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Amazing Spider-Man #7Issue(s): Amazing Spider-Man #7 Review/plot: Peter Parker hears that the Vulture has escaped and fakes being sick so he can go home from school. Then he heads out with his camera and his device, thinking it'll be another easy win. They meet up and fight, but the device doesn't work and the Vulture drops Spidey, injuring his arm. Peter seems just barely able to contain his anger at the harassment he gets from the kids at school. After school, Parker goes to the Bugle to sells his picture of the Vulture, but the Vulture shows up at the Bugle with the intention of robbing the payroll. Peter slips off and becomes Spider-Man, creating a splint for his arm out of webbing. Despite JJ's protests, Spidey attacks the Vulture in the Bugle and they make a real mess of things. Spidey eventually wins by letting the Vulture fly him way up high in the sky, and then webbing his wings together. Then Spidey goes back and webs JJ's mouth shut to stop him from yelling at him. Then he changes back to Peter and starts making time with Betty Brant. Spidey's banter with the Vulture is kind of funny, and it's really nice to see Peter actually going somewhere with Betty. This is actually pretty good. The Vulture looks kind of goofy sometimes, though. Quality Rating: B- Chronological Placement Considerations: Untold Tales of Spider-Man #7 continues directly from this issue, and that story shows Iron Man wearing his thinner red and gold armor, so i'm placing this after Tales of Suspense #48. References: N/A Crossover: N/A Continuity Insert? N My Reprint: N/A Inbound References (2): showCharacters Appearing: Aunt May, Betty Brant, Flash Thompson, J. Jonah Jameson, Liz Allan, Spider-Man, Vulture 1963 / Box 2 / Silver Age CommentsI remember reading a reprint of this issue when I was a kid an loving it. Posted by: Kevin Oliphant | August 3, 2015 8:34 PM Likewise. My comic-droogs and I voice-acted it repeatedly and laughed at every Spider-Man wisecrack. "Darn right I did, Curly" became a long-standing "in-joke" among us. Posted by: James Holt | August 10, 2016 2:19 AM I always remember this as the issue in which Spider-Man's quipster persona is finally, firmly established. He becomes a character who doesn't just beat the villins but frustrates and humiliates them with his insults and his methods for stopping them. More generally, it's the first issue where everything really clicks into place in terms of the supporting cast at the Bugle. Posted by: Omar Karindu | August 10, 2016 6:56 AM It was and still is one of the most upbeat comics I've ever read. I thought Betty and Peter would always be together. If Ditko had stayed with the book longer maybe they would. I suppose it's more realistic the way it played out with the blonde and the redhead, given that Peter was still just a high school kid. Whatever her actual age was, Betty was all grown up. Posted by: James Holt | August 10, 2016 7:35 PM Actually Betty wasn't that much older. It was later established that she had dropped out of high school and gone to work at 16. Posted by: Bobby Sisemore | October 25, 2016 8:58 PM Right, she was a grown up in the sense that she was long out of the nest, and had been supporting herself for a substantial period of time, not to mention protecting and picking up after her ne'er-do-well brother. Peter was still a high school kid learning responsibility, selfish, prickish, quick-tempered, fickle, and easily dazzled by the next gal in line. Not so much playing the field as learning the field. Betty was past ready to start thinking about settling down. So, Ned. Posted by: James Holt | October 25, 2016 9:24 PM It's interesting how often the Daily Bugle becomes central to the villains, and that's not counting Jameson giving their loony schemes promotion or printing Parker's pictures. The Vulture comes straight there in this issue. The Big Man turns out to be one of the staff reporters, and then comes back to aid Spider-Man and the police. Doc Ock has a personal interest in Betty in #11 and #12. JJJ created the Scorpion who trashed the offices just like the Vulture, then hired Mysterio and Spencer Smythe. Smythe's assistant Raxton would become the Molten Man. And this is just in Ditko's run, never mind the later retcons. And this isn't counting all the other ways JJJ or the Bugle were involved in Spider-Man's adventures [the Sinister Six, the Lizard, Kraven's third appearance, JJJ's relationship with Norman Osborne.] Posted by: ChrisW | October 30, 2016 12:28 AM Comments are now closed. |
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