AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #17: Why We Do What We Do

Published: October, 1964

Comics can be heavily plotted with jam-packed action sequences, but if that’s all they offer (first this happens, then that, then this, and finally the good guy wins), the formula gets tired fast, and I’ll stop reading. But fortunately, the more I read Marvel Comics, the more I realize I don’t care half as much WHAT happens as WHY it happens, and the more intrigued I grow by the ever expanding cast of characters, each with their peculiar and sometimes hidden agendas.

The inner working of these complex characters and their complex web of relationships proves far more fascinating than the capabilities of Tony Stark’s latest technological gizmo or the upcoming match-up of amazing superpowers. What will happen the next time Dr. Strange encounters Baron Mordo? Get out of my way! I’m waiting to find out what happens the next time Liz Allan and Betty Brant run into each other on the street!

As if a conflicted teen superhero isn’t enough, the rich supporting cast in the Spider-Man series raises the soap opera bar to unbelievable heights. If their mundane concerns do not supersede poor Peter’s varied dilemmas, they at least greatly add to the overall drama. Sure, Spidey and Green Goblin tangle once again, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

See if you don’t agree, as we now consider the goals, motivations and plans of each character, as well as the numerous complications that so easily topple all those good (and bad) intentions.

It all begins when FLASH THOMPSON wants to spearhead a Spider-Man Fan Club and invite everyone…except puny Peter Parker. Why? To honor Spider-Man, “the greatest guy in the world,” and also to humiliate Parker.

But, there’s a complication. Girlfriend LIZ ALLAN wants to find a way to get Petey into the club after all! Why? Both because she likes him (or at least feels sorry for him), but also because she’s had just about enough of Flash’s bullying.

So what does she do? She gets Dad to provide an outstanding venue for the meeting, then blackmails Flash with “Unless Petey is invited to the meeting, I’ll tell my father not to let you use his dinner club!”

What does MR. ALLAN hope to get out of all this? He’s not a very complicated character. He’s a good father…and a good businessman. He wants his daughter to be popular with her high school friends, but by his own admission, he’s also finagling good publicity for his dinner club.

So it’s all set up! The entire HIGH SCHOOL GANG is looking forward to a good time at a fancy dinner club for the premiere meeting of the Spider-Man Fan Club! They hope to see Spider-Man in action. And why? Because they’re teenagers who live in a world populated by superheroes. ‘Nuff said.

But a kink develops in their fun evening of fan-based entertainment. In the middle of what they all believe to be Spider-Man’s exhibition show with the Green Goblin, Spidey runs off “like a scared rabbit!” What’s going on? They all assume he’s “chicken” and should “go jump in a lake!”

JOHNNY STORM is also in attendance, with current flame, DORIS EVANS. Doris’ goal in this story is to have a normal night out with her boyfriend (here, the word “normal” means “without him flying off into his Human Torch routine”).

Why? You know, I can’t figure this one out. You’d think Doris would enjoy having a boyfriend who’s more popular than the captain of the football team. But then again…maybe she doesn’t want all the other girls crushing on her guy? Maybe she’s not really that secure in their relationship. Or maybe she’s simply being super-conventional.

To get what she wants, Doris warns Johnny to behave himself, before the festivities even get started. And he agrees.

But…there’s a complication. At some point, Johnny realizes the Spidey-Goblin show is “no act”—it’s a real fight! So he flames on and flies in to help.

To her credit, when it’s all over, Doris decides she’s not angry. She’s proud. (I think I’m starting to like this girl, at least a little.)

As for Johnny, he wants to please his girlfriend. Why? Again, this relationship mystifies me, but Doris is sort of a looker, so let’s just put it down to hormones.

At the same time, though, you know he’ll jump at the slightest chance to put in an appearance as TORCH. Why? Well, if you could spontaneously combust and not burn up, wouldn’t you want everyone in the world to think that you’re as groovy as you know you are?

Torch is all about do-gooding, but probably equally interested in furthering the adoration of his fans (as we saw earlier, when he was handing out unsolicited autographs). So, when he realizes Spidey and Goblin are really fighting, his desire to please Doris is superseded by his desire to burst into his superhero act.

SOME RANDOM THUGS show up to rob the cashier’s safe at the dinner club. Why? Because they’re thugs; that’s what thugs do. But why are they here, at this time, in this story? No particular reason, I guess, except to add to the general confusion of everything already going on.

But wait! you say. There’s not that much going on. But wait! I say. We’re just getting to the juicy stuff.

BETTY BRANT wants to further her relationship with boyfriend Peter Parker. Above all else, she fervently desires to keep him away from high school tart Liz Allan. Why? Because she love Peter and doesn’t take kindly to the possibility of any other females partaking of his boyish charms.

So what does she do? Oh, this is interesting! She disobeys a direct order from her boss, J. Jonah Jameson, by neglecting to tell Peter he’s been assigned to take pictures at the Spider-Man Fan Club meeting. Betty figures if Peter is not there, “that blonde bandit” Liz Allan won’t be able to get her hands all over him.

And everything seems to be going well in that department, but then suddenly…

There’s a complication! Guess what? Turns out Peter has come to the meeting after all, and what’s worse, he’s with Liz, and what’s worse than that, Liz is running her fingers through Peter’s hair!

This is more than Betty can bear. She breaks down in tears and vows never to trust Peter again.

J. JONAH JAMESON is in attendance as well. As always, his plan is to discredit Spider-Man. Why? As we learned in ASM 10, Jameson secretly envies Spider-Man for being “brave, powerful and unselfish” and feels the only way he can make himself look better is by cutting Spider-Man down. That, and he’ll also do anything to sell more newspapers.

So what does he do? He shows up at the fan club meeting, with no real plan (“Bah! If only I could dream up some way to SPOIL this corny show of his!”), but is fortuitously given the opportunity to skip away in glee when the turn of events provides the headline: “Spider-Man the Chicken!”

Jameson doesn’t know why Spider-Man has turned chicken, and he doesn’t care. On the other hand, the readers know, and care. And it’s a lot more complex than anyone at the fan club meeting might imagine.

As for SPIDER-MAN, he wants to repair his public image. Why? Earlier, he blundered into a movie shoot, breaking up a “heist” by a gang of costumed actors, and Jameson jumped all over this “bonehead mistake.” In response, Spider-Man decides to perform at the meeting so he can make a good impression, and hopefully put an end to people calling him a buffoon.

He also wants to find out why his spider-sense is tingling in the crowd.

In comparison, alter-ego PETER PARKER hosts a much more complicated array of personal issues.

Let’s get the simple stuff out of the way first.

Peter wants AUNT MAY to stop nagging him to go on a blind date with Mary Jane Watson. No matter how many times Peter tells Aunt May he’s already got a girlfriend, she insists on trying to arrange it. (We can only imagine Aunt May is motivated by a domestically blissful fantasy of her nephew and the neighbor’s niece getting married and moving into a house across the street, a la Everybody Loves Raymond, only without all the constant comedic bickering.)

Now, more importantly: Peter wants to invite Betty to the Spider-Man meeting, but that desire is superseded by his desire to appear as Spider-Man. (In the end, he doesn’t invite Betty, and she wonders why, assuming it has something to do with Liz.)

Speaking of Liz, when she notices that Peter and Spider-Man are never seen at the same time, Peter’s need for superhero secrecy supersedes his desire to fight the Green Goblin. (Luckily Torch steps in, so Spidey can slip away and put in a quick appearance as Peter.)

SPIDER-MAN wants to beat Green Goblin, but that desire is superseded by the need to run to the hospital to make sure Aunt May is all right, after she suffers another heart attack. So, in the end, Peter decides that being unable to capture the Green Goblin, becoming “Public Heel #1 practically overnight,” and hurting Betty’s feelings in a fiasco of misconstrued jealousy pale in comparison to the possibility of losing Aunt May, “the one person who’s been kinder to me than anyone else in my whole life.” Nothing like a health crisis to put everything in perspective.

But what of our villain? Of all the characters in this soap opera, GREEN GOBLIN presents himself as the most single-minded. He wants to defeat Spider-Man. Period. That’s his only motivation. When Torch interferes, Goblin temporarily shifts his focus to getting rid of Torch…but only so he can once again turn his full attention to Spider-Man. And when he sees that Spider-Man is out of the picture, rather than continue to fight Torch, he simply leaves.

We don’t yet know who the Green Goblin really is, but I have a feeling he could end up being a fairly complex character. In this tale, he’s simply the bad guy who wants to defeat the good guy. In the future, this villain may not be that simple to figure out.

There’s one more motivation to consider, and this one is not all all difficult to figure out. Writer STAN LEE clearly states his agenda on the splash: convince the readers that this issue of The Amazing Spider-Man is “certain to be discussed…by Spidey fans throughout the free world for a long time to come!”

Well, that was over fifty years ago, and guess what? Here I am, discussing it. So even though Spider-Man, Peter Parker, and the entire cast of characters in and around Midtown High School may not always get the results they’re hoping for, the readers of this issue most certainly do…that is, if the motivation is to enjoy a heavily plotted comic story jam-packed not only with action sequences, but all the soap opera that can possibly fit into 22 pages!