The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 4 (Marvel Masterworks) [Paperback]

Stan Lee (Author), Steve Ditko (Illustrator), John Romita (Illustrator)

Book Description

Grade Level: P and up

The epic continues as Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, and John Romita continue their historic run on the Amazing Spider-Man! As Spider-Man struggles to stop the crime spree of the Master Planner (secretly Dr. Octopus) and his men, he ends up buried under a collapsed water tower! See Spidey use his strength as never before to get free! Peter Parker tries balancing his new life at college and his Aunt May's ailing health! Ned Leeds wants to marry Betty Brant, but she's still got feelings for her old flame, Peter, who's too preoccupied to even notice his beautiful new classmate Gwen Stacy! Spidey tangles with old foes like Kraven the Hunter and the Molten Man, and new ones like the Looter, a Guy Named Joe, and Mendel Stromm! And when the Green Goblin attacks, he learns Spider-Man is Peter Parker, then reveals himself as Norman Osborn, father of Peter's classmate, Harry! Collects Amazing Spider-Man #31-40, plus Amazing Spider-Man #31 pencils.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Marvel (June 9, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785142800
• ISBN-13: 978-0785142805
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.5 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,702 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ditko and Lee at the top; Romita introduced, December 24, 2005

By 

Reader from the North (Midwest, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 4 (Hardcover)

Spiderman was never so good as Ditko (sometimes getting plot credit) and Lee presented him here. The collaborators are in complete control of Spider-man and the great cast of bad guys--especially the Green Goblin and Doc Ock. The ironies of Peter Parker's life are poignant, and each issue seems to develop both Peter's life and the supporting cast. This volume includes the great "Man on a Rampage" trilogy and the switch to John Romita and his great two-part Goblin battle.

I've read that sales picked up with Romita (and I'll admit that I thought his art was better when I read them ages ago); however, looking back, Ditko's art has withstood the test of time. Romita drew more attractive women and made Peter look more like a leading man from a romance comic--thus more mainstream. But that wasn't what made Spider-man great.

Even so, it was a brilliant move by Lee to start with the secret identities of Spider-man and the Goblin revealed with those transition issues. No one would pass those up. (I've read that revealing the identity of the Green Goblin was the straw that broke the Lee-Ditko team. If so, it's too bad they couldn't see what they had going.)

5.0 out of 5 stars Corny, Brilliant: The Best of Spider-Man, January 13, 2012

By 

lux - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 4 (Marvel Masterworks) (Paperback)

Someone who wants to buy one collection of early Spider-Man could do no better than this. This book is probably the single best Spider-Man trade available. It includes original artist Steve Ditko's last eight issues of the title, and fan-favorite John Romita's first two.

From a nerd's perspective, it's packed with 'key' events. The volume begins with Peter Parker's entry into college and his first encounters with Harry Osborne and Gwen Stacey; it ends with the incredible two-parter wherein Green Goblin and Spider-Man learn each other's secret identities, establishing the Goblin as Spidey's arch-nemesis. In between, there are classic battles with Doctor Octopus and Kraven the Hunter, the first mention of Mary Jane Watson, the first appearance of Norman Osborne, the famous "Just a Guy Named Joe" story and the much more famous sequence of Spidey struggling under rubble for five pages- truly a tour de force of comic art.

Which brings me to my critical perspective: scriptwriter Stan Lee was reveling in the popularity of the title at this point, maintaining his cheery cheesy breezy style while always ensuring (relative) depth to his characters and situations. Some of the writing is typically over the top (CAP: "But, once alone in his room, the complex, sensitive, anguished youth who is Peter Parker finds that he cannot study... he cannot concentrate on anything... EXCEPT..." PETER: "Am I really being a COWARD?") but it can be charming and even genuinely (deliberately) funny sometimes. The real force behind the work collected here was Steve Ditko, who was obsessively pouring all he had into the title at this time: plotting, penciling, and inking the work all himself (Lee doesn't even take credit for "co-plotting" here; it's all Ditko!). I think Ditko's art improved throughout his stint at Marvel, and then began to decline, making this his very best work. Although less 'clean' or consistent than in the early issues, he is much more bold in his panel arrangements, featuring more effective and varied 'camera' angles, and his figures have a growing dynamism which is actually aided by his own slightly sloppier inking style. Like the very best Golden Age comics, a white-hot frenetic energy radiates from the pages. Perhaps most impressively, the issues here form a complete story. Each issue tells its own story, but a well-crafted arc of subplot progresses almost invisibly throughout them until, by the last chapter, it has become the main story.

In the 1960s, mainstream superhero comics hadn't yet succumbed to the commercial model of the cigarette companies, which in our present stage of capitalism has been adopted by nearly every industry. What I mean is a comic book back then was made to SATISFY the reader; today, they are made specifically to leave one UNsatisfied, so the reader will want to buy more, forever. I guarantee that this 200-page book, or any other collection of stories from this era, will take about three times as long to read as the same amount of new comics. Part of this is a higher word-per-image ratio, but the stories are also structured and paced so that after reading one or two issues, one feels like they've had enough for awhile- a feeling of fullness that takes ten or twelve issues (if not more!) of modern comics. To the kids waiting a whole month between issues, a little went a long way- so do as they did, and savor these.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great, December 27, 2011

By 

Fred - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 4 (Marvel Masterworks) (Paperback)

This was really cool, the Stan Lee classics. The art was the best aswell. The famous final chapter was here and the intriduction of John Romita Sr. I really liked this and it was alot better than the stuff you buy today. Stan Lee truly was a great writer and its here I learned that (Ive never read his stuff before). This was spiderman at his best.