Reading The Amazing Spider-Man: Issue Number Three
It's Tuesday, the day we get together for reading The Amazing Spider-Man with an eye on storyworld building and story franchise creation as seen via one of the finest examples of modern mythology — a comic book hero. And this issue, the third, is a big one, gang. It's the introduction of, arguably, one of Spider-Man's most enduring and influential nemesis. It's time for "Spider-Man Versus Doctor Octopus!"
The splash page for The Amazing Spider-Man issue three is interesting for that fact that, other than a stylized web-head design, Spider-Man doesn't actually appear. Nearly the whole page is given over to Doctor Octopus and his four mechanical arms menacingly reaching for the reader. An arrow-shaped caption points to the not-so-good doctor and declares him to be "the only enemy to ever defeat Spider-Man!" Never mind that the terrible Tinkerer got the drop on the amazing Spider-Man, knocked him out and imprisoned him just last issue — does that not count as a defeat?
The splash page has another arrow caption pointing to the only bona-fide super-hero represented: "See the Human Torch!" One more directs the reader, "And now, begin!" and it's time to turn the page.
Synopsis
The first page of our tale begins with the amazing Spider-Man breaking up a robbery and webbing up the three crooks in short order. These thugs might not have made it very far even without Spider-Man's interference, as they were wheeling an entire safe down the sidewalk, presumably to crack it or blow it open or some such in a location more convenient to them. Granted, it was "in the dead of night," but… I dunno. It's no wonder that Spider-Man thinks,
It's almost too easy! I've run out of enemies who can give me any real opposition! I'm too powerful for any foe! I almost wish for an opponent who'd give me a run for my money!
Not only is this a ham-fisted bit of foreshadowing on the part of wordsmith Stan Lee, an elephant gun on the mantlepiece, if you will… Spider-Man seems to forget that, again, just last issue, he was shot in the back and captured… by an old man in a sweater. And before that, he faced an old man in a bird suit who knocked him out and left him for dead. What's going to happen if the amazing Spider-Man has to face a villain who hasn't seen seventy years on the planet?
Well, turn the page, dear reader, for "at that moment, on the outskirts of town…" at the US Atomic Research Center, we meet Doctor Octopus, who doesn't seem a day over fifty.
As the good doctor puts on his mechanical arm harness and uses the four dials on the chest plate to manipulate the clawed, flexible metal appendages to pick up a book and mix some test tubes behind a thick glass shield, two bystanding technicians chat some exposition at us. Thanks to these two chatty slackers, we learn that Otto Octavious created the arms himself in order to work with dangerous radioactive materials. He's the "most brilliant atomic researcher in our country today!"
Since this is a comic book and there's radiation at hand, something must go wrong. Before the alarm can be sounded, there's a horrible explosion. After "the flames and smoke have partially cleared," two dudes in radiation hazard suits carry Octavious — his mechanical arms hanging limply at his sides — from the wreckage. Exhaustive tests reveal that "his mind has been permanently damaged" and that the radiation has caused his arms to "adhere to his body in some strange way!"
Uh oh.
Days later, Doctor Octopus regains consciousness. His first thought is that he needs to get back to work, but the doctors insist he stay in bed. Octavious takes this the wrong way because, see, he's crazy now. He thinks they're jealous of him and want to keep him away from his work, keep him prisoner.
Octavious quickly discovers his mechanical arms have become part of him, and that he can move them with his thoughts. He uses the arms to tear the bars off the window, thinking,
With such power and my brilliant mind, I'm the supreme human being on earth!
Rather than escape, he summons someone to "come in and shut the door behind you!" We don't see what goes on, but we must presume from the following that Doctor Octopus reveals his new prosthetics:
What is it? You — oh, no! No!
Ha-Ha! You don't believe what you see? But it's true! I'm all-powerful! From now on, I give the commands here!
You can almost hear the dramatic music swell and stab… and it's a perfect time to switch scenes. J. Jonah Jameson — whose publishing empire now includes the Daily Bugle — assigns Peter Parker the task of getting pictures of "the injured scientist, Dr. Octopus" at Bliss Hospital. Oddly, no one is allowed to enter the hospital any more, but teen phenom Peter Parker has a reputation of getting impossible pix… so in he goes.
Of course, he goes as the amazing Spider-Man, that night. Clinging to the wall outside Octavious' room, he sees that the good doctor has forced the hospital staff to bring his work to him. Doctor Octopus is busy with test tubes and beakers with five of his limbs and threatens his hostages with one mechanical tentacle.
One hostage protests, and Octopus lifts him into the air with his tentacles, raving:
I have the right to do anything — as long as I have the power! And if you doubt my power, here is a small sample…
Before anything nasty can happen, the amazing Spider-Man swings through the window. Doctor Octopus declares with surprise "Spider-Man!" and our hero lets fly with a joke only a nerdy, bookish teen would think of out of the blue ("Well, I sure ain't Albert Schweitzer!") that pisses off Octavious:
You dare speak flippantly to me! You fool! When I'm finished with you, you'll sing a different tune!
Spider-Man's confident Octavious won't be able to lay a hand on him, but Doctor Octopus has four hands at the end of long mechanical arms! Octopus lands the first clawed punch, shocks Spider-Man when he tears his webbing, and handily (see what I did there..?) holds our hero fast by wrists and ankles.
Octavious is literally insanely arrogant. With Spider-Man hanging at his mercy before him, he doesn't kill him, or even punch him… he slaps Spider-Man with the back of his hand and tosses him out the window, because "you're no threat to me!"
Spider-Man falls through a tree and drops to the ground, humiliated and battered. He's badly shaken up and his confidence is shattered:
What do I do now? I've never been beaten before! But this time, my spider-powers were not enough! Is this the end of Spider-Man?
With the threat of Spider-Man eliminated and his prisoners having escaped during the fight, Doctor Octopus abandons his temporary hospital lab and, using subterfuge, brute force and his intellect, returns to commandeer the entire Atomic Research Center. His goal is to control "the greatest source of atomic power in the nation."
The military isn't sure how to handle "a brilliant scientist, with super-human powers, on a mad rampage" so they order that no one is allowed in or out of the plant. Doctor Octopus has won.
Meanwhile, Peter Parker is bummed. He tells Jameson he won't be able to get pictures of Doctor Octopus — or anything — any more. He won't share what's wrong with his concerned Aunt May, telling here bruskly that "it's my own personal problem! I'll get over it!"
At school, despite the first two issues making a big point that Peter Parker is universally despised by his classmates, a girl says hello to him. Peter's too depressed to respond to her or another girl, even when they tell him that the Human Torch is going to be speaking at their school that day.
This news — and the news that the Torch has been called in by the Governor to try and capture Doctor Octopus — probably makes Peter feel even worse. After all, the Fantastic Four dismissed his attempt to join their team not long ago. Now, just one of their member is presumed enough to put away the foe that so handily defeated Spider-Man. Bummer.
At the school assembly, the Human Torch reveals that he's used his flame "so much recently, I have to wait a few days to let it get strong again!" This explains why he doesn't just rush right in and attack Octopus… and why he has time to deliver a talk at Midtown High.
And what a talk! To Peter Parker's ears, the Human Torch's encouragement to not be discouraged, to never give up, that ability alone is not enough and other motivational gems are just the kick in the ol' pants he needs. Peter Parker is getting back on the Spider-Man horse, "by golly."
Peter rushes home "like a man possessed," changes into his costume and rushes across town to the Atomic Research Center. Using his web-slingshot trick, he flies over the heads of the sentries and infiltrates the facility.
Unfortunately, Doctor Octopus has the whole place wired with surveillance cameras and knows the amazing Spider-Man is on his way. Octopus remotely controls the many automated machines of the Center to try and squash him, but Spider-Man is too agile and too fast. Finally, Spider-Man takes to crawling on the ceiling, where the hidden cameras can't spot him.
Doctor Octopus leaves his lair to hunt down Spider-Man, who has discovered the chemical laboratory and hastily creates a smoking test-tube-and-wire-loops contraption he hopes will help him defeat his foe.
Doctor Octopus tries to ambush the amazing Spider-Man, but his "spider instinct" warns the hero in the nick of time. Staying just out of the way of those crazy arms, Spider-Man loops one of his gizmos around "two of Doctor Octopus' arms before another arm, striking out, forces him to drop the second device…"
Doctor Octopus scoffs at first, but must concede it's a clever idea — the chemical has fused two of his arms together at the ends. No matter, though — Octopus presses the attack and uses his fused arms like a club!
Cornered, the amazing Spider-Man decides to go on the offensive. He manages to cover Doctor Octopus' glasses with a glob of webbing, blinding the man with a move he'll fall for again and again and again over the years. When Doctor Octopus tries to draw Spider-Man close, he's treated to a lighting fast sock on the jaw.
Turns out Otto Octavious' jaw is as weak as his mechanical arms are super-powerful. Down he goes.
Spider-Man webs him up securely, drops him off for the authorities to discover, and makes a discreet exit. He just has "one more thing to take care of — as Spider-Man!"
Once again, Stan Lee lets Spider-Man's spider sense serve as an all-purpose tracker. Our hero finds the Human Torch getting a clean bill of health and the all-clear to go after Doctor Octopus. Spider-Man tells the Human Torch:
Thanks to you, Torch, Octopus is safely under wraps! And I owe you additional thanks because, if not for you, Spider-Man might've been finished, too!
Before the utterly confused Torch can get an explanation, Spider-Man swings away.
The next day, the Human Torch gives another, full-power demonstration at Midtown High. Flash Thompson and Peter Parker get some rival banter in, and the caption tells us (incorrectly) that "for the first time, a case ends without Peter Parker delivering any photos to Mr. Jameson!"
The end!
Thoughts On Issue Three of The Amazing Spider-Man
This issue introduces Doctor Octopus! Hurrah!
Note that this is the third animal-based villain (after the Chameleon and the Vulture) for Spider-Man to face. He's also a villain with as many limbs as a spider, making him a slyly ironic adversary in more ways than one. He's also a heck of a lot of fun.
Otto Octavious was a brilliant scientist, but even before his accident, he had a nasty arrogant streak. This is is guy who believes he can make radiation his servant, and who created arms that only he can use. One has to wonder if he insists no one else use them, or if other, less brilliant but more cautious scientists opted out.
After the accident mentally and physically fuses him to his mechanical arms, he becomes a creature of pure ego. Nothing is more important than his experiments. He believes everyone else is jealous of him. He believes he is the most powerful person on Earth thanks to his brains and the arms his brain conceived.
He's nuts… and he takes himself way too seriously. That's one of the reasons he's such a great Spider-Man villain, because Spider-Man's style is to quip and wisecrack through intense fear and danger. Right off the bat, Spider-Man makes a joke and Doctor Octopus is offended. It's clear that Octopus hates Spider-Man because the kid just doesn't grant Octopus the respect he so clearly deserves.
There's something else about the Spider-Man / Doctor Octopus relationship: they are very similar. Both are brilliant. Both become arrogant and self-important when they first receive their powers in a traumatic, life-altering event… but Peter Parker eventualy grows beyond that childish attitude. Spider-Man is just a few degrees away from being Doctor Octopus… Otto Octavious is a mirror, a real antagonist and opposite number. He won't be the only (or, arguably, worst) brilliant villain Spider-Man is plagued by, but he might just be the best example Peter Parker has of "there, but for the grace of god, go I."
This is a formula for a wonderful adversarial relationship that continues well past the five hundred issues we'll cover here in Reading The Amazing Spider-Man. It's also another great lesson to take to heart when craft a storyworld and story franchise: make sure your villains are as entertaining and enduring as you heroes.
Creators, what are you doing to make your antagonists enduring and worthy of your heroes? How does your bad guy reflect the qualities of your good guy? Share in the comments!
The Amazing Spider-Man number three
"Spider-Man Versus Doctor Octopus!"
Cover Date: July, 1963
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Steve Ditko
Lettering:John Duffy
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Matthew Wayne Selznick - Telling stories with words, music, pictures and people.
