THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #144

"The Delusion Conspiracy"

• Writer: Gerry Conway
• Artist: Ross Andru
• Inker: F. Giacoia & D. Hunt
• Print Date: May, 1975

Featuring:

Plot Summary:

Spider-Man thought that Paris was a quiet sort of city: cultured, sophisticated, peaceful. He's realized, since his defeat at the hands of Cyclone, that Paris may be nuttier than New York! The Cyclone kidnapped Jonah and Robbie and left Spider-Man buried under a half-ton of rubble.

With no ideas what else to do, Spider-Man returned back to the hotel room and its stash of one million dollars in negotiable bond. Back at the hotel, Peter finds a note from the kidnappers waiting for him at the front desk instructing him to stay there and await new further instructions. With nothing else to do, Peter calls home and checks up on Aunt May. Their call is interrupted by a knock at the door.

Leaving Peter, Aunt May and Anna Watson are talking about and MJ and Peter's budding relationship while they get ready to go brave the NY winter, Aunt May makes a comment about how nice it is that poor Peter had someone to turn to since the death of poor Gwen. Suddenly, Aunt May turns and sees a familiar form strolling down the sidewalk. The shock of seeing Gwen (or someone who looks likes Gwen), alive is too much and Aunt May collapses in Anna's arms.

Meanwhile: what about "poor Peter" anyway? Peter's spider-sense warns him what's going to happen, but he puts that aside and answers the door. The Cyclone's thugs crash through the door. Pinning Peter up against the wall, they demand that he bring the money to the Notre Dame cathedral tomorrow evening.

Morning comes as morning does: cold and clammy, grey and thin. Before the rest of the hotel is up, Peter Parker collects the bonds from the hotel safe. Since it is early on Saturday, Peter has the streets to himself as he wanders through the byways and alleys of Paris. Stopping in front of a hardware store, Peter gets an idea and starts to formulate a plan to defeat the Cyclone. He eagerly explains to the hardware store owner his mysterious idea, and leaves the store pushing a large piece of equipment on a trolley heading towards the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

The day drags by slowly, and to pass the time, Spider-Man perches with the gargoyles among the rooftop watching the cathedral. It's time, and he rushes towards the cathedral. Inside, the Cyclone and his thugs watch over a immobilized Jonah and Robbie. In response to Jonah's belligerence, the Cyclone explains his hatred of the Americans. While a NATO engineer, Cyclone developed his whirlwind technology as a weapons of war. But, he was told the NATO didn't require his invention since all exotic weaponry would be purchased from America. Feeling bitter, the Cyclone vowed revenge.

As the Cyclone finally loses patience with Jonah's mouth, his henchmen see the attache case with the ransom dangling on a web. Rushing to grab the case, the thugs blunder right into Spider-Man's ambush, and two quick kicks puts them out for the evening. Pushing his advantage, Spider-Man charges the Cyclone and gets in a couple of good shots before the Cyclone manages to his belt unit. Suddenly, the cathedral is filled with a whirling vortex. Trying out plan A, Spider-Man lowers himself into the eye of the vortex, but the Cyclone manages to hurl him away. Going back to his original, plan, Spider-Man lays on the ground waiting for the Cyclone to get closer, closer, closer, and... he pulls back a cloth to reveal his master plan: A GIANT FAN!

At this point, I think the Cyclone sums the scene up best: "What is this, American? A JEST?"

So, we have super-powered wind weapon capable of destroying small buildings, and an industrial strength fan purchased from a local hardware store. Of course, the fan wins and hurls the Cyclone into the wall, knocking him unconscious. If that was the extent of his weapon, I guess I can't blame NATO for firing him. Sheesh.

Well, Yankee Ingenuity wins again. Spider-Man frees Robbie and Jonah offering of some feeble excuse for being in Paris. Also, Peter's voice calls down from the balcony, "I've got all the pictures we need!" giving Spider-Man's alter ego an alibi. Spider-Man swings up, retrieves his camera and recorder, and rejoins Robbie and Jonah in civilian clothes.

By the time the group lands at Kennedy International Airport, Jonah's suspicion have been mostly quelled. After Peter catches a cab home, he find Anna Watson waiting at his front door. Anna, in a panic, blurts out that Aunt May is in a hospital, but.. upstairs.. in Peter's apartment. Peter doesn't wait for Anna to finish, he sprits up the stairs, and bursting through his door comes face-to-face with Gwen Stacy.

"Gwen? You're-- Alive--?"

Comments:

Well, it's been awhile. I've been busy playing Scrabble, traveling, and just haven't made time for my website. Right now, I'm laying in a cheap (well, relatively cheap) hotel in Los Angeles. Thankfully, I'm here enjoying the sunny 65 degree weather when I could be home suffering through the -5 below (-30 with wind chill).

Plot Analysis:

Anyways, this issue had some good, but mostly bad. It picks up where we left off last issue with Spider-Man leaving the scene of the battle. I have no idea if the artist's representation of French gendarmes is correct or not, but they're wandering about in cap and capes. Seems odd, even for 1970. It is fun to see Spider-Man against the backdrop of Paris. The architecture is different, and it doesn't lend itself to well to web-swinging. Thankfully, we see Spider-Man leaping between buildings and running over rooftops instead of wondering where an off-panel web-line is attached.

We get the obligatory recap. Seems pretty consistent with last issue, but it skipped over the kiss with Mary-Jane which I think was the highlight of last issue. Speaking of previous issues, Peter's hands are still bandaged from his fight with Mysterio II. It's isn't spoken about, but the bandages are distinctly there in several panels.

We flip to Aunt May. Going for a winter walk with Anna Watson, Aunt May (and her frail heart) suffers a terrible shock when she sees Gwen Stacy walking along the street. It's amazing that she's still alive after all this time (well, excluding the time she was thought dead), but this shock is enough to put her in the hospital. Since she's still kicking almost thirty years later, we know she'll make it through this crises.

Peter, wisely lets himself get assaulted by the Cyclone's thugs. How do we know they are the Cyclone's thugs? Well, they apparently walked into the hotel, went up to Peter's room, and assaulted him in full view of anyone walking by, and they did this all while wearing their garish blue and yellow costumes. It's nice to know that America can export crappy fashion statements along with everything else.

So, my first question after reading is WHY didn't he just follow those two thugs back to their hideout? I mean, with those clothes, does anyone think they could blend in with the crowd and vanish???

So, Peter gets the money and spends an entire morning wandering around Paris. At least he doesn't have to worry about getting ripped off. Walking by a hardware store, he suddenly develops this plan. Oh, and WHAT A PLAN IT IS! There has not been another plan such as this in the history of Amazing Spider-Man. Make of that what you will.

Spider-Man shows up at the rendezvous point. He takes out the henchmen easily by suckering them with the money, and then he confronts Cyclone. For a normal guy, Cyclone is pretty sturdy. He manages to take two blows to the head from Spider-Man and still remains standing. Once he activates his Cyclone device however, the fight is over. Cyclone tosses Spider-Man about like a rag doll not once but twice. Fortunately, Spider-Man manages to land near the mysterious piece of hardware he purchased earlier. Finally, when it's all over for Spider-Man, he pulls the curtain to reveal - The giant fan.

Y'know. At this point, I'm thinking the giant fan needs to stand along-side the Spider-Mobile in the Spider-Man equipment gallery. I might make a "giant fan" page.

Disregarding any sense of physics, common sense, or even drama, the writer decides that the giant fan is enough cancel out the Cyclone's whirlwind and knocks the Cyclone unconscious. Words escape me.

That's so cheesy, I won't even touch Spider-Man's alibi using a tape recording of his own voice calling from the galley to make Jonah and Robbie think Peter was there the whole time as well.

Finally, we get to this issue's dramatic conclusion. Peter comes home to find Aunt May hospitalized, but even more shocking, Gwen Stacy is waiting in his apartment. How did she find his apartment? No one knows, but she's there in living color.

Art Review:

I liked the art in this issue. I really like the foggy, early-morning shots of Peter walking around Paris, and the shots of the cathedral were spectacular. This fight with Cyclone was handled well with a great splash page of the Cyclone and Spider-Man. Unfortunately, I couldn't capture the swirling winds properly, so that scene isn't on the web page.

Action Factor:

The action in this issue was a lot better than last. The Cyclone shows remarkable durability by standing up to two of Spider-Man's blows. Once he gets his whirlwinds running however, the fight is over as Spider-Man gets tossed aside like a rag doll not once, but twice. However, the giant fan (I still can't get over that, can you tell?) comes to the rescue and finishes the baddie off.

Spider-Villain lessons 101:

Tip #1:
Again, Spider-Man proves very vulnerable to wind attacks. You'd think with his ability to stick to surfaces, and his strength, he'd be able to weather this sort of thing. However, this issue indicates otherwise.