The Amazing Spiderman #4

September, 1963

Written by Stan Lee, Illustrated by Steve Ditko

My Favorite Bizarre Reference

Random Criminal: Spiderman!

Spiderman: Well, it ain’t Dr. Kildare!

Wikipedia tells me that Dr. Kildare was a fictional medical doctor created by Frederick Schiller Faust that starred first in a radio show, then a television show and film, and then a short run of comics. I don’t know why Spiderman would bring up Dr. Kildare.

Nothing can Stop the Sandman

I’m not all that pumped about the Sandman story. Coming directly after the Dr. Octopus masterpiece, it seems sort of hokey. The Sandman is a smart aleck wise guy whose motivations are cardboard and childish. At one point he breaks into Peter Parker’s school and demands that the principal give him a diploma because he never graduated from high school. Other than that, he likes to rob banks and show off his freak-show powers.
At times, the plot got so predictable that it was funny. Peter Parker is carrying a bunch of old science project stuff to be thrown away as he thinks about how to defeat the Sandman. He runs into a janitor who says, “Leave’em there, sonny! I’ll get rid of’em as soon as I adjust this new King-sized vacuum cleaner!” I believe it was Anton Chekov who said, “"If in the first act you have hung a new King-sized vacuum cleaner on the wall, then in the following one it should suck up the villain. Otherwise don't put it there.” So, yeah, the Sandman eventually gets sucked into the thing and turned over to the police.
But the entire issue wasn’t a bust. There are some developments in Peter Parker’s social life that carry the story. But before I get into that, I need to make a note on Peter being a social outcast.
I’m not sure that he is a social outcast. Yes, the preppy group that’s always hanging around in science class or outside of school makes fun of him. All the time. But the razzing consistently comes right after they ask him to go somewhere and he turns them down. It goes like this: The group has an event to attend, one of the girls asks Peter to come along, he says he can’t, usually because Spiderman has something pressing to do, and then Flash Thompson calls him a bookworm. This has happened in almost every story.
I had a friend in high school named Tim. Tim was always telling us he was busy and couldn’t hang out. I specifically remember one time when he told us he couldn’t come to a party because he was painting a door. I remember this excuse because we made fun of him behind his back for about three years because of it. To this day, if Tim is in town for Thanksgiving and can’t come out the night before, someone will inevitably say, “Oh, he’s probably painting a door.”
We didn’t make fun of Tim because we disliked him or because we thought he was a dork. On the contrary, we thought Tim was super cool and wanted to hang out with him. But it constantly felt like he was dodging us, so we ragged on him to make ourselves feel better. Tim probably had a perfectly good reason for not going out. He might not have wanted to underage drink on a Wednesday night. Maybe he had to study. Maybe he was a masked adventurer and had to prowl the streets of East Carnegie. Maybe he actually had to paint a door. I don’t know.
The point is, it’s possible that Peter’s high school assailants are would-be friends. Peter keeps rejecting them and they prod at him in self-defense. In Amazing Spiderman #4 Peter has somehow secured a date with Liz Allen, the hottest chick in school. How could he do this if he wasn’t, on some level, popular? Peter has to break the date and Liz is hurt. She runs into the arms of Flash Thompson and he and Peter almost come to blows at the end of the issue before Peter realizes he might literally rip Thompson’s head from his shoulders if he punched him. The prettiest girl in school doesn’t choose between the jock and the desperate dweeb. She chooses between two popular kids. We see Peter Parker’s high school situation through his eyes and his sensitivities. Friends are reaching out to him and all he sees are insults and accusations of guilt.


This is a picture of Jenny painting a door. She still managed to get trashed that night.