The Amazing Spider-Man: A Book of Colors and Days of the Week

Background

This is a Golden Shape book for young kids. 24 full color pages, soft-bound with a shaped profile on the right-hand side. Originally printed in 1977, I have a second printing 1980 copy. I believe I saw a hardback edition for sale on Amazon, but I (or they) may have been mistaken.

Story Details

"Spider-Man is tired today. He spent all the past week fighting crime, and each day his problem came in a different color." So opens our story, as Spidey slouches in a comfy chair, with a picture of Aunt Mae sitting on his cabinet. Yep, "Mae". Clearly the writer of the story is not a regular Spidey fan, or she (Donna Kelley) would have known the basics, like how to spell the main characters' names!

"On the first day - Monday - Spidey spotted the Yellow Yahoo mixing up the rides at the amusement park. The Yahoo made the slow rides go fast and the fast rides go very sl-o-o-w-l-y."

"Leave it to Spider-Man to save the day! The Yellow Yahoo couldn't mix up any more rides with web juice all over his hands."

Similarly, Spidey defeats the White Wizard (ruining picnics), the Green Gagsters (planting cactii down-town), the Bluebird Brothers (litterbugs), Red-Robed Rainmakers (raining on parades), and the Black Buglers (making a noise outside libraries and hospitals).

Each time, add one day of the week, and increment the number of villains in each band of baddies by one. Color as appropriate. On Sunday, Spidey rested, and read the "Daily Bugle". It features photos of Spidey's busy week, and says "Sunday... Have a nice rest, Spider-Man". Clearly, JJJ is on leave that week, but he isn't going to be happy when he returns to find his paper has been wishing Spidey a nice rest!

General Comments

Great for kids. Sure, the accuracy to main continuity is shocking, but let's not squabble over details.

Overall Rating

Hard to give a rating to a book like this. Let's just sit on the fence and say that it does well what it sets out to do.