Amazing Spider-Man 17 -- Goblin's Back -- Torch is Wack

October 1964 -- The Summer Olympics kick off in Tokyo, Martin Luther King wins the Nobel Peace Prize,  50 people crawl through a narrow tunnel under the Berlin Wall, the Russians launch the first flight crew into orbit without space suits, the 565 carat Star of India is stolen from the Museum of Natural History and at a campaign rally in Madison Square Garden, President Johnson pledges the creation of a Great Society.

With all this hullabaloo going on in the world, Spider-Man gets a chance to redeem himself after last issue's shameless marketing mess when he takes on his deadliest foe to date.............the dreaded Green Goblin.

Our tale begins with the Green Goblin practicing a number of lethal tactics on a Spider-Man dummy while talking out loud over his obsession with the wall crawler before showing off his redesigned weapons and then changing into his street clothes.  His identity still hidden, I think Marvel had no idea who they intended the Goblin to be so they kept him in the shadows, although he is well dressed.

Across the city in Midtown High, Peter Parker is also thinking about the Goblin while Flash Thompson is making plans to start his own Spider-Man Fan Club.  Even though Peter is not on the guest list, he decides to make an appearance at the first club meeting in order to surprise his biggest fan.  Of course the teenage hijinks fly when Peter walks Betty Brant home from the Daily Bugle and run into Liz Allen and Flash Thompson.  Liz and Betty get into a competitive war of words, which makes Flash insanely jealous and Peter intensely flattered.  Using her father's money and dinner club, Liz Allen buys an ad in the paper inviting Spider-Man to make an appearance, an advertisement also read by the

mysterious Green Goblin, still facing away from the cameras to hide his secret identity.

On his way to the club meeting, Peter spots a burglary in progress, but before he can change into his Spidey duds the robber is caught and dropped by Spider-Man's old competitive nemesis............The Human Torch. The Torch tosses Peter an autograph, which leaves the annoyed Peter wondering why he doesn't have as successful a career as the Fantastic Four.  I leave some time open for discussion with the class to ponder the valuable question.

Is it better to compete or co-exist?

I then recount my college days to tell them about the guy I competed with in college who ended up becoming one of my best friends still to this day.  Nothing like a walk down memory lane to invoke odd stares from teenagers as I get lost in my own crooked nostalgia.  All the while Peter is still fending off Aunt May and her consistent attempts to set him up with what he thinks is frumpy old Mary Jane Watson.

Spider-Man heads off for his big appearance at the Avenue Dinner Club, where all the gang has gathered for another display of aerial stunts.  Besides Flash, Liz and the rest of the Midtown High crew, J Jonah Jameson shows up with Betty Brant and even The Human Torch shows up with his girlfriend Dorrie, who makes him swear not to compete with Spidey.  Also en route to the club is The Green Goblin, who vows to make Spidey's appearance a major smash.

Spidey flips in and wows the crowd, but someone is throwing bombs on stage shaped like small stuffed frogs pumpkins, ghosts and bats.  The Goblin pops in and battles Spidey, meanwhile the audience thinks it's part of the show.

As the two combatants trade barbs and jabs, The Torch spots the Goblin's goons attempting to rob the club during the melee.  Torch flames on and goes to attack the goons, running right into Spider-Man and the Goblin in the process.  As Goblin turns his attack to the Torch, Spider-Man takes the opportunity to make a quick appearance as Peter Parker, as Liz Allen has become the first of many curious females who question why Peter and Spidey are never in the same place at the same time.

Torch is being knocked around by The Goblin, forcing Peter back into action before he can confront Betty Brant, which sets her jealousy levels over his relationship with Liz Allen into major overload.  Spider-Man gets back into the fray with The Goblin while the Torch collects himself.  In the midst of their battle there's a call at the club looking for Peter Parker, who was known to be in attendance as a club guest.  When Spider-Man overhears the call, he learns that his Aunt May has suffered a massive heart attack.  Without hesitation or concern for The Goblin, Spider-Man immediately ducks out and heads for the hospital, leaving the entire crowd utterly stunned and convinced that he cowardly retreated from battle, much to the delight of Spider-Hater Jameson and the complete shock of Flash Thompson.

Peter is so distraught he swings across the city out of costume while The Torch fends off The Goblin long enough to make him retreat.  While Peter sits at Aunt May's bedside, Jameson runs a special edition of his paper reporting Spider-Man's defeat and retreat, Betty sulks in her apartment wondering if the man she loves is two timing her with Liz Allen, and Flash Thompson's club falls apart before it's even started, even though Flash refuses to give up on his hero.  All in all this was not a good episode in the life of our titular hero, which gives the class a great perspective on why Spider-Man was such a popular series not only in the 60's but today as well.  Spider-Man represented the first series that made the supporting storylines just as intriguing as the action and heroism.  As we come close to finishing the historical portion of our class, the students are getting very excited at the concept of writing our own Spider-Man story.  Our master script continues to take shape, and another wonderful episode of Comics in the Classroom concludes.

Vocab Word Web

1- Vanquish

2- Puny

3- Editorial

4- Aroused

5- Hesitant

6- Publicity

7- Gossamer

8- Emitting

9- Hunch

10- Potent