Screw It, We're Just Gonna Talk About Spider-man

After a whole issue of doubt, Spider-Man is back into action! For the first time in the comic’s run we have a whole issue where Spider-Man is joyously being Spider-Man, and it is FUN! Your hosts love this issue, which is zero surprise.

One of the best issues of the original run, according to your co-hosts Will and Kevin! There is no villain for this issue as Peter deals with the fallout of his decision to quit being Spider-Man as he cares for his Aunt May. Co-creators Steve Ditko and Stan Lee pull off a masterful buildup of tension to one of the Hines’ favorite endings to a Spider-Man ish ever! Check it out!

The Green Goblin is back and he’s meaner and smarter. Pete’s love life is once again falling apart as he can’t convince working girl Betty that popular rich girl Liz means nothing to him. Everyone loves the Human Torch more than Spidey. And then: a twist near the end that ups the drama and leaves this issue as the start of one of the best Spidey stories of the original era, at least according to your hosts Kevin and Will!

Co-hosts Kevin and Will Hines ask: If you’ve got a top hat that can hypnotize anyone -- why not open a circus? Well, that’s the apparent decision by this issue’s villain; The Ringmaster! Previously appearing in The Hulk, this actually-twirling-an-evil-mustache villain is BACK, and this time he’s got a whole circus of weirdly-shaped crime thugs!

We take a break from analyzing the old comics to discuss: Spider-Man movies! Kevin and Will talk about their lifelong dream to see a good Spider-Man movie, and what it felt like to see it realized in the original (2001) Spider-Man! We talk about what we like and didn’t like about each of the big movies. We talk about the movie WE’D make given unlimited budget and power (in other words, as if we were the Green Goblin in issue 14!).

For the first-ever Spider-Man annual, there’s a special event: six of Spidey’s worst baddies team up to try and defeat him together…. By fighting him ONE AT A TIME! Also, most of Marvel’s other heroes casually walk in and out of the story, doing very little but plugging their own comics! And Spidey loses his powers for almost four pages! AND … the art is amazing, the dialogue very truly funny and this is a fun fun ride.

He’s a hunter and you know that because he is wearing a vest made out of a LION. He’s KRAVEN the HUNTER, and he debuts in this issue, Amazing Spider-Man 15. Kevin and Will -- er, no surprise -- love the issue, though they also admit it has the usual number of insane moments -- like Kraven winning over NYC by wrestling to the ground dangerous animals which he had just brought into the country himself! Oh yeah, and The Chameleon is back, due to zero popular demand!

Scott Aukerman (Comedy Bang! Bang!, Are You Talking REM Re: Me?) is our guest to talk about this issue of Spidey which features the debut of The Green Goblin! It is also inspired a Marvel comic which Scott wrote (Spider-Man/Deadpool #6), which is really cool! Kevin and Will talk about stuff too!

The probably-quickly-named villain MYSTERIO is the bag guy of issue 13, and hosts Kevin and Will … no mystery here … like him a lot! He has a whole bag of tricks designed to scare Spidey which end up sending our hero to a psychiatrist! This series is turning into Mad Men, if Don Draper wore a mask and saved people (which of course, he kind of did). CHECK IT OUT!

Maybe our favorite issue yet! Action, drama, humor and as always amazing Steve Ditko art! Doc Ock unmasks Spidey! He really does it, but there’s a TWIST that helps Spidey protect his identity. Plus Will bought comics this week and Kevin loves when Loki and Thor are nice to each other.

It’s the return of premier Spidey villain Doctor Octopus, and this issue sizzles! We’ve got melodrama in Peter’s growing love affair with Betty Brant! A new troubled character who threatens to destroy the people he loves with his gambling addiction! A climactic battle! And a bunch of times Doc Ock calls people FOOLS! WE LOVE THIS ISSUE!

The best worst villains in the Spider-Man universe: it’s the Enforcers! Ox! Montana! And the even more insanely-named Fancy Dan! Artist Steve Ditko really seems to be following a “make ‘em fun-to-draw first, worry about the story second” rule with these guys, and your co-hosts Kevin and Will couldn’t be happier. These villains, led by the almost-but-not-quite-as silly “Big Man” are some our favorite villains. Honestly the story is pretty fun. Come on in and get ENFORCED!

One of the coolest powers yet most desperate costumes ever, Electro is the villain for this issue. He’s got lightning bolts on his wrists, ankles and face, and he’s called Electro. Now, what do you think his powers revolve around? But despite this costume, this issue has some of the most moving and affecting storytelling yet in the series! Co-hosts/brothers Kevin and Will freak out about it!

Alex Fernie (UCB, Bajillion Dollar Properties, Do You Want To See A Dead Body?) is our first ever guest as we go over Issue 8, the oddly subtitled “Tribute To Teenagers” issue. A tribute in that there are teenagers IN the story, and that might be the total tribute that happens. Also there’s a huge killer robot, Peter punches Flash and Peter is a straight-up bully to the Human Torch in the backup story. All right!

Our first return villain and it’s our favorite winged septuagenarian (assuming) The Vulture! Peter Parker’s brilliant “Anti magnetic inverter” (?) no longer stops bird-brain, so how will Spider-Man beat this weird old man who flies? Other questions: why do Parker’s classmates stay so caught up on crime news? How far will JJJ go to save a buck? Are Peter and Betty crushing (yes)? Kevin and Will loves this issue. The sense of humor is coming through more, while the action stays great.

This issue introduces what will be another classic Spidey villain: The Lizard! Spider-Man travels to the swamps of Florida to battle this tragic scientist-turned-lizard-man! And JJJ is along for the ride. Kevin is moved by The Lizard’s tears! Will realizes that he might like JJJ as much as if not more than Spider-Man!

Spidey meets Marvel’s most notorious villain --- the very unsubtly named Doctor Doom! An exciting idea that leads to a just okay story! But even a sub-par Doom story has all that great/ridiculous Doctor Doom dialogue! Never has a villain referred to himself in the third person like Doctor Doom! The issues also features a favorite trope: bully Flash Thompson getting humiliated!

Another major villain debuts: The Sandman! A man gets the power to separate himself into millions of tiny sentient beings and he uses it to…. Get big bags of money! Come on, Spidey still specializes in THUGS, no matter how powerful! Also: Spidey shows off in front of his high school classmates! Peter almost gets a date! Sandman can’t stop saying his own name! And MORE!

The debut of Doctor Octopus, one of the greatest Spidey villains of all time! Fittingly, this is the first truly great issue of Spider-Man! Great characters, moody beautiful art, terrific action and a great story! We can’t stop raving about this one!

We meet the first classic Spider-Man villain: The Vulture. Like all great Ditko villains, he seems created just for the cool visuals. He looks distinct and cool (or at least intriguingly odd), he's smart, he's mean, and he will be back.  And... there's also a second story! The tale of the Tinkerer. It is... an ungood story. Seems left over from the old Amazing Fantasy bin. But the art is great, and it gave future writers a good challenge to try to retroactively make this story fit into the universe.