Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #89

Background

Doctor Octopus telepathically summoned his arms to free him from prison. He escaped to Chicago and hijacked a plane carrying foreign general on his way to the UN. Spider-Man snuck into the plane after it landed in New York and rescued the hostages. During the flight with Ock, the plane was destroyed after crashing into the end of the runway. Spidey escaped and Ock’s fate was unknown.

Story 'Doc Ock Lives!'

Swinging above the city, Spidey was coming to terms with Octavius being dead. He wasn’t going to miss him but regretted not getting any photos. Changing back to Peter, he saw on a newspaper that no trace of Octavius had been found, which was impossible. He was certain that Ock’s tentacles would have survived the explosion. Just then he crossed paths with Randy Robertson, who reminded him of the protest against air pollution. Peter couldn’t make it, which rubbed Randy the wrong way. They were expecting Ralph Nader to show up. Peter couldn’t use the excuse that he’d be out with Gwen, because she was going to be at the protest. Maybe everyone was right and Peter only cared about himself.

Peter threw away the paper in aggravation and it was immediately picked up by Ock, who was hiding around the corner. Seeing that everyone thought he was dead pleased him, as no one would expect his next attack. He knew that Spider-Man was hiding somewhere in the city but he wouldn’t meddle in his plans for long. Elsewhere Peter changed back to Spider-Man, promising to capture Octopus. He began searching the city, aware that it was filled with eight million people. As he passed the Daily Bugle, he could hear Jameson ranting and raving from across the street. He ignored JJ, and stood on a rooftop contemplating where Octavius could be. Jonah berated Robbie for not taking Spider-Man’s “threat” seriously and Robbie replied that Spider-Man wasn’t nearly as bad as the pollution above them. Jonah went on that while everyone went in about air pollution, Spider-Man was his focus.

Meanwhile Spider-Man noticed Doctor Octopus crawling up the side of a power plant’s smoke stack. He began to destroy the chimney and Spidey realized that he was being called out. He soon tackled Octavius and the fight only destroyed more of the smoke stack. He webbed Ock’s tentacles together and yanked them so that Ock hit his head on a chimney. While a dizzy Ock tried to reassure himself, his tentacles automatically grabbed Spider-Man and knocked him into masonry. The tentacles broke free from the webbing and were soon pummeling their enemy. Ock dodged Spidey’s webbing but it served to distract him, letting Spidey kick him away.

The fight went on, with Spider-Man failing to strangle Ock with his own tentacle. Bounding to another rooftop, Ock smashed a water tower, which Spidey caught before it could hit the ground. The strain on him was intense and even after pushing it back to the roof, he was too exhausted to avoid the tentacles. Ock gloated that he would get no second chance and threw him towards the street.

General Comments

We had an all action story this month. Spidey called Ock the deadliest killer he’d ever faced and while he seemed to say that about every bad guy he fought, this time Ock made a strong case for the title. They certainly threw each other around and I was surprised to see Spidey choking Octavius with his own arm. For a guy that doesn’t kill, Spidey was certainly willing to push the line.

Stan was on an air pollution kick this issue. First Randy was going to a protest and then Robbie started complaining about the air. It was kind of an odd moment to bring up the subject but whatever. Jonah of course cared more about hating Spider-Man more than anything else.

It’s mildly annoying that again the antagonists just happened to be in the same place at the same time. It’s just lazy writing. Still, that’s my only complaint.

Overall Rating

I enjoyed that there was heart and drama in a story that was mostly a fight scene. Spidey’s stress while holding the water tower was well done. Nice blend of humanity and butt kicking.