"THE ENFORCERS!"
Writer: Stan Lee/Penciller: Steve Ditko/Inker: Steve Ditko/Letterer: Sam Rosen/Editor: Stan Lee/Cover Art: Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby
Synopsis: The mysterious Big Man takes control of all the crime rackets in New York with the help of his 'Enforcers,' and with the police powerless to take him down, the task falls to Spider-Man...
Review: Continuing the high quality of storytelling from the previous issue, ASM #10 is another all-time great for me, and reading it again now brought back powerful waves of nostalgia (though of course, there's far more to enjoy here than just a warm fuzzy feeling that reminds us of our childhoods). This issue represents even more wondrous developments for Spider-Man, featuring some of the most intense action we've seen thus far, more hints at the secret that Betty is hiding, a fascinating insight into J Jonah Jameson's psyche, and the first example of that long-standing staple of comics books: the mystery villain.
Spider-Man has had his fair share of masked enemies whose identities are initially kept a secret: the Green Goblin, the Crime Master, the Jackal, the Hobgoblin etc, and his very first - the Big Man - appears here, although his identity is revealed by the end of the issue, so there wasn't much time for the reader to get invested in the question of who he really is; later example of mystery villains would form extended storylines where the question of who the villain really is would loom large over the comic, but the Big Man still makes an impression without all of that, even if it is rather obvious who he really is. Any Ditko fan will be able to recognise some of the artist's favourite hallmarks in the character's design: a blank-faced mask, a fedora hat, a suit; Ditko loved this kind of look and gave it to numerous characters he created, some more obscure than others (the most well-known examples being Mr A and the Question). No matter how many of these very similar looking characters he creates, I can never get enough of them; I love a masked character, and the Big Man manages to not only look cool and mysterious, but genuinely rather intimidating; his big, hulking frame is quite a contrast to later examples of Ditko's 'mask and hat' creations. Not only that, but the story gives such a great sense of the impact that the Big Man has on New York, how widespread his criminal takeover is. Everyone's afraid of him, even high school students, and we're shown just how powerless the police are at being able to track him down, only snagging small fry criminals that the Big Man can have bailed out of jail in the morning. He may not have any super-powers, but the Big Man is one of the most powerful and serious threats yet seen in the pages of ASM.
The Enforcers themselves have often been seen as a bit of a joke in Spider-Man fan circles, perhaps because of their lack of any super-powers or high-tech gadgets, but I've always really loved them, probably because they're so emblematic of the Ditko era, as after he departs the book, they wouldn't be seen again in a Spider-Man comic until Marvel Team-Up #39 (although without the original Ox, whose story took a different path in the pages of Daredevil). The other thing that makes the Enforcers so memorable for certain fans is the fact that they're so visually exciting: it's three different villains, each with their own unique talent, attacking Spider-Man at once, which leads to some of the most engaging fight scenes of the Ditko era, allowing Steve to really show off how acrobatic and agile Spidey really is. In this issue, we not only get a couple of fun bouts with the Enforcers, but a fantastic battle scene that pits Spider-Man against a horde of the Big Man's associates, plus the Enforcers and the Big Man himself. It's a truly spectacular sequence, at a scale we've never seen in a Spider-Man comic up to this point; Spidey himself keeps thinking that he's getting tired out and needs to call for reinforcements. Ditko makes great creative use of the location, with Spidey leaping over cars, slamming car doors into attacking henchmen, swinging on crane hooks; it's one of Steve's finest hours.
That cover also proclaims that in this issue, we'll learn why J Jonah Jameson really hates Spider-Man -he's jealous of him - and though this explanation is confined to a mere three panels, Ditko conveys a palpable sense of shame and bitterness on the face of the Bugle's esteemed publisher, whilst Stan's dialogue provides more insight into Jameson's character than we'd see for a long time, as this little titbit of characterisation is all we'd really see of who Jameson is beneath all the bluster for a good few years. As said in a previous post, Jameson is my favourite supporting character in all of comics, so to get a clearer look at the man behind the flat-top haircut and the cigar is always a delight.
I haven't even mentioned the host of other memorable moments: Peter giving Aunt May a transfusion using his spider-irradiated blood, Flash showing his soft side for the first time when he warns Peter that it's dangerous to challenge the Enforcers, and, most significantly of all, Betty's decision to leave New York for fear that Peter will get involved in the mess that she's in. Issue #10 is jam-packed with excitement, intrigue and mystery, and it ends with Peter unable to contact the girl he's grown to care about, while she sits alone in Pennsylvania, lamenting the fact that she's cut him out of her life. When I was first getting into Spider-Man, the first collected editions I bought were the Marvel Masterworks, the first volume of which ended with this very issue, and that tantalising cliff-hanger, and you can bet I was on tenterhooks to find out what happened next (the day I got that second volume was a highlight of my formative years). It's getting harder and harder to do these issues justice, because there's just so much to talk about, and I don't want these posts to go on forever, so let me just say that this is just as good, if not better than the previous issue (which was already a masterpiece in my eyes), and one of the best Spider-Man stories of the Silver Age.
Rating: 5/5
Next time, Peter and Betty are reunited, but their happiness is short-lived when tragedy strikes, and Spider-Man's life reaches a turning point!
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