#asm1

I completely forgot this was a thing here, but Spidey breaks the fourth wall to talk to US! The READERS!

I hope that the issues I end up reading include the questions that people send in. If they don't, I'll do my best to find and react to them here since I would LOVE to see what people thought of these stories back in the day.

I highly doubt that the address Spidey mentions is still connected to Marvel anymore, but I wonder if they still get occasional letters from Spidey fans.

I bet they're sick of it if they do.

Also HOLY SHIT, Pete - you're fuckin YOLKED!

I was just saying how this kid is 15 years old - this guy is built like a younger Rock!

Dwayne Johnson = Spider-Man??

Anyways, that was the end of ASM #1! I'll admit I'm not the biggest fan of the first story with the shuttle when comparing it to this one with the Chameleon, but both serve to expand Spidey's character and abilities in really good ways.

We got to see Spidey commandeer a government jet, commandeer a speed boat, launch himself across half the city, make a web parachute, perform for high school students, stop a haywire space shuttle and a communist submarine AND a communist helicopter, AND an actual communist!

All in a day's work for our boy in red and lavender!

Another important aspect of Spidey's character is how he just fuckin loses it sometimes. His temper gets the best of him and he lashes out or just runs off really upset.

It's important to remember that Peter is still just a kid and also only 15 years old! Bro's trying to do the best he can and when things don't go his way he breaks down sometimes.

I'm glad that over time, though, his temper goes down and the times he DOES lash out are more about him not holding back his strength anymore instead of running away in a tantrum.

This is also 3/3 Spidey stories where it ends with Peter in a sucky mood. First he was grieving Uncle Ben, next he was getting called out on the news for being a menace and is wanted by the FBI, and now he's running away from stopping the Chameleon because the cops got a little tricked and didn't believe him.

I really love this entire section of the story so I felt I had to show the whole sequence.

Chameleon breaks free from the cops when Spidey brings him in, causing the entire building to go into lockdown. Chameleon switches to a cop disguise to sneak out undetected, but Spidey's senses remember that they're for sensing danger instead of radio waves.

I always love it when Spidey has to feel things out purely on his spider sense instead of him just needing to punch the other guy harder. It shows his smarts and the cunning side of his character really well.

Also, this is the first time we see Spidey run out of webs! I love me some organic webbing (and I think it fills out the whole natural spider abilities Peter gets after being bitten), but I love the parts in stories even more where they use him running out of webs to get a little more creative with how he tackles the situation.

Get it? Tackle?

Because he... he tackles the...

(cough)

...the Chameleon...

This is now the second story in a row showing Spider-Man stealing a vehicle

I guess early on, Peter's spider sense was treated more as a way to sense radio waves instead of an "instinctual danger sense" that it later became.