Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #169

Spider-Man complained about how boring his nightly patrol was going when he saw some cops getting kicked out of their own prisoner transport vehicle. The vehicle was driven away by the prisoners but was stopped when Spidey hit it with a lamp post. The crooks opened fire on him with guns stolen from the cops but the barrels were webbed shut. He knocked two of their heads together and handed the police their guns back. As Spidey swung away, a cop said that there was a warrant out for his arrest but the other said they had no way of stopping him.

At Empire State University, Dr. Marla Madison continued work on her spider slayer. J. Jonah Jameson paced nearby, complaining about how expensive repairing the rolling rink would be. (The spider slayer had battled Spider-Man and damaged the rink.) He also worried about how the incident would cost him in the court of public opinion. Marla called it unfortunate and Jonah said it was worse than unfortunate. Other newspapers were calling him a vigilante and Marla reminded him that he had used the slayer against Spidey without police permissions. Jonah complained that if he'd captured Spider-Man, he'd be a hero instead of a goat. Marla said he still might capture Spider-Man after the slayer was repaired but Jonah was doubtful. He said he'd been saving something in his office, an ace-in-the-hole. Marla wished him luck.

At Bart Hamilton's office, Harry Osborn finished another therapy session. They were happy with the progress that Harry was making and Liz showed up to take Harry home. Hamilton was pleased to see how happy Liz made Harry.

Spidey returned to his apartment, complaining about having to enter via his skylight. The bell rang and Peter saw that Jameson was at his door. After JJ entered the apartment, he criticized it as "decorated in early disgusting." Peter asked what he wanted and Jonah snapped, yanking Peter by the hair and screaming that he was there to reveal him as an impostor. Jonah yanked Peter's head back, saying he was looking for where the mask joined the neck so he could prove his theory. He quickly realized that Peter wasn't wearing a mask. Peter shoved Jonah off of him and Jonah warned him to not get rough. Peter warned that he would be rougher if Jonah wasn't so old and Jonah said Peter wouldn't do anything. He shoved an envelope at him, saying he'd been saving it and it's contents as evidence for when he finally captured Peter. He gave up on waiting for that moment after Peter humiliated him when Jonah tried to catch him. He wasn't going to sit on the evidence any longer and told Peter to take a look, calling him Spider-Man.

Peter had anticipated that moment, and pretended to not know what Jonah was talking about. The envelope had photos of Spider-Man standing over the body of an unconscious Peter, which Jonah said showed Spider-Man destroying the body of a dead Peter Parker. Jonah didn't know why he decided to impersonate Peter and Peter interrupted, saying there had to be an explanation. Peter pretended to hesitate, then said he knew he had recognized the photos. He showed Jonah other phot, one of Spider-Man crouched over and another of Peter sunbathing with MJ. He claimed that the photos were just manipulated double exposures. Peter called them forgeries and Jonah didn't buy it, saying only Peter had access to his pictures. Peter was momentarily at a loss, then said that Harry must have been behind it. They had still been roommates while Harry was the Green Goblin. Jonah looked taken aback, then said he was convinced. He apologized and Peter accepted it but wanted a bonus on his next paycheck. Jonah stormed out of the apartment, saying he wasn't getting a raise. He was lucky to still have a job, considering he hadn't been bringing any photos. Peter collapsed in relief after Jonah left.

Peter went webswinging to celebrate fooling Jonah, thrilled that Jameson would never know how close he came to defeating him. He'd burned the photos that Jonah had left at the apartment, happy that he couldn't use them again. Some people on the street watched Spidey joyfully swing through the air and a kid said Spidey was the greatest. An old man said that he wasn't Vera Valiant but he was ok. Spidey didn't know who had sent Jonah the photos but didn't care. He'd take care of it another day. Meanwhile, a cop watched Spider-Man and radioed his commander, saying to get a squad to the location.

Spidey escaped his pursuers and rested to catch his breath. As he sat, he saw four men separately enter a shabby looking building that warned the public to stay out. Spidey caught the last one entering the building and the man's trench coat fell off, revealing an orange and purple costume underneath. The guy promised to talk after Spidey threatened to drop him from a building. The guy was left dangling from a street light as two cops wondered why they always had to deal with the weirdos. At least it wasn't the guy in the chicken suit again.

In an abandoned subway tunnel, the crooks were impressed by the mounted laser cannon on the treaded vehicle that their boss had bought from the Tinkerer. One of them was anxious for Gibson to arrive, as their boss didn't like lateness. Spider-Man arrived and during the fight, the laser cannon blew a hole in the ceiling above them. He managed to turn the machine off before it did more damage but was grabbed by the crooks. Two of them held his arms while the third punched away at him, bragging that he'd been a heavyweight fighter. He quickly broke his hands after punching Spidey's gut. The thugs were beaten and a large shadowy figure arrived. Spidey first believed it was the Kingpin but a large man with red hair and beard arrived, calling himself Doctor Faustus.

General Comments

The cover is a pretty typical bait and switch. It shows JJ accusing Peter of being Spider-Man, but the actual story has Jonah claiming that Peter was dead and Spider-Man was pretending to be Parker. That aspect of the story was decent. It was actually kind of surprising to see Jonah treat Peter so roughly, yanking his hair and calling him a punk twice. I had glanced through the book quickly before reading it and was surprised at how Jonah was acting. Then I actually read the book.

I was never a huge fan of Ross Andru's art and I'm not sure why. Sometimes the way he illustrates faces bothers me and other times I appreciate it. On page 16 as the kids happily watch Spidey swing past, they actually have distinctive faces. They aren't just carbon copies of each other with different hair color. The old man they talk to is obviously Stan Lee, and the "Vera Valiant" joke drives it home. (I had to look it up but Vera Valiant was a comic strip that Stan wrote, called The Virtue of Vera Valiant. It was a parody of soap opera style comic strips, such as Mary Worth.) Jonah's subtle face changes as Peter points to Harry as the culprit is well done. He goes from smug, to startled, to awkward to furious as Peter demands a raise. It's definitely a story of Jonah at his most acerbic.

The rest of the book is a typical fight with bland, generic bad guys. I've heard of Doctor Faustus but dont really care.