THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #160

"My Killer, The Car!"

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

Featuring:

Plot Summary:

For Peter Parker, it has been a day devoted to the elusive pursuit of knowledge, and Peter had cracked the books so hard, he could swear he heard them groan under the strain which is why he decided to devote his evening to the pursuit of something equally elusive but infinitely more dangerous. Out patrolling for crime, he swings over an alley and spots an honest-to-gosh fur theft going on below. Dropping down, he surprises five of the ever popular Buck Rogers rejects (see Amazing Spider-Man #153 and Amazing Spider-Man #154). Spider-Man cracks "This is the third time in as many weeks I've into you clowns, and frankly, I'm getting tired of it!" To this, one of the thugs respond, "The boss warned us you might interfere, web-slinger, and we're ready for you." Of course, this snappy comeback is made the panel before Spider-Man finishes off the thug proving his threat to be empty.

Or is it? As Spider-Man stands victorious, a gas bomb explodes nearby releasing a cloud of ominous-looking green gas. Spider-Man tries to hold his breath, but the gas clings to him, smells terrible, and leaves him with a fuzzy, light-headed feeling. Eventually, Spider-Man gets up from the ground when the breeze blows the gas away, but he seems a dark shape emerge from the shadows of the alley-way. As he looks up, the Spider-Mobile roars to life with a VVRROOM and tries to run him down. Spider-Man rolls out of the way as the Spider-Mobile attempts to run him down and quickly gets to his feet. At least, our hero now knows how the hotrod disappeared after being sunk in the Hudson River. Someone stole it and Spider-Man gets up with the intent of getting his hands on the maniac behind the wheel. When he takes a closer look, Spider-Man realizes that there is no one behind the wheel, and the Spider-Mobile is trying to run him down on its own. Thinking quick, Spider-Man goes into action targeting the gearshift lever with his webbing, but with a feeble FIFFT, the web-shooters fail to fire. Oh boy, this could be trouble now.

Leaping over the charging Spider-Mobile, Spider-Man tries to figure out how BOTH of his web-shooters could fail when he just checked them before he left home. Sprinting away from the roaring Spider-Mobile, Spider-Man decides to head for higher ground. He tries to race up a nearby building wall where the Spider-Mobile can't follow. Impossibly, not only are his web-shooters on the fritz, but Spider-Man's lost his wall-crawling power as well. He grabs hold of a small ledge, and works his way over to a drainpipe in order to stay above the Spider-Mobile. With a loud "WRRENNKK" the drainpipe breaks under his weight and Spider-Man tumbles to the ground with the circling Spider-Mobile. Grabbing a chunk of the broken drainpipe, Spider-Man decides to try one last desperate attempt to escape. He gets a running start, plants the drainpipe in the ground, kicks high and away, and vaults over the alley wall reasoning that whatever is on the other side of the alley must be easier to deal with than a homicidal dune buggy.

Of course, he wasn't counting on landing on the roof of a patrol car. Amazingly, Spider-Man lands so softly that the patrolling cops don't hear him land on their roof. In their defense though, the officers are distracted by the sight of the Spider-Mobile peeking around the corner. Guessing that Spider-Man must be driving the Spider-Mobile, the cops roar off, Spider-Man still on their roof, after the Spider-Mobile. But even as the anxious black-and-white caroms around the corner, the cops notice that the freaky hotrod has disappeared into thin air. Vowing to catch Spider-Man, the cops roar off in search of the Spider-Mobile, but Spider-Man decides that's his cue to catch his prior appointment.

And on that note, let's amble over to city hospital a short while later where Peter and Mary Jane have just stopped by to check on Aunt May. Remarkably, Liz Allen and Harry Osborn are already visiting Aunt May after her run-in with Dr. Octopus (see Amazing Spider-Man #157, Amazing Spider-Man #158, and Amazing Spider-Man #159). Peter and Mary Jane pay their respects to Aunt May and drop off a few movie magazines to help her pass the time. As Liz and Harry head off offering to double with Peter and Mary Jane sometime, our favorite couple wanders off in search of the penultimate milkshake...

...as the rest of us turn our attention across town to the office of Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson where an event is about to occur that may have far-reaching effects on the life of our harried web-slinger! Jameson sits at his desk with a new cigar fumbling with a broken lighter. His latest temp secretary, Mrs. Primm, enters with a special delivery. Jameson asks for a light, and her response "Smoking is a filthy habit and I'll not have it in any office where I'm employed!" as she grabs Jameson's cigar and breaks it in half. She tells Jonah that he ought to be grateful that she's saving his life and is such a responsible secretary to look after her employer so often. Jameson fires her on the spot, and though her contract prevents him from being able to fire her, she quits because she won't stay where her talents aren't appreciated. That's three down.

After the steam has stopped streaming from jolly Jonah's ears, he turns his attention to the special delivery. There's no return address, and inside contains no note, not letter, nothing but a handful of cheap snapshot. When he examines the photos (of which we're not permitted to view), he exclaims "If what they show is true, then Spider-Man is finish!"

Curious? Truth to tell, so am I, but unfortunately, we take leave of the astonished Jonah Jameson for this month and cut over to Peter Parker's cheery Chelsea pad. Peter stands in the middle of his under furnished apartment in his Spider-Man suit and test out his web-shooters. Both shooters appear to be functioning properly now along with his wall-crawling abilities. Of course, his ever-ready spider-strength is not the worst for wear either leaving Peter to puzzle out the problems regarding his abilities. Peter puts on his mask and crawls out his apartment's skylight in search of the rogue Spider-Mobile. Not only is the Spider-Mobile running around by its lonesome further besmirching Spider-Man's already rotten reputation, but Carter and Lombard, the PR men who connect Spider-Man into creating the Spider-Mobile to advertise Carter Motors are threatening to sue Peter if he doesn't show up with the four-wheeled fiasco.

Trying to figure out what his next step should be, Spider-Man spots a suspicious looking mist filling an alleyway below. Commenting that the mist looks like the kind of stunt Mysterio would pull and reasoning that Mysterio also has the technical expertise to modify the Spidey-Car, our hero drops down in the alley to investigate. When he enters the mist, Spider-Man gets the same light-headed feeling that the gas gave him earlier. Recognizing the gas from earlier, Spider-Man also recognizes the blare of headlights and revving motor from earlier as well. It's round two between Spider-Man and the Spider-Mobile.

Spider-Man quickly scrambles up a nearby fire escape and perches on the edge of a rooftop intending to wait in safety until the Spider-Mobile runs out of gas. Unfortunately, whoever equipped the Spider-Mobile as an engine of death also gave it Spider-Man's ability to crawl walls, and the Spider-Mobile races up the wall after our hero. Spider-Man hurries across the rooftop and leaps over the alley to the next rooftop to safety. His respite is short-lived however as Spider-Mobile gets a running start and leaps over the alley to continue the pursuit. Again, Spider-Man sprints across rooftops dropping down and leaping up to adjoining rooftops as the Spider-Mobile continues running across rooftops, up and down walls, and leaping across alleyways in chase.

Finally though, the chase ends as Spider-Man comes to the end of the row of rooftops. Making a mighty leap in an attempt to get to the next rooftop, Spider-Man falls short and finds his web-shooters aren't working again either. "Well, you can't say I didn't give it the old college try." isn't much of an epitaph but it looks like it's going to have to do as Spider-Man falls to his death. Stealing yet another page from Spider-Man's book, the Spider-Mobile fires out a webline to simultaneously rescue and capture the plummeting Spider-Man. Spider-Man gets yanked up like a yo-yo and drops into the Spider-Mobile's back seat.

The Spider-Mobile takes Spider-Man for a short ride across the city. It zooms across the rooftops and uses its web-shooters to make bridges from one rooftop to the next twenty stories above the pavement. Finally, Spider-Man spots a two-man welcoming wagon waiting ahead. Spider-Man recognizes the Terrible Tinkerer, but after their last run-in (Amazing Spider-Man #2), Spider-Man was tricked by Tinkerer into thinking that the Tinkerer was an alien. Since their last run-in, the Tinkerer has chosen to design special equipment and weapons for others rather than risking himself until now. He's been employed by someone to deliver Spider-Man to him. The Tinkerer's assistant Toy picks up Spider-Man and juggles him one-handed in a show of strength. However, Toy isn't the brightest banana in the bushel, and after being insulted one too many times by Spider-Man, Toy rips off the webbing holding our hero hostage as a precursor to ripping Spider-Man in half. Unfortunately, Toy's ill-conceived plan falls apart as the web-slinger knocks him through a nearby brick chimney with a single shock to the jaw.

With Toy down underneath a pile of broken bricks, the Tinkerer attempts to flee in the Spider-Mobile. Spider-Man's quick reactions allow him to leap over to the Spider-Mobile and lift up the back wheel preventing the car from escaping. When the Tinkerer drops the car into reverse, Spider-Man drops the car and flips into the passenger seat with the intent of confronting the vehicle's driver directly. "I couldn't have done all this vain!" the Tinkerer screams as he strikes out at Spider-Man. The Spider-Mobile careens out of control. Spider-Man's spider sense allows him to leap out of the car as it crashes into a massive air conditioning unit, but the Tinkerer isn't as fortunate and is knocked unconscious by the collision. By this time, the Tinkerer's assistant Toy has recovered and rushes to crush Spider-Man. Again, swift thinking rescues Spider-Man from a pummeling, and he grabs the Spider-Mobile's web-shooting unit to completely wrap up Toy in a webbing cocoon.

That almost wraps things up except for one small detail, and a short time later, at the Madison Avenue offices of Carter and Lombardo. "Did you hear that?" "Yes. It sounded like tapping on our window... but that's impossible! We're on the fourteenth floor!" Outside, compliments of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, the Spider-Mobile hangs from a webline and a big bow delivered back to the P.R. firm as they demanded.

Comments:

Happy Fourth of July! Right now, I should be camping. Unfortunately, all of my camp partners cancelled, so instead of sitting out under a tree writing up this review, I'm sitting on my folk's couch being subjected to "Saturday Night Fever" by my brother. It's OK though, I've re-arranged plans to attend the Chicago Comic-con this weekend. With any luck, I'll pick up some Spider-Man back issues and have a whole bunch of new stuff to review. Actually, that gives me an idea for another page on the site. A "My collection" page where I can document my attempts to fill in the holes in my Spider-Man collection. I get frustrated with doing this site because I want this to eventually be THE premiere Spider-Man web site, but the going is slow. It's a lot of work, and sometimes I have to make compromises on what I want to do with the site. I do have the start of a "Supporting Cast" page, and the Spider-Mobile deserves its own page (along with eventually all of Spider-Man's equipment, costumes, and specialty items). However, next issue guest stars Nightcrawler who's neither an adversary (what the 'villains' page is getting renamed to) nor a supporting cast. Now, ideally, I'd love to do a page each for guest stars, but I'll eventually end up writing up a page for EVERY MARVEL HERO EVER! I have to draw the line at that. I will however, document all the guest stars and the issues they appear, but I'm simply going to have them all listed on a single page (sort of like the creators page). Maybe at some point, I'll have a page for each guest star, but there are better things to devote my attention to. Like my "supporting cast" page. Intensive research (me sitting around bored one evening) has revealed that the supporting cast is woefully under-represented in most Spider-Man fan sites today. I aim to correct this, and to that end, the first supporting cast member (Liz Allen in alphabetical order) is complete. The page only covers major events up to the point where I'm reviewing, but they will be updated regularly as more and more issues get reviewed and recorded.

Plot Analysis:

Hey, enough of that though, I almost forgot I have an issue to review. This issue features the return of... The "Buck Rogers Wannabe" squad!!! Ok, I have to admit, when this squad appear before, I thought they were henchmen of the W.H.O. computer. Reading back, I can understand how I made that mistake, but it's certainly isn't the case as W.H.O. is dead and these guys are still in action. It turns out they are working for the same boss that hired the Tinkerer to capture Spider-Man. Re-reading past issues, I have a suspicion who this secret boss is, but I won't reveal that quite yet. Anyways, Spider-Man takes down the would-be fur thieves quite easily dispatching all five of them without any of them getting off a single shot. He careens off of walls and around fur racks like a pinball.

Funny expletive for the issue #1, courtesy of a random thug: "Holy Jeez! It's Spider-Man!"

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 gas bomb seemed a bit of a cheat though. I don't think that the story needed Spider-Man to lose his web-crawling ability and web-shooters to still be a good story. It could've been told even if Spider-Man was up to full strength. Well, ok, maybe not, I think he would've made short work of the Spider-Mobile in full-strength, but it still feels like a cheat.

Funny expletive #2 courtesy of Spider-Man: "Cripes! It's a -- gas bomb!"

The Spider-Mobile dune buggy feels as corny and very 70's as ever. I'm really looking forward to seeing and reviewing the issue where this car comes from. I'd love to see how Spider-Man came into possession of this mobile, but a couple of issues ago when he went diving for it, he alluded to being in it for the money. Anyway, as a credible threat, well, it's not. Not at all, but that doesn't mean it's not a fun read.

Now, I would think, even without his web-shooters and wall-crawling ability, Spider-Man ought to be able to make mincemeat of the car. Heck, for that matter, leaping into the passenger's seat should nullify the car's ability to run Spider-Man down, but on the other hand, the Tinkerer probably planned for such an occurrence. Of course, without his web-shooters and wall-crawling ability, Spider-Man is going to be hard pressed to escape the rampaging machine on foot. But, luckily, the Tinkerer doesn't anticipate everything. For instance, the Spider-Mobile can't duplicate Spider-Man's pole vaulting skills. (Hmm... Idea for a character: a super pole-vaulter? Nah, too corny even for the 70's!) Curiously, it's almost like the Tinkerer made some additional modifications to the Spider-Mobile between Rounds 1 and 2 of this battle. In this first short-lived battle, the dune buggy does not demonstrate any wall-crawling, leaping, or web-shooting abilities. I like to think that the Tinkerer made the modifications off-scene because any one of those abilities in this fight probably would've taken Spider-Man down.

How Spider-Man manages to come crashing down on the police car so quietly that the cops inside don't notice him on their car is beyond me. Anyways, the Spider-Mobile is chased off by the police, and all's well that ends well. Not quite an end, but at least enough to jump to our mandatory supporting cast appearances.

Funny expletive #3 courtesy of officer number one: "Holy Hoppin' Harriet!"

Aunt May spends so much time in the hospital, she gets free meal upgrades. I picture the hospital with a concierge at the door greeting her: "Ah, Mrs. Parker! How good to see you again! I'll get your regular room ready." Anyways, Harry and Liz have rapidly become a regular couple much to Peter's surprise, and they've both been kind enough to stop in and see May. I love the cultural reference here as Peter jokes about May getting the latest dirt on Tony Orlando and Dawn while May replies that she prefers Donnie and Marie Osmond. I give credit to the writer for May showing concern regarding Peter and MJ's relationship since she's talked about their relationship to MJ in the past. No mention is made about May's trashed and nearly totaled apartment however. I'll be amused to see if any is made even when May gets out of the hospital.

What pictures did Jolly Jameson get that has him so shocked and convinced that Spider-Man is finished? Only time will tell. How many temp secretaries will he go through until Betty Brant's return? Only time will tell that too, but this is the third one he's run off.

Funny expletive #4, courtesy of Jonah Jameson: "Galloping Gadfrey!"

Now, no indication is given how much time has passed between Peter's visit to the hospital and him testing his web-shooters at his Chelsea apartment. Given the circumstances, I'd estimate a day, but that's just a guess. Regardless, after verifying that everything is working OK, Spider-Man is off to find the Spider-Mobile. He willingly submits himself to the mysterious, cheap, "power sapping" mist this time not making the connection to the mist/gas and his mysterious loss of abilities before. It is cool that he made the wrong assumption in thinking that Mysterio is responsible for his current problems with the Spider-Mobile. Truth be told, that is the first thing I thought of when the weird green gas sapped his power was Mysterio as well even though I knew he wasn't this issue's featured villain.

Anyways, the Spider-Mobile reveals all its abilities in this fight going all out to run down Spider-Man. It chases him up walls, over alleys, down walls, and finally, at the end, webs him up using his own shtick. At first, I was confused WHY the Spider-Mobile would rescue Spider-Man as he fell to his death, but the Tinkerer revealed that he was hired to capture and deliver Spider-Man. Apparently, this means alive and not dead, otherwise, this would've been a very depressing issue.

Funny expletive #5, courtesy of Spider-Man: "Holy cow! It's charging right up the wall!"

If I'm correct, this is the Tinkerer's last appearance as a major villain. He does a lot of work in the Marvel Comics universe behind-the-scenes after this issue, but I don't think he ever goes out on his own in direct confrontation. Of course, I can't blame him with the quality of helps he's hiring. The writer of this issue falls back to tired old cliches when Spider-Man taunts the "all brawn and no brains" underling into releasing him from his bonds. Thankfully, Spider-Man makes quick work of Toy, but it calls into question why he needed to resort to the Spider-Mobile's web-shooter to finish him off later.

The Tinkerer turns out to be pretty spry for an old guy. As Spider-Man jumps into the dune buggy with him, he catches the web-slinger with a karate chop that actually manages to stun Spider-Man. Seeing as how he doesn't have any obvious strength to harm Spider-Man; I guess he just hit a nerve. Anyways, we don't get to have the pleasure of Spider-Man beating up a senior citizen (at least until the Vulture's next appearance) as the 'Terrible Tinkerer' get knocked out when the Spider-Mobile crashes. One massive web cocoon later and this battle is over.

One question though, how the heck is the PR firm supposed to get the Spider-Mobile down from the fourteenth floor before Spider-Man's web line disintegrates?

Art Review:

Ross Andru's art is just OK in this issue but to be honest, he doesn't have much to work with. The thugs are in their distinctive "sci-fi" suits again for whatever reason. A dune buggy doesn't make for a big flashy dramatic threat that the artist can have fun with. The same goes for the Tinkerer since he doesn't have any wild outrageous abilities like say Electro or the Shocker. And, most unfortunately, without a lot of personal interaction, Ross can't demonstrate any good facial expressions, and for some reason, we aren't even treated to any of his great backgrounds either although the chase scene across the rooftops was basically begging for such a shot. With a lack of any dramatic action scenes either, I guess I'll just have to rate this issue's art as... eh, average.

Action Factor:

Ok, on one hand, this issue is almost all action but not necessarily good action. It's hard to have great action against a "killer dune buggy" and the terrible Tinkerer. It's also hard to have a good fight when Spider-Man is intentionally hampered with no web-shooters, no wall-crawling abilities, and a general fuzzy, light-headed feeling on top of it all. Nevertheless, what this issue lacks in quality it attempts to fill in with quantity. Except for a single page in the hospital and a single page of Peter at home, this issue is cover to cover action.

Spider-Villain lessons 101:

Tip #1:
All underlings, especially those required for their strength and/or general intimidating appearance must pass a basic I.Q. test. Or, at the very least, must be deaf in order not to hear the taunts and insults of heroes looking to goad them into freeing them. Spider-Man was basically signed, sealed, and as good as delivered when Toy rips him out of the webbing straitjacket he was wrapped in.

Tip #2:
Why would ANYONE want to dress their thugs in matching uniforms? Not only do they look ridiculous, but it also provides anyone with a common thread to track down who's behind the mysterious "crime spree" going on around town.

Tip #3:
If you're going to create a mist to de-power your opponent, can't you spend a little more time on research and make it permanent? The Tinkerer could've removed the threat of Spider-Man to the criminal underworld. But, no, and Spider-Man fights on.

Tip #4:
Who would want their enemy so bad that they'd hire someone to delivery this enemy but not allow them to kill them? Back in the Wild West, criminals were wanted "Dead or Alive". Again, if the Tinkerer wasn't so intent on dragging Spider-Man in alive, again, he would've been the hero of the underworld.