THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #151

"Skirmish Beneath The Street"

• Writer: Len Wein
• Artist: Ross Andru & John Romita
• Colorist: Glynis Wein
• Print Date: Dec., 1975

Featuring:

Plot Summary:

Spider-Man swings towards an incineration plant carrying a large bundle on his back. There is a sense or foreboding over what that bundle could be. As he muses over his recent fights, being betrayed by Professor Warren, and losing Gwen Stacy a second time, he opens the bundle to reveal the body of his clone (killed back in issue #149). Suddenly his spider-sense tingles briefly, but he whirls around to see nothing but piles of trash and seagulls. Finally, he gets down to what he came here to do and disposes of his clone's body by throwing down one of the incinerator's massive chimneys presumably to be consumed in the fires below (recent reader's of Spider-Man will know that the clone somehow survived all this and returns much later).

Cut to the campus of Empire State University where Peter lays out on the grass lawn with Mary Jane sitting nearby. Mary Jane sees that Peter is looking down and tries to talk to him about the recent mysterious death of Professor Warren. Their conversation is interrupted by Flash Thompson who points out that they have two minutes before the class bell rings. Peter pokes fun at Flash because Flash's attitude towards school has completely changed since their days in high school. Flash just explains that people change and education is his top priority these days. As they wandered towards class, Mary Jane spots a familiar figure drinking from a water fountain. It's Harry Osborn recently released from the institution where he was staying since his most recently adventure as the Green Goblin. Peter frets over whether Harry is truly cured once and for all and whether he has any memory of Peter's double-identity. However, they cut the reunion short because the gang is late for class, but Flash invites Harry to a party J. Jonah Jameson's is hosting for Ned Leeds and Betty Brant that evening.

We jump ahead a few hours to the penthouse apartment of J. Jonah Jameson where the party is just getting into full swing. J.J.J. spends several pages running around fretting about open windows, wasting electricity, preventing people from potentially damaging his possessions, forcing employee to eat tuna salad instead of caviar, and cutting off the liquor until the soda is gone. In general, just being the curmudgeon we've come to expect. Peter shows up with Mary Jane on his arm, and she immediately throws the host off his guard by comparing him to Robert Redford. Flash wanders around looking at Jonah's albums, and even Harry had made the party. He's sitting by himself on the couch staring off into space. It should be pointed out that every scene Harry is in, he has a dazed and "not with it" look on his face and seems perpetually distracted by something. Peter congratulates Betty and Ned on their recent engagement, and in the background, new bulletins are regularly broadcast about a series of blackouts stretching across the area.

Finally, as J.J.J stands up to make an announcement, Peter watches out the window as the blocks next to the party goes dark. Suddenly, the lights go out in Jonah's apartment. Peter correctly surmises that such a systematic blackout must be someone's deliberate actions. He hustles out on the balcony, and trying to find way to change into his costume to investigate, he spots a police helicopter flying low overhead. Tagging the copter with a webline, he narrowly escapes when Mary Jane tries to join him out on the balcony.

Peter dangles in the air, stripping of his clothes one-by-one, and changes into his costume. Along the way, he glances down and is amazed to see that the buildings blacked out spell out the name of the culprit behind the blackouts: Shocker!

Having the "who" part of the mystery answered, Spider-Man lowers himself to the rooftops to investigate the "why". The Shocker has always been a safe-cracker and armored car robber and has no apparent motive for blacking out half the city. Realizing the only way to cut the city's power supply so precisely is by sabotaging the electrical cables that run beneath the city, Spider-Man hurries to the next section of city due to be blacked out and dives down a manhole in pursuit of the Shocker.

Spider-Man quickly finds the Shocker using his vibro-unit to blow out circuit-breakers beneath the city. Spider-Man leaps to the attack and gets a good shot in, but Shocker recovers quickly and slams Spider-Man into the sewer way with his compressed air blast. As Shocker gets closer in attempt to slam Spider-Man right through the way, Spider-Man blinds him with a well placed shot of webbing. As Spider-Man attempts to subdue him, the Shocker's padded costume protects him from the worst of the blows while the suit's automatic inner vibration shakes the webbing loose from his face. Shocker retaliates by slamming Spider-Man in another wall and high-tails it up a nearby ladder. Spider-Man, realizing his web-shooters are empty, races up the ladder after him. Unfortunately, the Shocker reaches the street first, turns, and fires his vibro-unit into the tunnel walls causing piles of concrete to collapses down with Spider-Man caught in the middle.

Spider-Man recovers from the fall to find himself trapped in concrete and up to his neck in rainwater. And on that ominous note, the issue ends...

Comments:

Ugh.. Ok, I'm not hung-over this morning. Honestly, I'm not. But I've had 15 hours of sleep over the past three evenings combined. I've found new meaning in Johnny Cash's "Sunday Morning Coming Down". And, for some reason, I'm cranking Korn this morning. That's probably just my "if I'm up and miserable, the rest of the apartment building is going to join me."

Plot Analysis:

This is a pretty solid issue. We get to see Pete still dealing with the events of the past few issues. We also get to see Peter spending time with MJ and the rest of his friends which I've missed. In fact the majority of the issue is focusing on Peter and not Spider-Man. Even when he's disposing of the clone's body at the beginning of this issue, it's a lot of introspection on Peter's part rather than just Spider-Man swinging around.

Speaking of disposing the body, that was a rather morbid start to the whole issue though. I understand that Peter can't let this clone of himself show up, but throwing the body down an incinerator chimney seemed a little... I don't know... Disrespectful maybe. Hey, it's the 70's and real cloning is 20+ years off yet, but maybe with a more modern day view of cloning, the question arises if the body was a clone, is it still human? Personally, I couldn't see Peter throwing any other "real" body into an incinerator, and yet, what else could he do with it? I guess I don't have any criticism against the scene except it just kind of creeped me out on reflection. Besides, faithful readers (or addicted, your choice) know that the clone survived somehow, so the whole question is more of a mental exercise than anything.

Ok, CD change to White Zombie's "La Sexorcisto". I haven't listened to this in over a year. Time to crank up my subwoofer and see if I can start rattling the neighbor's windows again. Ah, I feel better already.

The Shocker motivations are a bit of a mystery at this point. Other than sheer ego (which really has never been a defining personality trait of the Shocker), it's hard to see what he hopes to accomplish by blacking out chunks of the city. Spider-Man's method of stumbling on to him was a little contrived, but it's a necessary evil. If I wanted more mysteries and investigations and less fights, I'd go read Agatha Christie or something.

Art Review:

As an artist, Ross Andru is really starting to grow on me. His artwork is nice and solid. I love his backgrounds. I also always enjoy checking out the clothing, cars, and hairdo's of Peter and his friends in this issue. The party at Jameson's is really a sign of the times with the outfits, Jonah's record collection and so on.

Again, some of the scale an perspectives seem off. Check out the scene of Spider-Man hanging from the copter over the city and seeing the Shocker's name up in lights. How high is he at that point? The panels immediately preceding and following that scene make it clear that the helicopter is cruising just above the rooftops (especially since Spider-Man jumps off of it onto the rooftops in the next scene. Taken by itself however, it does make for a cool shot, but in context of the story it stuck out.

The fight in the sewers was depicted well. It felt like they were battling in a sewer with rainwater washing by, rats climbing around on pipes overhead, and the tight shots in the narrow tunnel. As always, Andru's background were nice too.

Action Factor:

It takes twenty-six pages to get there, but the action in this issue was well worth the wait. I like how the Shocker was shown in this issue. He's powerful, but he knows his limits. He uses his powers well to keep Spider-Man at a distance, and lures Spider-Man into getting trapped into the tunnel cave-in. All in all, it's nice to see a villain who fights intelligently, knows his limits, and knows when he's outmatched. All of that makes for a good fight, and one I enjoyed reading.

Spider-Villain lessons 101:

Tip #1:
You can learn a lot from the Shocker this issue. First, if you keep Spider-Man at a distance, it reduces his effectiveness to fight you quite a bit.

Tip #2:
Know when to hold 'em, and know when to fold 'em. Turning tail and running may seem cowardly, but if it keeps your butt out of jail, who cares? When Shocker sees that he's got nothing to gain and everything to lose by mixing it up with Spidey beneath the street, he decides discretion is the better part of valor, and takes off.

Tip #3:
Even with the spider-sense, when he's on the chase, Spider-Man is remarkably unobservant of his surroundings and can be easily suckered into traps or bottlenecks. Now, you've got a guy who can crumble concrete, climbing up a tunnel out of the sewers, and you decides to chase after him? No wonder Spider-Man ends this issue up to his neck in rubble and water.