So, like Slam, I'm also starting off my run down of my Top 10 favourite box sets too. I'm going in strictly alphabetical order by title, so we're kicking off in the B's with...


#10 - The Beat Generation by Various Artists (1992)




This 3x CD box set was put out by Rhino Records and aims to provide the listener with a decent pocket history of the Beat Generation. For the uninitiated, the Beat Generation was a literary youth movement of the 1950s and early '60s, which, through poetry, prose and a love of jazz, sought to reject the materialism of modern Western society, while focusing on spirituality, sexual liberation, and the use of drugs.

As you would expect, this box set features poetry readings by some of the Beat Generation's leading lights, such as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and Kenneth Rexroth, but because the movement was so tied to jazz music, it also includes "Beat-centric" musical numbers by the likes of the Gerry Mulligan Quartet, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Charles Mingus. There are also "Beatsploitation" novelty records, contemporary American news reports about the Beatnik scene in New York's Greenwich Village, and tracks by fellow travellers like Ken Nordine and Lenny Bruce to flesh things out. In mixing the important with the cheap and trivial in this way, Rhino have created a reasonably thorough audio portrait of one of America's seminal 20th century youth counter-culture movements.

The box set doesn't aim to be exhaustive, however – the absence of a recording of Ginberg reading his masterpiece "Howl" seems like a glaring and, frankly, unforgivable omission to me – but it does give a highly entertaining and often rather amusing overview of what the Beat scene was all about. If you're a fan of the Beats or just curious about the movement, this set really captures the zeitgeist and is an excellent place to start.



Here's Jack Kerouac reading his poem "October in the Railroad Earth", with accompaniment from pianist Steve Allen…





And here's the less-than-serious "Like Rumpelstiltskin" from TV presenter Don Morrow's 1961 comedy album, Grimm's Hip Fairy Tales As Dug by Don Morrow…

I agree. The colouring on the cover of Marvel Tales #143 is much better than the original cover…




As you point out, a big difference is that the Lizard's lab coat is the right colour on the Marvel Tales reprint. I also prefer the darker background, which serves to make the figures of Spider-Man and the Lizard jump out from the cover a bit more.





I agree with kirby101 that the Everglades in this comic look much more like the Louisiana bayou. I remember Googling Spanish forts in Florida once in relation to this comic and, sure enough, there are some, but none of them are crumbling ruins, lost in the Everglade swamp wilderness, as the one depicted here is.

Mind you, it's not really any different from Stan/Jack/Steve clearly thinking that plenty of British people lived in castles during the Silver Age.





Ha! Yeah, I hadn't thought about the parallel with the Hulk, but you're right. Good catch.





Peter's confidence with girls – particularly in his civilian guise – is something that will continue to change and improve as the Lee/Ditko run goes on, with our hero finally blossoming into a handsome, confident young man during the Lee/Romita era.

I've said it many times before in the forum, but I've always attributed Peter's transition from an angry, bitter, scrawny 15 and 16-year-old to a more assured, handsome guy of 18 or 19 to the process of growing up. Plenty of guys (myself included) go from being gangly, rake-thin teenagers, who suck with the ladies, to relatively more handsome and confident 18 or 19 year olds with hot girlfriends. I think Peter's change represents a fairly typical male transition from high school teenager to early adulthood.

As for Peter's enhanced confidence when he's wearing the Spider-Man mask, that's simply a byproduct of him taking on another persona (his true persona, perhaps?). Wearing the Spider-Man mask and not having to hide his amazing powers is understandably liberating for him. Peter is finally allowed to be his best self, without being encumbered by any of the insecurities that plague him in his everyday life. It's very much like the cliché of the shy, introverted actor, who suddenly becomes a dramatic powerhouse on stage once the houselights dim and the spotlight hits him.





I'm gonna have to disagree with the above a little bit, I'm afraid. I think this is anything but a typical Spider-Man story of the period.

What makes this issue different to the ones that came before it is that this is very much a tragic tale. I agree that it has the slightly Amazing Fantasy-esque trope of a scientist messing with nature with tragic results, but the difference here is that Curt Connors' motives are mostly altruistic. I mean, sure, the poor guy wants his arm back, of course! But he's very much thinking about the bigger picture and how much he can help mankind if he is able to pull off his experiment with the Lizard serum – and bless him, he nearly does it too (he's already made it work in lower lifeforms like rabbits).

It's doubly cruel that the longer that Connors stays as the Lizard, the less of his human/scientist brain is present: he becomes more savage and animalistic as time goes on. To the point where his brilliant scientific mind is dulled, and he can't gather his thoughts enough to concoct an antidote to change him back into a human. Luckily, Peter easily has the science-smarts to do it for him (another illustration of just what a scientific wunderkind Peter is).

In addition, the dual nature of Curt/the Lizard makes for some great conflict for Spidey, as he tries to defeat the monster, while also trying to protect Connors' family and not harm Connors himself.

So yeah, the combination of Connor's hubris, philanthropy, and tragedy means that this issue is absolutely NOT the usual Spider-Man vs. a superpowered villain fare.


As an aside, something I picked up on when re-reading this comic for this thread is that Connors was a surgeon prior to losing his arm, not a scientist. I can't say I'd ever really noticed that before and had always regarded him as someone who had always been a scientist of some description.





Cool info. I didn't know that.


Overall, this is another really good Spider-Man comic, but it's maybe just a step down from the six issues that have preceded it (including Amazing Fantasy #15).

The story moves briskly along and the scenes set in the Florida swamp are really nicely drawn by Steve Ditko. The tense build-up to the climactic battle with the Lizard in the abandoned Spanish fort, as alligators menacingly crawl around Spidey's feet, is brilliantly handled. Also, the sequence with J. Jonah Jameson hanging from the ceiling of his office, having been webbed up there by Spidey, only to fall before Betty Brant can grab some cushions to put below him is very amusing.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I read it with it laid on the bed itself, while I sit in front of it, looking down. With my glasses on and given the large size, I can read it and view the artwork fine.

No way I could have this on my lap or resting on my chest to read in bed. It weighs a tonne!

Yeah, was a really fun chat. Very cool to hang out and shoot the breeze with you all.

Ahh...gotcha! Nice spot of the parrallel there. Totally went over my head.

This is one of my two all-time favourite issues from the Lee/Ditko run (it ties in 1st place with issue #20 for me).

I first encountered it in Marvel Tales #142 and, as a kid, I read and re-read that comic until the cover fell off! I just loved this issue soooo much. I still have my original dog-eared, coverless copy of Marvel Tales #142, just for sentimental reasons. Amazing Spider-Man #5 is a comic that is very dear to my heart, and I would love to one day own an original copy of it. Maybe if I win the lottery!

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I had absolutely no idea in the mid-80s that this story was some 20 years old by that point. That goes to show, I think, just how little the world had really changed between 1963 and 1983 (at least in my sleepy hometown in the English home counties); I saw nothing unusual about the clothes worn by the characters in this comic or the technology on display.


As for comparing the cover of ASM #5 to Marvel Tales #142 (which I seem to have got into the habit of doing), there are lots of changes to the background colouring on the reprint. That, along with the removal of the murky shadowing on the figure of Spider-Man makes the Marvel Tales cover the better of the two, I think. It's a great cover either way though.







Why do you say that? Why would it be expected that Dr. Doom would turn up at this point? Not sure I understand, sorry.





Good point and good catch! That had never occurred to me. This use by villains of "the sensory powers of a spider" to contact Spider-Man wasn't retained for long: too much like Ant-Man, I guess?





I know that Cei-U! has already answered that this is Doom's first appearance following Fantastic Four #23 – and far be it from me to think I know better than Kurt – but surely this is actually Doom's first appearance since Fantastic Four #17, not #23? There's even a flashback in this issue showing Doom jumping out of his laboratory airship to escape the Fantastic Four the last time he encountered them, just as he did at the end of FF #17.




While we're on the subject of Dr. Doom, the Marvel Tales reprint of this issue was my first encounter with him, and he's a villain who I've since always regarded as just as much of a Spider-Man foe, as he is a Fantastic Four one.





Yeah, the soap opera elements of Spider-Man are really coming to the fore in this issue. I've always been a big fan of Peter Parker's civilian life, just as must as I am his exploits as Spider-Man, so I definitely view this as a good thing.

This is the first issue where we really see Flash Thompson picking on Peter Parker in a very direct manner. I mean, sure, Flash had been one of Peter's many tormentors in recent issues, but this is the issue where he becomes his main tormentor. It's also the issue that really illustrates what a big fan of Spider-Man Flash is (ooh, the irony!).





"Dating" was a much more casual affair back in the '50s and early '60s than it became in more recent decades. High school age girls and guys dated regularly back then, often with many different partners, but it was mostly all very innocent and often a date wouldn't even involve a kiss. So, it's not necessarily that Liz is Flash's girlfriend, as such – they weren't necessarily "going steady" – he's just someone that she's clearly dated a number of times. But that said, yes, Flash obviously feels that Liz is his girl and Peter flirting with her and trying to get a date with her himself would naturally rub Thompson up the wrong way.






I really love the whole "Flash Thompson dressing up as Spider-Man, only to get kidnapped by Doom" plot element in this issue. It's so much fun. In particular, Steve Ditko's artwork (in the panels you posted above) showing Peter walking on one side of the fence, while Flash waits to jump out on Parker on the other side, only to get gassed and kidnapped by Doom, as Peter walks by unawares is excellent. Really great staging and panel composition in this sequence.

As an aside, why didn't Peter's spider-sense go off, with Doom just the other side of the fence to him?

I also love how Peter initially sees Flash's kidnapping by Doom as a handy way to get rid of Flash forever! But, of course, being the hero he is, he reconsiders and realises that he must rescue Flash.





I agree. The fight between Doom and Spidey at the end of this issue is amazingly good. Right from Spidey's dramatic entrance – hanging upside-down from the ceiling, shining his spider-signal onto the wall in front of a startled Doom – through to Doom getting ready to bludgeon Spidey to death with a stray lump of machinery he's picked up, it's just a tour de force. I love all of Doom's dastardly traps that Spidey has to evade too – this is just great comics!

As an aside, I think that the editor's note regarding Doom's last encounter with the Fantastic Four, and then the FF actually turning up at the end of the story, was the first time that I realised that Marvel's superheroes all shared the same fictional world.