"TO STALK A SPIDER!"
Writer: Gerry Conway/Penciller: John Romita Sr./Inker: John Romita Sr./Letterer: John Costanza/Editor: Stan Lee/Cover Art: John Romita Sr.
Synopsis: A returning Kraven the Hunter brainwashes the Gibbon into becoming his mindless servant, in order to get revenge on Spider-Man...
Review: Though he's only continuing a story started by Stan Lee in the previous issue, and his era on ASM won't truly start until the next one, this is Gerry Conway's first penned instalment of The Amazing Spider-Man. The first writer to fully inherit the mantle from Stan the Man himself, and someone who would similarly leave an unforgettable stamp on the wall-crawler's history: all the more impressive when you remember he was just 19 when he was given the task of writing ASM. As said, here he's simply finishing the Gibbon plot that Stan began last time, but there's still a lot to dissect about it, so let's get going.
It's clear from this first issue alone that Gerry Conway knows these characters inside and out. His dialogue has always been one of his strongest points, and everyone here is talking not only how they should, but seemingly with more energy and vitality than they have done for a long time. Even though this isn't a story he himself dreamed up, Conway injects every page of this comic with a renewed sense of life. Tropes that had started to become old hat feel fresh again in the hands of a new writer. The scene in which Spidey broods over where Aunt May could have run off to, and how much he blames himself for her leaving, is as good as any similar moment penned by Stan; we feel Peter's hurt and pain in a way that we haven't in what feels like a very, very long time. All the forced paranoid tension about Gwen running away with Flash is gone, replaced by a worry for Peter that feels much more genuine and believable. His aunt, the one person he has always been able to rely on, that stabilising, constant presence in his life, has left without telling him where she's going. Despite reaching maturity by this point in the comic's history, this development makes Peter feel more on his own than he ever has before.
It's not all brooding and anxiety, however, as Conway makes sure to include a fun little scene at the Bugle as well, proving that he can write for Jameson and Robbie just as well as he can for Peter. Jameson's over the moon at the idea that May Parker may have been kidnapped by Spider-Man, and says that he wants Peter to take pictures of himself when he hears the news; that one got a real laugh out of me. Gwen pops in for a brief appearance as well, though she doesn't do much other than say how guilty she feels for pushing Aunt May away with her harsh words back in Issue #109. Regardless, it feels as though Conway is trying to cover as many of the regulars as he can with his first issue, just to let readers know that the characters they know and love are in very safe hands. I'd say he succeeds.
The real meat of the plot is all the stuff with Kraven and the Gibbon, and even in this I find something of interest, despite the Gibbon still not being the most inspiring of characters. It's Kraven that shines in this issue, more menacing and powerful than ever; even with a broken arm, he can still fight off a rage-fuelled, super-strong Gibbon without much hassle. I love the way Conway writes for Kraven here, emphasising the Hunter's disdain for the civilised world, and his admiration of the bestial and animalistic. What we would see as primitive regression, he sees as accepting and embracing our true natures. This is easily the best Kraven has been written since the Ditko era; an imposing, half-mad psychopath, but still with some semblance of honour and loyalty. He wants revenge on Spider-Man not for any past defeats, but for Spider-Man's role in the death of Gog, the alien that Kraven befriended in the Savage Land. As in that story, this shows us a side to Kraven that we haven't really seen before, something that doesn't quite make him sympathetic, but does make him a bit more human.
The actual fight between Spidey and the Gibbon isn't much of a fight, as it's all over pretty quickly, but I do like the added tension of Kraven telepathically ordering the Gibbon to KILL SPIDER-MAN; it makes for a very different type of action scene. My only real complaint about the way this is all resolved is that there's no kind of happy ending for Martin Blank; he just gets defeated by Spider-Man and that's it. It would have been nice to see him gain some kind of acceptance by someone after all the pain and humiliation he's been through all his life, not to mention Kraven's mental manipulation. Something like that would have just brought a bit more closure to the story, and instead we're left hanging a bit with regard to Martin's fate. I do absolutely love that final panel of Kraven, however; Romita imbues such raw emotion into that despondent, defeated pose, and Conway's dialogue: "All I have -- is the taste of ashes," is beautifully evocative.
Despite not being one of his best issues, ASM #111 is an admirable start for Gerry Conway, wrapping up Stan's Gibbon story rather well, and to be honest, I think this is much better than Stan's first instalment. The characterisation is richer and fresher, there's a nice amount of depth to the scenes between Kraven and the Gibbon, and Conway's handling of the regulars is top notch as well. We'll have to wait for the next issue for his run to really begin, but this is an issue that bodes well for the future.
Rating: 3.5/5
Next time, seeing as we've now finished every story from it, let's have a countdown of my Top 5 favourite stories from the Lee/Romita/Kane Era...
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