Dumb Dumb Doom!
The cover: 3 stars
This cover is the poorest one to date, it’s not that it’s that bad, it’s just … I hate to say it … Steve just doesn’t draw Doctor Doom very well. Doom looks really stiff and wooden, while Spidey is animated; worst of all Doom has large eyeholes in his mask showing a lot of pink skin. Take Doom off the cover and it would be four stars.
Marked For Destruction By Dr. Doom (21 pages)
This is the most frustrating issue to date, parts of the story are as good as the previous issue, some bits are just plain ludicrous. Doom plots to gain revenge on the Fantastic Four by persuading Spidey to help him, then uses a spider-wave transmitter to contact him … ridiculous! During their initial encounter Spidey obviously refuses to help Doom … queue a bit of a dust up, Spidey escapes and Doom concocts a new plan … learn Spidey’s secret identity, capture him then lure the FF into rescuing him … is this really how Doom became the evil genius that tormented the Fantastic Four for decades?
However things pick up from this point, a classic Spidey sub-plot … Flash decides to dress up as Spider-Man to scare Peter … gets captured by the good Doctor mistaking him for the genuine article … Spidey to the rescue … big fight … then it gets silly again … Doom spots the Fantasti-Car and runs off … and with the typical Parker luck … Flash ends up as the school hero for taking on Doctor Doom.
Almost a classic, everything is coming together nicely as the characterisation of Peter, Aunt May, Jonah, Betty, Flash and Liz gains depth with every issue … pity about this month’s villain though.
Trivia:
Romance is starting to blossom with Peter and Betty.
Peter has to deceive Aunt May to get out of the house to fight Doom.
The Amazing Spider-Man goes monthly from this issue.
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