Issue(s): Amazing Spider-Man #72
Cover Date: May 69
Title: "Rocked by.. the Shocker!"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Writer
John Buscema & John Romita Sr. - Layouts
Jim Mooney - Finishes

Review/plot:
My breakdown of the art credits is a guess. The actual credits say that Stan Lee is the "author", John Buscema is the "innovator" and Romita and Mooney are the "illustrators". I am assuming that Lee gave (or dictated) a plot to Buscema, who drew rough layouts that Romita turned into fuller layouts (and/or fixing where Buscema was off model) before giving it to Mooney for finishes. For comparison, last issue didn't have Buscema and Romita was the "innovator" and Mooney was the sole "illustrator". Next issue Buscema is the "innovator" again but Romita is the "coordinator" and Mooney the "illustrator".

For a while this issue was the one issue of Amazing Spider-Man that i didn't have. The reason is that Marvel Tales skipped this issue, i think because it was included in the Origins Of Marvel Comics trade (Origins Of had a classic/current format, reprinting one origin story and following it up with a modern tale about that character). Since it was in Origins Of, i must have read it, since when i was little i used to take that book out of the library and keep it as long as i was allowed. But i don't remember this story.

Since it wasn't reprinted in Marvel Tales and the original was out of my price range, i was stuck for a while. Since i had all the other issues, it seemed weird to buy a Masterworks or an Essentials just for this one issue, although i might have done it if i saw a used copy that was cheap enough. Instead what i have here is a digest sized comic printed in January 1988 (or rather, that's the cover date) reprinting ASM #71-73. You can apparently get ASM #51 thorough #87 in this format. Just putting that out there in case you like your comics to be the size of a napkin.

The title of this issue reminds me of a Peaches song, but i have a feeling she's singing about something else. Our story begins with the Shocker showing up at the Stacy household and attacking Captain Stacy.

He's after the tablet that was the macguffin behind recent issues, which, after Spider-Man took it from the Kingpin, is being held in Captain Stacy's wall vault.

However, Shocker finds that he can't sell the tablet since everyone in the underworld is afraid that Spider-Man will come after them the way he did the Kingpin. So the Shocker goes on a rampage to attract Spider-Man's attention, thinking that he'll defeat Spidey and then be able to sell the tablet. He does attract Spidey...

...but the battle is less than conclusive and both parties basically decide to take a break for now.

Back in his Peter Parker ID, Spider-Man sends Aunt May off on the train for a vacation to Florida, and then sees a newspaper article on Doc Connors (aka the Lizard), and thinks about trying to get a summer job with him. Peter then meets up with Gwen...

...and gets into a dumb fight with Flash Thompson.

We then get to the rematch with Shocker.

Spider-Man defeats him with a little web to the face and then by removing his vibro-units.

The tablet, however, has been hidden away. But that's the plot for next issue. It's actually nice how this tablet has served as a kind of connective tissue for a series of otherwise unrelated villain appearances.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• Shocker first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #46.
  
• The tablet that Shocker is after is from a storyline that began in Amazing Spider-Man #68 (no footnote).
  
• Spider-Man last saw the Lizard in Amazing Spider-Man #45.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Spider-Man Comics Magazine Digest #7

Whatever the art credits are supposed to be, I think it was spot on this issue. The scene of Jonah fuming while chomping a cigar in his hospital gown is one of my all-time favorites!

I believe Marvel Tales skipped this because it appeared in the first Spider-Man Treasury Edition in Summer 1974. Unfortunately, that's a rather weaselly reason because the Treasury only reprinted the LAST page of it.

This story was reprinted in Origins of Marvel Comics, so any true Marvel fan would have already owned it.

Yes I only read it in Origins of Marvel Comics.

Man, I really hated these dynamics. I mean why would Peter want to be with someone who referred to his having been bullied at school as the way Flash used to be kidding? And Flash making these horribly awkward "compliments" to Gwen (although she do seem to take them as compliments) and Peter instead of rolling his eyes or something goes all possesive and wierd even though Gwen did make the point to Flash she was with Peter.

And also want to say I am so happy I found this site fnord12 this is amazing, thank you so much for sharing this with everybody!

Thanks and welcome, Jenni.

My gosh, Jenni exactly nailed that. Peter seems to get it, that he's reacting as though he and Flash are back at their former dynamic, for it's not just Flash Peter thought had grown: it's himself! Unresolved Mom issues?
At the core Pete knows it is he himself keeping the important secret between them and probably, he feels guilty several ways- and that's what powers his self-esteem issue regarding Gwen. I agree it's cringeworthy, and yet once they thought up the bit, in the ongoing quest for soap opera, they couldn't pass up the chance to throw Pete's bailouts back in his face. It's a consequence of this life of power he keeps secret!
But we each have occasion to give less stellar accounts of ourselves- no less so at that age. But particularly, Pete doesn't have much experience with having a girlfriend- especially one who moves among the pool of your single friends.
It IS boorish of Flash BTW.
And Gwen wasn't there for the humiliation and inequality of those high school years.
Perhaps dynamics between friends of opposite sexes had not matured to their present potential. But I really think it's his orphan status (yes I know about Ben and May but he still lost his parents) and more crucially his secret that fuels Pete's neurosis. Not to mention long years of ostracism.