Karen's Favorites: Marvel Tales 33

Marvel Tales #33 (Feb 1971)

"Spidey Smashes Out!"
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: John Romita

Karen: Recently Doug started us off on this semi-regular feature where we review some of our favorite books by recounting his love for Avengers 28. He noted that he couldn't recall if he'd read the original issue or the reprint version in Marvel Triple Action. Certainly for those of us who began reading comics around the early 70s, there were a number of reprint books available to help us fill in our gaps in our Marvel education. I always picked up Marvel's Greatest Super-Heroes, which featured the Fantastic Four, and Marvel Tales, which featured Spider-Man. It didn't take long to figure out that these were adventures that had taken place years before. I'm not sure how I knew, but I knew. There was a sort of thrill for me, learning about the history of what was-even then -a complex universe full of inter-connected characters. Although I was reading Amazing Spider-Man and Marvel Tales at the same time, it was John Romita's Spidey that imprinted itself on my brain. His athletic Spidey, cute Peter, and gorgeous Gwen and Mary Jane are the versions that always come first to mind.
Karen: This particular issue was, I think, my first of Marvel Tales. I read it so many times, the cover got torn off and ripped up. I taped the thing back together, and years later, purchased a nicer copy out of sentimentality. The things that impressed me then are what really define Spider-Man to me even to this day: Spidey has a lot of hard breaks, but he keeps going. Even if he has to fight with a broken arm, he will, because of his sense of responsibility.

Karen: This particular issue collects two issues of Amazing Spider-Man: numbers 45 and 47. Yes, they skipped issue 46, which featured the Shocker. Seems kind of odd. But I'll just be reviewing the story from #45, as that's the one that really made an impact on me. I'm actually using the Spidey DVD for this review.

Karen: Our story begins with Spidey sporting a bum left wing, the result of fighting the Lizard in the previous issue. As he searches for his reptilian foe, he breaks up a high-jacking, and receives the thanks of a grateful trucker. But his mind is on the Lizard, who is actually his friend Dr. Curt Connors.Across town, the Lizard breaks into his family's high rise Manhattan apartment, searching Connor's lab for notes that will allow him to turn other reptiles into reptile-human hybrids. Seems ol' Liz thinks he is a mutated lizard! He's unaware of the fact that he is actually Connors and talks about him in the third person. His wife hides in a darkened bedroom with their son as the creature tears up the lab, frustrated that he can't understand any of the doctor's scientific notes.

Karen: Back at the Daily Bugle, Fredrick Foswell is planning to take on his 'Patch' identity so he can tail peter Parker, to discover how he gets so many pictures of Spider-Man. But this is nipped in the bud by J. Jonah Jameson, who sends Foswell out to find the Lizard. JJJ also reprimands Ned Leeds and Betty Brant, who are making wedding plans on their coffee break. "I work my fingers to the bone, keeping the newpaper together just to provide jobs for everyone---and that's the thanks I get!" Ah, classic JJJ. It's interesting how the book follows all of Peter's supporting cast, even when he's not in a scene with them. But of course his cast was just as important to the book as any super-villain.

Karen: Our hero is back in his civilian ID, and fretting about his bum wing. Since Spidey has been seen with his left arm in a sling, will people make the connection between Spidey and Peter? Peter tries to go without the sling an d act normally but his arm hurts too much. Finally, he gets a little angry and puts on the sling, and decides to claim he injured his arm on his motorcycle. He runs into Flash Thompson and Harry Osbourne, and the excuse goes over without a problem. Flash soon leaves to have coffee with Gwen. Harry tells Peter that Gwen is throwing a party for Flash, because he just received his induction notice. When I read that, it made me stop a moment. He was drafted. To fight in Viet Nam. Think about how incredible that must have seemed when this story was originally published (1967). Is it any wonder that Marvel appealed to older readers far more than DC? Anyway, Peter asks why Gwen didn't ask him herself and Harry replies that they haven't seen much of him since Mary Jane's been around. At this point, Peter was not dating Gwen yet -but even here, he's already thinking about her that way. Peter explains that it's not only Mary Jane that's been keeping him busy - he spent all his dough to send Aunt May on vacation, so he's been taking a lot of pictures for the Bugle. Harry suggests that his Dad could use a gifted chemistry student like Peter, and Peter says he'll consider it.This was kind of surprising, since he already knows Osborn is the Goblin!

Karen: Later, Peter switches to Spidey and takes to the skyscrapers to search for the Lizard again. But he's getting nothing from his spider-sense. He goes into the sewers too, but finds zip. Finally, he checks out the zoo, since he knows the Lizard wants to command an army of reptiles. It seems pointless, but then he spots a sign for an exhibit of "The world's largest collection of reptiles." The exhibit is gone, but he discovers it is being loaded onto a train bound for Philadelphia. He races off to the train depot and immediately his spider-sense goes off. He spots the Lizard on top of a train car and tackles him, and the two of them go flying. Spidey really pounds away at Liz, realizing that he has to press his advantage while he has the upper hand. But the Lizard's hide is too tough -he barely feels the blows. One of the things I like here is that the Lizard is not gigantic (unlike the new film, where he is of Hulk-like proportions). But he's definitely not human, and Romita does a nice job portraying his thick, scaly hide. You just know how much it must hurt to even punch him!

Karen: The Lizard swats Spidey away with his powerful tail and tears out a piece of railroad track and tries to hit Spidey, but our hero quickly jumps up and plants a blow to the Lizard's gut. Even then, he thinks how he can't help but pull his punches, knowing that his enemy is actually Dr. Connors. It sure seems like Spidey had this problem more than any other hero! The Lizard, The Goblin, and a variety of other foes all received Spidey's sympathy.


Karen: The Lizard shakes off the blow and whacks Spidey with a two-fisted blow to the head. Everything is spinning for our hero, as his reptilian foe lifts him overhead and hurls him into the side of a rail car. This whole fight sequence is so dynamic, so fluid. Romita really makes you feel every blow. Turning from Spider-Man, the Lizard tears open a car to let loose hundreds of snakes and crocodiles -apparently they were all just shoved in there together! The Lizard is able to actually command them all (a power I had forgotten until re-reading this story) and there's a great shot of all these cold-blooded nasties coming after Spidey.

Karen: As Spidey is facing an army of foes, Mary Jane accompanies her Aunt Anna as she brings a pot of soup over to Pete's place, but they discover he's not there. Romita makes Mary Jane positively glow here -she's beautiful and full of life. Earlier in the book we got a shot of Gwen while Peter was thinking of her, and she's just as beautiful, but with a softer look to her. Of all the artists at Marvel in the 60s, I don't think there's any doubt that Romita drew the most gorgeous women. He was well suited to the romance comics he once drew. But I'm glad he switched to super-heroes!

Karen: Meanwhile, Spidey is trying to figur e out how he can beat all the reptiles attacking him. He grabs a snake and uses it as a whip. The Lizard yells a warning to the reptiles and Spidey gets off a typical quip: "Knock it off Liz! They're doing fine without help from you!" Spidey gets the bright idea to grab a croc by the tail and swing it around to bash all the other animals. It works and he's given himself a little break, but then he sees that the train is taking off and the Lizard is going with it. Although he's nearly exhausted, he reminds himself that this about more than just winning a fight -he has to save Dr. Connors. He jumps onto the train and kicks Liz in the face, and an idea comes to him about how to beat him. He taunts the Lizard into chasing him. I have to say, a lot of my enjoyment of Spider-Man has always come from his smart-Alec remarks in the midst of battle, and nobody did it better than Stan. Here's an exchange I just love:

Lizard: Stand still, you weakling! Stand there and fight!

Spider-Man: I'd love to, Liz, but I'm just a bundle of nerves! How about if we just call each other nasty names?
Karen: Spidey goads the Lizard to chase him atop the train until he reaches a particular car. He dives in through a hatch on the roof and the Lizard follows. Spidey lays into him, thinking he has to keep him busy before he figures out where he is. It looks like the Lizard is going to pounce on Spidey, but suddenly his strength begins to leave him. It turns out the car is refrigerated. Being cold-blooded, the Lizard take s on the ambient temperature and soon becomes comatose. Spidey seals him in a web-cocoon to keep him just warm enough to stay alive. He pulls the cord to stop the train and asks the train engineer to flag down a t rain heading to New York, saying a man's life depends on it. Surprisingly, the engineer accedes and Spidey heads back to NYC with the Lizard -in his cocoon -slung over his shoulder.

Karen: Spidey carries the Lizard back to the Connors' apartment and climbs through the window. He looks through the disheveled lab and finds Connors' notes. Mrs. Connors has overheard him and starts to shout through the door. Spidey explains it's him, and tells her not to come out just yet. He's afraid to get her hopes up. He begins mixing up chemicals, and the Lizard starts to awake inside his web cocoon. Spidey quickly pours the concoction down his throat, and there's a tense moment as Mrs. Connors and son wait to find out what's happening. Then Spider-Man opens the door and Dr. Connors appears! The family is reunited and Connors thanks Spidey.

Karen: The next panel really threw me for a loop as a youngster. You can see it below. The caption says that they're leaving the panel for the readers to write their own dialog! Now if that doesn't have the feel of Silver Age Marvel, I don't know what does! (And yes, I did write in my comic!)


Karen: Pete changes back to his civvies and starts walking home. Harry and Mary Jane drive up, but he's so exhausted he doesn't notice them at first. They offer him a ride, but he says it's not far, he'll walk. They pull off and Peter is annoyed with Mary Jane for going out with Harry. "No doubt about it - that chick's as pretty as a pumpkin seed- but about as shallow!" What? 'Pretty as a pumpkin seed'? He has more complaints about MJ, but then begins to have recriminations, thinking that maybe he's just taking out his frustrations on her. Then we get the whole laundry list of problems -money, school, his arm, Aunt May - life was never easy for Peter! When he gets home, Anna Watson is there with the soup -was she waiting all this time? Pete goes inside the house and then really gets angsty, blaming all the problems in his life on his being Spider-Man. At the end of our tale, there's a brief cutaway to the Connors. Dr. Connors wishes he could do something to repay Spider-Man, but his wife says a guy like Spider-Man probably has it made! Oh, if only she knew!

Karen: To me, this is still the quintessential Spider-Man tale: Spidey's personal life is crumbing around him, but he feels driven to not only protect others, but to help people, even his enemies. It's the quality of Spider-Man that makes us all care about him and respect him. This issue is a great example of solid story-telling. The art and the script come together so flawlessly. Lee and Kirby is the team people think of first when they think of SA Marvel, but Lee and Romita were an incredible duo as well. Anyone who thinks Lee was nothing without Kirby needs to look at his Spider-Man work here. It's smart and funny and human. It may be a big super-hero soap opera, but that's what I love about Spidey. His personal life is at least as important as his super-heroic life.

Karen: Just for the heck of it, here's the cover to Amazing Spider-Man #45 -pretty neat, huh?

The Comics Code Authority: Revised to Relax, part 5

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Amazing Spider-Man #102 (November 1971)
“Vampire At Large!”
Roy Thomas/Gil Kane-Frank Giacoia

Doug: We’re back to wrap up our Monster Mash, as we’ve looked at Marvel’s handling of the revisions to the Comics Code Authority. For a look back at our previous discussions of the Man-Wolf, Wonder Man as a zuvembie, and the first installment of this latest feature concerning Morbius, the Living Vampire, just click on this link: http://bronzeagebabies.blogspot.com/search/label/Comics%20Code.

Doug: But wait, there’s more! Karen and I will discuss a few other issues that relate, perhaps directly, to the Code’s revision. We’d like to actually kick off our last story-dissection on this topic with a look at the letters page from Amazing Spider-Man #100, in which readers reflected on the opening installment of the so-called “drug issues” that ran in ASM #’s 96-98. Then we’ll close it out with an actual discussion of those same issues. This has been a long series, but it’s been a fun one for us to kick off the new blog.

Doug: On to Spidey and his amazing fiends… Issue #102 starts off right where #101 left off – with Spidey caught in between Morbius and the newly-arrived Dr. Curt Connors, transformed into the Lizard. A knock down/drag out ensues, with some nice battle scenes. A panel that was a particular fave of mine showed Morbius swinging the Lizard around by his tail. I’d also like to comment that in regard to the Lizard’s face, and I have been a regular maligner of Gil Kane in the face dept., Kane does a swell job here. Dr. Connors really looks reptilian – it looks like Kane consulted some photo stock of iguanas, perhaps. At any rate, I like his depiction.

Karen: Kane has always been very hit or miss for me. As a kid, I really didn’t appreciate his style at all – I liked the simpler, cleaner look of Romita. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to enjoy his work more. I would agree, his lizard looks pretty good. The fight scene also has a very fluid quality to it – you can feel the motion. Nicely done.

Doug: In the midst of battle, the Lizard is knocked backwards into some equipment and takes an electric charge. It’s enough to knock him out, and Morbius is quick to leap upon him and sink his teeth into the Lizard’s neck – this is not shown, so in spite of vampires now being A-OK, apparently fangs-meeting-neck was not OK (?). This development provides an interesting plot twist, as Spidey manages to chase Morbius away and discovers that the Lizard has regained consciousness with Dr. Connors’ mind!

Karen: The bite not being shown I would again chalk up to Stan’s policies. He’s said in a number of interviews that his goal was action but not real violence. Of course, he was still thinking about the kids back then! Sometimes I feel a little sad that today’s comics are so obviously not aimed at kids – I don’t even know if the average 10 year old of today would find a typical comic accessible, or even interesting! But I digress…

Doug: I just finished reading Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book by Jordan Raphael and Tom Spurgeon (and I would highly recommend it!), and the authors relate that Stan has indeed said on many occasions that he prefers comics that he could hand to a mom and tell her that her kids would be safe reading it. I found that interesting given some of the failed attempts Stan has made to branch out, including a proposal to Playboy for a VERY racy pornographic comic strip that Stan would have written, with art by John Romita!! But now I digress…

Doug: After much discussion, Spidey and Doc Connors come to the realization that Morbius must have transfused some type of enzyme to the Lizard, allowing him to become a composite of Connors’ mind and the Lizard’s body – giving Connors two arms, which he’d long sought.

Doug: What follows is a very long origin story for Morbius. It’s very vampire-y, which is fitting as Roy Thomas would be the editor-in-chief over Marv Wolfman and the other authors of Tomb of Dracula – this tale was the test market for that later series. All the familiar elements of vampire tales are present, and Kane does a nice job posturing Morbius. His origin is tragic, and he becomes a pitiable character, not unlike Dracula. As mentioned above, Morbius is shown attacking several victims, but most of the violence and blood-sucking occurs off-panel.

Karen: I hate to say this, but when I saw Morbius in the flashback, with his pale, pointed face and almost non-existent nose, I couldn’t help but think of Michael Jackson.

Doug: Yet another subject for potential digression…

Doug: The push-pull between Connors’ mind and the Lizard’s mind is interesting, and adds suspense to move the tale forward. Thomas does a nice job keeping the reader on the edge of his/her seat as this subplot runs. There’s also a nice chase scene involving our three combatants and the New York cityscape that is well done. You know, they sure could cram a lot of action into a mag in the days before decompressed storytelling!

Karen: No kidding, Doug, it always takes me a good 20-30 minutes to read these old books, but since this was a giant-size, it took even longer! You really got your money’s worth in those days.

Karen: The fight and chase was well-done, and we even get some Spidey-angst over his not saving Morbius.

Doug: But all’s well that ends well. Spidey and Dr. Connors are both able to get a dose of Morbius’ blood, replete with the enzyme they were after that they hoped would give Connors an additional arm and subtract four arms from Peter (huh? – smart enzyme!). Let’s just say that only one of the desired effects came to pass – hey, if Connors grew another arm, we wouldn’t have any more Lizard stories, you know?

Doug: So, what was the big deal with the Marvel monsters that popped up in the early 1970’s? Not much if you ask me. I think, though, that it’s important to understand that Marvel tested these waters in their mainstream comics – but really went for the gusto in their black and white magazines which were always aimed at an older audience and never had to obey the same conventions that the four-color comics did. We mentioned earlier that Simon Garth, the Zombie, didn’t see mainstream comics until Daredevil Annual #9, and although Werewolf by Night, Tomb of Dracula, and others did appear with comics like the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, it was pretty tame fare as compared to the magazines in which many of them concurrently appeared.

Karen: Agreed, the monsters are not scary or disturbing at all. Honestly, they were typical Marvel characters: they had problems, and most did not want to be monsters. Look at characters like Werewolf by Night, or Ghost Rider -- many of their stories revolved around them trying to free themselves of their curse. So we had very sympathetic monsters!

Karen: I think where Marvel took more of a chance was their depiction of Satan and Hell in some of their books. Having a character running around calling himself the Son of Satan seems likely to offend somebody! We also had Satan himself showing up to hassle his son, as well as the Ghost Rider, until Marvel chickened out and ret-conned it into being Mephisto. Making Satan into a recurring character just seems risky. But things were a lot looser back in the early 70s.

Doug: I always thought Mephisto was Satan anyway – Silver Surfer #3, as well as the Surfer graphic novel that Buscema illustrated around 1980 basically take the stories from the Bible when Satan tempted Christ. It was never a stretch for me to see them as one and the same. And if Marvel was always telling stories about gods anyway, why couldn’t Satan have been in their funny books?

Karen: In Marvel’s attempt to avoid the gore and shock tactics of the old EC Comics, did they go too far in “softening” their monsters? I’m talking about just the comics, not the B&W mags. Did the monsters really differ that much from the super-heroes? I tend to think not.

Doug: I agree with your posit – was this truly a stretching of the revised Code? There really wasn’t much that was different from before. There certainly is no more violence, no blood, etc. We never saw decapitation panels, or overt sexuality (other than what had progressed organically from the sexual revolution of the 1960’s) suddenly leap back onto the four-color page. But sometimes when you think you’re getting away with something – that’s when the real fun begins!

The Comics Code Authority: Revised to Relax, Part 4

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Amazing Spider-Man #100-101 (September-October 1971)
“The Spider or the Man?”
Stan Lee/Gil Kane-Frank Giacoia

“A Monster Called… Morbius!”
Roy Thomas/Gil Kane-Frank Giacoia

Doug: Man-Wolf, zuvembie… must be time for vampires in our survey of the revised Comics Code Authority! This time ‘round we take a look at Morbius, the Living Vampire, debuting back in 1971 in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man. We begin our story in the anniversary issue, #100, as a bridge to Morbius’ debut in #101.

Karen: Before we jump into the story, I want to say that I love the cover of issue 100! It’s just a very cool design.

Doug: To start things off, I have a complaint to register. I had never read ASM #100 prior to sitting down for this post. However, I had read #150 (November 1975) way back when it first arrived on the stands, and I will retroactively state my unhappiness that those two anniversary issues have basically the same plot! That is, a delirious Peter Parker seeking to establish his true or desired identity, runs into a series of faux villains (the Vulture and the Kingpin are duplicated in the two stories). Each story also involves Dr. Curt Connors, albeit not until #101 in the case of the former story. Couldn’t Archie Goodwin, the author of #150, come up with something different? Of course, if it was done in the Marvel Method, then we have to blame Gil Kane, the penciller of both tales!

Doug: The basic plot of #100 is that Peter has decided that he wants Gwen Stacy – for marriage, we assume. A lifetime commitment… But, in order for that to happen, there can’t be a Spider-Man involved. So, Pete puts the finishing touches on a serum he’s been working on since he became Spidey – fears that his radioactive blood would later pose a problem, etc. concerned him. He drinks the potion and then enters a dream-state where he is forced to fight several phantom versions of his rogues gallery – the Vulture, Green Goblin, Doc Ock, and the Kingpin. While he’s battling those characters, Spider-Man begins to complain about a tremendous pain in his side. In the last panel, the source of that pain is revealed: Peter has grown four additional arms to become a human spider!

Karen: I know I keep going back to that interview with Stan Lee and Roy Thomas in Comic Book Artist #2, but there’s a quote from Stan there where they are discussing Gwen Stacy’s death, and he says that “I always wanted her to marry Peter Parker”. I think you can clearly see that this was true when you read ASM 100.

Doug: Yeah, that would really fly in the face of Jazzy Johnny Romita’s report that Milton Caniff always said that a female character should be killed off every two years! Hence, the decision (which Romita was in on) to kill Gwen less than two years from this story!

Karen: You can also clearly see many Gil Kane up-the-nose shots! Those just drive me nuts!

Doug: I thought Kane’s art really suffered from Giacoia’s inks; he is so much stronger on Spider-Man when inked by Romita. One of the things I noticed is so simple – take a look at the shape of Spidey’s head. It’s often not even a nice oval. And, much as Curt Swan did for the Superman universe over at the Distinguished Competition, Romita helped to unify the Spider-verse look even when not the penciller.

Doug: ASM #101 opens with a more-neurotic-than-usual Peter Parker lamenting his new condition. To compound his problems, he gets two phone calls – one from Gwen and the other from the Daily Bugle. He is basically rude to both Gwen and Robbie to get them off the phone. He next places a call to Dr. Curt Connors in Florida and asks to stay at his Long Island mansion; Connors complies with the request and tells Spidey that there is a fully-functional laboratory in the basement.

Karen: Poor Roy Thomas! His first issue of Spidey, and he’s stuck with a Peter Parker with six arms! Thanks Stan!

Doug: I thought the scripting transition from Stan in #100 to Roy in #101 was pretty noticeable. It’s probably a good thing that the storyline was of a pretty serious nature, as Roy is not as adept at the witty banter as Stan was.

Karen: I remember this issue really well, because it was the second issue of Spider-Man I read (98 was the first). All of these ‘monsters’ were quite appealing to a six year old.

Doug: In the next scene we meet a mysterious stranger, on the high seas with a very tense crew. Apparently crew members have turned up missing or dead, and the new guy seems to be the common thread. It’s not long until we learn that he is a vampire. He wreaks havoc one more time on the crew, and then leaps into the ocean – he is obviously conflicted about his lot in life. As fate would have it, the vampire surfaces just off Long Island and moves into the bell tower of Dr. Connor’s mansion.

Karen: It’s no coincidence that Morbius’ first appearance evokes the events of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, as Roy said he and Gil Kane originally wanted to use Dracula himself in the story. But Stan insisted on having a super-villain vampire, so we got Morbius.

Doug: As Spidey works away at a possible antidote to rid himself of his four extra arms, Morbius wakes and begins to move about the house. Spying Spider-Man from the top of a stairwell, Morbius swoops down upon him. Of course a battle ensues, and it is during the fisticuffs that the vampire shouts his name to Spider-Man. Then, in a plot twist, who but Dr. Connors shows up to help Spider-Man. And as you might have guessed, the Lizard isn’t far behind!

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