To its credit, the first 27 issues of Amazing Spider-Man had more hits than misses. One of those hits was the cheap replacement costume that appeared in the two-part battle between Spidey and the Crime Master in Amazing Spider-Man #26 and 27:
One thing I don't miss about growing up was the carte blanche my parents had at destroying my personal property. I had an assload of comics, including a copy of Incredible Hulk #181, that my old man chucked while I was at school one day. In the condition it was in (and I would have kept in that condition, because I paid $16 for it bagged and boarded from a comic shop and knew how to keep comics at that time) it values at about $800. That's my horror story. What's yours?
Oh, and Beloved broke the foot off my DC Direct Golden Age Green Lantern action figure once while I was at work and tried to say it was somehow my own fault. We don't speak of it. It's like the lamp from A Christmas Story.
So anyway, Peter can't get his mitts on a costume. This was a brilliant plot device, especially back in the day. So, he finds one at a local costume shop:
And, like every costume you and I have ever purchased, it's a cheap piece of crap that starts sagging.
That, my friends, is bitchin'.
As you can see, Spidey fixed it as best he could but it still got in the way, especially when he was fighting:
Wow, was Stan Lee on a roll with this, or what? Then, to make matters worse, it goes from "sagging" to "shrinking."
The other thing that made this story unusual in a super-hero comic was that the bad guy du jour, the Crime Master, was trapped and killed by police officers with no help from Spidey whatsoever. What's more, when the big unmasking came about, it turned out he was just a crook and not any of the regular characters.
Amazing Spider-Man #26 and 27, we salute your many Moments of Comic Book Greatness! (tm!)
And we welcome the Cheap, Sagging, Shrinking Costume to the Costume Hall of Fame! (tm!)
That's right: Two awards. I can be positive.
See you tomorrow!
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11 comments:
I guess I never realized how awesome my parents were--to my memory, they never got rid of anything of mine. In fact, I moved out of the house over 10 years ago, and they've still got a load of my crap in the garage.
Sadly, I don't own any $800 comics. Then again, I probably wouldn't sell it, anyway, so it hardly makes any difference.
I used to have every Tonka toy ever made. Well, alot of them anyways. I have no idea where they are now. On the other hand I still have stuff I made in art class in High School that I use on a daily basis.
Great posts here ;)
Became a fan and glad to find your blog.
My own funny cartoons blog is at
http://cartunesblog.blogspot.com
http://www.zazzle.com/cartune*
Many thanks.
"Beloved broke the foot off my DC Direct Golden Age Green Lantern action figure...It's like the lamp from A Christmas Story."
It wasn't just an action figure...it was a MAJOR AWARD!
Did you fix or replace it? (The GL and/or Beloved)
Britt-
Super glue works wonders on those DC Direct figures. The foot doesn't move, but it's well-attached. Super glue - Keeping Action Figures and Marriages Together...
"That's the last time I ever buy a costume at a rummage sale!"
Uh, except you didn't, Peter... we just saw you buy it at a costume shop!
--Allery
Ha! Good catch! I totally missed that one!
Wow. I have spent possibly far too much of today laughing out loud at your blog. I showed it to my boyfriend and we say together for about an hour just reading all the posts. So fuuny.
I love how you can point out the ridiculous details I might not have noticed at first.
Glad to have found it!
OrigamiGirl
Y'know, the Crime Master story was from the period when Ditko was doing the plotting and Stan was mostly adding dialogue, and this is probably the most amusing tale Ditko ever came up with. Alas that he got so serious with his devotion to Ayn Rand & Objectivism, because based on these stories he did have a great sense of humor. And even if all Stan did was add words, they meshed very well with Ditko's art.
Ah, when he said "rummage sale" I think he just meant that the store was junky and not worth much.
At least the costume distracted Petey from obsessing over his personal problems!
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