Aunt May: Assassin

Amazing Spider-Man #115

Written by Gerry Conway

Art by John Romita and Tony Mortellero

It's funny that this issue just happened to jump out at me when I was looking through old Marvel stuff to talk about on this blog. Loeb and Sale's Spider-Man: Blue must have been stuck in my craw, or maybe it's just a happy accident this issue fell into my hands for today's dive. This is from the Gerry Conway driven era of Spidey's past, when Gwen Stacy and a pre-Goblin Harry Osborn were still a part of Peter Parker's world.

There was a grim pall over this issue as I reread it. When Robbie Robertson pleads with Gwen to stay out of danger, a tingle ran up my spine reminding me that in her very near imaginary future the Green Goblin would rip her away forever. Readers at the time were outraged with what happened to Gwen, and after reading the issues leading up to her demise, I can see why.

As for issue #115, we get the conclusion of a three way tango between Spidey, Doc Ock, and Hammer head. Spidey has tracked down his missing Aunt May to Ock's safe house/mansion/laboratory, but she gets the jump on him and lays him out with a vase. Guess dear, old Aunt May doesn't trigger his spider sense . . .

The baddie Hammerhead and his goons are a fun bunch to throw in. They're throwbacks to the "glory days" of the mob, complete with the appropriate attire and speech patterns. Hammerhead himself lives up to the name by using his super-hard (and super-flat) head to smash through walls and whatnot. He's in that special class of villain with guys like the Stilt-Man and Big Wheel.

Spidey's also missing the eye pieces in his mask, which refers to a plot point I don't remember at all. That's what's charming about this little curio from Marvel's past: it's sooo entrenched in the continuity of the time and all the soap opera elements, it's makes me yearn for a Marvel universe that moved just a little slower, in the days before double shipping and countless spinoff titles. I still love the content in Marvel's books, it just feels like various arcs and status quos pass by so quickly that they never get to develop a following and by extension never seem to "count". I'm having a thought here I can't properly express; I apologize, dear reader.

A bit about the writing--Conway is a student of the Stan Lee tradition, but by this point the series had taken strides to be more of a dramatic serial rather than a collection of episodic morality tales like the very early Lee and Ditko stuff. Conway's advantage over Stan is that he was about the age Peter Parker is supposed to be when he was writing the series. This gives him the edge when trying to make Pete and relatable everyman who just wants to do good.

Romita's art is gorgeous throughout and he'll always be my favorite Spider-Man artist. I'm incapable of finding fault in his work, as any issue of his Spider-Man should be considered a "how to" to any comic artist who wants to learn about sequential storytelling. The cover with Aunt May pulling a piece on Spidey with a battered Doc Ock at her feet gives the reader a taste of the story in one image. These older covers dared you to pass them up. Drama oozed out of Marvel comics during this time. I miss that in a lot of covers today.

Spidey's dilemma with his aunt wanting to protect Ock (who she thinks is a misunderstood genius) puts him in one of those class "can't win" Spidey scenarios. A good Spider-Man story always ends with the wallcrawler barely breaking even, if he's victorious at all. THAT's the most endearing quality of Spider-Man after all. He always takes a lickin' and keeps on kickin'.

Not the greatest issue of Spidey from this issue, but still a quality read for your twenty cents. Conway would go on to break our hearts and push Spidey (as well as his friends) to the edge in later years, and would eventually be joined by the great Gil Kane to introduce The Punisher, IIRC. Thanks for reading and feel free to correct my oversights and scold me for being a bad fan at @ChrisBComics on Twitter.