Amazing Spider-Man 10 -- Guns, Girls and Giggles

Malcom X is released by the Nation of Islam, Richard Burton and Liz Taylor marry for the first time, Ford Motors debuts a new car called the Mustang, and The European Space Agency is established as Spider-Man celebrates his 10th issue.  To celebrate his entry into the double digits club, our hero encounters the first of many gangsters in the mean streets of Manhattan.

Spider-Man is off on a daily swing when he spots a jewel heist in progress.  Apparently this heist is planned by a new masked gangster who calls himself The Big Man (Very Original Marvel) and covers every angle of his diabolical plans all the way to having an escape protocol for Spider-Man.  When Spider-Man tries to smash his way into their getaway copter he is sprayed with a blast of chemical foam and plummets back to the city.

Meanwhile, The Big Man uses his public defeat of Spider-Man to call a meeting of all the criminal leaders in town.  At this meeting, The Big Man tells the crew he's taking over all the rackets in the city Joker style.  When the leaders naturally refuse, The Big Man introduces his inner circle of henchmen, The Enforcers.

First up is Fancy Dan, a tiny but deadly master of Judo who proceeds to whip the first wave of attackers.

Next up is the OX, a giant doof of a man, who is powerful and acts as the groups bulldozer.

 The third member is Montana, who wields a large lasso around like Wyatt Earp, but with freakish effectiveness.  

The Enforcers beat down the entire room of gang leaders until they agree to submit and kick up to The Big Man.  The students get the idea of using The Enforcers as featured thugs working either for The Chameleon or Kraven the Hunter in our script.  I tell them the story of Bruce Lee's final movie, The Game of Death, a martial arts masterpiece that climaxes when Bruce Lee climbs up this Japanese pagoda, which in essence becomes a tower of fatal challenges as Bruce has to fight a different type of martial art villain on every floor, one of whom was NBA legend Kareem Abdul Jabbar, who was a student of Bruce Lee.  I present the idea of having Spider-Man battle The Enforcers in a Game of Death style one by one showdown Gauntlet of Death.  Ahh nothing more fun then kids being creative.

Peter goes to the hospital to visit Aunt May and is surprised to see Liz Allan and Flash Thompson popping in to pay their respects.  We let this segue into the idea that after Peter stood up for himself against Flash's persistent taunts, Flash has finally gained some respect for the bookworm.  Or maybe he was just forced to tag along by his girlfriend.

It is at the hospital where the doctor asks Peter to offer up a sample of his blood to give Aunt May a transfusion.  Peter immediately panics, wondering if his radioactive infected blood will be harmful to Aunt May.  But do you explain that to the public without looking like a freak?

Peter does the transfusion, then goes home to relax while his blood rebuilds itself.   Meanwhile, with The Big Man at the helm, The Enforcers go on a massive crime spree, stomping down local gangsters and businessmen into submission until all city crime goes through one channel and cops have got their hands full.  When Peter goes off to the paper for clues about the crime spree, he runs into The Enforcers leaning on their latest loan shark victim....................Betty Brant,

Now things are getting interesting.  We can link a bunch of the crime in the story and center in on Betty for the meat of our plot, with Spider-Man bailing Betty out of trouble and then swinging off into the sunset.  But for now Betty is scared and won't tell Peter why she's a target of The Enforcers.  Spider-Man takes off into the night for answers.

After chasing down a few low level thugs, Spider-Man gets the whereabouts of The Big Man's hideout and decides to crash their party.  He gets into a brawl with The Enforcers while The Big Man escapes and Spidey is forced to kill the lights and retreat when he is overpowered by the trio of freakish thugs.  Peter goes back home to regroup and soon learns that Betty Brant has quit working at The Bugle and skipped town.  With The Big Man in hiding Spider-Man decides to use the power of the press to fool the Enforcers into capturing him..................as Peter Parker.

Peter goes off to school and brags to his class that he knows the identity of The Big Man and plans to report it to police immediately after recess.  Of all people to show concern over Peter's new found arrogance, Flash Thompson warns Peter to lay low and stop bragging or face the wrath of The Enforcers.  It is an interesting character development to see Peter's former bully starting to come around and even care about his opponent.

So word gets around town of Peter Parker's visit to the police and a trap is set.  Peter is wandering the streets when he is roped up by The Enforcers and taken to headquarters for a sit down meeting.  Peter is amazed when The Big Man knows his identity, making him suspicious that it may be someone close to his circle, like may J Jonah Jameson.  

Peter is thrown into a cell and immediately changes into Spider-Man, escapes his cell, and does a little recon on the gangster meeting

before he is caught by a passing underling and forced into combat.  Whipping everything from oil drums to giant tires at each other, Spider-Man does a sick move in the middle of battle when he jumps into a four door convertible and kicks all four doors open at once, taking out four thugs in the process.  Great note to stick into a fight scene in our master script.

Spidey bravely continues to fight on until the police arrive.  He then goes in hot pursuit of The Big Man while the fuzz rounds up the thugs.  Tracking the trail of clues, the police investigation leads to the office of J Jonah Jameson, where Spider-Man secretly keeps a perch outside to enjoy witnessing the media mogul's arrest.  Much to Spidey's surprise Jonah is innocent, the cops arrest tiny mild mannered reporter Frederick Foswell as the leader of the crime syndicate.  Foswell

is taken into custody and Jameson goes off on a monologue about why he hates Spider-Man and how much he hates himself for co existing in a world with such a hero.  All in all and delightful tale with an intense cliffhanger regarding what will become of the lovely Betty Brant.

So before we go one of the students makes a nice suggestion for our dark take on the wall crawler.  

Two simple words to conclude today's lesson,

Commissioner Stacy?

Thanks again for another installment of Comics in the Classroom,

Vocab Word Web

1- Enforcer

2- Merciless

3- Savored

4- Plateau

5- Precautions

6- Chagrined

7- Syndicate

8- Enterprise

9- Entitled

10- Ponderous

11- Obedient

12- Adjourned

13- Glorious

14- Transfusion

15- Plush

16- Sprawling

17- Endurance

18- Replenished

19- Perilous

20- Underlings