. He finally hides behind a big rock, waiting to ambush Spider-Man as he approaches, but he doesn\u2019t know about his foe\u2019s Spider Sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Spider-Man\u2019s merciless taunting of Kraven is the best bit of this issue. But there he is, everything you need to know about Kraven all presented. All ready to keep appearing in basically the same story over and over until he kills himself. And then again when he inevitably comes back. For the next little bit, we alternate a UTS and a ASM each post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I saw a copy of a Stan Lee script not too long ago. His scripts were written to the letterer, since he was scripting from completed pencils. For the caption boxes, where…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[9,35,11,177,12,13,45,172,2,6,8],"class_list":["post-18286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1960s","tag-amazing-spider-man","tag-aunt-may","tag-betty-brant","tag-chameleon","tag-flash-thompson","tag-j-jonah-jameson","tag-kraven-the-hunter","tag-liz-allen","tag-spider-man","tag-stan-lee","tag-steve-ditko"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18286","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=18286"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18294,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18286\/revisions\/18294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/comicsfromspace.com\/spiderman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}