I Heart Amazing Spider-Man #26

By Randy Gentile

I don't know about you but I'm assuming most fans have an all-time favorite comic. I'm not talking all-time favorite title here I'm talking single issue.

Amazing Spider-Man was, and honestly still is, my favorite continuing series but I haven't been reading it steadily for a while. I'm one of those fanboys who dropped the book after the "Sins Past" storyline. For my money, you don't mess with Gwen Stacy. As that storyline was going on I was on all the comic message boards reading the fan reaction to JMS's awful story and there was a considerable group of folks who said that "Sins Past" would make them drop the book.

There's no way of telling who actually stuck to that nerdy proclamation, but I can honestly tell you that I haven't bought an issue of Amazing Spidey since the week that book hit the stands. I was thinking of picking it back up when JMS left but he departed with "One More Day".... And here I thought "Sins Past" was terrible. Throw in a few creative teams that I'm not crazy about and I'm still on a steady No-Amazing Spider-Man Diet.

Although it looks like John Romita Jr. is coming back to the title this summer. I buy everything JRJR draws, so I'll be back on the book when JRJR is. They'll have to really grab me to keep me on after he leaves so we'll see. I'm willing to give it a shot again. Just as long as Gwen Stacy doesn't come back from the dead to have a ménage et trois with the Rhino and the Vulture.

Getting back to my all-time favorite ish. This is the book I can read anytime. It's like getting under a cozy blanket on a cold winter's night. I swear I must read this thing at least 10 times a year.

Amazing Spider-Man #26 "The Man in the Crime-Master's Mask!" by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko along with beautiful letters by the great Sam Rosen.

So go dig out your copy of Essential Spider-Man Volume 2 and read along with the issue's biggest fan... yours truly.

Or if you're like me, pony up like 30-40 bucks on eBay and pick up the actual issue. It's a worthy addition to any comic fans collection.

And away we go....

Check out this page one intro by Stan The Man...

"Both the Crime-Master and the Green Goblin know each other's true identities!!"

"But what strange secret is know only to Frederick Foswell??"

"Can Spider-Man solve this dark riddle, cloaked within a grim puzzle, hidden beneath the shadows of a deadly enigma??"

C'mon ya gotta love that stuff! Classic Stan.

And here we also have Ditko at the height of his Spidey penciling powers. Whereas you might consider his early work on Amazing to be almost oddly quirky, 25 issues in Ditko really hit his stride. A beautiful line, dense, intricate backgrounds coupled with a film noir use of black that fits the Cops and Mobsters theme of this issue perfectly.

Upon reading this book literally 100s of times since I was a kid (my older brother gave me a beat-up reprint that I've since lost) I realize now what grabbed me about this 20-page gem.

In typical Peter Parker fashion we find our hero in a bind. He's lost his costume. Aunt May found his spare costume last issue after J. Jonah Jameson took his other costume during a fight with the Spider Slayer. (Issue 25, folks)

"What a pickle to be in! A Spider-Man without his costume is like a Beatle without his hair! It could only happen to me!"

Imagine Captain America sitting on the end of his bed wondering where he left his Mighty Shield or Bruce Wayne misplacing his Bat-A-Rangs. (Is that how you spell Batarang?)

You don't see this kind of stuff in any other comic book.

By the end of page 3 we learned what happened previously with Peter, we've learned that the Crime-Master is taking over an underworld in disarray with the help of the Green Goblin. Both of whom have revealed their true identities to each other as part of the deal.

By page 5 the Crime-Master has car bombed a competing mobster, Frederick Foswell dropped a hint that he might, in fact be the Crime-Master and that typical Parker luck has led to a fight with Betty Brant because she thinks Peter has been juggling multiple girls... not only Liz Allen but also an as yet unseen Mary Jane Watson. Oh, and ol' sweetheart himself J. Jonah Jameson overheard this little quarrel taking place in his place of business and kicked Peter out!

Two pages later Peter sees former convict Foswell and slips a Spidey Tracer into his hatband just in case. After that Peter isn't in the mood for any Flash Thompson hijinks and kicks the crap out of Flash and his band of "brainless baboons" (Peter's words, not mine) with an irate Liz Allen looking on. A few minutes later Peter is in the principal's office for his little outburst.

On pages 8 and 9 we see the Crime-Master pump a few hoods fulla lead and Peter finds a temporary solution to his no-costume mess. A costume store.

"You say you're interested in the Spider-Man outfit? I'll let you have it cheap! There's not much call for it lately."

Of course there's always some room for a few blows to Peter's already fragile ego.

Oh, and naturally the costume doesn't fit. It falls apart after his first jump into the concrete canyons of New York City. A few web-stitches later and Spidey is back in action.

And remember that Spidey Tracer? It almost cost the Ol' Web Head his life. While investigating Foswell's apartment the Crime-Master takes a pot shot at him from an adjoining rooftop. Thank god for Spidey Sense. And another hint that Foswell is the Crime-Master, perhaps?

Tired yet? This isn't issue 5 of a 6-Issue run this is page 10. Page 10! Man, I'm such a sucker for old Marvel.

On page 11 we finally get the showdown we've been waiting for. The Crime-Master versus the Spider-Man! In classic cops and robbers movie style the Crime-Master continues shooting and Spidey starts counting bullets out of the Crime-Master's 6-Shooter.

Mixed in here we have some beautiful storytelling by Steve Ditko. His use of camera angles and his defining Spider-Man body language are still the best the character has ever seen.

On page 12 the Crime-Master finally runs out of bullets. Before his can reload his hand canon, Spidey springs into action ready to take out his foe with a good old-fashioned knuckle sandwich... but what does the Crime-Master have under his sleeve? Why some poison gas of course!

A few wallops later and the Crime-Master has just kicked the crap out of the books lead character. Sending him plummeting off a building.

"Spider-Man will never bother me...or anyone else again! Now I have other matters to attend to!"

Peter manages to pull his poison gas laden mask off just in time to shoot some trusty webbing and swing to safety. After restitching his store-bought costume he's off again. This time back to Jonah Jameson's office in hopes of getting his real costume back. (He lost it in issue #25, remember?) JJJ won't bite and once again his faulty costume forces him to use some "sticky web fluid" to keep his mask from popping off.

Now for the climax of the issue, folks, pages 16-20.

Down on the docks the now head of the underworld Crime-Master is holding a meeting with all the rackets. He's dropping some knowledge on these punks to let them know once and for all that he's the Top Dog in these parts. A reoccurring character "Patch" turns out to be a police informant who tips the coppers off to the meeting. At the same time, Spidey who is back at Foswell's finish his investigation, sees the location of the meeting marked on a map hanging on the wall.

The next page we see the bad blood between the Crime-Master and the Goblin boils over into another beautifully choreographed fight scene by Ditko.

Spidey, who is just entering the area gets blindsided by a fleeing Green Goblin. A glider to the head and one pumpkin bomb later and Spider-Man, for the second time in 18 pages, is beaten by a villainous foe.

Thanks to the "Sticky Web Fluid" he just used to secure his mask, the Goblin is unsuccessful in his attempt to unmask our hero. But no worries. The Goblin has bigger plans on mind.

On page 20, the Crime-Master, in the middle of declaring himself the Boss of Bosses, is upstaged by the Green Goblin who presents the underworld with a knocked cold Spider-Man.

Who are the thugs going to follow now? The Crime-Master or a Green Goblin fresh off opening a can of whoop-ass on Spider-Man?

Find out in issue 27!

As I sat here and typed this I still can't believe how much Stan and Ditko packed into a 20-page story. And how, at the same time, taught new readers everything they need to know about not only Peter but Aunt May, Jameson, Betty Brant, Liz Allen, Flash Thompson, Crime-Master, the Goblin and other character that are too many to mention.

Decompression may by the latest hip storytelling craze to hit the industry but give me a 20-page book like this any day.

Thanks for reading, folks.

Font You!
Randy