"AND DEATH SHALL COME!"
Writer: Stan Lee/Penciller: Gil Kane/Inker: John Romita Sr./Letterer: Sam Rosen/Editor: Stan Lee/Cover Art: Gil Kane and John Romita Sr.
Synopsis: Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus battle to the death, but it won't be either of them that is fated to die...
Review: It seems fitting that my 100th post on this blog is a review of such a landmark issue as ASM #90. This issue represents a real turning point in the history of Spider-Man, as it was the first time a major supporting character was permanently killed off. Yes, Foswell was killed defending Jameson back in ASM #52, but Foswell had always been a pretty shifty, untrustworthy character, and by the time he died, he could hardly be called a core member of Spidey's supporting cast in the same way that George Stacy was by the time this issue was printed. At the time of publication, Captain Stacy's death was the most significant character death since Uncle Ben. The fact that both characters are elderly men who represent father figures to Peter is probably no coincidence.
The thing that may surprise some readers coming to this issue for the first time is that there's absolutely no foreshadowing to Stacys's death. What we get is a regular issue that acts as a conclusion to the Doc Ock trilogy, but Stacy just happens to die at the end. In the interim, what we get is very much in the vein of the previous issue, with lots of excellent action between Spidey and Doc Ock, including an absolutely wonderful sequence at the start of the issue in which Spider-Man evades Ock's tentacles when they chase him through a building and through an air vent; this is terrific stuff, and forcing the web-head to stay completely still so the tentacles don't detect that he's there makes for some top notch tension. Kane really nails Doctor Octopus by emphasising the snaky, complex web of his tentacles; these are the most intricate pieces of Ock artwork we've seen since Ditko's time, if not ever.
I also rather like the way in which Spider-Man defeats Ock in the end, as it's another example of Peter using his scientific brain to solve a problem rather than brute force. It's a rather far-fetched solution, but it's pretty ingenious and original all the same: he devises a new chemical formula for his web-shooters that acts a jamming 'device' to block Doctor Octopus' telepathic commands to his arms, causing them to attack each other, and eventually, their creator. It's a pretty smart idea, but ultimately the unpredictable thrashing of Ock's arms is the thing that leads to Captain Stacy's death, so I imagine Peter's cursing his scientific knowledge for once in his life. I will say that it is a bit disappointing that as soon as Stacy has been injured, Ock is completely forgotten about, despite presumably still being at the mercy of his tentacles. What happens to him? Does he get arrested? Taken to hospital? We don't get any answers here, or in the next issue. The limited series Spider-Man: Death and Destiny may provide the answers, but at time of writing, I must confess that I've not read it.
Stacy's death itself is an incredibly impactful scene, as you would hope it to be. He fatally injures himself saving a small boy from being crushed by falling rubble dislodged by Ock's mindless tentacles, and dies in Spider-Man's arms up on a rooftop. It's a quiet, intimate scene that acts as a fitting end to Stacy's story, particularly as he reveals that he knows that Peter is Spider-Man; Peter suspects that the old man always knew, and I tend to agree with him. Peter's final promise to Stacy, that he will love and cherish and take care of Gwen, is truly tear-jerking, especially given what we know with hindsight. In the issues to come - for the next several years, in fact - we'll see Spider-Man accused of murdering Stacy, and the fallout that comes with that, but for now, let's just allow ourselves to soak in the moment of the passing of one of Peter's most stalwart of supporting characters.
ASM #90 is almost perfect; it's only crime is forgetting about what happened to Doc Ock so quickly, but everything else is firing on every cylinder going. The artwork by Kane is simply divine - I really wish we'd got more from him - the action is just as tremendous as the previous issue and that final shock moment still packs a punch all these decades later. It's probably my least favourite of this Doc Ock trilogy, if only for the way Ock himself gets cast by the wayside, but it's still a terrific story, and essential Spider-Man reading nonetheless.
Rating: 4.5/5
Next time, the public turns against Spider-Man as the man called Bullitt stirs up hatred amongst the people of New York...
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