Great thread. The Lee Ditko stories will always be classics. They're simply great stories and enormous fun to read. There is a heartfelt reality and a genuine quality to them that you won't find anywhere else. And they just knocked out classic villain after classic villain-! Vulture, Doc Ock, Sandman, the Lizard....one issue after another. Amazing.
The story begins with Spidey swinging through the city. It looks like he's about to foil a robbery in progress, but he just swings on by (luckily, the crooks give up on the sight of Spidey swinging by....wusses) Spidey is actually rushing some meds home to sick old Aunt May.
Meanwhile, we're introduced to Electro, a villain with such cool powers that he felt the need to make the dorkiest costume ever. I mean, Hall of Fame dorky. (But, I love it anyway) He charges himself up, and goes out to rob some banks. Pete eventually seeks him out because he needs money for an ambiguous Aunt May Operation that costs exactly 1000 bucks. (Medicaid wasn't enacted for another year....yes, I actually looked that up!)
His first encounter doesn't go all that well, so he decides to fake some pictures to covince JJJ that Spidey is Electro (Journalistic integrity wasn't what it would be 40 years later, when Pete would end up be fired over the same thing....it's a shame they didn't reference this event when that happened.)
We then get treated to Electro's origin. Basically, all around self-involved jerk Max Dillon is struck by lightning while working on a utility pole. That's it! Cue Bad Costume....
After riding out Aunt May's operation, Pete uses his knowledge of science to equip himself with what he'll need to defeat Electro...rubber booties. Ball bearings, a bucket of sand, nothing our wallcrawler throws at him seems to defeat this titan......until he runs into a water hose. Which makes me wonder if ol' Max has taken a shower in 40 years.
Pete avoids being fired by selling his battle Photos to JJJ. JJJ rewards all of us with the creepiest smile ever.
In the end, Aunt May is well, and Pete gets some alone time with Betty, who's really beginning to be a real drama queen, but more on that later....
You know what, I'm going to go and read Amazing #9 and see what I think.
I have to admit, I have never been a big fan of the Enforcers. Maybe it's just a let-down after all the cool characters in the previous issues, but a big, dumb strong guy, a dude with a rope, and a pipsqueak that knows how to kick you in the shins doesn't quite do it for me. In addition, the scary mastermind ends up being another pipsqueak with a Napoleon complex.
That said, even though I find the characters a little wanting, the story is top notch. A crime syndicate led by The Big Man and enforced by his, uh, Enforcers is taking NY by storm with bold and daring heists. Spidey is foiled by them, and in his private life, Aunt May needs a transfusion from him, which will set up one of the greatest issues ever.
Also in this issue, we find out that Betty has some kind of link with organized crime, which also will play out in later issues.....
On a side note: As I was googling "ROTLA face melt", it produced a pic of what can only be described as Richard Simmons semi-porn...the fitness guru lying nude (shudder) in a bed of flowers....and yes, I did feel as though my face would, and should, start melting off....
And Pete is stuck knowing that he's never gonna get the girl....at least not one who loathes his alter ego. So the Spectre of Spider-Man rears it's ugly head for the first time in Pete's romantic life.
I think this is the first issue of Spider-Man that I absolutely loved. It had the shock value of seeing Spidey unmasked. It had Spidey being foiled, not by Doc Ock, but by a virus. And it has JJJ being soaked by a destroyed water tower......by accident of course.
The story is a continuation of last issue, with Betty back in JJJ's employ, and Doc Ock stewing over not defeating our favorite Wall-Crawler. In order to draw him out, Doc kidnaps Betty, and Spidey obliges, even though all his strength is sapped because of the flu. This leads to an inspired scene: Spidey is unmasked, but he fought so weakly, that no-one believes that he's actually Spider-Man....just a well-meaning stupid kid.
Now Doc is really pissed, and (in what I think is the most incongruous part of the issue) lets a bunch of animals out of the zoo. (?!?) Spidey helps the police round them up, and goes after Ock. Their battle lands them in a sculptors studio, which catches fire. They both escape, and Doc is taken in by the police, warming himself with the notion that it was the fire that defeated him, not Spidey.