"ENTER: DR OCTOPUS"
Writer: Stan Lee/Penciller: John Romita Sr./Inker: Mike Esposito/Letterer: Artie Simek/Editor: Stan Lee/Cover Art: John Romita Sr.
Synopsis: Doctor Octopus is back, and attempts to steal the US military's top secret nullifier, looking to sell it to the highest bidder...
Review: It always seems to me that during the Silver Age, they would only bring out Doc Ock if they had something real special to offer. Every Doc Ock story from Stan's lengthy run on ASM is one of the very best of the era, and this is no exception. In fact, second only to the Master Planner Saga, the four part epic that begins with this issue may be my favourite Doctor Octopus story of all time, although it does have some stiff competition. At the time of publication, this was also the longest storyline that had ever been attempted in the pages of ASM; after the mammoth success of the Kingpin trilogy, it seems that Stan felt that big, multi-part stories were the way to go, and on this occasion, he wasn't wrong.
It's the first time that Romita gets to draw Doctor Octopus, and he delivers what I believe to be the definitive portrayal of the character. Yes, I adore Ditko's original, and I do feel that Ditko did a better job at keeping Ock's tentacles busy in the background - each one was always doing something different - but Romita just draws a quintessentially classic Otto Octavius, complete with his triangular goggles, bowl-shaped haircut, and of course, those famous hydraulic tentacles. Never before had we seen just how much power those tentacles have; Romita's distinctive 'crunch' that dominates his action scenes suits Doc Ock really well; we feel the weight of the tentacles as they lunge forward, as they sweep aside the petty nuisance of a security guard, as they lift Octavius high up into the air so that he has a better shot at socking Spider-Man on the jaw. The whole battle between Spider-Man and Ock is just classic; a beautiful action scene that encapsulates just why Doc Ock is one of comicdom's greatest villains, and why no one is better to go up against him than the web-head.
The plot itself is pretty basic, but it gets the job done. Doc Ock wants the nullifier so he can sell it to fund his criminal empire. That's all we need, and Lee and Romita throw in enough moments of interest to keep things engaging. I get a good laugh out of Ock's trap for Spider-Man - using a specially rigged explosive dummy as bait - especially as he prefaces his explanation of said trap by reminding everyone that he was the world's greatest atomic scientist before the accident that turned him to crime; this is relevant to setting up a booby trap because...? It's also nice to get an explanation of how Ock managed to escape drowning in Issue #33, and what do you know? The explanation actually makes a kind of sense, which isn't always a guarantee in Silver Age Marvel - remember just a few issues ago when Spider-Man was revived by extreme cold?
It wouldn't be Lee and Romita Spider-Man without some good old-fashioned soap-opera, and a good chunk of the issue is dedicated to scenes with Peter, Gwen, and the rest of the ESU gang. I absolutely love these scenes; Flash - in full military uniform - trying to put Peter down by calling him 'civilian' provides a new source of tension between the two of them, although I'm a bit puzzled about Harry's sudden annoyance with Peter's unexplained comings and goings; this has never been brought up before, so it seems a bit odd having the young Mr Osborn randomly start criticising Peter for never being around. The character that really stands out, however, is Gwen, who really starts to come into her own with this issue, as Stan reminds us that she is also a science major at ESU, and she has the intelligence to go with it. Gwen's scientific knowledge is never brought up all that often, so it's very welcome to see it pointed out here when she talks with Professor Warren about the nullifier. Speaking of Professor Warren, does anyone else get the shivers whenever they read his scenes here? Obviously Stan never intended for the character to become the creepy psychopathic stalker that Gerry Conway turned him into, but his little comment about Peter asking Gwen to accompany them to the science expo - "I certainly admire your choice, Parker!" - is positively skin-crawling in hindsight.
A little side-note on the subject of supporting characters: we get a beaut of a scene between Spider-Man and Jameson right at the start of the issue, where Spidey hurls out one of his greatest ever zingers at the Bugle's peerless publisher: "Anyone who pays a dime for that scandal sheet oughtta get eleven cents change!" It's a bit of a shame we don't get another appearance for Robbie right away after he appeared last issue, but with so much else going on, it probably would have been difficult to fit him in.
Hot off the top-notch trilogy they've only just finished, Lee and Romita deliver another all-time great with this issue, and it's only just beginning! A triumphant return for Doctor Octopus, who has never looked better, the growing romance between Peter and Gwen, and some of the best Romita artwork to date ensures that the latest multi-part Spidey epic gets off to a pretty perfect start.
Rating: 5/5
Next time, Aunt May and Anna Watson take in a new boarder! The only trouble is, that boarder happens to be...Doctor Octopus...
No comments:
Post a Comment