I have a tortured history with this issue. I obviously don’t own it. We’re obviously looking at a reprint in Giant-Size Spider-Man #1. But I coulda had it. So many times! This is only the 4th appearance of Spider-Man, and thus a pretty pricey book, but I have seen it sell for less than $50 on eBay so many times. At least five. And I have stupidly not paid attention and missed out on the end of those auctions EVERY SINGLE TIME! I feel like a dumby. I keep looking, but this issue haunts me. At least I got this reprint. Back when I first posted this comic in October 2020, I noted it smelled horrible. Thankfully, letting it air out awhile back then seems to have helped. So, fresh off Johnny Storm’s brief guest spot in ASM 3, Spider-Man returns the favor in Strange Tales Annual 2, a title which featured solo adventures of The Human Torch. Here begins Lee’s history of having the current Spider-Man artist ink Kirby stories featuring the character. I can only assume he perhaps noticed that Kirby had already lost his grasp on Spider-Man. I don’t know what it is about the character, but Jack just didn’t get him. It’s kind of reassuring. Even perhaps the single most important artist in comics history wasn’t perfect. At any rate:
Torch used to do some truly ridiculous things with his fire. Also that thingie Sue has him flying through is rare piece of outlandish Kirby equipment that doesn’t look like it would work.
Kirby & Ditko has always been an interesting pairing to me. Ditko definitely makes his presence known, but then there’s a guy like that guard down there in the bottom who’s 100% Kirby. The Fox, who as a cartoonishly long nose and pointy ears like a goblin for some reason, is warned by his associate that even if he gets past the cops, he’ll have to worry about people like The FF and Spider-Man, but he claims he’s arranged for Spider-Man to help him. Later that night, he cuts the power to the museum, and then he and his boys arrive as power company workers to steal the painting. But that’s not all, they also left a big web in the empty frame, implicating Spider-Man (Why not take the frame? Surely that would’ve been faster). So, the next day, the papers are all abuzz with Spider-Man having turned criminal. That’s gonna be news to him…
Even with only 3 real instances of Spider-Man as a superhero by Ditko (AF15 doesn’t really count), the difference between his Spidey and Kirby’s is super obvious. The build and body language.
I don’t really know the deal with Johnny living in Glenndale. In the FF comics of the time, he seems to live at The Baxter Building with everyone else, but I guess they needed a way for him to have his own thing in a solo series. But anyway, Johnny’s way too hopped up to listen, so it’s fightin’ time. Spider-Man dives into the pool, but Torch just heats it up. Our man creates some big soggy webbing blobs and pops up to toss them at his foe. In response, Torch makes a small army of “flame doubles” of himself so Spider-Man can’t tell who to fight (Wild stuff).
Pretty sound defeat for The Torch in his own book! By the time he’s burned his way out of the trap, Spider-Man has disappeared. Torch flies off took look for him, but Spidey’s found “an abandoned chem lab” (What luck!) to whip up a new kind of webbing that will contain The Torch long enough for them to talk. He uses “ice-cold silicone crystals” to make a kind of freeze web, and then heads out to find his sparring partner. He finds The Torch talking to some cops about catching him, and goads Johnny into attacking him again.
“All I need to do is reach something called ‘cosmic blast intensity,’ no problem!” The Spidey in panel 5 is probably the best synthesis of the 2 artists here. An obvious Kirby figure, but obvious Ditko details. Johnny goes to see the detective in charge of hunting Spider-Man, who tells him Spider-Man just stole a 2nd painting. But Torch was just with Spider-Man, and is now sure he’s innocent. This leads the cop to “go through his mugshots” and realize this is just the kind of caper The Fox would get up to. That was easy! Johnny says that lead is all he needs, and tells the unnamed cop to block all exits to the city while he gets their man. That seems like a big ask. First, he writes a flaming message in the sky that says “Spider-Man let’s work together.” The Fox and his goons see this and realize they should probably run for it.
Their very first meeting at the usual spot! In a twist suited for the 60s Batman show, Spider-Man is flagged down in the subway by an old lady, who asks him to hold her giant handbag, and he does all this for some reason. It then dissolves into some kind of glue, binding his hands and forearms, and the old lady is just The Fox in a wig. I mean, that’s ridiculous. Then, as Fox is about to shoot Spider-Man, The Torch melts his gun. The villain escapes as Torch tries to burn Spider-Man free without melting his hands.They run down the train tracks, and Spider-Man spots a trap door between them, revealing The Fox’s subterranean lair. But he’s not home, and the paintings aren’t, either, so they’re still on the hunt. Spider-Man uses his Spider Sense to home in on The Fox in The Bowery.
That was fascinating. This was clearly just a showcase to get FF readers to try Spider-Man. New characters get this kinda thing pretty often over the decades, but to see the character who’s since become Marvel’s biggest name in this context is almost funny. And, as usual for these early comics, they’ve unknowingly established the basics of these two’s friendly rivalry that would last decades into the future. You have to wonder if they’d do anything differently if they knew the lasting impact of these comics. Every issue is accidentally setting some rule people will follow forever. What a strange situation. Here’s the real cover to this issue, showcasing how off Kirby’s Spider-Man is without Ditko’s inking:
