Wait You’re A Doctor In What!?
Nine times out of ten a great superhero story needs a great super villain. Spider-Man has in the last four issues has faced a number of different threats and only one has stood the test of time as a bonafide member of Spider-Man's rogue gallery: Doctor Octopus. So Stan Lee and his writers pull a smart trick and bring in Doctor Doom, already a star villain this early in the Marvel universe, to face off against Spider-Man for the first time. It's a wonderful idea and brings further importance to this fledgling series and establishes it within the larger Marvel universe.
Dr Doom is the initiator of their meeting, believing he can pervert Spider-Man and bring him to the side of villainy, to fight against The Fantastic Four. When this attempted corruption fails he instead seeks to capture Spider-Man and use him as bait. A brief misunderstanding leaves the man who tops Parker's least favourite person list, Flash Thompson, captured in the guise of Spider-Man. It's up to Spidey to free him, despite his personal feelings and the danger at hand. It's a busy plot, but the 22 page running length gives Lee the time to tell the story right and build up to a length climactic battle. It's the wit, machines and raw strength of Dr Doom versus the strength, guile and acrobatics of a young Spider-Man. The pace is quick, the action visceral, as much as a sixties comic may be at any rate. It’s a strong end to a well told and strongly paced story.
I’m a fan of Ditko. I like his art, it is distinct from all the other comics out there, especially the faces he draws. It has a style all of its own that really sets it apart from the other artists of the time. Also he spends a great deal of care drawing and posing both the heroes and villains that appear in his issues. Dr Doom has never looked so good from page to page than he does here.
Throughout the seven page final fight Ditko creates a wonderful panorama of action, making both Spider-Man and Dr Doom look like powerful characters each capable of defeating the other if given an opportunity. A single colour background is used to wonderful effect for once, with vivid yellow being used to depict Spider-Man’s loss of vision for a few panels. The cover here is mixed, Spider-Man looks great but Dr Doom is a tad of a let down, the eye holes of his mask are a little too large. Nevertheless this is some solid work from Ditko who continues a streak of well illustrated Spider-Man comics.
You could well make the argument that bringing in Dr Doom is almost cheating. He’s a fully fledged character who is well established as a threat to a full team of experienced heroes and it would be hard to misuse him, especially in his first conflict with Spider-Man. The side plots were OK, but lacked any real strong narrative thrust, although we did get introduced to a new character in Betty Bryant who seems to have the hots for Peter Parker. We shall see where their attraction born of alliteration will take them in the future. For now this is a really fun issue that continues a strong streak of Spider-Man comics.
You Are Not Fighting One Of Your Usual Insipid Antagonists Now, Spider-Man!
Doctor Doom
Woooo fifty reviews in the bank! Here's to fifty more!
