The Amazing Spider-Man #4 (September 1963)
"Nothing Can Stop The Sandman"
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Steve Ditko
Cover: Steve Ditko
Summary: Spidey sees a billboard for The Daily Bugle announcing the beginning of an editorial series denouncing Spider-Man (it says it starts today, which would ignore the previous smear campaign, but then again it could be an old billboard). He's distracted from the offending signage by three hoods casing out a jewelry store. Spidey webs them up but they claim that since they haven't actually done anything all he's done is assaulted them. They threaten to sue him and call for the police to help them. One even makes fun of his costume. When a cop does show up Spidey takes off. The cop doesn't care though. He says he would have attacked them himself, as they've got "larceny written all over [them]."
Spidey blames Jameson's campaign for criminals not taking him seriously (should have been bitten by a radioactive bat). He heads over to Jonah's office to chew him out but finding him absent he leaves a little souvenir. Outside the building he spots a police chase and sees the culprit climbing up a fire escape. Spidey confronts the guy and he introduces himself as The Sandman, a notorious criminal wanted all across the United States. Spidey attacks him but Sandman is completely immune to his attacks: With a body made of sand he is able to soften and harden his body at will, stretch and contort like Mr Fantastic and even reduce himself to a pile of sand. In the scuffle Spidey's mask is torn and he considers what will happen if he does manage to capture Sandman: His identity will be revealed, he'll be run out of town (or worse) and Aunt May will be forced to support herself on the street (by selling shoelaces!). He can't risk it so he flees, allowing Sandman to rob the bank unopposed.
At home Peter is sewing up his mask when he sees a television report on the Sandman. He was a violent criminal who escaped from an island prison and wound up on the beach near an atomic test site. Finding it to be safe from the police, he remained hidden there until a bomb was detonated. Caught in the explosion, the molecules in his body took on the properties of sand and he became indestructible. His sewing is interrupted by Aunt May bringing some milk and cookies. He covers himself with a robe and she thinks he's sick, which means he's got a whole night of Aunt May's smothering ahead of him while Sandman robs bank after bank.
The next morning Aunt May finds Peter to be in perfect health and allows him to go to school. He tells her he'll be late coming home as he has to visit Mr. Jameson.
Speaking of Chucklehead, he arrives to work to find the momento Spidey left him: A bunch of web that sticks his pants to his seat. He orders his secretary, Miss Brant, to bring him a new pair and she passes it off to Peter who is heading in to see him. Jameson asks if he's got any new pictures and tells him he wants pictures of Spider-Man. He asks why he came to see him and Peter asks for an advance on his check. Jameson tells him to get the Hell out of his office and Peter heads to school.
At school Flash and Liz (who finally gets a name over a year after her first appearance) are arguing over Liz taking pity on Peter and agreeing to go on a date with him. But Peter has forgotten about it and, already having a date with Sandman, has to cancel using the excuse that he needs to study. Liz takes great offense and Peter wonders if the secret identity thing is worth it.
Not far from the school the cops are chasing Sandman. He decides to hide in the school and busts in on Peter's class (Peter is off delivering empty bottles to the boiler room). Sandman demands the teacher give him a diploma but the teacher doesn't back down and tells him to earn it (impressing Flash). He tells the class to save themselves and escape while he holds off the villain when Spider-Man bursts in the door. Flash cheers Spidey on as Spidey throws Sandman through the door and into the hall. His first plan is to lure Sandman to the gym, where he has the space to maneuver and web him up. But his webbing is ineffective and Spidey flees the gym. Sandman follows, turns to sand and covers Spidey completely. Spidey curls into a ball and rolls him and Sandman down the stairs into the boiler room. Spidey pulls a drill and threatens to pump him full of holes so Sandman assumes his soft sand form. But it was a trick and Spidey can now suck him up in the industrial vacuum, safely containing the villain. As a final order of business, he sets up the timer on his camera, throws some sand in the air and leaps through it to forge a photograph.
Outside, Jonah is arguing with the police stationed around the building. He wants them to charge in and take down both Sandman and Spider-Man before they escape. The cops tell him they aren't after Spider-Man and in fact appreciate his help despite the lies Jonah runs in his paper. Right on cue, Spidey delivers the bag containing Sandman and Jonah calls for his arrest. Peter changes inside the building and bumps into Jonah almost immediately. He gives him the undeveloped photos and Jonah docks the cost of development from his pay.
Happy to have his Spider-Man business finished for the day, Peter finds Liz to tell her they can go on their date. But Liz shoots him down and Flash starts making fun of him for hiding during the Spider-Man fight. Peter gets angry and almost attacks Flash but thinks better of it and backs down, prompting Flash to mock him for being an even bigger coward than he suspected. The whole gang starts teasing him and one pretends to help Peter across the street. Grabbing his arm he feels the strong muscles Peter has but Flash and Liz brush it off. As they drive off Flash gives him some parting taunts but Liz tells him he's been cruel enough already.
As Peter walks home he passes a newsstand where the public are heavily criticizing him for being a neurotic gloryhound and public menace. He wonders if he is in it for the adventure rather than helping people and if he should quit but knows that he has a responsibility to help people and must be Spider-Man.
Observations: Another bang-up issue.
Sandman offers a different challenge than Ock did. While Ock kept Spidey at a difference and attacked from all angles, Spidey was able to get up close and personal with Sandman but was ineffectual. His webbing proved to be completely useless in this battle and he only won due to more trickery rather than straightforward superheroics.
Peter's classmates are coming into focus. Liz Allan has finally stepped out from the background and is revealed to be Peter's crush. Flash is meaner than ever but also has a respect for heroism, not just Spidey's but his teacher's, showing that he's not exactly a bad guy. Peter is growing a little more socially, having scored a date with Liz (only to blow it) and actually standing up to Flash while one of Flash's friends starts to realize this Peter Parker guy could be a problem if pushed too far.
Spider-Man has settled into his role as vigilante but he's still very inexperienced. He acts too quickly in dispatching would-be burglars and as a result they are let free.
The relationship between Peter and the Bugle is changing. After three issues of working for the Bugle Peter finally turns in some photos of Spider-Man. And while Jonah had been more than happy to provide Peter with a bonus for good photos, here he takes the first opportunity to dock Peter's pay. But with Peter using a camera timer for the first time we've finally reached the classic status quo, even though Peter technically staged the photos.
Ditko's artwork remains strong. Like Doc Ock, Sandman is a villain that can be used in very imaginative and visually stunning ways. Ditko takes advantage of the character's body to draw all sorts of strange things, the strangest being a snake with a human head! He also renders the character with a very choppy line and rough hatching so even with a fairly low level of detail the character automatically feels rougher than the others, even when in human form. Ditko's layouts are extremely dense. I've drawn the layouts for all 21 pages in the issue, including the opening splash page:
The tally is 160 panels. On six pages he uses the entire nine panel grid, on two additional pages he uses more than nine panels and on 15 pages he uses more than six panels (a six panel 3x2 grid being the meat and potatoes of Silver Age Marvel). A contemporary issue of Fantastic Four had around 140 panels and a modern issue of Amazing Spider-Man (picked at random) only had around 120 (keep in mind Dan Slott's run on Amazing, which I may very well get to years from now, is generally a little more compressed than standard modern comics as Slott works in the Marvel method). By any standard, Ditko packed this issue with a lot of story. Ditko's use of a nine panel grid in his stories, particularly Spider-Man, is famous and it is issues like this that prompted Dave Gibbons and Alan Moore to use the same grid in Watchmen. Even if it limits the amount of artwork visible in each panel (as the panels are tall and narrow) and slows the pace it is excellent for moving a story forward. In this issue Ditko also experiments three times with borderless panels, drawing vignettes rather than wholly bound panels.
Overall, this issue is very fun to read despite its methodical pace and it feels much longer and meatier than its page count would indicate.
4/5- First appearance of Betty Brant
- First use of the nickname "Puny Parker"
- Liz Allan gets a (first) name
- Peter has been protecting his identity since the beginning but it's only now that he's given a proper explanation for it. His primary concern is being unable to look after Aunt May. He doesn't yet consider the risk of reprisal from his enemies. Peter publicly revealing his identity is a turning point in Civil War and in the aftermath Aunt May is shot, leading to the much reviled "One More Day" event.
- Sandman's origin is one of those magically wacky stories that almost immediately became dated. The last atmospheric nuclear tests in the United states took place in 1962. After that the tests moved underground to avoid those supermonster-creating accidents. In real world history, the Hulk could have been created no later than 1962 which throws the current sliding timeline (which states Banner became the Hulk in 2002) way out of whack. The same applies to Sandman, except in his case it's even worse because the oceanic nuclear tests occurred in the middle of the Pacific ocean, a rather long trip for an escaped prisoner to make.
- The Daily Bugle/NOW magazine situation is cleared up. Jameson publishes both.
- The FBI's warrant for Spider-Man introduced in ASM #1 seems to have been dropped, as law enforcement is supportive of Spider-Man.
- The story ends with Flash Thompson driving. The given date is 1963 and Flash would have to be at least 16, so assuming he and Peter are the same age that means they were born in 1947.
- This issue features a panel cover, which is very rare for the series. While subsequent issues will feature inset panels, as far as I know the only other issue with a cover composed entirely of sequential art is #89
- After three issues the Letterer credit has been dropped. No idea why.
- This is the last bi-monthly issue. From here on out it's a monthly book.
- Spider-Man is a year and one month old.
