There's no doubt at Marvel that Spider-Man has the best villains, and that is proved very quickly in his very first annual by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko where "The Sinister Six" make their debut. The six are villains who have previously battled the Web-Spinner and were beaten, and so desire a measure of revenge against their upstart opponent. "The Sinister Six" at that time were Doctor Octopus, The Vulture, Sandman, Mysterio, Kraven the Hunter, and Electro!
The artwork in this story is amazing, arguably the finest single effort by Steve Ditko on the hero he helped make a sensation. The extra-long story is made extra-special because of the decision to give each of the six villains a splash page. In addition to the splash which opens the story we are treated to six more glorious full-page poster-style shots of mayhem. Here are those glorious images from decades gone by, which still bristle in my memory.
It's only in this final encounter with Doc Ock in which Spidey seems under threat, in the others he appears to have the enemy in hand. On another point, notice how many Spidey villains of that time were draped in green.
I first saw this awesome story when it was reprinted in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #6 under a well-crafted and dramatic cover by John Romita. I've bought it many times since in one format or another. It wows me each and every time I read it.
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Those early Marvel Annuals were transformative. Up to that point, superhero Annuals were largely albums of classic, sometimes themed material. They were rendered special by their novelty and the occasional little pin-up or diagram. In retrospect, I've seen that folks like John Stanley and other Dell creators were able to assemble thick annuals that worked as a unit, but Ditko and Kirby were really instrumental in creating a Summer giant as a Big Event. The feeling of perfection comes from the new cover-to-cover art that not only has a marquee battle royale, but also pages that celebrate and document the character's life, environment and history. I hope the entire package is reprinted in facsimile someday, and I'd say that FF Annual #2 (which appeared at the same time), is just as powerful a collection. I'm guessing that economics ended the tradition of those extra-thick comics, as well as comics being cheap enough for kids to have them as a relatively casual artifact in their lives. But there was a time when the Summer was endless, and the comics were big enough to fill it.
ReplyDeleteDitto my friend. I have many "first" comics of different kinds in my personal history, but not least among them was my very first taste of the Avengers with their debut "King-Size" comic. There was a sense of a sprawling spectacle, and all between two covers for a quarter. A bargain then and a jewel now.
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Wow - That would make a stupendous sets of posters. (especially in the early 70s Third Eye blacklight format).
ReplyDeleteMy first encounter with the Sinister Six tale was in the pages of Spider-Man Comics Weekly back in the early '70s, but some characters that hadn't yet been introduced in the UK weeklies were redrawn as other characters (Giant-Man and the Wasp becoming Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl for example). Not long after, I acquired the ASM Special #6 and could compare the changes. Interestingly, Stan and Steve boobed in this issue as, being grounded, Spidey would have been electrocuted. When the issue was reprinted in Marvel Tales in the '80s, the art and lettering were slightly amended to show that Spidey wasn't grounded. I'd love to have Special #6 again, but I'll have to content myself with owning Annual #1, plus various other reprints.
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