COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Amazing Spider-Man 36 Universal
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Grade:
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9.6
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Page Quality:
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OFF-WHITE TO WHITE
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Certification #:
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1473030003
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Owner:
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Frisco Larson
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SET DETAILS
Owner's Description
Issue: Amazing Spider-Man #36
Publisher: Marvel
Cover date: 5/66
Cover art: Steve Ditko
Contents:
Story title: "When Falls the Meteor"
Feature: Spider-Man
20 pages
Notable guest appearances:
Gwen Stacy
Flash Thompson
Script and editing: Stan Lee
Plot: Steve Ditko
Cover art: Steve Ditko
Interior pencils: Steve Ditko
Interior inks: Steve Ditko
Lettering: Art Simek
Copy specifics: Unrestored 9.6 ow/w pages
2nd highest graded (2 graded higher when purchased).
Story synopsis:
The story opens with a meteor falling from the sky and a man hot on its trail. Upon reaching it, he reveals his notion that meteors contain microscopic living matter and that this meteor may contain the secrets of the universe! However, upon trying to obtain financing to fund his research, he finds that fellow scientists and banks alike do not share his vision. As he mutters to himself (and us) that the rest of the world is just jealous of his genius, he decides to just "chip away on his own" hoping for a lucky break on the recovered meteor ... that's right, Norton G. Fester is going it alone! He doesn't chip long, as by the second panel, he's blasted in the face by a pocket of meteor gas! It takes him down for a few panels until he starts to come around ... but, he feels strange ... different. Trying to regain his feet, he hoists a fallen cabinet that must weigh "at least a hundred pounds" to which he marvels at and must try something else (in this case, a heavy safe that just happens to be handily nearby). He proclaims that he's a failure no more! After a brief series of strength and agility tests, he sets about to hatch a plan to obtain the wealth that he so rightly deserves!
It's at this point that we catch up with our web swinging pal (and the mags namesake) in his civilian guise of Peter Parker. There are a few pages of Pete and the gang, where Gwen finds him to be acting like a snob, but this is a villain profile, so off we go to the Midtown Bank to find The Looter (covered from head to toe in a flashy new costume), and he appears to be making an unauthorized withdrawal. We get some handy thought balloons to let us know how impressed Norton is with himself! He scoops up some cash and uses his Dazzle Light to temporarily blind his fellow banking customers as he makes a clean getaway!
Over the next few days, The Looter begins a crime wave that only strengthens his greed and need to feed it. By this time, news of The Looter's exploits has reached our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, as we find him searching for this Looter character and his Dazzle Light, without having any luck. Speaking of luck, we find Norton discovering that his meteor has no more gas left inside it and he begins to worry about his power fading and having no meteor gas to replenish it. He MUST find a replacement meteor! Just then, we find Peter Parking heading into the Space Exhibit to kill some time before he looks for The Looter once more. Oh, there's Gwen Stacy, walking in somewhat behind Peter. Gwen shadows Peter when all of the sudden, The Looter appears to grab a meteorite fragment!!! Peter runs to change into Spidey but Gwen thinks he's a coward (poor Pete). Spider-Man makes the scene before The Looter can grab the meteorite and they have a four page battle that finds The Looter getting away, but without the prize he was there for.
The next few pages have Gwen and the E.S.U. gang hating on Peter, while Norton G. Fester is cooling his heels and devising a new plan to acquire a certain meteorite. He decides to wait until they're ready to move the exhibit to strike, but Spider-Man has also thought of that and they face off once again. This is where Ditko's mastery of all things spider-like treat us to all of the twisting and flipping, leaping and contorting Spidey action we've grown accustomed to, as The Looter illudes Spidey's grasp and makes his getaway by launching a helium balloon with his new meteorite along for the ride! Of course, Spider-Man climbs the building in pursuit and springs off of a flagpole to catch The Looter as he rises higher and higher! Their two-page mid-air battle concludes with Spidey landing a devastating haymaker and knocking The Looter out cold, at which point Spidey takes the opportunity to unmask his unconscious foe. Spider-Man doesn't recognize him though and slowly reduces the air in the balloon so that the police waiting below can apprehend his vanquished villain. The story wraps up with Spidey STILL unsure of why his foe wanted that meteorite. Oh well, perhaps he'll find out in a later adventure.
My opinion: As Spidey tales go, I found this to be an enjoyable enough stand-alone story with a fairly well-balanced amount of action and background storytelling to move this tale to a conclusion and further the characters long-term storyline. As villains go, The Looter or Meteor Man is no Green Goblin, but he's colorful and entertaining enough to have kept me turning pages. Ditko's artwork was a real treat (as usual) and getting this one last masked Spidey villain shows us just how creative he was, even with one foot already out the door.
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