"ON WINGS OF DEATH!"
Writer: Stan Lee/Penciller: John Romita Sr./Inker: Sal Buscema/Letterer: Artie Simek/Editor: Stan Lee/Cover Art: John Romita Sr.
Synopsis: With Gwen gone, Peter reminisces about how his life as Spider-Man all started, whilst the Beetle terrorises Forest Hills...
Review: This issue has something of the feel of an annual. By that, I mean that there's a bit of new content in the form of the Beetle story, but nearly half the issue is taken up with flashbacks and recaps so that new readers can get caught up with the world of Spider-Man. I'm assuming that this was done for one of two reasons (possibly both). One is that Stan felt it was time to give newcomers a retelling of the origin story, since it had been so long since Amazing Fantasy #15 had seen print. The other is that he was starting to run out of ideas, and needed something simple to fill a month's issue. The fact that the Beetle stuff is so basic adds credence to this second theory, but that's not to say that the issue is bad; far from it.
As retellings of the origin go, it's one of the better ones, thanks largely to Romita's artwork, although we are missing a few crucial scenes, as the story has been cut down for the sake of brevity. As a result, we get no insight into Peter's life as a picked-on student of Midtown High, the wrestling match against Crusher Hogan is completely removed (as it so often is in these retellings), and the burglar rushes past Spidey as soon as the web-slinger arrives at the TV studio, rather than just on one night in several. As with all of these origin retellings, it bears repeating: it does not matter how good your artist is, or how many little tweaks and revisions you make, nothing will ever match the Ditko original for storytelling, pacing or artwork. Amazing Fantasy #15 contains a textbook example of how to craft a compelling comic book story in just eleven pages, and no attempt at retelling has ever matched it. Still, a pretty game effort from Lee and Romita, although I am confused as to why flashbacks to Peter's interactions with Jameson and Betty are needed; could we not have just got on with the Beetle stuff a bit quicker?
The Beetle story itself is, as I said before, very basic, but it gets the job done and after all the turmoil and tragedy in Peter's life lately, it's kind of fitting to go back to a simple 'hero stops the villain' story. The Beetle has never been a favourite of mine, but Romita gets some cool action scenes out of him, especially with those telescopic suction feelers, and I especially like all the scenes with Aunt May in this issue as she's kidnapped by the Beetle and Spidey swings into action to save her. May is a little on the wacky side in this issue, and I think Stan goes a bit too far with her treating Peter like a child, but the relationship between her and her nephew is as charming as ever, and it's nice to actually have her in the comic again after a general absence of late. The Beetle's plan is like something out of Scooby-Doo; he's breaking into various shops in Forest Hills that are all situated next to a bank. One of them is directly adjacent to the bank's vault, but Beetle doesn't know which one, so he keeps attacking each in turn. This plan is so blindingly obvious it's a wonder why nobody guesses it from looking at the shops that have been broken into, but I suppose the Forest Hills police force might be a little slow.
ASM #94 is a fairly simple affair: an origin recap and the most standard supervillain plot you could think of, but it's still a pretty entertaining story and Stan manages to deftly weave the origin together with the Beetle story by having Peter feel that by saving Aunt May from the Beetle, he's started to pay off the debt he owes Uncle Ben; it's pretty heart-warming stuff. Too much of the issue is dedicated to the origin retelling, and the authorities are even more thick-headed than usual for a superhero comic, but it's a decent little issue for what it is.
Rating: 3.5/5
Next time, Spider-Man travels to London Town, guvnor in search of Gwen, but ends up embroiled in a terrorist plot...
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