THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #149

"Even If I Live, I Die!"

• Writer: Gerry Conway
• Artist: Ross Andru
• Inker: Mike Esposito
• Print Date: Oct., 1975

Featuring:

Plot Summary:

This issue opens immediately after the previous issue. As Spider-Man lies groggy from a strike from The Jackal's drug-laced claws, The Jackal dramatically peels off his mask to reveal himself to be.. Professor Warren! Spider-Man collapses into unconsciousness providing a convenient interlude for the writer to go into flashback mode and replay the plot from the last issue.

When he next awakes, Spider-Man finds himself securely bound to a heavy wooden table in the basement in an abandoned tenement. The Jackal taunts Spider-Man by gloating over his moment of triumph and talking about finally getting his revenge. Spider-Man casually rips through the Jackal's straps, but finds himself too groggy to find the Jackal effectively. As Spider-Man takes a couple of wild swings at the Jackal, the Jackal easily avoids the wild throws, and dodges in an out, ripping at Spider-Man with his claws as he goes. Eventually, Spider-Man collapses under the onslaught and the Jackal crushes him beneath the heavy table. As Spider-Man lies recuperating on the floor, we go into another flashback to see the true origin of the Jackal.

Origin Flashback: From the first time he laid eyes on her, Professor Warren admired Gwen Stacy and often thought of her as the daughter he never had. When she died, something died within him as well. However, fate intervened the next day as the Professor's assistant, Anthony Serba, successfully cloned a frog. Professor Warren remembers the tissue samples he took and gave them to his assistant claiming they were samples from a rat. As the clones developed, the Professor's assistant realized that the clones were human, and insisted that they must be destroyed. In his panic to cover up the situation, the Professor accidentally killed Serba and disposed of the body in a furnace. While trying to deny that he killed Serba, Professor Warren overheard a lecture regarding a predatory canine called the jackal. In his delusion, the Professor decided that the Jackal killed Serba, not him. Over the next several months, Professor Warren tended his clone, designed his Jackal equipment and costume, and trained himself athletically. Finally, Gwen Stacy's clone was complete, and in his excitement, Professor Warren vowed to punish the man he felt responsible for her death: Spider-Man...

After his confession, the Jackal fled the scene, but not before announcing to Spider-Man than he can rescue Gwen Stacy by appearing at Shea Stadium at midnight.

Shortly, at the Daily Bugle, Mary Jane comforts Betty Brant as Betty frets because Ned went out with Peter the previous day and hasn't return. Betty also confesses that Gwen has been staying at her place since her return until she got settled. At that moment, Peter strolls into the office. After being confronted by Jonah , Peter lies and says he hasn't seen Ned in the past week. As Jonah erupts into hysterics, Peter hustles out promising to find Ned.

Midnight, at Shea Stadium, Spider-Man swings into the scene. As he swings into the stadium, he is distracted by thoughts of Mary Jane and wishing he had a chance to talk to her alone at the Bugle. Again, the Jackal claws Spider-Man from behind with his drugged-tipped claws, and again Spider-Man collapses into unconsciousness.

When our hero recovers, we see TWO identical Spider-Men coming out of a daze on the ball field. As the two Spider-Men face off against each other, the Jackal announces over a megaphone that obviously Gwen Stacy wasn't the only clone he made. He also made a clone of Peter Parker, and programmed the clone to believe he is the original Spider-Man. Finally, plays a light over to Ned Leeds, blindfolded, suspended to the scoreboard, and also hanging next to a large load of dynamite. The bomb is programmed to go off at exactly 1:15 AM, and only the REAL Spider-Man can defuse the bomb.

As Spider-Man and his clone tussle on the ball field each claiming to be authentic, the Jackal gloats to Gwen Stacy and watches the clock slowly advance. Finally, as both Spider-Men release their time is almost up, Gwen breaks out of the Jackal's hypnotic programming. She rips off his mask and accuses him of being the real murderer. As Professor Warren is confronted by the truth, he realizes that he killed Anthony Serba and not the Jackal. Not wanting more blood on his hands, he hurries over to Ned and cuts him loose just before the bomb explodes. Caught in the bomb's explosion, Professor Warren is killed instantly as both Spider-Men and Ned Leeds are buried in the rubble of the scoreboard. After all that's said and done, only one Spider-Man and Ned survived the avalanche of machinery. Gwen Stacy runs up to see if their both all right, and when she finds that they are, she asks how Spider-Man can tell if he's the real one leaving Spider-Man in a crisis of identity.

Epilogue One: Peter stands by as Gwen Stacy's clone puts flowers on the grave of the originally Gwen Stacy. She talks about her identity crisis and how confused and frightened she feels. She confesses to Peter that they are both different people than when Gwen and Peter were in love. She says good-bye to Peter and walks out of his life.

Epilogue Two: Peter returns to his apartment. His spider sense reveals that someone is in his apartment. He hurries up the stairs and opens the door to find Mary-Jane waiting for him. The issue closes with Peter's apartment door as he tells Mary-Jane how happy he is to see her.

Comments:

On one hand, I enjoyed this issue, but on the other hand, I'm a little predisposed to be bitter towards it for being the kick-off point of all the Spider-Clone vileness that swarmed the Spider-Man books in the later half of the 1990's. I'm also slightly hung-over from last night, feeling cranky, and listening to Johnny Cash, so expect me to be somewhat harsh.

Plot Analysis:

Well, this issue has a lot that's good, and a lot that isn't so good. I guess I'll start with the stuff I liked. For starters, toying with the identity crisis that having an identical person with your looks, abilities, and memories would cause a person was interesting. Gwen speech talking about how she had to keep imagining the original Gwen Stacy as some other person was well done. Although, I can't help but think if the writer missed a chance to include some sort of interesting insight into Peter's identity duality (Peter vs. Spider-Man) and his duality of identity with the clone. Of course, with so many flashbacks, "drifting into unconsciousness" scenes, and pointless fights, the writer was probably a little pressed for space.

Also, Peter's ongoing internalizing over which girl is right for him: Gwen Stacy or Mary-Jane Watson was good as well. Although maybe a little more explanation of what caused him to realize that Mary-Jane was the one he was supposed to be would have been good and maybe a little more dialogue between Mary-Jane and himself.

Bothersome details. Ok, the Jackal is this university Professor who is apparently in his 50's. No matter how good of shape he's in for a 50-year-old man, how groggy does Spider-Man have to be to let the Jackal take him down? The fight scene between the Jackal and Spider-Man in the early half of the issue was rather pointless. We could have covered the Jackal gloating and recounting his origin as Spider-Man remained strapped to the table. Instead, in a desire to add filler to the issue, we have a completely silly two-page battle between the two where the Jackal, blatantly unrealistically (yes, realism is too much to expect from Spider-Man, but some internal consistency would be nice), gets the better of Peter. If a 50-year-old man can take him down, how is it that Peter can keep taking out crowds of muggers without any of them getting a lucky shot in at some point? If I was the writer, I would've cut the 2-page fight between the two, and used the extra pages to spotlight Peter and Mary-Jane's relationship a little more.

Next, Spider-Man gets blindsided, drugged, and knocked unconscious for the third time in three issues. I would've thought after getting ambushed by the Jackal once already today, he'd be a little more careful. I mean, it's mostly a plot device here because the Jackal needs to implant Peter's recent memories into the clone, but still... The recent memories (like the conversation at the Daily Bugle earlier in the issue) might've made a good way to distinguish the original from the clone. Just a thought, I think they could've done more with this. Plus, I can't help by think that the writer is using a crutch when I have to designate between the first and second time our hero regains unconsciousness in the span of a single issue.

Art Review:

Ok, my major criticism with the art. When Spider-Man regains unconsciousness (the first time (sheesh)), the panel very distinctly shows someone strapped to a table next to him. This person appears to be Ned Leeds, but this person is never referred to directly, and does not appear in any other panels during this scene. When I read this, I originally thought that both Ned and Spider-man were strapped in this basement, but it became clear that the Jackal was still holding Ned hostage. So, I blame the artist for this mix-up.

Action Factor:

Two fight scenes, neither particularly good. I think I criticized the original fight scene between the Jackal and Spider-Man enough was talking about the plot. That fight was pointless, took up two pages, and really struck a bad chord with me while reading the comic.

The second fight scene stars Spider-Man versus his clone. This scene is interesting only because of the banter and verbal jabs that Spider-Man takes with himself. However, for the most part, we only get to see a few scenes with both Spider-Men rolling around with each other, and these few scenes are continually interrupted with cuts to the clock and cuts to the Jackal and Gwen Stacy's confrontation.

Spider-Villain lessons 101:

I'm not sure I learned much from this issue. Just to keep something going, I'll stretch.

Tip #1:
Women always screw up big plans and spoiled everyone's fun. In the future all female hostages should be bound and gagged, preferably with ropes and duct tape and not in anything involving black leather. If the Jackal had followed this advice, Gwen wouldn't have had the opportunity to spoil his true moment of triumph by snapping him out of his delusions and forcing him to confront the fact he was orchestrating several murders.

Tip #2:
When I'm 50, I'll make sure to keep myself in good shape, and give myself some strategic advantage in every fight by wearing razor-sharp claws and a skin tight green outfit. Or maybe when I'm 50, I'll keep some dignity by being one of those behind-the-scenes plotters like the Kingpin or something and not get my hands too dirty.

Tip #3:
Spider-Man's spider-sense will alert him when there are strange women in his apartment, but it will not warn him if he's about to be struck in the small of his back by something razor-sharp.