75 cents! I could just use the “Collector’s Series” issues for this, but I may as well use this if I got it. I feel like you can see a little of Al Milgrom’s 80s take on Spidey in the figure on this cover. It HAD to happen, they say. I guess it did. This issue’s splash has a lot going on:
First time credits for anyone other than Lee & Ditko. A first name for Miss Brant. The other Spider-Man? An FF appearance? If the cover didn’t sell it, this page surely would have. We begin with a TV show sponsored by JJJ, who introduces himself as the publisher of NOW Magazine and The Daily Bugle, who wants to show you how Spider-Man is a menace. The gang is watching this in a bowling alley. Flash says Spider-Man is the coolest. Peter says JJJ could be right to make sure no one suspects him. Liz is sure Spider-Man is dreamy under that mask. No one else gets a name. But they’re not the only ones watching this show…
It’s so funny to me how villains were constantly dying at the end of their appearances for so long, requiring an escape to be shown in their next appearance. If you were some odd duck who bought Spider-Man but not FF, what do you care how he escaped them? But if they didn’t tell us, we’d cry foul. Sadly, these days, characters come back from the dead with no explanation remarkably often, with editorial seemingly terrified to reference a comic you’re not holding. It vexes me. Anyway, a SECOND villain is calling Spider-Man’s brain like it’s a radio in 5 issues. I mean, that’s a little much. Anyway, chilling at home. Spidey gets the signal, and follows it to its point of origin, wondering who could’ve figured out how to do this like The Chameleon didn’t just guess recently. When he arrives at Doom’s lair, he’s taken aback.
A dummy or a Doombot? Doom opens a trap door beneath Spider-Man, but he just flips away from it. Doom smacks him out of the air and starts zapping him with the gun in his finger tip. Spidey decides to run for it, and in a clear disagreement between Lee & Ditko, is seen being shot out a window by Doom while talking like he just decided to jump out. He plummets into the water below, again with Stan having him think he did it on purpose, but Doom says Spider-Man will still serve his purpose. He resolves to learn Spider-Man’s identity to use it against him. As Spidey climbs up out of the drink for round 2, Doom detonates the whole building they fought in. Don’t mess around with that guy. Spidey nabs some pictures of the fire and takes off. The next day, JJJ buys them, lamenting that Spider-Man’s not in them so he could pin the fire on him. Peter says he’s heard some people say JJJ is too hard on Spider-Man, and Betty agrees. Peter thinks he never knew he had an ally in her, and never realized how pretty se is.
Ditko & Lee had a lot of brilliant ideas in Spider-Man, but setting up Peter Parker’s worst enemy as Spider-Man’s biggest fan really is way up there. Here comes an incredible coincidence!
Even pompous Doom is surprised by how easily he trapped his prey. The kids are confused when Flash never jumps out, and then we follow Peter home, where Aunt May’s viewing of The Ed Sullivan Show is interrupted by Dr. Doom cutting into the broadcast. He demands The FF disband and surrender to him one at a time in one hour, or he kills Spider-Man. This is a pretty big surprise to Peter, obviously, but then Liz called to say she’s afraid that’s Flash. Peter says there’s nothing he can do, and even briefly entertains the idea of just letting Doom kill Flash, but of course, he can’t do that. After removing the master fuse to the house as an excuse to go buy a new one, he slips into his Spidey suit to get ready for action.
What a great cameo by The FF! That’s funny. Spidey swings up to an abandoned factory where, inside, Doom is disgusted by what a sniveling coward Spider-Man is, denying he’s the real Spider-Man and begging to be set loose. The real Spidey sneaks in through an air vent, figuring the place must be full of traps for The FF, but not for him. Soon, he’s found his way to a very surprised Dr. Doom, and it’s fightin’ time.
Doom has all kinds of traps in store, like iron balls spun at dizzying speed and setting the whole floor on fire, but Spider-Man outsmarts them all, until he hands on a panel that begins zapping him with electricity. So, he just webs Doom, adding him to the circuit and forcing him to shut off the current before it gets too dangerous. But before Spidey can press the advantage, a 2nd Dr. Doom grabs him.
Doom moves in and just starts wailing on our hero, immune to the effects of his disintegrator, slowly forcing Spider-Man towards it. At the last second, he manages to force both of them into the controls, shutting off the weapon, but leaving himself open for a real beating from Doom.
A fun resolution. Spidey just barely surviving a fight with Doom makes sense (And, as we’ve seen in comics like ASM 350, happens often), and Peter just cutting out and leaving Flash is really funny. And whaddaya know, the start of something between Peter & Betty. These issues are so packed. I’m interested to show the 2nd of the “Collectible Series” covers for this one, because…
It’s Ron Frenz. And he’s not doing nearly the Ditko impression he did in the 80s. Interesting to me, he’s copying a lot of this specific cover pretty faithfully, down to the unique eye shape, but he’s not doing the denser web pattern. Of all the guys to NOT do a total Ditko impression. What a mystery. I guess he’d kind of grown out of just ripping off Ditko even by the Thor comics we’ve seen, let alone by 2006, but it’s still weird.