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.
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.
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