Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
| 1970-03-01 00:02:10 |
| Previous: Captain America #121-126 | Up: Main 1970 / Box 5 / Silver Age | Next: Sub-Mariner #23-24 |
Amazing Spider-Man #82
Issue(s): Amazing Spider-Man #82
Cover Date: Mar 70
Title: "And then came Electro!"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Writer
John Romita Sr. - Penciler
Jim Mooney - Inker
Review/plot:
Full pencils from Romita for a change.
Peter is broke so he tries to get a gig on a talk show, but Electro, who works as an electrician on the set, gets paid by JJ to attack Spider-Man.
Robbie and Captain Stacy realize what JJ did and that it was wrong (and probably illegal) but they don't do anything about it. Spider-Man defeats Electro by making his hands touch his feet, which somehow creates a short-circuit.
There's a great scene where Peter has to wash his costume in a public laundromat, and wears a bag on his head to disguise his identity.
Quality Rating: C
Historical Significance Rating: 2
Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A
References:
- Spider-Man first fought Electro in Amazing Spider-Man #9.
- He fought him again in Amazing Spider-Man annual #1, and won by "grounding himself with a wire which he hastily attached to his leg".
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: Marvel Tales #63
| Previous: Captain America #121-126 | Up: Main 1970 / Box 5 / Silver Age | Next: Sub-Mariner #23-24 |
Comments
This was during the period when Marvel finally got their periods to print correctly instead of vanishing half the time, so issues like this are minus exclamation points in dialogue just to show this off.
This story was supposed to be included in the first "Origins of Marvel Comics" book but got bumped due to space, leaving a confusing reference in Stan Lee's introduction.
That's right, Parker....LOTS of school initiations involve somebody wearing a bag on their head while SWINGING IN on a WEB!
It's always bothered me that Captain Stacy (and to some extent Robbie) didn't take any measures against Jonah for his actions here. How many lives does the man have to endanger before someone sees that maybe Jameson is the real menace?
Interesting that Electro is like Mr Freeze in that during the Silver Age, he barely shows up to fight Spidey, but then he gets to be in a movie because he got used a lot more in the later Ages. But then I guess out of the original Ditko villains, only the Lizard and Doc Ock showed up all the time to bug Peter?
Electro has always had an interesting place in Spidey's rogues gallery. He's similar to Sandman in that his power should reasonably put him a tier above villains like Doc Ock and the Green Goblin. That's probably one reason why both of them got shunted around to other heroes so much.
As far as Ditko villains go, Stan seemed to have a thing for Kraven as well. He showed up a good bit under Stan, then seemingly lost favor until Last Hunt redeemed the character.
First appearance of the Amazing Bag-Man!
I prefer Bombastic Bag-Man. A true Marvel hero always uses alliterations! :)
