"...TO BECOME AN AVENGER!"
Writer: Stan Lee/Layouts: John Romita Sr./Penciller: Don Heck/Inker: Mike Esposito/Letterer: Artie Simek/Editor: Stan Lee/Cover Art: John Romita Sr. and Steve Ditko
Synopsis: Spider-Man is invited to become a member of the Avengers, but in order to gain his membership, he will have to bring the Hulk to Avengers HQ...
Review: The first Spidey annual without Steve Ditko (not counting the reprints that we'll get to shortly) is a significant drop in quality from the previous two. Whether that's because of the lack of Ditko, or something else entirely, I'm not sure, but this story is sorely lacking in the kind of special magic that made those first two annuals feel like true events. Yes, the concept is a big one - Spidey making a bid to join the biggest team in Marvel - but the execution of this concept is pretty poor, and it ends up feeling like the opposite of an event: it's a complete non-entity.
Maybe my general apathy towards the Avengers has something to do with it. I've never been the biggest fan of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, at least not when they're teamed up; I much prefer the characters that can carve out their own little corner of the Marvel Universe with their own unique tone, style and cast of characters. Whilst the likes of Thor and Iron Man are fine on their own, in a team like this, they tend to just get lost in the shuffle, at least to my mind. It doesn't help that the Avengers come across like complete dolts in this story; from the opening splash page you have to wonder how on Earth they've ever managed to get anything done: they've apparently been staring at a photo of Spider-Man for goodness-knows how long before saying to themselves, "Right, we should probably decide whether we're going to ask him to join, shouldn't we?" Not only this, but when he finally gets there, they don't even have a test for him to perform to gain his membership; who the hell is running this outfit, anyway? It's a shambles.
Thankfully, we can always rely on Spider-Man to lift our spirits, and I love his flippant remarks to Thor and the rest of the group, clearly setting him apart from the more typical square-jawed heroes of the Avengers. I'm less of a fan of the obligatory fight that breaks out between Spidey and the team; I've never had much patience for superheroes having fights for convoluted reasons, and this is a particularly egregious example, although the later battle with the Hulk is pretty entertaining, and at least the reasons behind it make a kind of sense. The way the Hulk is introduced is pretty woeful, however: Iron Man just conveniently remembers that the green goliath's been sighted in the area and the Avengers decide that bringing him back to their HQ will be the perfect test of Spider-Man's abilities; it's like every single plot development in this story is plucked out of thin air with no planning or forethought going into it.
One thing I do appreciate is that Spider-Man becomes one of the first people in the Marvel Universe to discover that Bruce Banner is the Hulk; this is a fairly significant step, as at this point, the Hulk's human identity was still a widely kept secret, and it gives me a bit of a flutter to know that my favourite character was one of the first to find out. I also like how this revelation convinces him not to return the Hulk to the Avengers, thinking that they plan to destroy him - this isn't actually the case, but misunderstandings were common in Silver Age Marvel - although it does basically mean that Spider-Man allows what is essentially a dangerous monster to walk the streets freely. I'm also slightly nonplussed by Bruce Banner's claim that the Hulk doesn't reach full strength until a few minutes after the transformation is complete. I don't recall that ever being an element of the Hulk comics of this time; correct me if I'm wrong, but this seems to be another example of plot developments created out of convenience rather than because they make sense.
There are some nice scenes with Peter mulling over the decision to become an Avenger, and how it will affect his life, and a really lovely scene at the end that shows Mr Parker at his neurotic, brooding best, but even they can't save this story from being a bit of a clunker. Not even the artwork lifts it up; John Romita may be doing the layouts, but Don Heck provides the finished pencils, and Heck's style just doesn't have the same oomph that Romita's has, although the Hulk looks really cool. I'm sure that the team were up against a time constraint to get this thing out for the summer, but this is the first Spidey annual that feels kind of lazy, as if it was slapped together at the last minute. There are far worse stories from the web-head's catalogue, but this is pretty dull stuff; the whole thing smacks of 'that'll do.'
Rating: 2/5
This annual also features two reprints; in this case, reprints of stories that are a million miles better. As the cover proclaims, we're treated to The Amazing Spider-Man #11 and #12. You can click the links I've provided to read my full reviews on these; fabulous stories both.
So, Spider-Man's third annual is a bit of a dud, save for the reprints, but we return to our regularly scheduled programme next time with ASM #44, and the long-awaited return of the Lizard...
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