The Living Brain story is my favorite of the early Spider-man stories.

1) It's really funny.

2) it shows just how un-traditional a superhero book Spider-man was. A high school-based science fiction comedy? Passing itself off as a superhero book? That just didn't happen in 1962. Or 1982. Or now. It just shows how unmoored from genre conventions the Spider-man series is, and how madly experimental and unpredictable it can be.

3) It's elegantly plotted, and there are a lot of different challenges and threats. Can Peter stop from killing Flash? Will the Robot find out Spider-man's identity? Can Spider-man stop it? We got man vs. himself, man vs. technology (intellectual) and superhero vs. robot. All in one eight page story. And it still works as a comedy!

4) Just a great job by Ditko in choreographing the action sequences - He's always good at defining how his charcters move in actual physical space and how they relate to the world around them - in a way that, say, Kirby or Adams never were - and it works even better when Spider-man is indoors. Ditko's art is inherently claustrophobic, anyway.

What a great way to visualize the art! Thanks for doing that!

And your reviews are top notch so far. My only complaint is that you somehow write them faster than I can read them, so I'm playing catch-up.

Also, your ratings so far are in line with mine, which indicates you have impeccable taste, at least so far.

I know the feeling. I'd been doing a read-through a couple years ago, which got put on hold when I put my comics into storage. I got to 166. I'd been taking notes and rating each issue, but it occurred to me far too late it could be a review thread.

I hope to get my comics back within a few months. Maybe I'll continue, and maybe you'll be caught up to me by then.

The first time I did a read-through, I got up to the Atlantis Attacks, but was just reading, not ranking or taking notes.

Really enjoying this thread, crazyoldhermit. Spider-Man is my favourite comic book character and the first 200 or so issues of Amazing Spider-Man are my joint-favourite comic book series (along with Marvel's Star Wars, natch). I've contemplated reading along with you on this thread, but I've got enough on my plate reading-wise, with new monthly comics, random books/TPBs that I pick up and my re-read of Marvel's Star Wars for my review thread. So I don't think I'll be joining you. Besides, the rapid rate with which you publish your reviews makes trying to keep up even harder!

But rest assured that I am reading your reviews with interest. Luckily, I know the Ditko and Romita issues of ASM well enough that I can bring to mind the contents of each issue, more or less, as you reach it, without having to pull out the specific issue from my long boxes. I've almost contributed thoughts and comments to this thread a number of times so far, but for whatever reason, I've remained silent 'til now.

Anyway, good work on the reviews and I'll pipe up if I think of anything worth saying.

The Amazing Spider-Man #11 (April 1964)



"Turning Point"
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Steve Ditko
Letters: Sam Rosen
Cover: Steve Ditko

Summary: Alone in his room Peter wonders where and why Betty has gone when he hears a report on the radio that Dr Octopus is being released. He swings over to the prison to beg the warden not to release him but it's no use, Ock has served his time and has the right to his freedom. In his cell Ock lights a cigarette and pats himself on the back for choosing to serve his sentence and get time off for good behaviour. He's spent the time practicing with his arms and is deadlier than ever.

In his room Peter admits that Ock has the right to a second chance but he's devised a small discreet tracking device that will let him keep tabs on Ock. Outside the prison Spider-Man watches Ock walk free and get in a car with... Betty?! As Betty drives off with Ock Spidey chucks a tracer and finds a map of Philadelphia. Since the car also had Pennsylvania plates he assumes thats where they're headed.

In a Philly prison Bennett Brant, Betty's lawyer brother, is visiting his client, Blackie Gaxton. Bennett tells Blackie that his sister has picked up Ock and they're on the way. This is a favor that will pay off Bennett's substantial gambling debt. At his apartment he finds Ock threatening Betty. He's insulted that she wouldn't talk to him on the ride from New York. He slaps Bennett and tells him to join him in the other room to talk business. Betty wants to leave but Bennett says they can't, not until he helps Ock break Blackie out of prison, even though that would make him an accessory and ruin his life. As Bennett leaves Betty sits in despair over the mess her life has become.

Peter asks Aunt May if he can visit Philadelphia for the weekend. He wants to see the historical sites. Surprisingly Aunt May is fine with Peter travelling so far by himself. In Philly, Spider-Man swings around with his tracer detector until he gets a blip from the car. He changes back to Peter Parker and finds Betty. Overjoyed that he came to her, she tells him everything. Peter tells her that Spider-Man is in town and will handle this business. Privately, Peter decides to tell Betty his secret once they get back to New York (why not now?).

Across town, Ock busts Blackie out of jail. They head to Blackie's ship in the harbor. Spidey arrives at the jail but it's too late. Worse, the cops spot him and think he broke Blackie out! Realizing that he's left Betty unprotected he rushes back to the hotel but he is too late once more. Blackie's goons take Betty and Bennett hostage on the ship. Spidey tracks them with the tracer and swings down onto the ship but he goofs his landing, sprains his ankle and gets captured. Now facing Blackie and Ock, he uses his webs to keep off his back foot and starts fighting the goons. Before Ock he intervene he gets knocked down into the hold. Blackie draws a gun and Spidey wrestles with him but the gun fires and kills Bennett, who put himself in the line of fire to shield Betty. Hysterical, Betty screams at Spidey that she hates him and wishes Peter was there to comfort her.

Spidey chases Blackie out on the deck and beats the thug but Ock returns from the hold. Fighting above, on and within the ship, Ock grabs his $100,000 reward (almost $800,000 today) and leaves on a smaller boat. Spidey follows and they fight on the cramped battlefield. Unable to maneuver, Spidey begins to tire but neither of them notices that their boat is headed for a piling. Spidey swims to shore but Ock is never found. Spidey watches the police comfort Betty and reassure her that she is in no legal trouble, although she is much more concerned about her brother's death.

Webbing his ankle to hide his limp, he changes back to Peter Parker and curses his bad luck. Because Betty now hates Spider-Man he can never tell her his secret without losing her. Betty admits that she doesn't hate Spider-Man and knows now that he was helping, but she never wants to see Spider-Man again because he would remind her of her brother's death. Betty asks if she's being a fool but Peter reassures her and tells her that Spider-Man would understand.

Observations: This story is much more dramatic than any that came before. All of Betty's problems are finally revealed, resolving the questions raised two issues ago, and in doing so Betty becomes a more interesting character than the generic love interest/cheerleader she was before. Her relationship with Peter gets stronger as she realizes how much he cares about her and there is more double-life dramatic irony injected along the same lines as Flash Thompson, Liz Allan, Aunt May and J Jonah Jameson (when will we meet a character who likes both Peter Parker and Spider-Man?)

This issue is all down to Betty and Peter and with the change in locale most of the supporting cast is ignored. Jameson, Flash and Liz are absent and Aunt May gets two panels. They're definitely missed, especially Jameson after the revelations last issue but the heightened emotional content is worth it and they story makes up for their absence with the return of Doc Ock. Ock is even deadlier than before, which is saying something. In his last appearance he was dangerous but he utilized traps and used his arms to keep Spidey at a distance. Here he engages Spidey at close range and keeps him on his toes. In the end he outsmarts Spidey and manages to escape.

The creation of the spider tracer marks the last permanent addition to spidey's arsenal, alongside the webshooters (AF#15), web cannister belt, camera (ASM #2) and spider signal (ASM #3). It's amazing how many people overlook the amount of gear Spidey takes out into the field, he really is a science hero as much as he is a superhero.

By now Ditko's art is become much more polished. Theres more detail and his figures are more dynamic. His layouts to this issue as are open as they've ever been, mostly sticking to a six panel grid which makes this quite a smooth read.

All in all, this really is a turning point for both Betty and Peter's relationship and the series as a whole. 5/5

Other notes:
- So far Ock has forgone a costume, preferring to wear ordinary work clothes when doing Ock stuff and a suit at all other times. Later on he'll become famous for a horrendously unflattering orange and green get-up.
- As the cover to the second Marvel Masterworks Spider-Man volume it was treated to being painted by Dean White for the paperback release. Like AF#15 before it, I think the result is exceptionally moody:

The Amazing Spider-Man #12 (May 1964)



"Unmasked By Dr. Octopus"
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Steve Ditko
Letters: Art Simek
Cover: Steve Ditko

Summary: The Bugle has run a new expose lambasting Spidey for letting Ock get away. Annoyed, Spidey goes to harass Jameson when he overhears his newest ex-secretary screaming about working for a tyrant. Luckily for Jonah, Betty shows up at that moment looking to get her old job back. Peter rushes up to the building to say 'hi' but gets kicked out ("This is an office, not a social club!").

Meanwhile, Ock has been going on a crime spree across the country, pulling increasingly outrageous heists. But from the sounds of it he's not really in it for the money. He's trying to lure Spider-Man after him but so far no luck. He decides to head back to New York and track him down.

In New York Peter reads about Ock's misadventures and wishes he could head West to meet him. Aunt May notices a slight fever and warns him not to go out. He sees Flash angrily reading the Bugle and complaining about Jonah's anti-Spider-Man stance. He shows Peter a photo of a spider that they published to try and prove how dangerous Spidey is (?!) and Peter, trying to deflect suspicion from his identity in the most suspicious way possible, says spiders are icky and that he'd rather not talk about them. At the Bugle Betty gets a strange, silent phone call. It's Ock, confirming that Betty works at the Bugle again. He plans to use her as bait, figuring that since Spidey risked his life for her once he would do it again.

Peter goes to the Bugle to pick Betty up but Ock busts in through the window and captures her. He tells Jameson and Peter that she won't be harmed if they publish a note for Spider-Man in their paper. He also wants a photographer sent to capture Spidey's ultimate defeat. Jameson sends Peter down to Coney Island to cover the event while Peter, feeling a little woozy, changes into Spidey and heads out to face Ock. Jameson decides to head down as well, unwilling to completely trust the story to Peter.

At Coney Island Ock tells Betty that if Spider-Man doesn't show she will be killed. She secretly loosens her restraints and escapes as Spidey leaps at Ock. However, he finds himself without his powers and he is easily defeated. Ock removes his mask in front of Betty, Jameson and a police officer (who Betty had summoned) and reveals to the world that Peter Parker has just pretended to be Spider-Man in order to save his girlfriend. Jameson is outraged that Peter would play hero instead of taking pictures as told, the cop is mad at Jameson for withholding information for the sake of an exclusive story and Ock leaves disappointed. The cop takes Peter home and tells Aunt May he had fainted in the street. A doctor checks him out and finds he has a 24 hour virus. In his dream Spider-man berates him for being so foolish.

When he wakes up the next morning his power is back. Aunt May confronts him about the Spider-Man costume the cop returned this morning and she'd heard about Peter's "stunt." She chews him out for being so irresponsible. Peter apologizes and says he'll take the costume out to be destroyed.

At school Liz and Flash bug Peter about his heroism. Flash makes fun of him but Liz thinks it's wonderful. Flash tells Liz that Peter never counted on actually meeting Ock but Liz turns on him, tells him that Peter's brains are matched by his courage and dumps Flash for being a dumb coward. At his basement hideout Ock reads the paper and is furious to find that he has been made a laughing stock for being tricked by a teenager. Going on a rampage, he heads to the zoo and releases all of the animals. At school Peter is trying to escape Liz Allan, who is hopelessly infatuated with him, and is able to do so by turning around a corner and climbing up the wall. As Spider-Man he hears trouble and finds the escaped animals wreaking havoc on the city. He jumps on a lion, webs up a bear and bumps a gorilla off a flagpole (catching him with his web of course). With the animals taken care of he heads downtown, where Ock is on the warpath hunting for Spidey. From the Daily Bugle building Jonah and Betty are watching the action. Jonah wonders if it's just Peter Parker dressing up again but a busted water tower soaks Jonah and answers the question for him (only Spidey would have the nerve).

Spidey lures Ock up on a tall industrial chimney and ties him to the structure. But Ock was too smart for it and used his arms to create slack that lets him remain free. He chases Spidey across the city with Spidey leaping and swing and Ock marching on his arms (it's an awesome visual). On a rooftop Spidey finds a deep air shaft. He jumps down and uses the vertical space to slingshot himself up and tackle Ock right through his arms. But a punch on the jaw isn't enough this time and the two struggle until they fall on a window cleaner's scaffold. The scaffold falls through a skylight into a sculptor's loft and starts a fire. Spidey tries to escape but Ock wants him to stay put, as he can't maneuver in the tight space. He doesn't care if he dies as long as he kills Spidey. Ock's luck runs out as a giant sculpture falls on him and traps him. He cries for help but Spidey can't reach him through the blaze. He pops in a fresh web cartridge, creates a web shield and leaps out the window.

After changing back into Peter Parker he finds Liz and Flash. They watch as firefighters pull Ock out of the burning, injured but nothing more. Liz starts to ask Peter out but Peter declines, he already has a lady. He tells her that she can go out with Flash, they deserve each other. Flash gets mad but Liz tells him that they deserve it after treating him badly for so long. Meeting Betty at her front door, Peter can't believe how his luck has improved. He's got a steady girl, Doc Ock is behind bars and he was able to sell photos of the fight for a fortune (even though there wasn't really an opportunity to set up his auto camera). The captions warn that next issue things won't be so breezy for Pete.

Observations: This one is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, Ock's initial idea is rather silly. He knows Spider-Man hangs around New York, so he travels the country trying to lure him out? And then his plan is to use Betty as bait but he never bothers to figure out why Spidey would fight especially hard to save her. However, those lapses in logic are more than made up for by the ending, where he is so obsessed with killing Spider-Man that he loses all sense of self-preservation. Ock has always been unhinged but now something has snapped and it's quite effective.

In Peter Parker's world there has been a seismic shift. Last issue had me wondering when a character would come along who liked Peter and Spider-Man. Well, now that he has a steady girlfriend, Liz Allan is all over him! And while he doesn't reciprocate, she doesn't take it personally because she had been rotten to Peter for years (although she had showed signs of softening in the past. And poor Flash now has even more reason to hate Peter.

If the story has its hokey points, it's more than made up in the action department. Ditko really comes into his own here, demonstrated Spidey's agility in a way he hadn't before with more mind towards dynamic anatomy and motion. Spidey flips, bends, leaps and contorts gracefully, a far cry from the gawky spider poses from last year. This is the best fight scene so far, covering an industrial area and a bizarre Sculptor's studio. This is the first time it truly feels like we're seeing Spider-Man in action, with everything before being a prologue.

Overall it's inconsistent, not fantastic, but glorious to look at. 4/5

Other notes:
- This issue wraps up the series' first two-part story, although it could be seen as a three-parter if you include Betty's plot in #10 as the first part.
- First appearance of Betty's new haircut, which she still has to this day.
- Peter is beginning to prepare for his term-end exams while Jameson says that it's mid-Winter and the rides are closed. Again, in line with the actual date of publication (March 1964).
- The zoo featured in the story isn't named but the only one that would make sense geographically is Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn, around 10 miles from Forest Hills. It's still quite a stretch for the zoo animals to all make it to Queens but on the plus side Coney Island is also in Brooklyn, adding a bit of consistency to Ock's scheming. I'm not sure if this is the first time Brooklin has been featured but it's definitely the most prominent appearance so far. At this point I think the Bronx is the only borough that hasn't made an appearance.
- This issue prints a letter from Dave Cockrum, who in 11 years would help revamp the X-Men. Here he sings praise for Electro's costume.

Was the receiver truly forgotten or was there a scene where Peter upgrades the tracers to the frequency of his spider-sense? Interestingly, when he does use the tracers with the spider sense it works the same way spider sense works in these early issues: Swing around until he picks something up.

I'd call this a love rectangle (Peter - Betty - Liz - Flash), especially in hindsight with Betty becoming Flash's major love interest as of late, but in these issues poor Flash doesn't even have a chance.