Spidey's Zoo: The Grizzly, part 2!

Amazing Spider-Man #140 (January 1975)
"...and One Will Fall!"
Gerry Conway-Ross Andru/Frank Giacoia/Dave Hunt

Doug: We're back for the wind-up of not only our 5-week series of Spider-Man reviews, but for this nifty 2-parter. Tune in next Monday for a two-week look at the departure of Dave Cockrum and the arrival of John Byrne -- yep, it's X-Men #'s 107 and 108, kids! But on to today's business at hand...
Doug: When last we saw our hero, he'd been kayoed by the Jackal, who apparently has been bossing the Grizzly around. Pete's still groggy as the furry behemoth carries him through the townhouse in Washington Square. The Jackal has the Grizzly bearhug (yep) Pete into submission and put him on a lab table. Pete drifts in and out of consciousness, which author Gerry Conway uses to recap the last issue. But when Pete awakens, it's Ned Leeds and Betty Brant he sees. Pete was dumped in the lobby of the Daily Bugle and is really out of it. Taking him across the street to a coffee shop, Ned and Betty try to figure out what the heck's been going on.
Karen: Don't you just love how unconcerned Ned is? "Betty wanted to call a doctor but you only looked like you'd been stunned"! Geez, if I get knocked out, I think I want to see a doctor, not just grab a cup of coffee.
Doug: Pete's suddenly aware of a strange sensation on his right arm and excuses himself to the restroom. Pulling up his sleeve, there's a large device affixed to his forearm. As he tries to force it, the Jackal's voice suddenly speaks from the brace -- he warns Peter that if it comes off, so will his arm! It's a homing device, with the purpose of bringing the Jackal to Spider-Man. We cut back to Pete's new apartment, where Flash is helping him move in. Conway introduces us to Glory Grant, a model who lives down the hall. She would be somewhat of a major character in the Spider-verse of titles in this era. After the work is done, Pete heads over to the ESU campus labs and begins work on the removal of the Jackal's mechanism. Wouldn't you know it -- he's successful on the first try. Did you think this added much drama to the story?

Karen: Yeah, this was a fairly pointless plot device. It gave us what? -5 pages or so of drama? And what happened to the microphone that was in that harness earlier -you know, the one where the Jackal could hear what Pete was saying?! We've seen this frequently now in our bronze age reviews (silver age too) where the writer starts off with something and it winds up being a big fat zero. I often wonder if some of that was due to guys writing three or more books a month. It had to be difficult to keep coming up with stuff.
Karen: I thought the more interesting development was the introduction of Glory Grant, who was not only a new cast member for Spidey but an African-American as well. And considering it was just 1975, I thought it was pretty cool to have Flash going a little ga-ga over Glory.
Doug: Once free, Pete's free to get back into costume. A few things he picked up "in conversation" with the Grizzly in the previous issue lead Spidey to believe that ol' Grizz was once a boxer. So, needing information Spidey heads to the Bugle to see what JJJ knows about it. In another funny scene, Spider-Man sneaks into his office and, finding Jonah asleep on a couch in his office, tickles his foot to wake him up! Then, in a scene that really reminded me of the vignette at the end of Planet of the Apes, where Taylor is grilling Zaius and the good doctor keeps saying all of these derogatory things to him in the course of the conversation, Jameson tells Spidey what he knows of the man who calls himself the Grizzly. Seems ol' Grizz was once a professional wrestler named Maxwell Markham who played a little too rough. Jameson, moral crusader that he is, got an investigation started that put Markham out of business and led to the vendetta against JJJ.
Doug: Armed with this information, Spidey heads back to the Jackal's townhouse. Nope - empty. So he heads to the nearest open gym -- nope again. But, he does find out the name of the training gym Markham used to work out of. So, web-slinging it over there, our hero finds our villain busting up the place (wrestlers included). Spidey rightly assumes that Markham's strength has to be augmented somehow, so begins to web-and-pull his bear suit apart. Yep -- exoskeleton underneath! The costume gets shredded, the exoskeleton gets broken, and then Markham gets punched out. End of story.

Karen: I wasn't real clear on how he could use his webbing to tear the suit apart. It seemed a little too easy. Then again, I never really felt like ol' Grizz should have been a threat to Spidey.
Doug: I thought this one was a little anticlimactic. It certainly seems to serve as a bridge for what's coming -- the clone saga. The Jackal has a role in this story, but he's in no way the player that he'll become. I felt that Conway's script was solid -- all of the good stuff that we commented on last issue was prevalent here, but perhaps in smaller doses. And Andru's art was solid, although I always think he is best served when inked by his longtime partner Mike Esposito.

Karen: It was OK, but as you said, more of a bridge to the future. All in all a fairly forgettable issue.

Spidey's Zoo: The Grizzly!

Amazing Spider-Man #139 (December 1974)
"Day of the Grizzly!"
Gerry Conway-Ross Andru/Frank Giacoia/Dave Hunt

Doug: This, kids -- this is a Bronze Age Spider-Man issue. You know, when we picked out this 5-week theme of Spidey's Zoo, I'll admit that I knew the super-baddies were going to rate pretty high on the lame-o-meter. But this was one heckuva story. Seriously, if I had to give someone a Spidey book that would get them up to speed on all-things-Spidey, this would be it. Let's check out why I have accolades coming out of my ears for this book.

Doug: We see Spider-Man on the first page or two of this book, and then it's nine full pages until we get some Spidey butt-kicking going on. So you may ask -- "Why does Doug like this stinkin' book so much??" Well let me tell you -- it's because of Gerry Conway's script. Every time we do a Spider-Man review, it doesn't seem to matter if the author is Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, or Conway --Karen and I always remark on the soap opera aspects of the story at hand. To do Spidey right, an author has to mix action, suspense, and (to me) more importantly -- the human element. In those first nine pages, we read Spidey's thoughts on his relationship to Flash Thompson, his attitude over the loss of his true love Gwen Stacy, his feelings toward his job and his boss, his trepidation at moving out on his own and how little he can afford, his relationship to old classmate Liz Allen, his relationship to Mary Jane Watson, and his friendships with Betty Brant and Joe Robertson. That's a lot of characterization to squeeze into less than half of a 20-page comic! So you see what I mean about handing this over to a complete novice?

Karen: Yup, Conway tells you all the things you need to know about Peter, and we get to meet about half his supporting cast! Of course, back then they had these wonderful things called thought balloons and captions, so that you could find out what people were thinking or what was happening. Apparently they're considered no-nos now.
Doug: But after all of that, it is, after all, a super-hero book and that means we have to have the obligatory longjohn slugfest. Difference here is, the super-baddie du jour ain't wearin' longjohns. Oh no -- instead he looks like an escapee from the Build-a-Bear Workshop! I wish I still had my Spectacular Spider-Mans, because we could cue up Razorback, another member of Spidey's Zoo who looks about as silly in his duds.

Karen: Oh my. I thought the Kangaroo looked goofy. This guy is just plain weird. Sort of like a Teddy bear on steroids.
Doug: As Pete was at the Daily Bugle schmoozing with Betty and Robbie, the Grizzly suddenly burst out of the elevator and began to ransack the place -- hard. He was on a total binge of destruction. Robbie ordered Pete to run for help so that he could protect Betty; Pete ran fast to change, as the Grizzly worked his way toward Jameson's office. Just as Spidey swung around the building, Jonah was jettisoned from his office. Acting quickly, Spidey caught JJJ with his webs, and left him in a web hammock. As usual, this was the comic relief in the mag -- there are so many priceless moments through the years!

Karen: I love Jonah's reaction when he realizes where the 'net' came from -"Oh no! Not you!" And then Spidey: "Neither of us will ever forgive me for this." Classic.

You know, I've long thought that Robbie knew Pete's secret; could he have told Peter to "go get help" in order that he could change into Spider-Man? One of these days I will have to ask Mr. Conway.
Doug: Time-out for a comment on the art. Many of our regulars have commented lately on the detail with which Ross Andru drew the New York cityscapes, and this issue is certainly no exception. There are just some beautiful renditions of Manhattan landmarks. I can see why those who have and even those who have not been to NYC would love this aspect of Andru's art. I'd also remark at how massive the Grizzly looks. Andru really did a nice job of showing us what a humanoid bear would look like.

Doug: So, Spidey engages the Grizzly, who was at the Bugle specifically to get at Jonah, who "ruined" him. Spider-Man cannot believe the Grizzly's strength as he hammers away -- the big ol' bear seems impervious to pain. That is, until he gets a Spider-kick to the gut. That seemed to hurt him. But in the end, the Grizzly proves too strong and knocks Spidey into la-la land. But instead of doing more damage, the big guy just stalks off. But not without a Spidey tracer. And then we get another moment of Spidey/Jonah fun.

Karen: Gotta love those spider-tracers! I never had any idea how Pete could build something that his spider-sense could detect, but whatever, they were fun.
Doug: Later, Pete decides he might be able to get some information if he confronts the Grizzly not as Spider-Man, but as photographer Peter Parker. Heading to the place where Grizz is holed up, Pete's surprised that it's in a posh neighborhood. As he rings the doorbell, he's immediately invited in. The Spidey Sense goes off the radar, Pete's karate chopped on the neck and knocked down, and then hauled into a parlor. As he clears his mind, he's confronted by the Grizzly and... the Jackal! To be continued!