EPIC COMIC STORYLINES – SPIDEY’S SIX ARMS!
COLLECT ‘EM ALL!
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #100–#102
October–December 1971
“THE SPIDER OR THE MAN?”
By Stan Lee and Gil Kane
Oh boy, for Spider-Man’s 100th issue, Stan Lee really pulled out all the stops and delivered a story that both rocked the comics world and made many readers (myself included) lifelong Spider-Man fans!
Peter Parker is swinging over the streets of New York, looking for crimes to stop. He encounters some bank robbers, foils the robbery, and leaves them for the police. Now, with any other superhero (especially those from Marvel’s competition), that would’ve been just another day on the calendar—and the hero would have been celebrated. But Stan made the genius decision to have people misunderstand Spider-Man’s actions no matter what he did, believing he was a villain.
Spider-Man is tired of this. After 99 issues, he realizes being a misunderstood superhero isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Watching regular folks go about their day, having families and relationships, he feels envious. He wants a normal life. He wants to take his relationship with Gwen Stacy to the next level. But Gwen, like most of New York—and the NYPD—blames Spider-Man (who she doesn’t know is her boyfriend, Peter) for the death of her father, Captain Stacy.
Peter also realizes the constant danger of being Spider-Man stands in the way of that normal life. Returning to his apartment, he begins working on a serum to cure himself of his spider-powers and return to normal. He guzzles down the formula, gets dizzy, and decides to sleep it off.
This leads to a dream sequence—a perfect chance for Stan Lee to recap Spider-Man’s first 99 issues. The dream starts with Peter reliving the guilt over Uncle Ben’s death, which drove him to become Spider-Man. To support his widowed Aunt May, Peter took a job at the Daily Bugle. The irony? The photos he takes of Spider-Man are used by J. Jonah Jameson to fuel his anti-Spidey PR campaign! Talk about soap operas!
The dream continues with appearances from Spidey’s rogues gallery, ending with a ghostly visit from Captain Stacy. Stacy tells Peter he can’t give up being Spider-Man because it’s his duty to protect the city.
Peter wakes up, regretting that he drank the untested formula. After some intense pain in his side, he removes his sweater and discovers…
He’s grown four additional arms, making him virtually a LIVING HUMAN SPIDER!
To be continued in the next issue!
As a comics reader at the time, how could you not be back for the conclusion?!
Want to read this saga? Check out our website for what we have in stock:
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #100
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #101
