Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Spider-man:Doctor Octopus digest

This is the other digest that I mentioned in my FF digest review. Now I am not sure if there was a Spidey digest before this one. But I get the feeling there was. Cause this one starts with issue 3. Again Marvel doesn't include the credits. But these 3 issues are written by Stan Lee and have stunning artwork from the living legend Steve Ditko.

We start off with issue 3 of Amazing Spider-man. Which is the first appearance of Doctor Octopus. Great story that has a cameo from the Human Torch. Doc Ock has always been one of my favorite Spidey villains. And Mr Ditko draws a great Doc Ock. Plus at the end of the issue you get a fun pin up of Spidey that I suspect is drawn by Steve Ditko.

Issue 4 is the first appearance of the Sandman. Who is another of my favorite Spidey villians. I love how Spidey ends up having to use his brains instead of his brawn to defeat the Sandman. And the issue ends with Spidey doubting himself and wondering if he is crackpot that J Jonah Jameson and the Daily Bugle say he is. There is some great scenes of Sandman using his powers that are rendered by Ditko. The artwork has this raw energy that few artist of this era had.

Issue 5 is interesting cause it is one of the earliest Marvel villain crossovers. Cause in this issue Spidey faces Doctor Doom. Now I might be wrong but I think up until this issue Dr Doom had only appeared in a few issues of Fantastic Four. I found that I like the way Steve Ditko draws Dr Doom more than the way Jack Kirby draws him. You get a fun subplot with Flash Thompson dressing up as Spidey. I always liked how Flash was a huge Spidey fan,but he hated Peter Parker. The ending is kinda lame with Dr Doom running away cause he sees the Fantasti-car heading his way. But still it is nice to see Spidey clash against someone who is also a scientist. Spider-man:Doctor Octopus digest gets a A-.