THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #127

"The Dark Wings of Death!"

• Writer: Gerry Conway
• Artist: Ross Andru
• Inker: F. Giacoia & D. Hunt
• Print Date: Dec., 1973

Featuring:

Plot Summary:

Starting our latest issue, Spider-Man hangs outside of Mary Jane's apartment building. Beneath him lies the body of a dead woman on the sidewalk. Gawking from her apartment window, Mary Jane looks on with a horrified look on her face making it obvious she witnessed the killing. Spider-Man, deciding to go talk with Mary Jane, changes quickly into his street clothes. Peter knocks on Mary Jane's door and despite the late hour (after midnight), a obviously scared Mary Jane lets him in. She admits that she saw the murder and murderer outside of her apartment earlier. However, she's doesn't dare involve Peter or the police because the killer saw her and knows she watched the whole thing. When Peter realizes that she intends to let the killer get away, Peter pretends to be upset and stomps out of the apartment. Hoping she'll get mad enough to call the police out of spite, Peter changes out of his street clothes.

Swinging out over the city, Spider-Man's sense warns him of danger, and seeing a shadow darting towards him, he manages to dodge out of the way of the Vulture! Spider-Man and the Vulture trade barbs and blows over the city, the Vulture confesses that he killed the girl outside of the apartment. Soon after getting this admission out of the Vulture, Spidey missteps into the Vulture's blow and is knocked from the rooftop. Spinning a shallow net, the webbing break Spider-Man's fall enough to spare his life but not enough to prevent him being stunned in the alley. The Vulture, mistakenly thinking Spider-Man is not longer a threat, splits the scene. Shortly after, Spider-Man crawls out of the alley.

Spider-Man reaches his eventual destination: the headquarters of the Fantastic Four. There, he joins Johnny Storm, and the two spend the rest of the evening working on the Spider-Mobile. The two banter and work throughout the night until dawn arrives. When the morning light shining in through the window, Spider-Man takes his leave.

A short time later, in the apartment Peter shares with Harry Osborn, Peter tries to study over breakfast when Harry stumbles out of his room. Ignoring Peter's banter, Harry continues to give Peter the cold shoulder because Peter doesn't believe that Spider-Man killed his father. Finally, after Peter talks about being friends, Harry snaps and insists that he and Peter were never friends but simply roommates, nothing more.

A short time later (and haven't we heard that before), Peter catches up with Mary Jane on campus. Peter attempts to apologize for the way he popped off last night, but Mary Jane insists that she's the one who should be sorry. She explains that she was lying about seeing a murder last night, and it was just a gag. Peter doesn't buy her story, but Flash interrupts the conversation by pulling up in his new convertible and giving the pair a lift. Cruising along, Peter's spider-sense warns him off the Vulture diving down at Flash's car. As the Vulture captures and carries off MJ, the stunned Flash Thompson narrowly avoids a delivery van barreling towards his car. Too late, he attempts to turn and slams his car into a light post. Peter pulls through the accident just fine, but Flash is unconscious from the shock. Peter runs off to pursue the Vulture, but is confronted by Professor Warren. Peter's professor insists that they talk about Peter's cavalier attitude towards his studies, but Peter cuts him off and runs off into a nearby alley.

Just as Spider-Man catches up with the Vulture over campus, the Vulture drops MJ. Flashing back to Gwen's death, Spider-Man reaches out to grab MJ and break her fall to the ground. Resting a shocked MJ on the ground, Spider-Man picks up the chase. Reasoning that the Vulture must have had some reason to come to campus, Spider-Man swings off to investigate a scream from the biology labs. Crashing in through a window, Spider-Man confronts the Vulture as he terrorizes a young lab assistant.

As the lab assistant flees the screen (with a interesting comment from the writer indicating there is more to her than meets the eye), Spider-Man and the Vulture tangle in the lab. Strangely enough the Vulture manages to chew through Spider-Man's webbing at one point, and Spider-Man realizes that this Vulture isn't just wearing a costume. He's completely changed into the Vulture down to claws on his hands and not wearing a costume. Tumbling through the lab, the battling pair crash out a window and to the ground below. Spotting MJ in the crowd of onlookers, Spider-Man realizes the importance of keeping the Vulture occupied. Just when he manages to web up the Vulture's eyes, the campus police intervene and tangle the two in a restraining net.

From the shadows of a nearby tree, Harry Osborn watches the fight in glee. In his own internal monologue, Harry tells himself if the Vulture doesn't finish Spider-Man, the Green Goblin will. Right then, the Vulture shrugs off the net, and mistakenly grabbing Spider-Man instead of the lab assistant, the Vulture launches himself into the air. Several hundred feet overhead, the Vulture cleans the webbing out of his eyes, and finds he's holding Spider-Man. If the Vulture has anything to say about it, this'll be the last trick he plays on anyone because the Vulture lets go and leaves Spider-Man plummeting towards the ground.

Comments:

Ok, I'm visiting Des Moines and writing this up on my friend's Heather's living room floor. Overall, this storyline from its clothing, language, odd sci-fi bent (more on that next issue), and plot holes you can drive a truck through is very representative of 70's hero comics overall.

Plot Analysis:

The storyline starts fast with no mention of how much time has past since the last. We've got Spidey hanging outside of MJ's apartment with a dead girl on the ground. In keeping with a general lack of gore, there really anything the reader could see to distinguish between a dead girl and a live one laying on the ground. Oddly enough, Spider-Man's first concern is that MJ is going to try to keep quiet about this instead of going to the police. In a really stilted and bizarre conversation, Peter drags it out of her that she witness the murder, but she insists on not getting involved because she fears the murderer would come after her. Of course, the murderer doesn't know if she is going to keep quiet or not, and if he intends to keep her quiet, he's probably already decided to do so. We'll let that little shred of logic go. Peter, armchair psychiatrist that he is, decides the best way to comfort MJ and encourage her to go to the police is to verbally assault her, accuse her of being a coward, and stomping out of her apartment. I can't see this working on anyone, and later we see that it really just further sets her against going to the police.

This wouldn't be a Spider-Man story if we left any sort of mystery and suspense in the plot, so next scene, the readers and Spider-Man are introduced to the murderer face-to-face. It's none other than the Vulture. His motivations aren't explained (yet), and I don't think any reason was given for him to continue skulking around the crime scene. He and Spider-Man tussle on the rooftops with the Vulture not able to lay a hand on a dodging and weaving Spider-Man, and Spider-Man serving up several good blows and a faceful of webbing to the Vulture. Amazingly, the Vulture manages to shred Spider-Man's webbing with ease. A fact not commented on in the issue, but one that seems odd to me. Desperate to stretch this storyline out for two issues, the writer has fate intervene and Spider-Man missteps into one of the Vulture's blows and tumbles from the multi-story building. Saving himself from death with a quickly spun net, Spider-Man crawls gingerly out of the alley as the Vulture flies off.

Now is the time on Spider-Man where we pick up current subplot threads. We see Spidey and the Human Torch team up to continue to work on the Spider-Mobile. Later, Harry's odd behavior is further developed. It turns out he's upset at Peter because refuses to support Peter's theory that Spider-Man killed his father. Because of this, he is completely turning his back on Peter and their long friendship.

Finally, picking up the current story (for what it's worth), Peter catches up with Mary Jane on campus. MJ completely implausibly tells Peter that she fabricated the whole story last night of witness the murder outside her apartment building. Their argument goes on hiatus as Flash picks them up in his new wheels.

Suddenly and without warning, the Vulture attacks again. Presumably, the Vulture is after MJ because she witnessed last night's murder. This is odd for several reasons. In the context of this issue, the Vulture has generally wanted to make a statement with his killings and isn't shy about taking credit for them.

Peter has more trouble getting into costume this issue. First, Flash drives off the road when Mary Jane is plucked out of the car and knocks himself unconscious forcing Peter to assess him before Peter runs off. Next, Professor Warren magically appears demanding that Peter talk to him about cutting classes. Peter ditches him as well (which presumably will cause him problems in school coming up). And finally, however much time it takes him to change, the Vulture ought to have been to New Jersey with Mary Jane at this point.

But, luckily for everyone involved, the Vulture was in a holding pattern over ESU just waiting for Spidey to appear holding Mary Jane all the while. As soon as Spider-Man catches up with the pair, the Vulture drops Mary Jane causing Spider-Man to plummet to the rescue after her. Spidey is successful with the rescue however, and he is soon after the Vulture again who has progressed to the biology lab.

Inside the lab, Spider-Man comes between the Vulture and some unnamed lab assistant. You never knew the Vulture had such an eye for the ladies. Not bad for an old bird. It's at this point, that Spider-Man realizes this Vulture isn't wearing a suit. He's got teeth, claws, and wings are all part of him and not just an outfit. Immediately before the battle is carried out a handy window, the writer makes a strange comment regarding the lab assistant: "She's for help, right? Wrong!"

However, the lab assistant is a mystery best left until next issue. Spidey and the Vulture continue their battle outside until Spidey manages to blind the Vulture with the old "web glob in the eyes" trick. In a wild plot twist, ESU is shown to actually have on-site security guards, two of whom use a net(?!?!?) to entangle the two combatants. Of course, the net is easily able to hold the Vulture and Spider-Man for at least a good three or four seconds before the Vulture frees himself, grabs Spider-Man, and launches himself to the skies.

I should probably mention that Harry Osborn is in the background this whole scene. He's gleefully rooting for Spider-Man's death and makes it clear that he thinks Spider-Man killed his father out of jealousy. "If the Vulture doesn't do it... The Green Goblin will!"

Finally, Act I finishes with the Vulture dropping Spider-Man to certain doom from a few hundred feet in the air. I'd wonder how Spider-Man could possibly survive, but I think we've seen this cliffhanger too many times in the past. Amazingly enough, as silly as the story seems now, it only goes downhill next issue.

Art Review:

The art was OK in this issue. The aerial shots were done better here than in the next. People's facial expressions were OK, and the backgrounds were detailed. Nothing to write home about, but a decent effort. Much better than the story deserve.

Action Factor:

Some decent action in this issue. The Vulture is always an interesting villain for a fight scene (dependent on the artist, of course). The aerial shots in this issue weren't outstanding but definitely OK, and the Vulture actually comes across as a serious opponent. In the second fight, it starts out well, but silliness takes over. The campus guards managed to entangle Spider-Man and the Vulture in a net. What they were doing with a net, I don't know, and how too powered opponents could get tangled in it for any length of time is a mystery as well. Finally, Vulture grabs Spider-Man mistaking him for his lab assistant at the end which really seemed an unnecessary contrivance as well.

Spider-Villain lessons 101:

Tip #1:
I'm not quite sure what the Vulture was thinking in this issue. He wears this garish costume and flies through the sky, but thinks he can do this and stealthily kill a girl without attracting attention?