Amazing Spider-Man #72 "ROCKED BY THE SHOCKER" (May, 1969)

Synopsis

The Shocker? Back!? It's been 26 issues since we've seen ol' Shocky, but he's lookin' for the same damn tablet that everyone else is lately. Apparently, the newspapers published that Captain Stacy had it. Shocker breaks in, hurts the Cap'n and snatches it.

Pete can barely take the time to battle the Shocker, but he does anyway. Fortunately the fight runs short and he makes it in time to see Aunt May off to one of her near-constant trips to Florida.

He bumps into Gwen and promptly gets into a fight with Flash. If I could butt-in for a moment. Gwen is really unsupportive in this situation. Flash and Peter have a long history of bad blood, and she immediately jumps in defending Flash. She doesn't even blink when Flash basically says that he'd love to bang her right there.

Pete's so glum he races to find the Shocker and kick his ass. He does.

Notes

• That's a picture of the Shocker's crotch. Enjoy.
• His boots are really just Santa Claus boots, aren't they? So sad, when super-villains can't even afford a custom made suit anymore...
• The Shocker is a confusing villain to me. How is he actually doing that whole vibration thing? I get that if he punches you it comes with an added vibro-boost. If you punch him, he vibrates away some of the force. Sure, okay. But his ability to shoot vibrations over a distance. What is that!? Is that a thing?
• I'd also like to comment on the "vibrates his body to deflect a punch" thing. His vibrations are so strong he can break through concrete and steel. Yet you're telling me that he doesn't shatter every bone in his body when applying the same force to himself?

Credits

Stan (The Man) Lee - Author

Big John Buscema - Innovator

Jazzy Johnny Romita and Jim (Madman) Mooney - Illustrators

Swingin' Sammy Rosen - Letterer

Amazing Spider-Man #71 "THE SPEEDSTER AND THE SPIDER" (April, 1969)

Synopsis

Pete's still moping about his tragic life, compounded by the fact that he can't get rid of the priceless tablet without people knowing that he's Spider-Man.

If only Quicksilver were here to complicate things. In typical Cross-Over fashion, one hero jumps to hasty conclusions about another and Twinkletoes sets his sights on apprehending Spider-Man.

Robbie publishes Pete's pix which generally tie up all the loose plot ends: (Kingpin bad, protesters, good, Spidey innocent).

Lastly Spider-Man convinces Quickie (the wall-crawler totally calls him that once, let's hope it catches on) that's he's a good guy.

Notes

• Take a look at that picture. We're talking about Quicksilver here! A guy who was just running so fast, that he created a vortex around Spider-Man. Now we've seen Pete bruise his arm so badly that he needs a sling, so we know it can be done. You're telling me that this isn't going to be worse than falling awkwardly off a building? I'm not buying.

Credits

Smilin' Stan Lee, Author

Jazzy Johnny Romita, Innovator

Jim (Mad-Man) Mooney, Illustrator

Lettered By- Sam Rosen

Amazing Spider-Man #70 "SPIDER-MAN: WANTED" (March, 1969)

Synopsis

Kingpin breaks out of jail, Spidey scares Jameson into having a heart attack, the protesters get their low-rent student dorm, and Gwen thinks Peter is a coward! What an ish!

Notes

• Kingpin "forgot" that he told the police that Spider-Man was his accomplice? C'mon...

Credits

Fantastically Fabricated by: 

Stan (The Man) Lee, Author!

John (Ring-A-Ding) Romita, Innovator!

Jim (Madman) Mooney, Illustrator!

Sam (Rosy) Rosen, Letterer!

Amazing Spider-Man #69 MISSION: CRUSH THE KINGPIN!" (February, 1969)

Synopsis

The arrested protesters are stewing behind bars and Randy lashes out at his father Joe. Don't let it be said that Stan Lee was ever afraid to tackle tough issues.

It turns out the Kingpin has a wife...he gets really mad if you mention her, so you'd better not. Spider-Man beats the Kingpin up and attempts to return the tablet to the authorities. Unfortunately for our hero, when Tubby was arrested, he told the cops that Spidey was his accomplice. The issue closes with Spider-Man being hounded by the blue-coats and his resolving to become the menace he's always been called. 

Notes

• First mention of Vanessa Fisk

Credits

Stan (The Man) Lee, Script!

John (Ring-A-Ding) Romita, Storyboards!

Jim (Madman) Mooney, Illustration!

Sam (Sleepy) Rosen, Letterer!

Amazing Spider-Man #68 CRISIS ON THE CAMPUS!" (January, 1969)

Synopsis

Anyone remember the story arc from the Fox Spider-Man show in the 90s involving a clay tablet and Silvermane? No? That's okay--'cause here's the original.

Our yarn begins with Kingpin scheming to steal a priceless clay tablet. He doesn't know what it is but it doesn't matter "Men have died for it, then it must be mine!"

Meanwhile....

Trouble is brewing at ol' ESU. The administration is converting a hall into a private dorm for visting alums instead of using it for low-rent housing for needy students. Well, this is the late 60's so that means PROTESTS!

Peter isn't sure where to stand, he doesn't know much about either side, but he ends up ostracizing the students by declining to act without more information.

Kingpin uses the protest as a cover for his theft of the tablet..and the protesters are arrested as accomplices!

Notes

Credits

Script: Stan (The Man) Lee

Storyboards: Johnny (Ring-A-Ding) Romita

Illustration: Jim (Madman) Monney

Lettering: Sammy (Swinger) Rosen

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5 "THE PARENTS OF PETER PARKER!" (1968)

Synopsis

Well here's an issue that eventually became the subject of much ret-conning. Let's see how it plays out.

Believe it or not, our story opens in Algeria. Spider-Man is ambushed by a bunch of Algerian hoods and one of them manages to wing him? Head-injury means flashback time...

Peter remembers how we opened a trunk of Aunt May's in the attic. He found newspaper clippings reporting his parents death as traitors to America. Naturally, this means he has to go to Algeria to found out the truth for himself. 

Which brings us back to where we started...

After getting the address of  his parents "boss" Spider-Man races there only to find, the RED SKULL?!?!

Spidey beats up a henchman of the Skull's, but not before finding damning evidence against his father: an identification card in the Red Skull's spy organization.

As a broken-hearted Spider-Man prepares to leave Algeria, a man known as "the Finisher" comes after him on the Skull's orders. The Finisher is hit by his own missile intended for our hero and as he dies tells Spider-Man the truth about Richard Parker.

Spider-Man goes back to the Red Skull and acquires the proof that he needed, an ID card for Richard Parker showing him to be a double agent working for the US Government.

Notes

• If Richard and Mary were working for the US Government, then how come they weren't cleared after their deaths by the Government itself? 
• Even if May and Ben decided never to tell Peter about his parents...I found it ludicrously unlikely that no one else did. The Parkers are an obvious parallel to the Rosenbergs and their children were stigmatized throughout their entire lives. Peter's last name wasn't changed, nor did they move him to a different city. There's simply no way that he could've made it to 20 without finding out that his parents were traitors.

Credits

Phantasmagorically produced by: Smilin' Stan Lee and Larrupin' Larry Lieber

Embellished by: Mickey Demeo

Lettered by: Artie Simek

Chaotic Consultant: Jazzzy Johnny Romita

Amazing Spider-Man #67 "TO SQUASH A SPIDER!" (December, 1968)

Synopsis

Spider-Man fights for his now 6-inch life as Mysterio torments and antagonizes him. Fortunately he realizes just in time that....um....it was all just post-hypnotic suggestion. Hooray!

Notes

• Jim Mooney is an awesome inker
• Introduction of Randy Robertson

Credits

Stan Lee and Johnny Romita

Jim (Madman) Mooney

Artie Simek