THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #139

"Day Of The Grizzly!"

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

Featuring:

Plot Summary:

"The end of summer... almost. The air's a little cooler now; the sun doesn't shine quite so brightly; and the evening arrives a little earlier than it did only a month ago..." However, it seems our hero has more things to worry about than the weather these days. As he swings over the city, he laments that he still hasn't found a place to live and is rooming with Flash. Since Gwen died, things have been going pretty well, so Spider-Man is waiting (almost hoping) for something bad to happen.

He meets up with Liz and the two go apartment shopping. Although she's not introduced by name, I believe this is the first appearance of Peter's long-time apartment superintendent, Mrs. (Mamie) Muggins. Despite it's run-down appearance and the questionable neighborhood, Peter agrees to take the place.

Turning time forward a bit, our hero returns to the Daily Bugle. This is his first visit since he "quit" a couple of issues ago. As Peter chats with Joe Robertson and Betty, a loud smashing sound from the elevator announces the debut of a loud character in a huge bear suit: The Grizzly! Peter flees through a door as Joe Robertson tries to defend Betty and himself from the rampaging Grizzly. They prove to be a minor distraction though as Jonah pokes his head out of his office and becomes the focal point for the Grizzly's rage.

Spider-Man appears on the scene just as Jonah goes flying out of his office window. Spider-Man pulls a quick save with a web-net, and then jumps in to Jonah's office to confront the Grizzly. As the Grizzly stands there and takes Spider-Man best blows, he makes mention of Jonah ruining him. Spider-Man's agility isn't enough to keep him completely out of the Grizzly's clutches, and the big bear leaves him stunned in Jonah's office, but not before Spider-Man is able to tag him with a spider-tracer. Spider-Man rescues Jonah from the webnet and goes off to hunt the Grizzly.

The trail leads him to a plush Washing Square townhouse. Deciding the subterfuge is the best approach, he rings the front doorbell as Peter Parker. However, common sense and his spider-sense aren't enough to keep from falling into a trap. He's knocked unconscious by a shadowy character inside the townhome, and when he awakens, he finds himself in the twin clutches of the Grizzly and the Jackal! As a note, although we've seen the Jackal before, this is Spider-Man's first face-to-face encounter with him.

Comments:

Generally, I liked this issue. Even if the Grizzly was (for a long time) a one-shot lame villain (well, OK, he's still lame), this story was pretty good. Of course, in recent years, he's had a bit of a comedic revival teaming up with some of Spider-Man's other lame foes over the years.

Plot Analysis:

As for this issue, the author is certainly not letting Spider-Man hang out in the boonies with Flash very long. We have Spider-Man, lost in his own thoughts as a convenient way to bring new readers up-to-date, swinging over the city to go apartment shopping with Liz Allen. His travels bring him to Twelfth Street which isn't the best neighborhood in the world, but the best that Peter is likely to find for the kind of rent he's able to pay. Well, this is our first look at Peter's long-time Chelsea apartment as well as Peter's infamous landlady Mrs. Mamie Muggins. Peter ends up renting the run-down apartment, and if my memory serves, he lives here well into the 1990's. As an aside, when they re-booted the Spider-Man comics, I'm actually surprised that the editors in their frantic effort to undo much of Spider-Man's chronology didn't move Peter back into this apartment. It probably never occurred to them or no doubt they would've.

Fun Trivia: The ad for Peter's Chelsea apartment read: "Three and a half rooms -- one-hundred ten a month." On the back of the paper the headline reads: "Hunt and Giacoia captured!" Hunt and Giacoia being this issue's inkers of course.

Fast-forward to the Daily Bugle, despite quitting and walking out, Peter easily reclaims his job as a freelance photographer for the Bugle. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all tell off our boss, walk out on our job, and wander back in a few days (or weeks) later? The conversation with Betty indicates that MJ is out of the hospital (neatly tying off that plot thread), and Peter, Betty, and Joe Robertson have a poorly scripted conversation together until....

...The Grizzly makes his dramatic appearance into the Spider-mythos forever changing everything. Ok, well, maybe not, but he does make a dramatic appearance trashing the Bugle offices in the process. Now, its long been speculated that Joe Robertson knows Peter's secret identity, and its scenes like this that fuel such speculation. When the Grizzly bursts in and starts terrorizing journalists, Robbie orders Peter to go for help while he tries to protect Betty. Peter obligingly makes his exit while Robbie confronts the Grizzly. His distraction lasts all of one panel, and the Grizzly moves onto his real target: J. Jonah Jameson. Jameson's cowering gets him tossed out the window, but of course, Spider-Man is there for the rescue much to their mutual disgust.

Spider-Man leads with his fists in his initial fight against the Grizzly. He takes his best shots on the Grizzly and the Grizzly doesn't even blink. At this point, instead of using his head, he follows up for more blows and loses the fight precisely for that reason. At a critical point, Spider-Man underestimates the Grizzly's speed and the Grizzly leaves him stunned on the office floor. Whether Spider-Man is legitimately stunned (it was a nasty blow) or faking as he claims (he does have the presence of mind to tag the Grizzly with a tracer) can probably be argued either way. The writer could've done a better job in this scene.

Anyways, the Grizzly escapes temporarily and Spider-Man rescues Jonah who is hanging by a web net outside. Spider-Man moves out to finish the fight, and there are some great shots of Spider-Man against some New York architecture. When Spider-Man trails the Grizzly to some plush old Washington Square townhomes, he makes the mysterious decision to approach incognito as Peter Parker instead of Spider-Man. The rationale for this decision, "I'll get more answers as Peter Parker", doesn't make any sense. In any case, Peter Parker rings the doorbell, walks in like a lamb to the slaughter, and gets ambushed like a schmuck. When he comes to, he recognizes the Grizzly, but, oddly enough, he recognizes the Jackal as well despite not having seen him before. Ahhh.. An otherwise good story ruined with stupid little plot holes. No attention to detail anymore.

Art Review:

The artwork in this issues was phenomenal from cover to cover. It started off with some great action shots of Spider-Man webslinging over the city. Spider-Man's motion appeared very lifelike, and the scenes just really stood out. Next, the attention to detail in Peter's new neighborhood and apartment was really nice as well. Everything from the trash on the street, the chipped drywall, the cramped kitchen (which I can relate to) really made this scene come alive. When the Grizzly makes his appearance, we get some great shots of him, and later of him battling Spider-Man. The battle culminates in a page-and-a-half spread of the Grizzly swinging Spider-Man into a filing cabinet. And, if that wasn't enough, we get some more GREAT "around town" shots of Spider-Man moving through New York. Not being familiar with New York's geography, I can't actually NAME the shots around town, but it was still nice to see Spider-Man swinging by something other than "anonymous skyscraper", "generic brownstone", and the like.

Action Factor:

Well, the fight was disappointing in that Spider-Man really didn't use his brains at all in it. For example, take a poke at the guy's unprotected nose might've been a start. On the other hand, the artwork made up for up to some regard.

Spider-Villain lessons 101:

Tip #1:
At the author discretion, Spider-Man's spider-sense may be enough to warn him of impending danger, or it may not go off until he's being physically assault.