The Amazing Spiderman #8

January, 1964

Written by Stan Lee, Illustrated by Steve Ditko

Bizarre Line:

Peter won’t let Flash Thompson have a piece of paper and Thompson says, “Well, well. So the worm turns, eh? And in your case I do mean worm!”

Wikipedia actually didn’t know what this meant. But Phrasefinder did. “The worm turns” is a phrase meaning that someone previously downtrodden gets his revenge or that an unfavorable situation is reversed. It probably derives from an old proverb, 'Tread on a worm and it will turn.' It means that even the most humble creature tries to counteract rough treatment. Flash has actually used this phrase correctly.

The Terrible Threat of the Living Brain

I’m going to keep this short, because this issue is awful. The cover says it’s a “Special Tribute to Teenagers.” This made me wary and I was right to be so. ‘Tribute to Teenagers’ means ‘dumbed down more than normal.’

Basically, Midtown High has brought in a super-robot to demonstrate in the science class. The machine is really smart and can answer any question. The scientist in charge of the robot, Dr. Petty, gives it the name ‘The Living Brain.’ This is a complete misnomer as a normal brain, one which resides in a mammal or reptile, is living, whereas this one is not. He might have named it ‘The Only Non-Living Brain.’ This would have been more accurate. The robot runs amuck after someone bumps it and Spiderman has to figure out how to shut the thing off.

The social aspect of the issue features the final showdown between Peter Parker and Flash Thompson. Their science teacher, sick of the verbal jousting in his classroom, suggests that they go to the gym and box.

Of course.

Peter spends the whole time trying to pull his punches but ends up knocking Flash unconscious twice, one time for over half an hour. He might have damaged Flash’s spinal cord and he definitely gave him a concussion. I will pay attention to see if Flash is markedly stupider after this issue. Peter still comes out as the heel because of a foul during the boxing match.

Stan Lee couldn’t drag The Living Brain story out for the whole issue, so there’s a short story at the end. It goes like this: Spiderman visits the Human Torch’s girlfriend’s house in order to try and steal her away from Johnny. The Torch is there and everyone’s having a good time. Spiderman creeps in the back door and throws webbing on everyone, then proceeds to ridicule the party. He fights the Torch, the same Torch that gave him the inspirational speech which helped him defeat Dr. Octopus (Amazing Spiderman #3). After fighting the Human Torch for a while, the rest of the Fantastic Four shows up. He fights them too. Then he makes a pass at Sue Storm and leaves. The end.

I guess Stan Lee was receiving a lot of letters asking who would win in a fight, Spiderman or the Human Torch, and, since this was a tribute to teenagers, he decided to give it to them. Spiderman behaves completely out of character the entire time and I don’t tend to treat this small piece of poop as part of the series.

The only point of interest in this whole comic was that Jack Kirby drew his first Spiderman in the Spidey vs. Torch section. There are some differences. Spiderman’s a little bulkier and the eyes on his costume are smaller. Kirby also draws regular people in a more classic way which reminds me of art deco from the twenties. If I had to pick, I’d say I’m a Ditko man. I like Spiderman small and wiry, and his extras have more personality and a unique look to them. Let’s just move on to the next issue. I think it’s the first appearance of Electro. So that should be good.