{"id":7789,"date":"2012-01-09T08:00:06","date_gmt":"2012-01-09T08:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=7789"},"modified":"2012-01-08T11:15:22","modified_gmt":"2012-01-08T11:15:22","slug":"marvel-masterworks-volume-22-amazing-spider-man-41-50-annual-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2012\/01\/09\/marvel-masterworks-volume-22-amazing-spider-man-41-50-annual-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Marvel Masterworks volume 22: Amazing-Spider-Man 41-50 & Annual 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"
\nBy Stan Lee<\/strong>, John Romita<\/strong> Sr. & various (Marvel)
\nISBN: 0-87135-914-6<\/p>\n

The rise and rise of the wondrous web-spinner continued and even increased pace as the decade progressed, and by the time of the tales in this fourth sumptuous hardcover (collecting Amazing Spider-Man<\/strong> #41-50 and Annual<\/strong> 3, spanning October 1966 to July 1967) Peter Parker and friends were on the way to being household names as well as the darlings of college campuses and the media intelligentsia.<\/p>\n

By 1966 Stan Lee and Steve Ditko could no longer work together on their greatest creation. After increasingly fraught months the artist simply resigned, leaving Spider-Man without an illustrator. Meanwhile John Romita had been lured away from DC’s romance line and given odd assignments before assuming the artistic reins of Daredevil, the Man Without Fear<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Now he was co-piloting the company’s biggest property and expected to run with it.<\/p>\n

With issue #41 and ‘The Horns of the Rhino!’<\/em> Romita took complete artistic control, inking his own pencils in a blockbusting rip-roarer as a super-strong spy tasked with abducting J. Jonah Jameson<\/em>‘s astronaut son was stopped by the Astounding Arachnid, who found the victim a far harder proposition in the next issue. Amazing Spider-Man<\/strong> #42 ‘The Birth of a Super-Hero!’<\/em> saw John Jameson<\/em> mutated by space-spores and go on a terrifying rampage in a explosive, entertaining yarn only really remembered for the last panel of the final page\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Mary Jane Watson<\/em> had been a running gag for years; a prospective blind-date arranged by Aunt May<\/em> whom Peter had narrowly avoided – and the creators had skilfully not depicted – for the duration of time that our hero had been involved with Betty Brant<\/em>, Liz Allen<\/em>, and latterly Gwen Stacy<\/em>. In that last frame the gob-smacked young man finally realised that he been ducking the hottest chick in New York for two years!<\/p>\n

‘Rhino on the Rampage!’<\/em> in #43 gave the horn-headed villain one more crack at Jameson and Spidey, but the emphasis was solidly on foreshadowing future foes and building Pete and MJ’s relationship.<\/p>\n

The Marvel mayhem continued with the return of a tragedy-drenched old foe as Stan & John reintroduced biologist Curt Conners <\/em>in #44\u00e2\u20ac\u00b2s ‘Where Crawls the Lizard!’<\/em>. The deadly reptilian marauder threatened Humanity itself and it took all of the wall-crawler’s resourcefulness to stop him in the cataclysmic concluding chapter ‘Spidey Smashes Out!’<\/em><\/p>\n

Issue #46 introduced another all-new menace in the form of seismic super-thief ‘The Sinister Shocker!’<\/em> who proved little match for the Web-spinner whilst ‘In the Hands of the Hunter!’<\/em> brought back a fighting-mad and extremely vengeful Kraven to menace the family of Peter Parker’s new best friend Harry Osborn.<\/p>\n

Apparently the obsessive big-game hunter had entered into a contract with Harry’s father (the super-villainous Green Goblin<\/em> until a psychotic break turned him into a traumatised amnesiac) and now the Russian rogue wanted paying off or payback\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Luckily Spider-Man was on hand to dissuade him, but it’s interesting to note that at this time the student life and soap-opera sub-plots became increasingly important to the mix, with glamour girls Mary Jane and Gwen Stacy (superbly delineated by the masterful Romita) as well as former bully Flash Thompson<\/em> and the Osborns getting as much or more \u00e2\u20ac\u0153page-time\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as Aunt May or the Daily Bugle staff, who had previously monopolised the non-costumed portions of the ongoing saga.<\/p>\n

Amazing Spider-Man<\/strong> #48 introduced Blackie Drago<\/em>: a ruthless thug who shared a prison cell with one of the wall-crawler’s oldest foes. At death’s door the ailing super-villain revealed his technological secrets, enabling Drago to escape and master ‘The Wings of the Vulture!’<\/em><\/p>\n

Younger, faster, tougher, the new Vulture defeated Spider-Man and in #49\u00e2\u20ac\u00b2s ‘From the Depths of Defeat!’<\/em> battled Kraven the Hunter until a restored and reinvigorated Wall-crawler stepped in to thrash them both.<\/p>\n

Issue #50 introduced one of Marvel’s greatest villains in the first of a three part yarn that saw the beginnings of romance between Parker and Gwen Stacy and the death of a cast member, re-established Spidey’s war on cheap thugs and common criminals (a key component of the hero’s appeal was that no criminal was too small for him to bother with) and saw a crisis of conscience force him to quit in ‘Spider-Man No More!’<\/em> only to return and become entangled ‘In the Clutches of\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 the Kingpin!’<\/em> (inked by Mike Esposito, moonlighting from DC as Mickey Demeo).<\/p>\n

The remaining two chapters of that groundbreaking, gang-busting triptych are reproduced in the next volume but there’s still one last treat in store\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

This chronicle concludes with ‘\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6To Become an Avenger!’<\/em> (Amazing Spider-Man Annual<\/strong> # 3 and out of sequence – so if you’re that way inclined read this tale first) as the World’s Mightiest Heroes offered the Web-Spinner membership in the team and an end to most of his pecuniary and P.R. woes if he could capture the Hulk.<\/p>\n

As usual all was not as it seemed but the action-drenched epic, courtesy of Lee, Romita (on layouts), Don Heck & Demeo\/Esposito is the kind of guest-heavy package that made those summer specials a kid’s ultimate delight.<\/p>\n

Topped off with a cover gallery and glorious pin-ups of the entire cast of Peter Parker’s life, one last Ditko action-page and a group shot of Spidey with all the heroes stronger than him, this classic compendium is the ideal way to introduce or reacquaint readers with the formative Spider-Man. The brilliant adventures are superb value and this series of books should be the first choice of any adult with a present to buy for an impressionable child.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Or for their greedy, needy selves\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6
\n\u00c2\u00a9 1966, 1967, 1997 Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Stan Lee, John Romita Sr. & various (Marvel) ISBN: 0-87135-914-6 The rise and rise of the wondrous web-spinner continued and even increased pace as the decade progressed, and by the time of the tales in this fourth sumptuous hardcover (collecting Amazing Spider-Man #41-50 and Annual 3, spanning October 1966 to July 1967) Peter Parker … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Marvel Masterworks volume 22: Amazing-Spider-Man 41-50 & Annual 3”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[72,79,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marvel-masters-masterworks","category-marvel-superheroes","category-spider-man"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-21D","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7789\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}