Noteworthy Issues: The Amazing Spider-Man #73 (June, 1969)

Wait, that tablet thing is still loose?  Why didn’t Spidey just send it back to, I dunno, whoever had it before the Kingpin took the thing?  And why does everyone assume it has some powerful secret attached to it?  That’s a bit of a stretch.

Eh, time to bring in Super-Fonzie.

Issue:  The Amazing Spider-Man #73, June 1969

Writer:  Stan Lee

Artists:  John Buscema and John Romita Sr.

The Plot:  Man-Mountain Marko wants the tablet now on behalf of Silvermane.

Commentary:  So, to backtrack, Spider-Man gave the tablet to Captain Stacy, who put it in his wall safe.  Then the Shocker took it.  This issue revealed that Shocker gave it to a girlfriend, who put in a wall safe.  Then Man-Mountain Marko, probably the most ridiculously-named bad guy to appear in this series so far, took it.  Apparently wall safes are not a good place to stash ancient tablets.  Who knew besides, well, everybody?

However, unlike the Shocker, Man-Mountain Marko isn’t just swiping the tablet from an old man with a bum leg.  No, he has to go through Spider-Man!

I am somewhat amazed that Spider-Man somehow uses his spider sense to find Shocker’s girlfriend when the only information he has to go on is a neighborhood.  I mean, he’s never met these people before.  It’s not like he slapped a spider-tracer on them or the tablet.  No, he just somehow knows where she lives, and that Man-Mountain greaser-lookin’ mofo just happened to be there.  Yet another goon who is strong because…well, he’s a big guy.

However, someone like Man-Mountain Marko isn’t just some guy looking for an ancient tablet of unspecified power for himself!  That would take initiative.  He’s looking on behalf of the Kingpin’s rival crimeboss…Silvermane!

A pre-cyborg Silverman at that!

Silvermane just thinks kidnapping smart people can translate that tablet for him.  Can they?

Well, I would say no because something like that takes specialized training, and kidnapping random scientists won’t work out.

But it probably will considering who they nabbed on the last page.  Looks like they saved Peter a trip to Florida…

Grade:  A-