Yes, that "brilliant" death trap is well deserving of having a super-villain, behind it.

The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #4 (1967)



"The Web And The Flame!"
Script: Stan (The Man) Lee
Pencils: Loveable Larry Lieber
Inks: Mickey (Ever-Delightful) Demeo
Letters: Adorable Jerry Feldmann

Summary: Spidey sees the Human Torch going on a rampage in Midtown. They fight until Spidey busts a fire hydrant and soaks him. A bald man comes out yelling at Spidey. Torch was filming a movie and Spidey just ruined everything. He leaves humiliated, expecting scathing press from the Daily Bugle.

Indeed, Jameson has acquired shots of the debacle and prints them. A mysterious man in a coat sees the headlines and has an idea. Later, Peter hears a report on the radio that Paragon Productions wants Spider-Man and the Human Torch to go to Hollywood to make a movie due to the heightened interest in the duo. The Torch has already agreed to go and Peter decides to take advantage of the opportunity to make some movie bucks, even though the flight to LA costs him his entire life's savings.

After his flight he goes to the studio and makes an appointment with the studio for the next morning. The villain and his co-conspirator, both concealed in shadow, boast about his inevitable destruction.

On the way to the set Spidey bumps into the Torch. They agree to a truce and Spidey hitches a ride via asbestos webbing. On set Spidey is given the rundown of the plot: Aliens are invading Central Park. Yep. Even Spidey can see it's cheesy but hey, it pays. On the first take the Torch flies by, as planned, but he sets off the spider sense. On the next take the spider sense is justified as Johnny goes on a rampage through the soundstage. They briefly fight before Torch escapes. Spidey rips the wall off of Johnny's trailer and interrupts his script reading.

At the studio's executive offices the phony Torch reveals himself to be the Wizard, who is now in cahoots with Mysterio. Flashbacks reveal that Wizard had enough money set aside to set up a film studio and figured Mysterio would be the best partner. After a brief scuffle over leadership rights the two came to an agreement to destroy both of their enemies.

Phase Two of the villains' plan is now beginning: Spidey attacks Johnny in his trailer and Johnny fights back. The fight leads them back into the soundstage but neither man is truly putting their all into it. Frustrated by their lack of conviction, Wizard activates a death ray against Mysterio's protests (watching the two from afar he seems to have second thoughts against tangling with such dangerous enemies). The death ray misses both heroes and they realize it's a setup. The villains activate a few more traps but by now Spidey's spider sense is zeroing in on Mysterio's office. But Mysterio has used his holograms to set up decoys while he and Wizard escape to a jungle set. Piloting a giant mechanical gorilla, Wizard knocks the Torch out and crushes him in his hand. Spidey deactivates the gorilla's operational computer and releases Johnny from the ape's grasp.

They head into a cave that leads to the villains' hideout but it's booby trapped. A plexiglass gate separates them from the villains while another gate behind them traps them in the tunnel. Magnetically guided boulders fire at them from all angles but Spidey has a plan. He has Torch focus his flame enough to melt small holes in the plexiglass and, mixing some magnetically charged fluid pilfered from the gorilla with his webbing, fires two web lines through the hole onto the magnetic switches. This reverses the magnetic field and the rocks now fly away from the heroes and through the gates. Torch and Spidey easily finish off the villains and the press makes heroes out of both of them. As Spidey is about to leave Torch calls him back: The two crooks are wanted and theres a substantial reward for their capture, which Johnny wants to split with Spidey. With his airfare paid for Peter is able to sleep soundly all the way home.

Special features include a double page spread showing off the main cast at the Coffee Bean, an explanation of Spidey's powers, costume and equipment, a spread of some villains (Lizard, Kraven, Goblin, Ock, Sandman, Vulture, Electro and Rhino) and a spread of Peter and Harry's apartment.

Observations: The good news is after two annuals that are essentially overpriced issues of the main series Stan has decided to give us a double-length feature with a decent amount of extras. Unfortunately, rather than take the opportunity to tell a significant story like the birth of the Sinister Six, Spidey’s first team-up with Dr Strange or Spidey joining the Avengers Stan instead goes for an extremely generic plot that doesn’t make any sense at all.

The biggest problem is we’ve seen the “Spidey films a phony movie” plot before, back in ASM #14. The plot didn’t work there and it works even less here. In #14 the Goblin at least contacted a legitimate film exec to handle the deception. Here the Wizard just happens to have the huge amounts of cash required to rent studio space, hire an entire crew and get a fake production going. Why bother with crime if you can make movies? The endgame of his scheme doesn’t work either. The plan was to trick Human Torch and Spidey into killing each other? What was to happen to the survivor? Mysterio doesn’t seem to offer anything either, since the Human Torch costume seems to be the Wizard’s creation. Loading the studio with death traps is also odd and both the giant mechanical gorilla and the magnetized cave are just bizarre, especially with Spidey being able to make magnetic webbing on the spot.

The only upside to the main story is the presence of the Human Torch. He and Spidey have a great love-hate friendship and he’s been gone for two and a half years so it’s nice to have him back.

The bonus features are pretty nice. Most of them are a recap from the bonuses in ASMA #1 but the shots of the Coffee Bean and Peter’s apartment are neat.

The identity of the artist is kept secret until the very end, where it’s revealed to be Larry Lieber. The best word to describe his work is “generic.” It doesn’t have the flair Ditko or Romita had and it’s pretty uninspired.

Overall the return of the Torch and a couple of the spreads in the back boost it up slightly but it’s a completely run-of-the-mill piece of work. 2/5

Other notes:
- Fourth appearance of Mysterio
- Considering how toxic asbestos is it’s pretty funny that Spidey would spray the stuff from his web shooters with no concern
- First appearance of the Coffee Bean (seen only in the special features, not in the story itself). It replaces the Silver Spoon as the main hangout of Peter and the gang.
- The ranking of Spidey's strength among those in the Marvel universe is updated. The Thing, Hulk and Thor still rank higher than him along with new additions Hercules and Namor.

Hey, earliest Spider-man comic I own! (To bad it is maybe the worst issues to date.)

Scratch the "maybe".

The Silver Spoon was a ground floor establishment, reminiscent of the classic 50's restaurant look, were high school youngsters have been depicted hanging out, in the movies. The Coffee Bean was in a basement, with a bohemian touch more suited for college students.

And since you like trivia, how about this panel?



It's the Silver Spoon, but the letters don't match.

Ah, right...thanks for the clarification. Yeah, the Coffee Bean was a much more Greenwich Village, beatnik-style place, now you come to mention it.