I’ve recently begun a little project on my Twitter account, wherein I read Amazing Spider-Man from issue #1 until the current issue (whenever the hell I happen to reach it). And though I believe I am now through the Stan Lee years, I was surprised to find that one of my favorite stories was the very first arc after he stepped off the book for the first time. Let me set the stage…
Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, and John Romita set the comic world on fire by introducing an icon for the youth of America, who had all the same problems and ideals that they did. Despite a whole lot of wacky, outdated 60’s lingo, Lee’s explorations of Peter’s girl, money, and health problems stand the test of time and very obviously continue to be duplicated today. With issues #96-98, Stan Lee bucked the Comics Code by frankly dealing with the hazards of drug use and the destruction that they cause in young lives. The 3-issue arc is a tour de force of all of the things that make Amazing Spider-Man a great comic book. I’d highly recommend that arc, to be sure. But so many others already have.
No, I’m here to recommend to you the crazy-ass arc that came pretty much right after Stan took on the drug world and took his victory lap. I’m talking about the “Six Arms Saga.”
I hesitate to speak for Stan, especially after seeing his latest gem of a video. But I got to the final page of issue #100, knowing that he wasn’t the writer of #101, and could only imagine a cackling man hunched over his writing table in gleeful celebration of writing one of the greatest “FUCK YOU!” scenes in comic book history.
“F you – good luck with that, new guy!”
Peter Parker had been working on an antidote to take the Spider out of him. Instead, as is clearly evident, the antidote doubled down on his physical resemblance to an arachnid and left Peter with the least relatable problem he had yet to face in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man. Writer/Editor Roy Thomas picked up clean-up duties for the next arc after having been backed into this whale of a corner. So what does he do? He gets Peter’s ass out of town right away.
In another zip code, Spidey enlists the help of his respected colleague Dr. Curt Connors in finding a way to reverse the enhancing effects of the antidote. And since Connors plays a major part in the story, I’m sure you can guess who’s going to rear his ugly head somewhere within these 3 issues, can’t you? The new location gives Gil Kane some new scenery to draw, including a coastal setting with old timey ships and spooky looking mansions. A fitting introduction for a famous Spidey villain who will be seen for the very first time: Morbius, the Living Vampire.
I’m a big fan of Morbius. He’s such a tragic, conflicted villain. This fact is only enhanced by the flowery dialogue that his writers tend to decorate his word balloons with. He’s truly a character out of a great horror novel, and written with just as much weight. He’s decidedly a Spidey villain, but seems to be on the 2nd or even 3rd tier as far as how much he is utilized throughout Spidey’s publishing history. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and, on that note, I can say that he’s one of my very favorite Spider-Man rogues.
Better still, he shares the pages with Curt Connors, who through the first 100 issues of ASM was easily the most sympathetic and tragic villain in the bunch. Norman Osborn was only beginning to find his arc. They make for a compelling duo of conflicted creatures who would like nothing more than to undo the tragedy that has befallen them, yet succumb to the monstrous desires of their tortured existence. How’s that for poetic?! They play off of one another pretty well and there are logical reasons for having both of them in the story. It’s surprisingly well thought-out despite the difficult circumstances.
Continued belowRoy Thomas and Gil Kane continue to carry the torch of quality even in the face of Stan’s challenge. Rather than avoid it, they seem to take the dare with aplomb and let it inform the story for our hero in a very natural way. When compared with 2 villains who are also afflicted by monstrous states of being they need to escape from, it all works beautifully. The end is a bit of a deus ex machina, but no more offensive than Stan Lee causing this in the first place. Along the way we get horror, we get laughs (Roy Thomas was just as funny a writer as Stan Lee, but with far less self-referencing), and we get a lot of awesome 6-armed Spidey poses from the masterful Gil Kane.
You can get this little gem of a story in Essential Spider-Man Vol. 5 (it’s black & white, but a really good value) or in the Spider-Man: Strange Adventures trade paperback. You’d get it in color with that one and you’d get a Howard the Duck crossover. Lucky you!
