Here's the original cover for Amazing Spider-Man #8 for comparison...







Ahh…yes, the wonderful "Special Tribute to Teen-agers" issue. Ridiculous, but brilliant!





Yeah, I think this is the last time we ever see Peter in glasses.

In reference to his saying he "doesn't need those specs anyway", we actually saw evidence of this as early as Amazing Fantasy #15, when Peter is shown taking his specs off prior to wrestling Crusher Hogan. Plus, he clearly doesn't wear them under his Spider-Man mask when he's out superheroing and swinging among the rooftops.

Like you, in my mind, I've always thought that his eyesight improved as a result of the accelerated healing factor and enhanced physique that his spider-powers gave him. But I couldn't tell you off hand in which comic that is stated.

Certainly, it was the spider bite that improved his eyesight in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies. I don't know, maybe I got this "fact" about the spider bite healing his vision from that first SM movie, but I have a feeling that it is mentioned in the comics at some point. I'm damned if I can recall where though.





The boxing match between Peter and Flash Thompson is hilarious! It's so well drawn by Steve Ditko. In particular, the dazed look on Flash's face as Peter gives him a gentle tap on the chin and knocks him flying out of the ring is priceless!





The Living Brain is one of Ditko's best robot creations – and it looks pretty cool on the splash page. I mean, yeah, by today's standards the robot looks kinda goofy -- cartoony, even -- but Ditko really makes the machine seem like a credible threat. The choreography in the final battle between Spider-Man and the robot around Midtown High School is very well done too.

Also, I love that, when it's all over, Peter is a real sh*t-stirring git, by suggesting to his classmates that Flash might be Spider-Man. That's some excellent misdirection there, Mr. Parker.





Absolutely! And this short story is really the first time that we see a serious escalation in the rivalry between the Human Torch and Spider-Man. Although it has been vaguely hinted at in the past, from now on, their rivalry will be a real thing.

I have to say though that Peter acts like a bit of a d*ck in this story, although the Torch isn't much better! It's a d*ck move for Spider-Man to crash a party held by the Torch's girlfriend, Dorrie Evans, just to show her what she's missing out on by not dating Spider-Man.

It's also interesting that Spidey clearly has a crush on Sue Storm/Invisible Girl, who is a fair bit older than he is (I've always assumed that Sue was around 20 or 21 in the very early Fantastic Four stories). Perhaps even more surprising is the fact that Sue flirts back with Spidey. What with Peter being attracted to Betty Brant, who is a few years older than he is, and now crushing on the Invisible Girl, this is a recurring theme – Peter definitely digs the older ladies!

Overall, this back-up strip isn't a great story at all, and, as I say, Peter is a bit of a d*ck in it. But the artwork is VERY nice. I love it whenever Ditko inked Jack Kirby's pencils, as he does here. It only happened a handful of times in the Silver Age, and this is one of them. To my eyes, Kirby's art never looked better than it did when Ditko was inking it – and I know that Stan Lee has expressed a similar sentiment on occasion.





Well, first and foremost, the "Special Tribute to Teen-agers" issue is obviously a marketing thing. Stan knew that a lot of his regular readers were teenagers, so why not do a "tribute" issue, just for them? Heh…like the previous issues hadn't also been directed as teenagers! But Stan was a hell of a salesman and this absolutely smacks of his huckstering.

That said, this issue is very teen-centric. More so than most, I would say. For one thing, the main story is set almost entirely in high school, it also features school pursuits like gym and science class, and it focuses on Peter's teenage supporting cast much more than usual (as you say, J. Jonah Jameson and Aunt May are absent from the story). Then the back-up strip involves a teenagers' party and other things teenagers like, such as fast cars, dating, acting the fool to impress your friends etc. So yeah, I think this issue is a bit more teen-centric than the previous issues were.





You know, I'd never really thought about it, but I think your theory sounds very likely. Hopefully one of the more knowledgeable folks here will be able to chime in with a definitive answer.


A couple of nerdy things I picked up on this re-read: Peter's science teacher in this issue is called Mr. Warren, but this isn't the same Professor Miles Warren who Peter will later meet at Empire State University and who will eventually become the Jackal.

And secondly, the Living Brain's handler, Mr. Petty, is from the I.C.M. Corporation, which is an obvious riff on the I.B.M. Corporation, who were designers and producers of large computing systems in the U.S. during the '60s.

Great pick! I don't own this box set, but I can't for the life of me think why not? I'm a big Tom Petty fan -- particularly of the run of albums from 1979's Damn the Torpedoes through to 1994's Wildflowers. The title of this set is apt: he is indeed an American treasure.

Yeah, I need to pick this up.

I can honestly say that I have never heard of Chick Corea before today. A quick Google tells me he's a jazz pianist of some renown. He's completely passed me by.

Yeah, that's what I mean -- Kato and Aleema are onboard the ship shown at the end of issue #2. And that definitely isn't the royal yatch they crashed in earlier in the issue.




Yeah, for sure!

Yeah, that's it. I remember the "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes" line.

I think the cover of Marvel Tales #144 is a bit of a garish mess, to be honest. I really don't like the bright orange and yellow sky on the reprint; the more natural blue sky of the original cover of Amazing Spider-Man #7 is much better. I also prefer the colouring of the Vulture on the original cover, especially the yellow in his wings, which makes the feathers seem more three dimensional than they do on the reprint. In fact, the only respect in which the reprint cover scores over the original is in having the Vulture's fur collar the correct colour.








And the first time his accuracy with his web-shooters has let him down too.

This is also the first time we really get an inkling about Peter Parker's accelerated healing factor. When he initially hits the rooftop, after his fall while fighting the Vulture, he's in a lot of pain – he thinks his arm is probably broken. To be honest, for any normal human, a fall like that would have resulted in many broken bones and, in all likelihood, death. But by the time Peter reaches home, his arm is obviously feeling a bit better and seems like it's merely sprained. Later still, although it's still tender, it is healed enough that he can battle the Vulture, if he doesn't move it too much. And by next issue Peter's arm is fully healed.





Yeah, it's strange that we still know so little about the Vulture, even after his second appearance. Pretty much every other Spider-villain so far has had his backstory at least roughly laid out for the reader. Then again, I can't say that the lack of an origin story for him ever bothered me when I read this comic back in the '80s.

It's interesting that the Vulture goes back to his old hideout, which we saw in Amazing Spider-Man #2. The authorities must not have found it when he was captured last time, I guess, so why not?






Yeah, I agree that the final battle with the Vulture in The Daily Bugle offices and print room is very exciting and spectacularly drawn by Steve Ditko. I especially like the gymnastics that Ditko has Spidey perform, like leap-frogging J. Jonah Jameson to pursue the Vulture.

I also love the devil-may-care way in which Spidey webs the Vulture's wings together when they are many hundreds of feet above the New York pavement, and the Vulture goes to pieces, thinking that they are both going to plumet to their deaths. Of course, Spidey whips up a handy-dandy web parachute and the defeated Vulture lands safely on the street below. Kinda makes you wonder why Peter didn't just web up a parachute for himself earlier, when he was falling after their previous encounter. Especially as he had used a web parachute before in ASM #1. I guess he was just falling too fast in his first battle with the Vulture.





That scene at the end, with the two young lovebirds sat behind an office desk – while an irate Jameson rampages through the office, unable to talk due to Spidey having webbed his mouth shut – is one of my favourite parts of the issue. Also, it's hilarious earlier on that when Betty doesn't believe that Peter hurt his arm playing volleyball, he just tells her the truth that he hurt it battling the Vulture…and she still doesn't believe him! That's a great bit of scripting by Stan Lee.


Overall, this was another hugely enjoyable instalment of the series. It was a touch better than the previous Lizard issue, I think, with Spider-Man back in familiar territory and fighting a familiar foe. Compared to the Vulture's first appearance in ASM #2, Lee and Ditko give us a better, more exciting, and funnier story here.

As a nerdy aside, I believe that this is the first time that it's specified that Aunt May's house is in the Forest Hills area of Queens. Previously, all we knew was that Peter lived in Long Island, if memory serves.

Nice pick. Given the length of Waylon Jennings' career and the amount of commercial success he had in the '70s, he absolutely deserves the multi-disc retrospective treatment. Does this set feature any of his really early stuff from the late '50s? Some of those records were produced by Buddy Holly.

Four CDs worth of Jennings is probably a bit more than I need, in all honesty, but I can quite believe that there is a lot of good music to be found on here.





Earth, Wind & Fire are a band that I've kinda always intended to investigate, but never have. As a teenager, one of my buddies was quite into them and I found plenty to like in the stuff he played me. I'm a big fan of The Jacksons and Michael Jackson's 70's output, and EW&F's music always sounded like it was coming from much the same place. The albums All 'n All and I Am were the really big ones over here in the UK in the late '70s, along with the hit singles "Fantasy", "September" and "Boogie Wonderland".

Probably a whole box set would be overkill for me, but a decent single "Best of EW&F" type CD appeals.