Spider-Man Comics Weekly #1

17 Feb 1973. Cover price 5p.
40 pages. Colour, tone & B&W.
Magazine Management London Ltd.

Edited by Pippa M. Melling.

Cover by UNKNOWN.

Free Spider-Man Mask.

Contents:

2 Spider-Man "The Man Called Electro!" w: Stan Lee; a: Steve Ditko, lettering by Art Simek.

r: The Amazing Spider-Man (Marvel) #09 (Feb 1964).

10 Stan Lee Sounds Off! text introduction by Stan Lee; photograph (uncredited). / At Last! The Secret of F.O.O.M. - Friends of Ol' Marvel! fan club promotion and mail-in coupon; illustrations (uncredited).

26 Thor the Mighty "The Stone Men from Saturn!", part one, w: Larry Lieber, from a plot by Stan Lee; p: Jack Kirby, i: Joe Sinnott, lettering by Art Simek.

r: Thor (Marvel) #158 (Nov 1968).

33 The Insult that Made a Man out of 'Mac' advertisement for Charles Atlas programme.

40 Nor Playing in... The Mighty World of Marvel in-house advertisement.

Know something, little friend? If you're just starting to read this story, we envy you! Because you're gonna have a ball! This book-length thriller features a really fascinating super-villain; it's chock-full of human interest and drama; and it shows Spider-Man, with all his human problems and frailties, greater than you've ever seen him before! But don't take our word for it - after all, we're spidey's best boosters! See what you think...

Given Spider-Man's phenomenal success, it was only a matter of time until he was promoted to his own title. Although joined by Thor it really is Spidey's title, taking the lion's share of the page count, as well as being the de facto face of Marvel. Appropriately for a launch issue there is a free gift, though how much use a cardboard Spider-Man mask would get before falling apart is open to debate. If, that is, it were present.

"The Man Called Electro!" begins with the hero ignoring a bunch of gunmen in a shoot-out with police, swinging on by as if he didn't even notice them. Racing home, even going so far as to begin changing clothes in the street, rushing to get Aunt May her prescription. Sitting at her bedside as she sleeps, Peter doesn't even notice his shirt has fallen open, showing his costume. On the bright side, if she wakes - and dies of shock - there will be a tasty life insurance payment coming Pete's way, ending all of those money worries in an instant... Of course, that isn't his plan at all. The blatant display of his costume is for a completely different, and totally innocuous, purpose entirely unrelated to any such notion.

And so, Peter Parker keeps the long vigil, not dreaming that a strange figure on the other side of town is going to play a very important part in his life very soon...

Electro, for it is he, is first seen from the neck down, weird equipment strapped to his body.

Aunt May gets taken to hospital, placing more strain on Peter, who finds it difficult to study - hoping to make some money by photographing Spider-Man in action, his plans are scuppered when it begins to rain, his camera ill-suited to poor conditions. Requiring a thousand dollars to pay for the specialist who is to operate on his aunt, Peter approaches Jameson for a loan. Turned down, Jameson nevertheless agrees to pay such a sum for photographs of Spider-Man which are suitable to publish.

J. Jonah Jameson is at his bank when Electro arrives to rob it, and is surprised that the criminal knows who he is. Seeing Spider-Man shortly after, Jameson comes to the conclusion that Electro is Spidey in another guise. Printing the allegation the next day, public opinion is split as to Spider-Man's role in the crimewave. After searching the city, Spidey finds Electro breaking into a safe, but is knocked unconscious before he can bring the criminal to justice.

Superimposing his image onto the photographs already taken, Peter makes it appear as if he has caught proof that Electo is Spider-Man. How this never gets brought up in later stories, as means to discredit Peter's journalistic integrity, is beyond me. If a news photographer fakes images deliberately, they should never be allowed anywhere near a newspaper again.

As public opinion turns against Spider-Man thanks to the sustained reports linking him with Electo, the real Electro breaks a dozen criminals out of their detention area, before they can be transferred to a federal prison, so that they can serve as his personal army. Hearing the news on a passing police radio, Peter first stops at the hospital to check on May before dealing with the escaped prisoners. They flee, ignoring Electro, and are quickly recaptured by waiting police officers.

Jameson waits for Spider-Man to arrive, and his suspicion seems to be proven correct.

At the last possible moment, Spidey eventually makes an appearance. Electro, and the remainder of the prisoners, are waiting in the building, so Spider-Man - wearing rubber gloves and boots - takes on Electro. After the prisoners are dealt with, he finally manages to defeat Electro with a fire hose, realising that water and electricity don't mix.

The ending, where Peter and Betty go for a walk, is an odd way to conclude, and there's no sense that Peter's photo-manipulation is going to have repercussions. It is frustrating when important aspects of the story are brushed over, and nowhere is this more prominent than in the mysterious malady for which May requires an operation. The puzzle over her frequent trips to death's door is compounded by the operation in this issue. What might she be suffering from? My best guess is plotitis, with a side-helping of malingering.

While it may be a problematic story to start the series with, Ditko's artwork maintains his distinctive take on the character. A few of the panels utilises canted angles, deep shadows, and other quirks, showing a great understanding of style. He sometimes falters when it comes to depicting webs, but it is a forgivable quirk.

Thor's first words do note bode well.

The legend has come true! By the will of the Gods, I am alive! I am invincible! I am - Thor!!!

Aside from flagrant abuse of exclamation marks, we have no empirical evidence that he is invincible, nor are we indulged with the specific legend he is referring to. Anyway, an invincible hero is going to be a very dull read.

Our story opens on the windy coast of Norway, where we see a frail figure silhouetted against the bleak sky! He is Dr. Don Blake, an American on holiday in Europe!

And, as Doctor Blake turns and leaves the site, he doesn't see the strange alien spaceship which silently lands behind him!

Alien spaceships drop from the skies so regularly in early Marvel stories that one wonders where they all get stored. Is there an immense, cavernous Government site which stacks them one atop another, like a scrapyard for extraterrestrials? We see them arriving regularly, but seeing them leave is so rare an occurrence as to pose a real logistical problem for the nascent Marvel universe.

With a story titled "The Stone Men from Saturn!", it would be rather a shame if the aliens weren't made of stone. Or from Saturn. Exiting its ship, one remarks "This atmosphere - it is so different from our own planet." Understatement of the century, given that Saturn's is a gas giant comprised mostly of hydrogen and helium. Not to mention that it has no stones on it, never mind living ones.

As they test their newfound strength - increased on Earth - and an ability to leap great distances, the aliens are discovered by a fisherman, who races to inform others of what he has witnessed. Blake overhears the account, and goes to investigate the man's claims, witnessing for himself the beings. Chased into a cave, Blake seems doomed until he finds a secret chamber in which rests an ancient cane. Striking it against the cave wall, he transforms into Thor.

Not a great beginning for Spider-Man's title, though the fact that he had been so quickly promoted from the pages of The Mighty World of Marvel showed that it was the character himself who was (inexplicably) the selling point.

Spider-Man Comics Weekly

#02