THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #133

"The Molten Man Breaks Out!"

• Writer: Gerry Conway
• Artist: Ross Andru
• Inker: F. Giacoia & D. Hunt
• Print Date: June, 1974

Featuring:

Plot Summary:

Beginning Part Two: of one of the most sensational Spider-Epics of all-time!

The Molten Man bursts into the hospital demanding to find that reporter from the Daily Bugle, Ned Leeds. After terrifying the local nurses and fending off a foolhardy orderly, he finds the patient registry laying out on the counter. A brief glance tells him that Ned's in the emergency room, and he remarks "After I get through with him, he's going to need a doctor -- maybe for the rest of his life!"

If you're wondering what's going on, you're not alone, frantic one. At this very moment, several hundred yards away, in a wing of the hospital building, an intern bends over the collapsed form of Peter Parker. Stopping to assess our hero, he begins to loosen Peter's shirt (under which the familiar red-webbed colors of Spider-Man are peeking out). Luckily, the screaming from the admittance room draws his attention, he hurries off intending to send someone back for Peter. However, the commotion has roused Peter from his fit and he manages to stumble into a nearby closet. A hunch tells him that the Molten Man has returned for Ned. Still feverish from the radiation sickness, he changes into costume trying to figure out how to fight Raxton without getting worse.

We'll soon find out, for ten seconds later, the Molten Man storms down the hallway towards the emergency room. Crawling along the ceiling behind him, Spidey assesses the situation. Determining that he needs to bring the Molten Man down fast, the web-slinger grabs a nearby fire hose and douses the Molten Man with a stream of cold water. Taking advantage of the steam bath, Spider-Man moves in subdue the Molten Man. However, he underestimated his opponent as his golden-skinned foe throws himself against a nearby wall, uses his tremendous heat to burn through, and escape outside. Before the wall-crawler can pursue, he's confronted by several cops arriving on the scene. Charging up some stair and out of the door, Spider-Man escapes, but too late to capture the Molten Man. Wondering what Ned could've learned to incur the Molten Man's ire, Spider-Man leaves the hospital and swings across town.

His destination: The west-side apartment of his college colleague and long-time female friend Mary Jane Watson. He sneaks into the apartment to eavesdrop on MJ and the recently returned Liz Allen.

Flashback time: After her and Peter graduated, Liz decided it was time to accept her responsibilities in life. She felt she had duties to herself and her step-brother Mark Raxton, the Molten Man. After he was captured a second time, Raxton was hospitalized, and Liz took on a job as a nurse in order to be near him. However, the Molten Man was isolated from the other patients, isolated from everyone else thanks to a protective mask he was forced to wear, and for months, only saw Liz. When he finally had enough, he struck out: first at Liz, and then at a poor intern. Only then did he realize what the doctors had known for months. His metallic skin is dissolving, and his body heat will eventually consume his body entirely!

Deciding it was time for Parker to make his appearance, Peter sneaks out of the bedroom to the apartment next door. He sneaks through the apartment hoping to make it out before getting caught, but MJ's neighbor's dog catches him and shreds his slacks on the way through. Peter spends a minute making small talk before MJ and Liz decide to go out for a burger leaving Peter to lock up the apartment on his way out.

Early the next morning, Peter finds himself at the midtown editorial offices of the Daily Bugle where there is no news about Ned or what he found at the boarding house. He's not hanging around long before he's spotted by Jonah and assigned to go out and take pictures of a warehouse robbery on the West Side.

Peter hops a cab cross-town, and finds the a warehouse almost entirely destroyed. Attempts to interview the cleanup crew only gets him some brusque comments and cold-shoulders, and Peter starts to get a hunch that this place is not on the up-and-up. Taking a moment to call Ned, Ned claims that the Molten Man was a fluke, but that he did determine that whatever the Molten Man is up to, it involves radioactivity.

Lunchtime: And in the shadows of the deserted construction site appears Spider-Man who's hear to determine if this warehouse was illegally storing radioactive isotopes. checking the warehouse records, he finds the warehouse was storing radioactive material, legally, for some hospital in the area. Busted again by security guards, Spider-Man heads for the skylight as our two trigger-happy clowns open fire. Fed up with being shot at by armed guards (twice in two issues!), Spider-Man vents some frustration by knocking the guards unconscious.

Thus, later in the evening, Spider-Man investigates a third place in town that is known for its radioactive isotopes: the Science Museum! This time, he's ahead of the game as he catches the Molten Man in the act of breaking into the Science Museum. KRASH goes the skylight, as Spider-Man attacks the Molten Man feet first. That blow wasn't enough to subdue MM. He throws our hero into a nearby wall, and sprints out the front door leaving a trail of red-hot footprints behind. Spider-Man, woozy from the radiation, gets up slowly to give chase.

Mark Raxton isn't going to make it easy for him though as he slips on an asbestos mask, some fireproof clothes, and strides onto a waiting subway. The token attenda nt stares as another citizen ignores the waiting turnstiles and leaps to grab on to the exiting car. Spider-Man creeps along the subway car, realizing the danger to the passengers, looking for the Molten Man. However, Raxton disguise works for awhile. Unfortunately for him though, his body's deterioration is accelerating, and finally his body heat reaches a point where it makes his disguise useless. Spotting his adversary, Spider-Man grabs him by the fireproof coat and drags him off the train onto a bridge. There, Raxton demonstrates his increased strength by pulling up the train's rails and attempting to pummel Spider-Man with him. Spider-Man's agility keeps him safe as Raxton's body begins to dissolve, faster and faster, consumed by his own heat. Vowing that he isn't going to die alone this evening, he hurls Spider-Man against a bridge support, temporarily crippling our hero with a severe burn to the leg. Thinking fast, Spider-Man distracts the Molten Man by snagging his isotope with a webline and whipping them off the bridge. Declaring he hasn't a chance without those isotope, Raxton dives off the bridge, striking the river with a burst of steam and muffled explosion. Mark Raxton was a man who died as he lived: consumed by the passion within him and a madness in his soul.

Comments:

Oooh.. Happy hour at the Embassy Suites. I'm actually knocking off about 2 issues a week while I'm on the road now. With any luck, by the time this trip is done, I should be approaching issue #140.

Plot Analysis:

Overall, really kind of a lame issue. It appears to be the this creative team seems to be intent on knocking off some Spider-Man villains. The Kangaroo died recently (and permanently). I couldn't help but wonder if the storyline involving the new Vulture was supposed to be a cap on the original's career. Doc Ock bit the dust this last storyline, and now the Molten Man apparently dies this issue.

But, instead of jumping straight to the end of the story, let's pick up where we left off. Ned Leeds is being treated in a local hospital for burns and radiation sickness. That same radiation has caused Spider-Man to collapse, and the Molten Man is running around town. Well, maybe not all over town because he's come to the hospital specifically seeking Ned Leeds before Ned can spoil his secret plan.

Ok, I don't understand this at all. The Molten Man has been sneaking around town stealing radioactive material in an effort to cure himself of the gold alloy that covers him and is slowly consuming him with it's intense heat. It appeared that his attempts failed dramatically last issue, but this issue he continues stealing material. What exactly is Ned going to spoil that the Molten Man is so afraid of? If he had spent his time chasing down his remaining two samples instead of engaging in a pointless battle at the hospital, he might've had a chance to cure himself. Not to mention that after he's run out of the hospital by Spider-Man, he completely forgets about Ned and focuses on finishing his cure. I can't even imagine that Ned did anything to upset him enough to come seeking revenge last issue. I guess we'll just write this off to "huge plot hole".

Instead, he wastes precious time pursuing Ned who really knows nothing. He takes the 'brute force' method of assaulting the hospital, bursting in through the wall in dramatic fashion and frightening off all the doctors and nurses. Then, getting Ned's name and location from the register, he stalks off to the emergency rooms.

Meanwhile, we get a clear lesson on how much the writer really knows about doctors and treating patients. An intern, finding Peter having a fit on the floor, pauses briefly to see what's wrong. However, hearing shouts and commotion from the emergency room, he leaves his victim without even assessing what's wrong with him trusting that someone else will come "back for this boy" because "this other matter is much more important". BWAH? I can't picture any doctor leaving someone who is so obviously in need of assistance to investigate a disturbance somewhere else.

Luckily for Peter though, he does. Peter narrowly escapes having his costume revealed underneath his street clothes, and revived by the screams and commotion, stumbles off to a nearby closet to change. Now, I'm not physicist either, but if I recall correctly, it would take a MASSIVE amount of radiation to incapacitate someone so quickly, and exposure to that sort of radiation ought to have lot a more short- and long-term side affects instead of a brief dizzy spell. During the course of the issue, Peter makes no more mention of the radiation sickness, and I bet anything that it's completely forgotten about by next issue. I think, instead of assuming the doctors were correct in diagnosing Ned with radiation exposure, I'm going to suggest that instead the extreme heat affected Ned and Peter so much last issues.

Moving in slow motion, the Molten Man takes only one or two steps towards the emergency room by the time Peter has gotten up, gotten changed into Spider-Man, and has snuck up behind him. On one hand, Spidey makes a good move by attacking 'golden boy' from a distance (with a firehouse), but after his initial assault his moves into the cloud of steam to engage Molten Man hand-to-hand trusting his Spider-Sense to allow him to find the Molten Man before he finds Spider-Man. I'm not sure what the plan is from there. Thinking back to last issue, our hero's blows had little to no affect the Molten Man, and that bubbling molten skin is giving off too much heat (and radiation, I can't forget the radiation) to allow the Molten Man to be grappled effectively.

Fortunately, Spider-Man is spared from his own short-sightedness when his golden-skinned foe uses his heat to burst through a wall and flee on the street. Before the wall-crawler can pursue, he's confronted by a trio of cops called to the scene. I'd have to check, but I'm pretty sure this is the first time that, while attempting to arrest Spider-Man, the cops didn't just start firing wildly after his fleeing form. Spider-Man escapes the cops as usual, but he's too late catch Raxton who's brightly glowing and distinctive form has disappeared on an abandoned city street in the middle of the night (Sarcasm implied here).

After a futile search, Spider-Man guesses that the Molten Man definitely wants to keep Ned quiet. Instead of making the intuitive leap that, "Hmmmm.. Maybe the Molten Man will return to make another attempt on Ned's life" and hanging around to keep Ned safe, Spider-Man decides instead to return to Mary Jane's to catch up with her and Liz. This works out though because making another attempt on Ned's life never occurs to the Molten Man (or the writer) either.

When Spidey returns to Mary Jane, we have a somewhat important flashback which not only reveals where Liz has been all this time, but it also reveals her connection to the Molten Man. I think the writer was being really silly having Spider-Man eavesdrop on this entire conversation from Mary Jane's bedroom instead of simply having Peter walk in and get all this information from Liz first-hand. Plus, when Peter does wander into Mary Jane's apartment, her and Liz decide to split for a burger immediately leaving Peter standing around. It probably would've made some sense for them to invite Peter with, but I'm reading the wrong material to find characters portrayed realistically and consistently.

The next morning, Peter decides to find out what Ned was up to by asking Ned directly. Oh wait, never mind, again that might make sense. No, instead he goes to the Daily Bugle to see if anyone know what Ned was investigating. This might makes sense if Ned was still unconscious, but in the same page, Peter calls the hospital and finds Ned to be awake and alert with no idea why the Molten Man would come looking for him at the hospital. Regardless, stopping at the Daily Bugle gives Peter the opportunity to find out about the latest spectacular theft from a warehouse on the West Side. Judging from the fact that the cleanup crew is discourteous to a stranger asking questions, Peter deduces that they must be up to illegal activities. I'm so thankful that he was shown wrong in this case, I can't even express how ridiculous it would've been for him to find out that the warehouse was storing radioactive isotopes illegally. No, the warehouse was storing them for a local hospital. This might be considered illegal in that I would expect storing radioactive material in such a fashion might break a slew of laws (Where's OSHA in the Marvel Universe?), but other than that, it's on the up-and-up.

Again, Peter is confronted by armed officers who show some restraint in waiting for Spider-Man to flee before firing wildly at him. Spider-Man, ticked off at being shot at so much, vents his frustration on the officers leaving them unconscious at the warehouse. Finally, correctly deducing that there was only ONE other place in all of New York that is storing radioactive material, his wild leaps of logic pay off and he catches up with Raxton at the Science Museum.

After attempting to knock Raxton unconscious with a leap and kick to the head, Spidey's sensitivity to radiation kicks in again, and he spends several valuable seconds fighting off a surge of returning nausea giving the Molten Man plenty of time to sprint down the street. Again, Molten Man's uncanny ability to vanish down an abandoned street pays off (despite the red-hot, steaming footprints he leaves behind), and he has time to change into disguise. What kind of disguise would mask his golden skin, molten heat, and bulky form? Why, a suit of fireproof clothes and asbestos mask, that's what! Incognito, the Molten Man boards a subway to escape.

Spider-Man, who didn't see the Molten Man change into costume or board the train, knows that Raxton must've boarded this particular subway judging from the fact that someone boarded the train without paying and the sight of a old lady knocked down on the platform. Creeping along the speeding subway, Spidey searches for Raxton. Well, the costume and such probably would've worked fine except Raxton's time is up! As his body approaches critical mass, his body heat gives him away to the other passengers just in time for his asbestos mask and fireproof clothes to disintegrate. I can't imagine how much heat it would take to 'melt' asbestos, but you'd think it would be enough to burn and scorch other passengers in the subway car. Fortunately, no one is hurt as Raxton panics and knocks out the doors to the subway car. Spotting Spidey moving in to apprehend him, the Molten Man charges in rage and carries himself and Spider-Man off the back of the subway car and onto a suspension bridge over and unidentified river. With his body swiftly deteriorating, the Molten Man decides he's going to take Spider-Man with him, and the battle is on. Unlike last issue, Spider-Man isn't very intelligent this issue, and as he leaps at his opponent, the Molten Man grabs him around the foot and slams him into one of the I-beams supporting the bridge. Stunned by the pain of his badly burned leg, Spidey desparately tries to distract Raxton by snagging his backpack with a web-line (why didn't this burn up with the rest of his fireproof clothes?) and launching the stolen isotopes off the bridge. In desparation, Raxton launches himself after the backpack, and the writer suggests that his body is destroyed when his intense heat is immersed in the cold waters of the river.

Art Review:

The art was pretty good. I actually liked how the Molten Man was depicted in this issue in which he actually appears to be burning. In later issues, I recall him just being the 'golden-skinned guy' which didn't really explain the moniker "Molten Man" very well. Other than that, the rest of the art was pretty good. Andru shows a lot of versatility this issue.

Action Factor:

The action in this issue was fair. We have a brief encounter between Spider-Man and Molten Man in the hospital that only lasts for about a page. The fight in the museum is about the same length -- just long enough for the Molten Man to flee. Finally, we have the chase scene and climatic battle on the bridge. All very good stuff.

Spider-Villain lessons 101:

Tip #1:
Radiation absorbed from the Molten Man will only weaken one for about 30 minutes after the first encounter. After that, Spider-Man apparently develops a tolerance for it and is no longer affected by the radiation.