Who are these "X-Men?"

 

cover art by Gil Kane

I'll get the credits for Avengers #110 (April 1973) out of the way first, because in an attempt to confuse future bloggers when writing reviews, it switches artists halfway through. The writer is Steve Englehart. The artist for the first 12 pages is Don Heck. John Buscema takes over starting with page 13.

The story starts by adding to some of the ongoing character arcs before moving on to the story. Quicksilver has been missing for some time, but now contacts the Avengers to announce that he was rescued by the Inhumans and has fallen in love with Crystal. Wanda, pleased, announces that she's fallen for the Vision. Pietro does not react well and disconnects after ordering Wanda to dump the android. 

More character drama pops up later on and does connect a little more with the main story. Hawkeye, who quit the Avengers after learning that Wanda liked Vision better than him, heads out to San Francisco to see the Black Widow. 

Anyway, the drama is appropriate. Marvel Comics had a decades-worth of Soap Opera shenanigans behind it by this point and it was these character-driven arcs that so effectively humanized the protagonists.

But, hey, lets move on to the really cool stuff. Another message comes through on their viewer, showing them the wrecked X-Mansion and unconscious X-Men. The source of this message is mysterious and, not surprisingly, it turns out to be a trap.

Reading this story nowadays, when we are so used to multiple crossovers and various superheroes teaming up on many occasions, it's fun to see the Avengers trying to remember who that Professor X guy is and then reveal that they have no idea where the X-Mansion is. They have to split up and search for it.

They find it eventually. A booby trap gives them a little trouble, but they manage to get the professor, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman and Angel outside.

In dealing with the booby trap, I do wonder why Cap is fighting it while Wanda is barely able to pull Xavier from the room. Couldn't Wanda have hex-blasted the thing while Cap easily carried the professor out? In fact, though I like this issue a lot, my one complaint is that Wanda never gets a chance to show her stuff, even during the ensuing action.

Because lots of action does ensue. Boulders jump up from the ground "like meteors" and we get an awesome Buscema-illustrated three page battle against mind-controlled dinosaurs.

The dinosaurs are defeated and the Avengers are about to confront the Piper, the mutant who has been controlling the monsters. That's when Magneto launches a sneak attack. It was he in Angel's costume, waiting for his chance to strike. He reveals a new mind-control power of his own (something that will be explained in the next issue). He walls off Thor, Vision and Black Panther with boulders, steals the quinjet with the X-Men, Captain America, Iron Man and Wanda are his prisoners.

I do like this story. The action looks cool, with the presence of dinosaurs making everything even better (as is always the case with dinosaurs). Magneto's trap was reasonably clever and the issue ends with an effective cliffhanger. I'm not the biggest fan of Don Heck's art (his figure work always seems a bit stiff to me), but Buscema's art in the second half is great.

I will now rant about something I dislike. The story is said to be continued in Daredevil #99. First, I dislike stories crossing over into different issues, forcing fans to buy something they might not necessarily want to buy. Second, the crossover is largely unnecessary. Most of the Daredevil involves Hawkeye getting into a fight with Daredevil. The uncaptured Avengers show up to get reinforcements. Hawkeye, still in a snit, refuses to come, but Daredevil and the Black Widow do join up.

It's not at all necessary to read this issue to know what's going on in the next issue of The Avengers. A flashback quickly brings us up-to-date and the Hawkeye/Daredevil fight has no effect on the Magneto story. I do love the Marvel Universe of the 1960s and 1970s, but this was a cheap shot.

Anyway, next week, we'll be skipping the Daredevil issue and moving right on to Avengers #111. 

Cover Cavalcade

 

November is Aviation Month. This 1929 cover is by R.C. Wardel.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Jack Benny: "Phil Tries to Collect a World Series Bet" 10/13/40

Phil tries to collect money from Jack while Jack worries about the reviews of the previous week's show.

Click HERE to listen or download.

Hok, Part 2

 

cover art by Julian Krupa

Read/Watch 'em In Order #151

In the first Hok story, the prehistoric warrior joined together several clans to fight off Neanderthals. 

Hok thus ensures the survival of mankind AND begins tribal society. But, by golly, Hok isn't the sort of man to just rest on his laurels. In "Hok Goes to Atlantis" (Amazing Stories, December 1939),  he goes exploring beyond the territory of his tribe. And, boy, does he find interesting stuff.

Hok finds a city, built along the sea, called Tlanis. This city has a Bronze Age civilization. We eventually find out they also have gunpowder, which they use to make small, hand-thrown bombs.

The author, Manly Wade Wellman, cheats a little in having the citizens of Tlanis and Hok speak the same language. But, as we see in Star Trek whenever the Enterprise visits a new planet, this is an acceptable break with reality in order to move the story along.

Hok does have to learn new words (such as "street" and "building") as well as new concepts. He struggles with some of those concepts. Why trade gold (a useless metal too soft to be used for weapons) for food? Why are there poor people who haven't enough to eat despite an abundance of food? Why are some people fat and useless, but still hold power over others?

Hok befriends a woman named Maie, who owns a large estate. He meets the king, named Cos, but is unimpressed by him. And when Cos casually decides that Hok's people need to be hunted down and exterminated, Hok's situation turns dangerous.

He's captured, tied up and tossed in a cave as a sacrifice to the local god. This god proves to be a hungry octopus. Hok, who is incapable of panic, figures out a way to get free from the straps used to bind him. Then, using several sharp and/or really big rocks, he kills the octopus.

In the meantime, Cos' desire for Maie leads to a impromptu rebellion against the unpopular king. More of a riot than an organized revolution, it's quickly put down. But Maie manages to join up with Hok and the two make what appears to be a last stand together in the mouth of a cave filled with gunpowder.. Hok, who has a talent for snatching thrown spears out of the air and throwing them back, has also armed himself with a diamond-headed club. He soon has a barrier of dead warriors in front of him.

Cos arrives on the scene with a bomb. This, in turn, leads to an extremely explosive climax to the story. And, when Hok returns to his people, he has a story to tell to his kids--a story that will form the beginnings of the legend of Atlantis. 

It's a great story. Hok's calm reaction to a new civilization and his ability to keep his head no matter what makes him a particularly magnificent protagonist. Maie is an effective supporting character and the action scenes are intensely exciting. Of the first two Hok stories, though both are excellent, "Hok Goes to Atlantis" begins to lift the series into True Epic territory. 

You can read the story online HERE.

We will continue to cover the Hok stories as part of the In Order series, but we'll also be looking at the four mummy movies made by Universal Studies in the 1940s. This makes me wonder who would win a fight between Hok and a mummy. I suppose we'll never know for sure.

Stooge Detectives

 

By 1960, the Three Stooges were having a resurgance in popularity when their shorts began to appear on television. Both Curly and Shemp had died by then and Joe Besser's brief tenure as the third Stooge had come to an end when Besser left the act to look after his ailing wife. Joe DeRita was recruited as Stooge #3 and dubbed Curly Joe, playing off the popularity of the original Curly.

No one could ever match Curly Howard, but DeRita was a skilled comedian and worked as well with Moe and Larry as anyone who isn't Curly Howard ever could. 

Anyway, the renewed popularity led to comic book appearances. A story in Dell's Four Color #1127 (August-October 1960) demonstrates that a good writer and good artist can translate anarchic slapstick into comic book form and still make it funny. The writer in this case is Carl Fallberg. The artist is Pete Alvarado.

The story begins with the Stooges, who are running a window washing business, drive to their next job. Along the way, Curly Joe jumps out of the car to knock out a guy for putting flea powder on a dog. The reason? Curly Joe can't stand animal abuse and flea powder is bad for the poor fleas.

Curly Joe's rage here sets up a reoccuring gag that will also be cleverly used to advance the plot a couple of times during the story. I called the story "anarchic slapstick," but that's an exageration. Good slapstick needs a story-structure to build on. "The Private Eye-Balls" jumps around wildly in terms of plot, but it does have an underlying structure, making the slapstick that much funnier. 

Anyway, the Stooges finally arrive at their job--cleaning the windows of a private eye's office. After accidentally breaking the windows, a beautiful woman enters and mistakes Moe as the detective.

Moe just goes with it. The girl wants her missing pearl necklace found. But she has no money and can't meet the $5000 fee Moe demands. She leaves in tears. The Stooges, feeling badly, come up with a brilliant plan. They will loan the girl the money so she'll be able to afford to pay them.

But first, the Stooges have to get $5000. Perhaps firemen make more than window washers? Well, perhaps, but their audition for the job doesn't go well.

Then their luck changes. Curly Joe sees a man not sharing his ice cream with a nearby kitten. He knocks him out, but then finds out the guy he floored is the state heavyweight champ. Curly Joe now has a chance to fight for the title that night. And the first prize, to no one's surprise, happens to be $5000.

Moe and Larry spend the rest of the day training Curly Joe. I have no idea where they found that gorilla.

During the fight, they activate Curly Joe's rage each round by telling him his opponent is mean to a different animal at the beginning of each round. But the trainer for the other guy overhears this and sticks cotton into Curly Joe's ears, so he can't hear the cruel-to-animals comments. 

Fortunately, the other boxer apparently punches one of the birds flying around Curly Joe's head after the Stooge takes a punch. The ensuing rage gives Joe the victory.

I love the story's ending. They meet the girl and give her the money. She then pays them to find the necklace, only to discover that said necklace has been in her purse the whole time. So the Stooges refund her money and she walks away happy. The Stooges feel that something went wrong with the whole deal, but can't quite figure out what. So it's back to washing--and breaking--windows.

It's a truly funny story. It follows it's own slapstick logic, cleverly uses Curly Joe's induced rage to advance & resolve the plot, and never makes the mistake of allowing the Stooges to have a rational thought or make a logical decision. The Three Stooges shine best in their short films, but they didn't do badly for themselves in comic books.

You can read this one online HERE.

Next week, we'll begin a two-part look at a story involving the Avengers, Inhumans and X-Men.

Sixgun Justice: WESTERN NOVELS—DESERT STAKEOUT

Sixgun Justice: WESTERN NOVELS—DESERT STAKEOUT: WESTERN NOVELS DESERT STAKEOUT HARRY WHITTINGTON REVIEWED BY TIM DEFOREST  Blade Merrick, a sometimes scout for the army, is tasked with bri...

Sixgun Justice: WESTERN NOVELS—FARGO: SHOTGUN MAN

Sixgun Justice: WESTERN NOVELS—FARGO: SHOTGUN MAN: WESTERN NOVELS FARGO: SHOTGUN MAN JOHN BENTEEN REVIEWED BY TIM DEFOREST  Fargo is hired by Teddy Roosevelt to lead a scientific expedition d...

Cover Cavalcade

 

November is Aviation Month! This is a 1928 cover by Stockton Mulford.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Lone Ranger: "Death On Four Wheels" 5/19/43

Tensions between two competing freight companies leads to murder.

Click HERE to listen or download. 

The Ship That Gets Captured a Lot

 

Until it popped up on TCM recently, I didn't know Captain Caution (1940) existed. It's the sort of movie I love and, by golly, I should have known about it. I don't know why I didn't know about it. My entire life feels like its a failure now. 

But, on the other hand, it's always fun to stumble across something that's new to me. The book, based on a novel of the same name, involves an American merchant ship named the Olive Branch, . And, if you watch this movie, keep a scorecard handy. The Olive Branch is going to get captured and re-captured at least four times before the end credits roll. 

When the movie opens, the ship has been at sea for 108 days. It's currently on its way home to the U.S., but the year is 1812 and the crew doesn't know that their country is now at war with the British.

When a British ship approaches them and fires a shot across their bow, the Olive Branch's captain is enraged and wants to fight back against what he sees as an act of piracy. His first mate, Dan Marvin (Victor Mature in an early starring role), recognizes this as foolish and urges they surrender. But the captain won't listen, fires one of the merchant ship's few cannons at the British and is killed when the warship returns fire. Dan then immediately surrenders.

This does not bode well for Dan's romantic adventures. He's engaged to Corunna, the captain's pretty daughter, who is also on board. Corunna wants revenge on the British and now considers Dan a coward.

This begins the seesaw capturing of the Olive Branch, which is retaken by an American ship, but later in the film will be captured again by the British. The climactic action scene involves Dan and survivors from the original crew using a very clever tactic to take the ship back again, despite being badly outnumbered.

Mixed in with all this is an extremely entertaining story stuffed with great characters. A Frenchman and his wife provide both comic relief and useful help for the good guys. Dan's growing father-son relationship with a boy who had been the drummer on a British ship is sweet. Corunna's self-destructive desire for revenge and her poor decision to trust a former slave-ship captain (Bruce Cabot oozing hypocritical charm in a great performance) keeps the tensions high and drives the main plot forward. We even get a small role for not-yet-famous Alan Ladd as a prisoner who desperately wants freedom, but might want vengence even more. 

This movie almost wasn't made. With the British fighting for their existance against the Nazis, making a movie in which they were the bad guys seemed unwise to many. But producer Hal Roach knew how popular stories set in the days of Wooden Ships and Iron Men were at the time, so he made it anyways.

But why didn't I know about this movie years ago? It couldn't be more solidly located in my wheelhouse and I'm very familar with movie history from that era. But I didn't know! Why, oh why? I hang my head in shame.

Sixgun Justice: WESTERN NOVELS—DESERT STAKEOUT

Sixgun Justice: WESTERN NOVELS—DESERT STAKEOUT: WESTERN NOVELS DESERT STAKEOUT HARRY WHITTINGTON REVIEWED BY TIM DEFOREST  Blade Merrick, a sometimes scout for the army, is tasked with bri...

Be Polite to the Ladies

 

cover art tentatively credited to Ray Dirgo

Quick Draw McGraw debuted as a cartoon in 1959. It wasn't long before he popped up in comic books, with an appearance in Dell's Four Color #1040 in 1959. He jumped off into his own series for seven more issues in 1960 (which were reprinted in Britain in the 1970s.) When Charlton got the license for Hanna Barbara characters, he had an eight issue run with that company. The first issue was cover dated November 1970.

The first story in that first issue was probably written by Joe Gill and has fun art by George Wildman. It starts off with bang--the bank is being robbed by a couple of ladies. 

This is a problem for Quick Draw, who is the town's sheriff. He's supposed to arrest bank robbers, of course, but the Code of the West obligates him to be unfailingly polite to ladies. What's an anthropomorphic horse to do?

The ladies don't even bother leaving town, but simply stop by the saloon for a drink. Quick Draw tries to politely arrest them, but this just gets him kicked in the butt when he bows to them.

This leads to Quick Draw slamming into one of the crooked ladies, who turns out not to be a lady after all. They were men in disguise taking advantage of the Code of the West--the cads!

That's it. The story runs just four pages. And that's its weakness. The premise is a good one and presents plenty of opportunities for good slapstick. But the short length of the story limits those opportunites. Even the gag of Quick Draw getting kicked when he bows is awkward, because there clearly needed to be another panel showing him bowing to effectively set up the actual kick. 

The issue is full of 4- and 5-page stories, so clearly there was an editorial decision to go that route. It was a mistake. With slapstick, you don't want to over-stay your welcome. But you also want to take full advantage of your story's premise to properly set up gags and keep those gags coming for a time. The Charlton Quick Draw comic book was a missed opportunity to be really funny.

I'd love to compare this one to the earlier Dell comic, but sadly I don't own a Dell issue, nor are they available online that I can find.

Next week, we'll look at slapstick done right with a 1961 comic book appearance by the Three Stooges.  

Cover Cavalcade

 

November is Aviation Month. This Jerry Grandenetti cover is from 1962.

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Our Miss Brooks: "New School TV Set" 4/22/51

The school installs one of those new-fangled TV sets on the assumption that it would bring culture into the classroom. That doesn't work out, but it might come in handy in helping Miss Brooks pay off a debt. 

Click HERE to listen or download.

Hok, Part 1

 

cover art by Robert Fuqua

Read/Watch 'em In Order #150

When I finished up reviewing the Bretwalda stories, I had mentioned that I was thinking of going through either an issue of Pirate Stories or an issue of Foriegn Legion Adventures for the next "Read 'em In Order series. Well, I've solved that dilemma by choosing to write about Hok instead.

Who is Hok? He's a Stone Age leader of an extended family unit at the end of the Ice Age, trying to keep his people alive and fed while they clash with neanderthals. These stories were published between 1939 and 1942, mostly in Amazing Stories. The author returned to the character one more time in 1986, with a story that appeared in a magazine titled Pulse Pounding Adventure Stories. 

Written by Manly Wade Wellman, the Hok saga consists of imaginative and action-filled tales. And Hok is a great protagonist.

The first story is "Battle in the Dawn." Hok's family unit (led by Hok's dad when the story opens) is looking for a new hunting ground. They have an encounter with man-like beings they call "Gnorrls," based on the sound Hok hears them vocalize. These guys aren't quite human, but Hok realizes they are intelligent and use weapons, though they have nothing to match the javalins that Hok and his people use.

But though better armed, the humans are outnumbered. Hok's dad and stepmom are killed. A baby is taken by the Gnorrls. Hok pursues, but the Gnorrls have the baby for lunch before he can catch up. He slaughters the three Gnorrls he finds, including the Gnorrl child.

With this grisly set piece, Wellman establishes the rules of the world he is describing. Survival is for the fittest and being the fittest means being ruthless. There's no taking prisoners without a practical reason for doing so. There's no non-combatants--women and children fight and die along with the men. In the end, you win if you kill the enemy. Otherwise, you die. There's no third option.

Hok's people find a cave with a defensible entrance and drive off a Gnorrl attack. After that, things are peaceful for a time. Hok goes back south to find a woman. He finds one--named Oloana--and kidnaps her from her family unit. (There's no tribal structure for man yet--just family units.) She struggles with him, but capturing women for wives is just how its done. Except Hok, in the end, decides he doesn't want an unwilling wife. He lets her go--though not before inventing the kiss. Well, giving her freedom and the kiss does the job. Oloana decides she wants to go with Hok and demonstrates her feelings by stabbing her old fiance in the back while he's fighting Hok.

Later, Hok learns that Oloana's brother (named Rivv) has been captured by the Gnorrls, taken alive because the Gnorrls are hoping to learn how to make and use javelins from Rivv. Hok figures Rivv is a goner, but Oloana insists Rivv be rescued. In the end--"the debate came to a conclusion that feminists might regard as epoch-making--the woman had her way."

Hok pursues the Gnorrls and, after killing a saber tooth that gets in his way, helps Rivv get away. This opens up the opportunity to befriend Rivv's family unit. Hok practices some primitive diplomancy and gets a third family unit to join them as well. Only together, Hok argues, can they defend themselves against the Gnorrls. Hok's not sure they can win in the end, but he's a savvy enough leader to keep his fears to himself. 

Hok proves to be a good tactician. When a Gnorrl horde approaches, his plan includes finding defensible high grounds, sets up ambushes and lights a forest fire to force the Gnorrls along a specific route, and leaves extra supplies of javelins in pre-designated spots to allow the humans to resupply. What follows is an epic battle scene, with the survival of the human race at stake.

As I said, Hok is a great protagonist. He's ruthless, especially if judged by modern standards. But he's smart, forward-thinking, brave and has strong leadership qualities. Wellman does an excellent job of making a Stone Age man the hero while still realistically portraying him as a product of his era.

You can read this story online HERE. 

A Wedding, Two Villains and a Nuclear Explosion

 

cover art by Gil Kane

Spider Man #131 (April 1974) picks up right where the previous issue left off--with Doc Ock about to marry Aunt May. Gerry Conway is the writer and the art is by Ross Andru.

Why? Well, I'm going to summarize the issue a little out-of-order, explaining what Spidey discovers much later in the issue. Months ago, May was working as a housekeeper for Ock. He intercepted a letter telling May she had inherited a uranium-rich island (equipped with a privately-owned nuclear reactor) located in northern Canada. Ock killed the lawyer who sent the letter to keep this a secret and has since then been wooing May. He wants to marry her to get ownership of the island.

Hammerhead knows that May has inherited something valuable and he wants in on it. So he crashes the wedding, planning on snatching May and presumably forcing her to sign the island over to him.

Doc gets away with May and, after a brief tangle with Spidey, boards a helicopter he had hidden nearby and flies away. Hammerhead follows in his own helicopter (a big one that holds lots of troops). Spidey webs himself to the bottom of this second aircraft.

They all end up at that island. More combat shananigans follow. Spidey gets away with May, which isn't easy, because she thinks Spidey is a bad guy. 

Eventually, Spidey finds a jet plane with modified controls that would allow "even an idiot to pilot it." This is ironic, because in the last issue we found out that Peter couldn't drive a car. Now he has to fly a plane. I wish I knew if that bit of irony was on purpose or just an unintended consequence of the story being told. 

Anyway, while Peter and May fly off, Hammerhead and Ock have a final confrontation inside the island's nuclear reactor. This does not end well.

Dropping Spider Man into the middle of a gang war became an occasional tradition over the next few years and I always enjoyed the concept. In this case, the premise of Ock wooing May is a bit silly (and depends on May being so ditzy that Peter really should consider putting her in an Assisted Living facility), but Ock's motive of getting ownership of valuable real estate does make sense. Andru's art is great and the action-filled story is fun to read.

Next week, it's back to the Wild West to visit that most famous of lawmen--Quick Draw McGraw.

Cover Cavalcade

 

November is Aviation Month. This Charles Nicholas cover is from 1962.

Sixgun Justice: WESTERN NOVELS—OVER WESTERN TRAILS

Sixgun Justice: WESTERN NOVELS—OVER WESTERN TRAILS: WESTERN NOVELS OVER WESTERN TRAILS WESTERN FICTIONEERS SHORT STORY ANTHOLOGY REVIEWED BY TIM DEFOREST  Over Western Trails is an excellent ...

Friday's Favorite OTR

 Suspense: "Lady Pamela" 3/31/52

Deborah Kerr stars as a high-class British woman who makes her living as a jewel thief.

Click HERE to listen or download.

Gene Kelly vs. the Mob

 

Gene Kelly is largely remembered for his dancing and his musicals. This, of course, is how it should be. 

But he did occasionally take on a purely dramatic role. I think Black Hand (1950) is the first time he did so.

The movie begins in 1900, with an Italian-American husband and father secretly meeting with the New York cops. He's willing to testify against the Black Hand--the local Mafia. He's refusing to buckle under and pay protection money. But events do not play out in his favor and he ends up dead.

His wife and teenage son return to Italy. But the son (now grown into Gene Kelly) returns in 1908. Giovanni Colombo is determined to get justice for his dad.

But justice isn't easy to come by. The Black Hand has everyone too terrified to take action or testify in court. Even Giovanni's childhood friend Isabella urges him to give up his quest. So does police detective Louis Lorelli (perfectly played by J. Carrol Naish). No one believes you can beat the mob.

And it looks like they might be right. Giovanni has some success in organizing the neighborhood to take a stand, but when they have their first meeting, thugs toss Giovanni through the door with a broken leg. 

Still, he keeps trying. By now, Isabella and Lorelli are his firm allies. And they eventually come up with a plan. Lorelli will take a vacation and travel back home to Italy. He'll check the files of the big city police forces there, making a list of wanted men now living in the U.S. This would allow the New York cops to simply deport the mob.

But, not suprisingly, there are Mafia thugs in Italy as well. Lorelli's "vacation" may not go smoothly.

By the time the action moves back to New York, Giovanni is desperately searching for Isabella's kid brother, who is being held by the Black Hand to force Giovanni to hand over key evidence against them. What follows is a very tense sequence in which Giovanni is captured, but comes up with a clever and... well, rather explosive method of escaping. 

It's a great ending to an excellent movie. The director, Richard Thorpe, infuses the dark streets of New York with menace, then manages to do the same thing on the sunny streets of Italy. Gene Kelly gives a strong performance, while J. Carrol Naish really is spot-on as Detective Lorelli. Black Hand is worth watching. 

The Spider Mobile--Awesome or Dumb?

 

cover art by John Romita

The real-life explanation for giving Spider Man his own specialized vehicle is merchandise-driven. A toy company wanted to make vehicles for various Marvel characters. They asked Stan Lee if these vehicles could be featured in the comics. Stan agreed and told writer Gerry Conway and artist Ross Andru include the Spider Mobile in The Amazing Spider Man. 

The in-universe explanation involved a car company that had developed a pollution-free engine and wanted to publicize it. So naturally, they contact a super hero who (in-universe) is often seen by the public as a criminal. Yeah, that makes sense. To be fair, having Spidey ask Johnny Storm to design and build it does make in-universe sense. It makes its debut in Amazing Spider Man #130 (December 1974).

So is the Spider Mobile awesome, dumb or somewhere inbetween? Well, it's design is something that would make a cool toy. But giving Spider Man a car doesn't really make story sense at all. It's something that simply doesn't fit the character and even Spidey seems to realize this--but goes forward with the idea to get the paycheck.

And that's what makes the Spider Mobile story arc okay in my opinion. That Spidey, who is always chronically in need of money, might agree to something inherently silly in exhange for some extra cash does indeed make story sense. And the car wasn't overused, popping up in just a handful of issues before being destroyed in Spider Man #160. (It has popped up from time to time again over the years, usually to get laughs.)

Also, Conway and Andru had some fun with it right off the bat, when Johnny Storm finds out that Spidey never learned how to drive when Spidey was taking the car for a test drive.

By the way, I don't read a lot of more modern comics, but the 2005 Spider Man/Human Torch mini-series did an story set between panels of this issue, in which Johnny gives Spider Man a driving lesson that is interrupted by the Red Ghost, the Super-Apes and some Hostess Twinkies. It is my favorite issue in that hilarious mini-series.

I'm pro-capitalism and pro-toy collecting, but all economic systems have their flaws. In the entertainment industry, there is a tendency to allow merchandising rather than good storytelling to drive a story arc forward. So it becomes a question of not whether a particular character or vehicle is the best fit for telling a story effectively, but whether that character/vehicle will sell toys. I often buy and enjoy these toys myself, so perhaps we consumers are a part of the problem. In this case, at least, the forced insertion of an out-of-place story element was played partially for laughs, so the end result is not horrible. In my opinion, the Spider Mobile falls somewhere inbetween Awesome and Dumb--perhaps leaning a little bit towards the Dumb end of the scale. 

But what was going on in Peter's life in issue #130 aside from his new car? Well, a gang war was bulding up between Hammerhead and Doctor Octopus, with the Jackel playing them off against one another in hopes they would destroy each other. Then the Jackel could jump in and build his own criminal empire.

Spidey encounters some of Hammerhead's men, though he doesn't know at first who their boss is. In fact, when he threatens one of them with being forced to watch re-runs of The Debbie Reynolds Show, the thug tries to talk, but gets zapped by remote control.

Judging from this clip, forcing someone to watch The Debbie Reynolds Show probably is a good way to get him to talk:

Spidey's second encounter with Hammerhead's men is also the combat debut of the Spider Mobile. The vehicle doesn't do well after the flat-headed mob boss joins the fight. The car is knocked on its side and Spider Man is knocked out.

Though this means the bad guys get away, Spidey (after regaining conciousness) finds an envelope that Hammerhead apparently dropped. Actually, it was planted by the Jackel, but in any case it gives Spidey vital information about what Hammerhead and Doc Ock are currently trying to accomplish.

And that criminal goal apparently involves Doctor Octopus marrying Aunt May!

Well, we can safely assume that Doc Ock isn't doing this for love. Next week, we'll look at Spider Man #131 and find out what the villains are up to.