The Amazing Spider-Man #18

November, 1964

Written by Stan Lee, Illustrated by Steve Ditko

Bizarre Line: There’s an aside from the super heroine The Wasp as she discusses Spider-man’s woes: Wasps and spiders are natural enemies, so I don’t feel that bad for him. (Page 2)

This is actually true. There are certain types of wasps, particularly the South American Spider wasp, which kill and lay their eggs inside large spiders. While freakishly horrifying, I don’t think that this should rule the sociability between The Wasp and Spider-man who are both generally nice people.

The End of Spider-man

Spider-man does not get into a fight in this issue. This is the only hero-based comic I’ve ever seen where the main hero does not get into some type of altercation. And it was a really good issue to boot.

The premise is based on Spider-man’s fight with the Green Goblin in issue #17, which I pretty much didn’t cover. I didn’t care much for the Green Goblin when he first appeared in issue #14 and I don’t find him much improved now. At least his drama has not improved. He’s basically some mysterious guy that wants to kill Spider-man in order to become famous. But he does have some new toys, like his jet flyer which replaced the motorized broom and pumpkin bombs. The new weapons made a difference in the level of action and it was a decent fight. But, as I said in the blog about issue 17, Spider-man has to run out on the fight in order to attend to Aunt May who has fallen ill.

His retreat is witnessed by hundreds of people and Jameson jumps on it. He starts running press about how Spider-man has “turned yellow” and how the Daily Bugle has been calling him a fraud since day one. And, for whatever reason, the fickle New York City of Stan Lee’s imagination buys Jameson’s crap again. Everyone starts calling Spidey a chicken.

Peter Parker also decides that, while his Aunt is sick, he can’t get into any fights as Spider-man. He knows that if something happens to him, May will definitely die. This leads to an amusing scene where he sees the classic three-guys-robbing-a-jewelry store and instead of stepping in and stopping the crime he finds a pay phone and calls the police.

He also randomly runs into the Sandman who was just walking down the street in his green and black shirt, apparently having broken out of prison since the Sinister Six escapade. We’ve reached the point where Lee is no longer writing prison break stories before every villain repeat. Spider-man knows he shouldn’t fight the Sandman while Aunt May is sick and, again, publically flees a fight, further damaging his reputation.

This is definitely a maturing issue for Peter Parker. He realizes that many of his problems, his difficult relationship with Betty Brant, the constant lying to Aunt May, his aloofness towards his classmates, all stems from his escapades as Spider-man. He thinks that every time he gets into a fight, he risks leaving his Aunt stranded and helpless. He decides that he will quit being Spider-man forever and begin to lead a normal life. He thinks, “I should have done this long ago…but I was too conceited. I enjoyed being Spider-man. It made me feel like something special. What a laugh that turned out to be!”(Page20).

Peter has finally realized that his adventures and his desires are not what drives his life. Aunt May and his love and appreciation for the woman who raised him is his main motivation and her safety and well-fare are put above everything else. Peter’s vices, his addiction to money, fame, and competition, are put on the backburner when May is in trouble.

He comes downstairs the day after his retirement to find that Aunt May is up and walking around, spritely as a young maid. She says, “Even though I’m an old woman, I’m no quitter. A person needs gumption- the will to live- the will to fight! You mustn’t worry about me too much, Peter dear. We Parkers are tougher than people think.” (Page21) Who can deny a woman when she drops a ‘gumption’? Of course, Peter takes this speech as inspiration and vows to come back next issue and kick some serious ass. And so ends an issue with no fighting.