Other people have speculated that the back up Spidey-FF story was originally intended either for Strange Tales Annual #2 (which also featured a Spidey-Torch crossover) or FF Annual #1 (a revised version of it was printed as a back up feature). My own personal belief is that it was quite likely an inventory story, but that's just an assumption on my part.

The extra focus on Peter's high school life and rivalry with Flash in the lead story is nice. The Living Brain is a cool threat, but not as memorable as the other Lee-Ditko villains from the same run of issues. Spidey does kind of come across as a jerk in the backup, but it's fun to see him fight the whole FF, and I think the ending where he leaves Sue a heart made out of webs is nice.

There was a backup story in Amazing Spider-man minus-1 from the late 90s, during Marvel's Flashback month.  Here it was established that Aunt May bought Peter glasses with a weak prescription so that he wouldn't develop eye-strain from all the reading he does.  The story states that even though Peter knew the glasses make him look nerdy, he wore them because he loved his Aunt and didn't want her to worry.

I think though that most writers that bothered to address it at all just assumed that it was the spider-bite that corrected his vision.   If that was the intention of the original creators, I don't think it was ever stated in any of the stories from that time.  It's possible that it may have been mentioned in a letters page.  


As noted by previous posters, the movie definitely took this position, and that's probably what any Spidey story from that point on will go with!

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 9 (reprinted in Marvel Tales 146 )




“The Man Called Electro!”

Credits (as they appear in the comic):

Written by Stan Lee
Illustrated by Steve Ditko
Lettered by Art Simek
Colored by Andy Yanchus



Plot Synopsis:

Spider-man’s first encounter with Electro!




Comments:

This issue is the first appearance of Electro with his origin told in flashback. The readers learn his real name is Max Dillon who gained the ability to control electricity after a freak accident. He's already kind of a jerk to begin with, so naturally he decides to use his powers for evil... after designing a really cool costume first, of course! One odd thing I noticed, underneath his costume, Electro wears some sort of high-tech apparatus which is never explained, nor does it show up in any later appearances.




Plenty of non-super villain problems for Peter to deal with here too. Aunt May is sick, in the hospital and in need of expensive medicine, something which we’ll see plenty more of in the future.






Since he’s desperate for cash to pay Aunt May’s medical expenses, Peter stages some shots to help Jameson prove his theory that Spidey and Electro may be the same person. Not sure if this is any more ethical than taking pictures of yourself, but Peter does feel bad for it. He makes up for this later by delivering Jameson some actual shots of Spidey fighting Electro, though it's not actually all that clear what Peter did to fake these photos in the first place. His thought balloon indicates that he plans to go home and super-impose some Spidey photos over Electro's so that it looks like he's changing costumes and that they're the same person. The photos which Jameson publishes in the Bugle and the accompanying text, on the other hand, just make it seem that Spider-man and Electro were in the same area at the same time which technically is true enough. It doesn't really mean Electro and Spidey are the same person, but Jameson trusts his readers to come to the same insane conclusion he does. Regardless, Peter feels guilty about it and lets Jameson have the real pictures for free at the end.

Incidentally, this is the first time Spidey rigs an automatic camera to record himself in action against an actual bad guy! This will become a recurring thing from now. At least when ever he remembers to.




The big action scene here involves Electro inciting a riot inside a local prison, so in addition to this new dangerous enemy, Spidey also has to fight a bunch of escaping convicts. Even with so many participants in the battle, there's still plenty of good action shots of Spider-man against Electro. Oddly, despite having the ability to throw lightning bolts, Electro still uses a regular gun in one scene. The Vulture used a gun last issue while robbing the Daily Bugle, but he's an old man with wings, not a human lightning bolt! The scene with Electro grabbing some wires to use as electrically-charged whips shows him being a little more creative with his powers, wielding a makeshift weapon more suited for him. It also makes for a cool fight sequence. In the end, once again, Spidey gets to use his scientific know-how and ingenuity to defeat his enemy, first by coming prepared with rubber gloves and slippers to protect himself from Electro's deadly charge, and then using a water hose to short-circuit him.




Even though the readers were privy to Electro's identity and origin early on, Spidey has no idea who Electro is when he’s defeated and unmasked, nor does he really care, since he figures the police will ID him anyway. Presumably they do just that and Spidey learns Electro's real name eventually because he does recognize the name later on in a future appearance.




I think it's worth pointing out that Spider-man's fight with Electro involves Spidey kicking a bucket of sand at him! Why is there always a bucket of sand around when Spidey is taking pictures of himself?



A sub-plot about Betty Brant begins in this story which will play out over the next several issues as we learn some more about her past. She mentions leaving high school the previous year to get a job, so for anyone wondering, this can’t make her too much older than Peter. We also see Betty visiting Aunt May in the hospital. I think this might be the first time they're shown together on panel, but it's likely the two old ladies in Peter's life have met before. Flash, Liz and the other Midtown High students make their usual obligatory appearance too, but don't factor much into the overall events!




Notable differences in the reprint:

The background colour on the cover is lighter than the original. I find the original’s darker background works a lot better to contrast with the intensity of the scene. The colour choices on the interior pages, on the other hand, continue to impress me. There's some cool changes to the colouring when Electro is using his electric blasts which really adds excitement to the action. Either someone else handles the cover colours, or maybe there’s some other factors going into the colour choices which I’m not seeing.

The UPC box on the cover also results in the shifting and omission of some text. Where it originally reads "A scene you will never forget! See... The Defeat of Spider-man!", now it's just "The Defeat of Spider-man!". If something had to go, that's not too big a loss, I suppose.

Marvel Mails is back with comments on the reprint of the Sandman issue. Tom Defalco is credited as Editor, Linda Grant Assistant Editor. I'm assuming these two were the Editors last month too, but there was no letters page in that issue. I'm making a point to name the Editors and letters pages whenever they're included.


Personal anecdotes:

Yet another story that I didn’t get to read until 1993 in Spider-man Classics 10. If I ever saw the Marvel Tales reprint available in back issue bins during the times I was picking up other issues I had missed, it meant I either didn’t have the spare cash, or was distracted by other issues which at the time were more important to me. Electro is one of my favourite villains, and I love his costume design and colour-scheme, so if I ever had the opportunity to pick-up this Marvel Tales issue I'm sure I would have, but maybe a reprint of Amazing Fantasy 15 or the first appearance of Doc Ock , the Goblin, or something like that was the bigger priority.

My first Lee/Ditko Spider-man comic came in the form of Marvel Tales 151 in 1983 when it was released, which we’ll get to soon enough. My Dad let me pick out two comics, MT 151, and probably some Superman title. I remember also seeing a Spidey comic with Electro on the cover which may very well have been this one still on the shelf even though it was from a few months earlier. Electro was familiar to me from the 1960s cartoons which I watched plenty in reruns, but for some reason MT 151 caught my eye at the time. I didn't read MT 151 until after I got home and thus had not begun to realize that this title would become a favorite, so wouldn’t really be looking out for other similar issues until a later trip to the store.

Similar to the last Vulture story, I believe this might be my first time reading this story in Marvel Tales. I missed a lot of Marvel Tales, either as they were coming out, or during my early days of buying the older back-issues, but I would eventually go back and fill in the holes in my collection (and also replace the issues I didn't necessarily take the best care of originally). Up til now though some of these comics have just been sitting in their box, unread by me.

So Electro is AC/DC.

Boom-tish!!

Here's here all week, folks. Try the chicken.


Very droll.

I recently read the first “appearance” of Uncle Ben and Aunt May in Strange Tales, and it surprises me that no-one has retconned the pair into being the actual Ben & May and brought the mermaid girl into Spidey’s continuity as his long lost cousin.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 10 (reprinted in Marvel Tales 147 )




“The Enforcers!”

Credits (as they appear in the comic):

Written by Smiling Stan Lee
Illustrated by Swinging Steve Ditko
Lettered by Sparkling Sam Rosen
Colored by Amazing Andy Yanchus


Plot Synopsis:

Spider-man has to deal with a Criminal Syndicate led by the Big Man, and his three Enforcers!




Comments:


This issue has Spider-man going up against organized crime. It's an obvious idea to have a New York City crime-fighter like Spidey go up against this type of threat and it will get used a lot over the years in future stories. It's still interesting to see things which will become common-place in later stories get introduced here in these early stories when they were still fresh and new.

Of course, because this is a Marvel book, they can't all be regular criminals. The Big Man is an imposing figure, but doesn't really threaten Spider-man in any direct physical fashion. That's understandable given what we learn at the end of the story when his identity is exposed. Anyway, that's what the Enforcers are there for. The three enforcers Fancy Dan, Montana and Ox reappear several times in later issues, usually working for some other villain. Montana and Ox, make an appearance on the 60s Spider-man cartoon, though Montana gets re-named "Cowboy", and they're working for an original villain called "The Plotter" who is probably just as tall as Fancy Dan, but definitely isn't supposed to be him. Even though the Enforcers don't have any actual super-powers, their respective abilities and special skills can still give Spidey a run for his money


Following up on some plot threads from last issue, Aunt May is still recovering from her health problems and needs a blood transfusion from Peter. There are no apparent side effects for May and she doesn’t get spider powers or anything, but Peter is temporarily weakened and can’t go after the Big Man and his gang for a short while. Aunt May does go to Florida with some neighbours, for some rest and relaxation vacation to help in her recovery. Good thing there aren't any more lizard-men walking around.


A few of our other regular cast members get some character development in this issue:

Betty Brant has her own secret, which somehow gets her into trouble with criminals like the Enforcers. We already got some hints about her past last issue, and the next issue will follow up on this even more. All we learn in this issue is that she somehow owes money to criminals, and then she has to run off to Pennsylvania.




Peter has an elaborate plan to catch the Big Man, which involves him getting captured by the Enforcers in his civilian identity, but even Flash Thompson realizes how dangerous this is. Flash takes a break from his usual Parker-bashing to try and warn Pete. Quite a change from the way Flash is usually portrayed in these stories. It's not like they become best friends right after this, but still interesting to see Flash show such concern.

I also like the scene where Spider interrogates a criminal by acting all creepy and making a scary looking spider with some pieces of wood and his webbing!





As with pretty much every issue, there's still room for a big action sequence. This one takes place in a parking garage, and Spidey even drives a car and knocks out some of the Big Man's goons by kicking open the doors.


Although Spidey suspects Jameson, The Big Man is actually unmasked as Bugle reporter Frederick Foswell by the end of the issue. He won’t return as the Big Man, but does appear again later on, and of course he won’t be the last criminal to try to take over the city’s criminal gangs! I think Foswell is actually the first Bugle employee to be named or get any sort of relevant role up until now, other than Peter, Betty and Jameson.







And, as the cover promises, we finally learn why Jameson hates Spider-man. I'm not sure if this reasoning was ever followed up on, or if other writers just went with their own interpretations. It's interesting that Betty actually suggested the exact same thing back in issue 5 and Jameson just blew her off. Even earlier in this very issue, Peter thinks to himself that Jameson is jealous of Spider-man. Jameson obviously doesn't want to admit this in public, but if both Peter and Betty have noticed it, surely others have too. I'm sure Jameson does have people who actually think like him and support him, just like we have in real-life with celebrities, politicians, comic creators and other public figures with their controversial opinions





Notable differences in the reprint:

The cover changes the background colour from green to orange, and also makes changes to Montana and Fancy Dan's outfits to ensure they are consistent with the way they appear in the book. The colour shading on Ox which is present on the original gets omitted, but some colour hi-lite does get added to the blue parts of Spidey's costume. Not sure which version I prefer, since it's not really one of my favourite covers to begin with. There's also some shifted text to make way for the UPC box, and it looks like they even changed the position of Spider-man's left leg.

Speaking of the cover, the original unused cover by Ditko for ASM 10 is reprinted here in colour opposite the Marvel Mails letters page. Still not sure why this cover wasn’t used, since it’s waaaaaaay better than the one they went with. (that’s just my opinion of course).  Jack Kirby is credited as co-artist on the cover, doing the Spider-man figure, but as much as I love Kirby's art, this Spidey isn't one of his best. 




As usual Andy Yanchus gets his name added to the credits as the colorist on the Marvel Tales reprint, but here he gets his own adjective like the original creators. Actually, the credit box is now so big that it nearly overlaps the indicia.

On that same page, though, for no discernible reason whatsoever, an entire block of text above the title goes missing.




Not sure if this happened with the earlier issues too, but it jumped out at me when looking through pages of the original. In the original printing, the word balloons are all sorts of wild colours, but in the reprint, they’re pretty much all white as you’d expect from most modern comics.

There’s a footnote referencing last issue with Electro, but it’s been updated to refer to Marvel Tales 146. Similar updates will continue in future issues of Marvel Tales whenever an earlier issue is referenced. When these same issues were reprinted in Spider-man Classics in the 90s they didn’t bother to update it further, or retain the original, and just kept the changes made to Marvel Tales

Marvel Mails is included here. Tom DeFalco is Editor, Linda Grant Assistant Editor. Several letter writers are officially awarded "No-prizes" for identifying the original source of the flashback from the Dr. Doom story a few issues back


Personal anecdotes:

Another one that I didn’t read until the 90s in Spider-man Classics 11, but I was already familiar with the Enforcers from some of their later appearances, and also knew about Foswell and the Big Man