"SPIDER-MAN GOES MAD!"
Writer: Stan Lee/Penciller: Steve Ditko/Inker: Steve Ditko/Letterer: Sam Rosen/Editor: Stan Lee/Cover Art: Steve Ditko
This review contains spoilers for ASM #24
Synopsis: An eminent European psychiatrist, Ludwig Reinhart, claims that Spider-Man has been living a double life for too long, and will soon begin to lose his mind. When Spidey begins to hallucinate that his old enemies are attacking him, it seems as if Reinhart's prediction has come true...
Review: First things first; we have to mention that cover. One of the most beautifully composed and exquisite covers in the history of Spider-Man; the pose of Spidey in the foreground, the phantom images of Sandman and Vulture either side of him, the nauseating geography of the room, symbolising Spidey's seeming descent into madness...it's just perfect. It's an eye-catching and striking cover for another of Lee and Ditko's best stories. Similar to ASM #18, this issue is a slightly offbeat tale with very little action, but plenty of humour and psychological drama, although strangely, the whole 'Spider-Man Goes Mad' concept doesn't actually present itself until page 7; that's a fair bit of build-up, considering each issue is now only 20 pages, but none of it's wasted; we get a brilliant sequence of Spider-Man stopping some burglars, Foswell arriving on the scene - meaning Peter can't use the photos he took of the action - Betty getting another letter from Ned in Europe, Jameson deciding to run a series in the Bugle where the public spout their own negative opinions of Spider-Man; as with most every Ditko issue, there's a whole heap of things going on, but none of it feels half-baked or rushed.
When the madness idea does present itself, it's done in a very comic booky way: Spider-Man begins hallucinating that his old enemies are attacking him, but that's totally fine; it means we get some more classic Ditko renditions of Doc Ock, Sandman and Vulture, so I'm not complaining. It is true that Peter is a bit too quick to believe that Reinhart's diagnosis is correct - before he even starts hallucinating, even - but it means the story moves at a good pace, and Ditko gives us some of his best ever 'panic face' artwork throughout. Of course, reading this with hindsight, we know that Spider-Man isn't really going insane, and that Reinhart is obviously going to turn out to be a villain, and indeed he is; an old villain in fact, Mysterio, using his illusions and knowledge of special effects to make Spidey think he's cracking up. I adore Mysterio, and it's great to see him return here, even if he doesn't wear his iconic costume. I particularly love his explanation of how he rigged all this up at the end, and we realise that Ditko was setting things up earlier without us realising: having a cat or a bat around whenever Spider-Man experiences a hallucination; we find out at the end that these are Mysterio's spy devices; it's great plotting.
Probably the highlight of the issue, however, is the climax, where Spider-Man visits Reinhart's house for a personal consultation. The moment where he walks into an office that's upside down - Reinhart's word balloons are similarly inverted - is brilliant enough, but by a twist of coincidence, we also get Jameson and Flash involved in the action, with Jameson rushing to confront Reinhart for being a fraud, and Flash trying to find Peter so that he can warn him to stay away from Liz. There's a magnificent scene where Flash spots Jameson and begins chasing him up the street, protesting the Bugle's anti-Spider-Man rhetoric, and Jameson yells at him to "go play in traffic." Say what you will about Flash - personally, he's one of my favourite characters - he won't stand for biased and unfair journalism. You've also got to love the fact that Jameson barges into Reinhart's office at the exact moment that Reinhart was going to get Spider-Man to unmask, which inadvertently saves his enemy's secret; Jameson's reaction when he realises this is priceless.
ASM #24 is another all-time great. It's not without its plot holes - why doesn't Spider-Man's spider-sense let him know that the projections aren't real, or that Reinhart isn't to be trusted? - but I can overlook these because the story is so engaging and genuinely unique. You really wouldn't have seen a plot like this in any of Marvel's other titles at the time; Lee and Ditko (mainly Ditko) were just firing on all cylinders at this point, putting out classic after classic, and it doesn't end here; some of their best work was still to come, even as their own working relationship was falling apart. How's that for ironic?
Rating: 5/5
Next time, inventor Spencer Smythe presents his latest creation: a robot that can capture Spider-Man, and he wants J Jonah Jameson to test it...
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