Noteworthy Issues: The Amazing Spider-Man #30 (November, 1965)

As much as I have been enjoying these old comics, there was that one plotline that bothered me.  It looks like it’s coming to an end here.

Good.

Issue:  The Amazing Spider-Man #30, November 1965

Dialogue:  Stan Lee

Plot and Pencils:  Steve Ditko

The Plot:  Spider-Man takes on the Cat and adult romances.

Commentary:  I think I have made it abundantly clear that the Peter Parker/Betty Brant romance creeped me out.  Peter is a kid in high school.  Betty is an adult with a full-time job.  And yet…they’re in love or something.  The chronological age difference probably isn’t that great–it’s not like the comics tell us how old either of them actually are though Peter just graduated from high school–but that whole “she’s an adult living on her own” thing suggests a certain amount of life experience and maturity that no high school kid could hope to match.

Anyway, it looks like that all comes to a close this issue as Peter basically breaks it off under the assumption that A) she prefers Ned Leeds and B) she doesn’t like Spider-Man because he’s too “exciting” and her female heart can’t take that or some such nonsense.

The second part at least is true.  The first?  Eh, not really.  He’s a man roughly her age with a steady job and a kind heart, the sort of guy Peter can’t even get himself to dislike too much.  Betty says she wants a steady man who will come to home to her and “his pipe and his paper”…man, that is sooooooooo outdated on so many levels.  For one, Betty seems to want to be some sort of housewife.  Nothing wrong with that, but it does suggest she may not want something more for herself and to just take care of a man.  A pipe?  Yeah, that’s a bit, let’s say, outdated and leave it at that.  His paper?  Ned works for a newspaper, doesn’t he?  Why would he want to read the paper when he gets home?  He’s been surrounded by news all day.  I don’t go home and want to grade quizzes or anything.  And it’s not like the cat is receptive to feedback on her punctuation.

Never mind.  Peter basically realizes Betty won’t rest easy if she knows he’s Spider-Man, and he breaks it off so she can marry a man her age with a job.

It’s usually good if you marry someone with some job prospects.

As for the rest of the issue, eh.  Spider-Man goes looking for…the Cat!  No, not the Black Cat.  She comes later.  She’s got an actual personality, even if a lot of it was probably stolen from Selina Kyle.  This guy is just a good cat burglar who Spidey goes looking for in part because J Jonah Jameson put a reward out for the guy.  Jameson frets over Spider-Man catching the guy, but the police do instead because the Cat is kinda stupid and forgettable in the end.  That probably means he’ll appear in dozens of future comics I just don’t remember.  Plus, it looks like the cops can’t collect the reward.

Then again, Liz Allen is back after that Liz Hilton took her place an issue or two ago.  Always nice to see a familiar face.

Grade:  A-