THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #156

"On A Clear Day, You Can See... The Mirage"

• Writer: Len Wein
• Artist: Ross Andru
• Inker: Mike Esposito
• Print Date: May, 1976

Featuring:

Plot Summary:

Get out your Sunday best, this issue presents the long-awaited marriage of Betty Brant and Ned Leeds. But, before we jump to the wedding, let's follow Spider-Man after he defeated the W.H.O. Computer last issue. As he lands among sheets out drying on his apartment's roof, he thinks about the day ahead. Despite staying out all night tracking down Dr. Smith's killer, he still has to stand up as the Best Man in Ned and Betty's wedding that afternoon. Suddenly, his spider-sense tingles abruptly as he is ambushed from behind. Mrs. Muggins, Peter's landlady, assumes Spider-Man is a pervert and starts beating him with her broom. As she complains about sex fiends on her rooftops, one of Mrs. Muggins shots knocks Spider-Man off the roof. Panicking, Mrs. Muggins looks over the edge but finds no body on the ground below as Spider-Man slinks off along the wall into the alleyway. We leave Peter in his apartment with nothing but a glass of sour milk.

Peter's hassles are nothing compared to the problems of a certain bowery derelict seen in recent issues. The bum cases a liquor store from an alley across the street planning on breaking in as soon as the cost is clear. Suddenly, he whips around to look behind him and shouts, "He's found me again!" As he cowers in terror, he pleads with his unseen stalker to leave him alone. Suddenly, the unseen terror vanishes and our derelict decides that he needs help. He rushes off in quest of his mysterious ally, and we take a quick hop from the garbage-strewn streets of the bowery...

...to the plush penthouse of J. Jonah Jameson. "Jonah my man, you're the very picture of sartorial splendor..." Jonah gets dressed to get ready for Ned and Betty's wedding. As our peerless publisher steps from his east side apartment... ...a dapper Flash Thompson ambles from his rockaway diggings... ...an excited May Parker and Anna Mary Watson leave their Forest Hills home... ...a smiling Liz Allen strolls dreamily from her Staten Island rooming house... ...Joe Robertson and his family depart their suburban split-level... ..and Peter Parker strides from his Chelsea... Hey, where's Parker???

Parker struggles with his bowtie. "Left ends goes over the right... No, that's not it." He ponders the advantages of clip-on ties when there's a knock on the door. Mary Jane's come to pick up Peter for the wedding. She quickly fixes his tie, and they head. Peter drops a wonderful foreshadowing comment at the end, "You know, MJ -- You'd make someone a wonderful something!"

Morgan's of Malverne turns out to be a giant wedding hall of some sort. Peter and MJ track down the proper wedding party, and Peter, who hasn't eaten since yesterday, hits the buffet table. Just as he gets ready to scarf done on cocktail weenies, he's foiled by MJ as the ceremony is about to begin. Stomach still growling, Peter joins Ned Leeds, Betty Brant, and Mary Jane Watson as the maid-of-honor at the aisle.

As the minister's tones fill the cupid room with smiles and tears, we must retire to the lobby for a moment. Four well dressed men, approach the information desk. Suddenly the illusion drops to reveal four men wearing striped yellow jumpsuits, and one of the men drops the guy at the information desk with a trank dart. After they tuck him underneath the counter and seal the building, they run off to do what they came there to do, help themselves to a minor fortune in gifts, money, and expensive jewelry. The gaudily-clad thieves hit the Shapiro wedding, then the Jabbar wedding, then the O'Hara wedding, and finally, the Brant-Leeds wedding.

"Allow me to introduce myself, people! I am called the Mirage, and I've come here to rob you blind!" Liz's purse is the first to get snatch as Jameson tries to intercede. Instead of putting the crooks in their place, he backs down from the gun under his nose and offers the crooks a check instead. Peter quickly looks around for a way to get out of there unseen, and his gaze focuses on a nearby light switch. Hitting the light switch with a sneaky webline, he quickly blacks out the hall. When the lights reappear, Spider-Man is on the ceiling spoiling for a fight. The Mirage's men fire of a few poorly aimed shots as Spider-Man runs across the ceiling towards them. Spider-Man swings down and leaps at the Mirage feet-first. Right before Spider-Man clobbers the Mirage, the Mirage winks out and re-appears a few feet away. As Spider-Man considers this, the Mirage's men take some more shots at Spider-Man. Spidey flips around, disarms the thugs with a couple of weblines and well-placed kicks. He then challenges the Mirage's men to fight hand-to-hand.

The thugs gang-rush Spider-Man and manage to tackle him. Another well-placed kick knocks one of the thugs off to the side, and a quick spin sends the remaining two into the walls and out of the fight. The first thug, downed but not out, returns the attack. However, another sock to the jaw puts him out of the fight.

Just as he's gloating over his quick victory, Spider-Man is jumped from behind by the Mirage. Rubbing his neck from the blow, Spider-Man pounce on the Mirage again, but misses for a 2nd time as the Mirage blips out and back in a few feet away. The Mirage responds with a quick one-two on Spider-Man and suddenly blinks across the room. Spider-Man jumps and the Mirage reappears up the stairway. Spider-Man leaps again but the Mirage blinks out and appears up the stairs. Finally, on the third try the Mirage steps out of the way and cracks Spider-Man across the back. Stunned, Spider-Man allows himself to be kicked back down the circular stairwell. Pursuing him, the Mirage slides down the banister and catches Spider-Man with two quick feet to the chin. Another futile punch from Spider-Man has the Mirage appearing across the room, but this time Spider-Man's caught on to his gimmick. The gizmos on the Mirage's head have been projecting a 3-d image the whole time.

Coming up with a plan, Spider-Man is caught by another punch to the chin. Finally, the Webhead spots his solution and swings high, landing on the chandelier. His extra weight pulls down the massive chandelier to crash on the floor below. Even the Mirage's illusions can't protect him from the huge missile, and he's pinned, unconscious, underneath the chandelier. After establishing that the Mirage is OK but trapped, Spider-Man leaves the scene, anxious to return to the wedding.

Managing to tie his bowtie, Peter hustles back to the wedding. Mary Jane berates him for worrying everyone, but explains that he ran off to call the police and couldn't get back past the fight. Once the wedding guests are reseated, the ceremony is concluded, and Aunt May even catches the bouquet as Ned and Betty drive off to catch their flight Paris.

Epilogue: a short time after the wedding, Aunt May returns to Forest Hills. Thinking about her quiet evening ahead, she is startled to see a (familiar to us) derelict waiting in her easy chair for her. As she cowers in flight, the bum rushes to shush her, and asks, "Don't you recognize me?" It's Otto Octavius, Doctor Octopus, returned from the dead!

Comments:

Years and years ago, I remember my grandmother having the issue (in rough shape) in a stack of kids' books. I think I read this issue to death, and back then, the Mirage was the coolest villain that ever lived! Boy, that seems like a long time ago, but despite his rather unremarkable career, garish costume, and ignoble death, I think the Mirage is a cool villain.

Plot Analysis:

This is still an entertaining issue, but it does have its flaws. It picks up where last issue left off. Mrs. Muggins assault on Spidey and accusing him of being a sex fiend and a pervert were a cute start. Although Spider-Man seems overly paranoid about being caught on Peter's building. I suppose if this was a regular occurrence, people might start to wonder, but as a one-time, he probably doesn't have much to worry about. Also, having him spitting up the spoiled milk from the fridge really makes him more a hero and person you can relate too.

The mystery of our derelict is solved. The clues were there - pouring a drink with an unseen third hand while his other two hands hold the cup, tripping pedestrians from distance - but it still remains to be seen who his mysterious stalker is.

As far as the wedding, we've got most of Spider-Man's supporting cast covered - MJ, Aunt May, Aunt Anna, Liz Allen, etc. I'm not sure how all of them know the bride and groom, but we can let that go. :)

The giant wedding hall was a trip. I know that receptions are commonly held in large hotels or convention centers, but I've never seen a wedding hall of this size, do such things exist? The artist has the foresight to show us the stairwell and giant chandelier both of which play parts later in this issue.

And finally, we're introduced to... The Mirage. Ok, he's got a cool name and an interesting gimmick. His costume though... Seriously, that needs some work. I also love really nice thugs too. "...that trank-dart will keep him out for hours..." Doesn't anyone just pack regular heat anymore? Robbing a huge wedding hall isn't a bad idea. Minimal security, lots of cash, etc. I can see the wisdom in it. What seems to be unclear is how the Mirage sealed down the building and is controlling the presumably hundreds of people attending weddings with only three henchmen.

The fight scenes are good. Spider-Man makes quick work of the henchmen as you would expect him too, and he does it in a typically flamboyant fashion. The Mirage however proves to be more of a challenge. I can see why most people would consider the Mirage to be a really lame villain. He claims that he designed his 3-d projection system out of an admiration for Spider-Man. He wanted to come up with a wedding that could put him on equal footing with Spider-Man. I have to admit, it works great for defense, but on offense, he sucks. He should've armed himself with another trank-gun or something. He managed to get (quick count) seven shots on Spider-Man but none of them do more than knock him down. Without a way to actually defeat Spider-Man, the best he could ever hope for was a draw. And, if he is that big of an admirer, he should realize that given enough time, Spider-Man would find a way to counter his illusions.

The villain defeated, the wedding goes off without any more hitches (too bad it doesn't end nearly as well with poor Ned getting assassinated 10 years in the future). And, we're treated to the return of the classic villain Dr. Octopus! Next issue can't come soon enough!

Art Review:

Well, as much as I really do enjoy Sal Buscema's later art, I have to say that Ross Andru's return to the title was very welcome. He puts up his usual attention to detail with great backgrounds and detailed facial expressions. IN the first couple of pages, we're treated to a great background shot of the harbor area as Spider-Man swings by and the look of horror on Mrs. Muggins face when she thinks she's killed the 'pervert' is priceless.

There were a couple area of complaint though. First, Andru's sense of scale always seems to be off in large scale scenes. In the scene where MJ and Peter enter the wedding center, they look huge in comparison to the spiral staircase.

Secondly, I don't know who designed the Mirage's outfit, but good grief. Apparently his penchant for illusions doesn't cross over to give him a penchant for color coordination or style. His gaudy outfits look terrible. What self-respecting thug would allow himself to be dressed like that?

Action Factor:

The action in this issue was pretty good. It would've been great if the Mirage ever posed a serious threat to Spider-Man, but even still, the fight scenes were pretty nice. Heh, and other than the fact that the Mirage kicks like a girl. His little "slide down the banister and charge into the hero feet first" move makes him stick his ass out like he dancing on a chorus line. Could the Mirage be Spider-Man first villain to come out of the closet??? It would be a bold move paving the way for such other notably gay villains like The Pied Piper in Flash comics! Nah, I don't think he can be. I mean, you'd think he'd have a little better fashion sense if that was case. OK, I'm stereotyping now, but still... Food for thought.

Other than that, Spider-Man has fun with thugs which he deserves to do. He's had a long past couple of weeks, and it's good to see him let loose once in a while. Besides, with their outrageous outfits and "trank-guns", I can't imagine anyone taking them seriously. Men in tights rarely strike an intimidating figure in person.

Spider-Villain lessons 101:

Tip #1:
Knocking over weddings has to be the best crime idea I've seen in awhile. Lots of expensive gifts, fine jewelry, and cash to be had. And who hire security for a wedding or reception? I mean, at most, I wouldn't have expected more than a rent-a-cop or two at this wedding haul. It's Mirage's bad luck that Spider-Man was there, and even then, he seemed anxious to try himself against the webhead. If he had simply taken his briefcase and hauled ass when our hero came on the scene, he had a good chance of escaping with all the loot.

Tip #2:
When designing a weapon with a specific person in mind, make sure it has some offensive capabilities. I mean, illusions are great and all, but unless you have some way to put the hero down for the count, you're either going to lose, or just be able to run away. Neither one is a particularly noble goal to go into a fight with. The Mirage gets seven free shots on Spider-Man, does nothing, and is eventually brought down by a giant chandelier. What's up with that?

Tip #3:
I'm 100% positive that real guns are more useful, cheaper, and much more intimidating than "trank-guns". About your only advantage to using "trank-guns" is that your comic stays PG rated no matter how many people you shoot. Speaking of intimidating, striped yellow jump suits are not intimidating. These guys looked scarier when they were under the "men in suits" illusion. Oh well, they certainly made for a colorful issue.

Surprise sneak preview of next issue. We're treated to the return of Doctor Octopus!