Amazing Spiderman #3

Anybody who read only the Steve Ditko issues of Amazing Spiderman would know exactly who was Spidey's arch-enemy, and it wasn't the Green Goblin. It was Dr Octopus, who was the first villain to appear in a two-part story (ASM #11-12,) the first to appear in a three-parter (#31-33), and who also headlined the first Spiderman Annual.

His initial appearance here also features the debut of the Spider-Signal:

It's a neat reversal of the Bat-Signal, indicating that trouble is here for the crooks who see it. I don't recall it getting much use in the Romita era, other than on the cover to ASM #72.

We get our first glimpse of the good doctor here:

The apparatus he uses is vaguely similar to a "Waldo":

Incidentally, the name "Waldo" for that device, which allows scientists to handle dangerous chemicals and elements from behind a protective barrier, comes from a Robert Heinlein short story.

But Doc Ock gets a little careless and:

With the result that the arms are grafted to his body and he's just a mite touched in the head. He takes over the hospital where he's been recovering. Peter gets involved when JJJ demands that he obtain some pictures. As with Clark Kent's job at the Daily Planet, Parker's employment at the Bugle guarantees he'll know where he's most needed.

As Spidey climbs up the outside wall of the hospital, he muses that it's all too easy; he almost wants a villain worthy of his talents. In fiction as in real life, that's just begging for trouble and sure enough, Spiderman discovers that Doctor Octopus is a handful and more:

Spidey is thrown unceremoniously out a window. Doc Ock returns to the atomic research center where he worked, and makes it into his own fortress. Meanwhile, Peter mopes about, having never been defeated before. Fortunately the Human Torch comes by his high school to give a demonstration and a pep talk:

Once inside the atomic research center, Spiderman puts his science background to work:

He creates an acid that fuses Doc Ock arms together. But he's still hard pressed until:

Comments: Solid, entertaining story with the usual terrific Ditko art. I particularly liked the bit with Peter sulking about after being beaten; that's a common teenaged reaction.

World's Finest Silver Age Comics: Amazing Spiderman #33

This will be a continuing series where I look at the greatest comics of the Silver Age. The story starts with Amazing Spiderman #30, where a criminal called the Cat shows excellent planning ability until his gang is broken up by Spiderman. In ASM #31, the Cat's name is changed to the Master Planner. In #32, we finally learn the real identity of the Master Planner: Doctor Octopus. We've also discovered that Aunt May is seriously ill; it turns out that she's got a radioactive particle in her blood. Of course this is a reference to Peter's donating blood to Aunt May way back in ASM #10. The only thing that can save her is a rare serum called ISO-36, which is ordered specially from the West Coast.

But when Doc Ock's gang steals the ISO-36, Spiderman goes into action. He locates the entrance to the Master Planner's underwater hideout and battles it out with the goons and the Doc, largely destroying the facility in the process, which leads to a catastrophe:



And thus the stage is set for The Final Chapter, and what I consider to be the World's Finest bit of sequential art in the entire Silver Age of Comics:





Finally freed of the machine, Spidey discovers that the roof has collapsed. He gets swept along by the rushing water, but manages to hold onto the serum. But his troubles are far from over:



In an oddball moment, Spidey decides to let the gang beat on him for awhile so that he can concentrate on regaining his strength. Then he fights back:



As I have mentioned in the past, there's not much doubt in my mind that Steve Ditko wrote those words; it's pure Ayn Rand. He brings the serum to the doctors and in the end:



Comments: There were probably somewhere around 20,000 comics published in the Silver Age. There are certainly not ten better comics; there may not even be one. For the most part, good characterization in this era was fairly rare; superb characterization like this was non-existent. In my opinion, this is one of the pinnacles, one of the Silver Age's:



Update: Meekrat had a look a couple months ago at a pair of animated homages to older comics, including a revised version of the opening sequence to ASM #33. Thanks to Mike in the comments for pointing this out!