"UNMASKED AT LAST!"
Writer: Stan Lee/Penciller: John Romita Sr./Inker: Jim Mooney/Letterer: Sam Rosen/Editor: Stan Lee/Cover Art: John Romita Sr.
Synopsis: As his spider powers seem to be failing him, Peter groggily makes his way to Gwen's birthday party, where he reveals the secret he's been keeping for all these years...
Review: As I said way back in my review of ASM #12, whenever a superhero comic teases the protagonist's secret identity being revealed on the cover, nine times out of ten this is a complete fake-out. This issue is no exception; it promises the reader that Peter's secret will be out at long last - the cover even tells us that if we only read one comic this month, it must be this one - and yet once we get into the story itself, we find that it's the same old cop-out nonsense. With that said, I do still rather like the issue.
In many ways, it's a bit of a brave experiment. An issue with no action whatsoever - unless you count Spider-Man weakly ripping a metal cupboard open as action - and no supervillain to fight, not even a petty criminal. Considering that so much of the Romita era can be accused of being style over substance, this is something that feels very different in its approach, without losing any of that stunning Romita artwork that we've come to love. This means we also get a lot of scenes with the supporting cast, and as always, this makes me very happy. Lots of panels dedicated to Gwen, MJ, Harry, and Captain Stacy, and even Randy Robertson and Josh Kittling turn up to Gwen's party, even if they're only seen briefly. More than any issue since perhaps the early days of the Romita era - certainly since ASM #68 - this spotlights the supporting cast a lot and gives the book that soap-opera feel that it hasn't managed to recapture until recently. I particularly get a kick out of Mary Jane in this issue; her comment to Gwen that Peter's "either a masked menace...or a psycho case" is wonderfully wry.
Peter himself is certainly acting out of sorts throughout the whole issue, and there are several pages dedicated to him randomly traversing the city, worried about what's happening to him. We get an answer to that question in this issue, and it's as disappointing as the cop-out about his identity being revealed: Peter has a bad case of the flu. The flu. All of that drama and all that was plaguing him was the flu. Not only is this immeasurably underwhelming, but I have to question Stan and John's depiction of the flu and its effects. Why does it make Peter randomly decide to steal a pearl necklace from a store for Gwen's birthday? Yes, the flu can make you groggy but it doesn't turn you into a bumbling, delirious imbecile. With all that said, the moment in which Peter arrives at Gwen's party, Spidey mask in hand and confessing his secret is genuinely impactful even though we know it's going to be undone by issue's end, mostly because of Romita giving the moment an entire splash page to itself.
Peter's solution to his problem once he's recovered from that lethal, kleptomania-inducing case of the flu? Why, find Hobie Brown of course, and ask him to don the Spider-Man costume when Peter returns to Gwen's house to make it look as though Peter and Spider-Man are two separate people. It's nice to see Hobie again, and this wrap-up does give us a cool scene where Peter swings around the city in his street clothes and a web mask - I always like seeing Peter go into action in his civvies - but much like Peter's ludicrous attempts at fooling Gwen and her dad from Issue #85, I have to ask how on earth Peter's friends are so gullible to believe this obvious ruse; surely Hobie's voice in the costume sounds completely different to Peter's?
It's strange that such a monumental moment - or something you would expect to be one - is essentially a filler issue. There's nothing much of importance that happens here - although Peter's ploy with Hobie will come back to bite him in a few issues' time - and everything's all wrapped up nice and neatly by the end. As said, I admire it for its experimentation, and it's a blast seeing so much of Gwen, Harry and rest of the gang, but I still feel that the issue is ultimately another big cop-out, in more ways than one. The flu? Seriously?
Rating: 3.5/5
Next time, Doctor Octopus returns...
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