So, yeah, this issue, we jump ahead, from 1965 all the way to… like, 1968, probably, from the look of things. 42 years of history to cover in 5 issues and you do 2 in the 60s. I mean, I get it, but also… come on. Nelson is joined by Tom Palmer this month. The first page has Spider-Man on the hunt for the Vulture, hoping that “maybe this month I’ll actually pay my half of the rent!,” so that gives us a ballpark spot in the timeline. The Vulture is robbing a rich people party on a rooftop, but someone has spotted him.
That is genuinely funny.
Especially at a time when the main titles are sapping my will to live, it’s nice to see the circa 1968 gang.
I also just really like “I fight Sandman all the time!” As we have seen, Sandman got poached by the FF for a long time, sometimes alone, sometimes as a member of the Frightful Four (Sandman alone fighting the whole FF was pretty solid evidence of how Kirby was not giving Marvel his all anymore in the late 60s). He was definitely more their guy than Spider-Man’s at this point in time. As Peter walks in, Flash and Johnny keep fighting. Also Johnny sees Peter with Gwen & MJ and has no idea how he does it, which, you know, fair! Then George Stacy wants to share a “hot photography tip” with Peter about how supervillains are running a drug ring out of “the old Kane warehouse,” very unsubtly showing how George knew Peter was Spider-Man, but Peter is oblivious as he runs off to fight villains. Also, after she was fawning over Peter, Harry grumbles to MJ, “Why you don’t you just marry him already!” Not too subtle all around. As Johnny angrily leaves, Peter is changing in an alley, and hears him saying how mad he gets being compared to that loser, Spider-Man. Then the FF signal flare goes up, and Johnny takes off to answer the call, but…
Pretty wacky this month. Meanwhile, Johnny tries to go bust Spidey’s drug dealers, but it’s night time and they see him coming a mile away and scatter. So he comes back in plain clothes claiming to want to buy, and is immediately knocked out by one of the goons. Going well! Meanwhile, in another dimension, the FF’s vehicle is overheating, and Spider-Man tries to help by webbing everything up… including Reed’s instruments, making it impossible to get any readings on the stuff he wanted to study. Back on Earth, Johnny wakes up tied to a chair, which is very dumb on the baddies’ part, and talks himself into some room to move by claiming the Invisible Girl is with him.
So Johnny has George lead a goon into an interrogation room in time to see them burning a man to death in there, Johnny really hamming it up as the victim, scaring the goon into talking. In short order, Kraven appears, and Johnny flies through some tree branches that “ooze out some kind of sap” that douses his flame (Come ooooon), just in time for him to land in a snake pit full of the very creatures from which Kraven is getting his drug. Johnny is seemingly being bitten by the snakes and told there’s no cure for their venom.
Wacky indeed. A lot in common with those Cooke/Bone issues of Tangled Web.