Heading:
Author:
Title: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN No. 3
Place Published:
Publisher:Marvel [Indicia: Non-Pareil Publishing Group]
Date Published: July, 1963
Description:

CGC certified: Fine (6.0). Off-white to white pages. Not cleaned and pressed. Cover: Steve Ditko pencils and inks, Stan Goldberg colors. Story: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Art: Steve Ditko. Colors: Stan Goldberg. Lettering: John Duffy, Artie Simek. Origin and first appearance: Dr. Octopus. GPAnalysis: A 6.0 sold for $6600 in 7/22.

Spidey tussles with Doc Ock, a middle-aged scientist who menaces mankind with his priapic tentacles of terror. A cocky Spider-Man underestimates his flabby foe and takes a humiliating beating, collapsing on the ground in a flaccid heap ("Weak, groggy, just barely conscious, SPIDER-MAN... slumps to the ground in defeat!"). There's a weirdly sexual subtext to the struggle, as Spidey bounces back and defeats Ock with a fistful of penile test tubes filled with special goo ("Oh, I see! It's a chemical which fuses my metal arms together!"). Crazy stuff.

"For once, we have a Spider-Man story which is not about fame: it's about pride. Octopus believes himself to be the most powerful man on earth; even though all he has is physical strength. Parker is defeated because he thinks he is defeated: once he believes he can win, he beats Octopus quite easily. The final frame underlines Peter's newfound confidence: Flash tells him that he is is a bookworm and the Torch is a real man, but rather than running away crying, Parker effectively responds that it was the 'bookworm' side of him – Science – that defeated the bad guy." – Andrew Rilstone, Listen Bud: The First Great Graphic Novel in American Literature. Unpublished manuscript, p. 61.

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