Amazing Spider-Man #35 (April 1966) – “The Molten Man Regrets” – Stan Lee/Steve Ditko
This one starts with Molten Man (who we remember from issue 28) getting out of prison after pretending to be repentant. He decides to be a bit smarter about committing crimes this time around and waits for a while before disguising himself and robbing a jewelry store. Spider-Man happens by and tries to stop what he thinks is just some ordinary thief, but he gets an eye-opener when the disguised Molten Man
starts beating the shit out of him. Molty gets away, pissed off that Spider-Man interrupted him and made him leave the jewels behind. After pondering the fight for a bit, Peter realizes the punches felt rather metallic and goes to check out Molten Man’s old apartment. When he sees Molty is back, he plants a spider-tracer on him and follows him around for the next few days. Eventually his perseverance pays off as he sees Molten Man breaking into the same jewelry store. Spidey tackles him and we get another cool fight 
scene as only Ditko can do it. Molten Man takes off but Spidey is waiting at his apartment and basically does the same thing he did the first time they fought: he uses extra-thick webbing ropes to tie Molty up and drag him to the cops. Molten Man cries innocent, but Spider-Man set up his automatic camera and brings evidence of Molty’s crimes to the cops. He goes to the Daily Bugle as Peter Parker to sell the rest of the photos and learns that Betty Brant has left town without telling him. He assumes she left to marry Ned Leeds, although we know that’s not the case.
This is a pretty good issue, though the Molten Man stuff takes up most of it. I like the fights between Spidey and Molten Man; Ditko has a way of making
them look like real slugfests. Molten Man getting out of prison so fast is explained as the judge being lenient because he was the victim of an accident and acted like a model prisoner (as well as making restitution for the damage he caused). It’s interesting that Spidey uses the photos to prove Molten Man’s guilt to the cops, then sells the rest to Jameson. Not exactly the best way to hide his secret identity, but I guess it lends credence to the later idea that Peter and Spider-Man have a deal to split the money Peter makes on the photos. Betty being gone cuts down on the drama quotient, except at the end when Peter gets all angsty.
Noticeable Things:
- Spider-Man makes an Irving Forbush joke, which Molten Man is too uncool to get.
- We see a black man at the Daily Bugle giving something to a reporter at a desk. I’m wondering if that could be Joe Robertson? He would be at the Bugle by this point, and might even be assistant editor or whatever his title is.
Amazing Spider-Man #36 (May 1966) – “When Falls the Meteor” – Stan Lee/Steve Ditko
This one starts with an ordinary schmoe named Norton Fester finding a meteorite and thinking he can parlay that into fame and fortune by discovering some form of life inside it. He can’t get funding for research, so he starts chipping away on his own and gets a face-full of gas for his efforts. The gas makes him super-strong and he figures he can pretty much do whatever he wants now. At Empire State University, Peter is having trouble connecting with his fellow students, but thinks he’s catching a break when a girl named Sally green starts talking to him. But once he
realizes she’s interested in him only because he’s smart, he brushes her off because it reminds him too much of Betty and her preference for the quiet type. Meanwhile, Fester becomes the Looter, robbing banks and armored car to get some money and upgrade his lab equipment (although for a guy with n money and no real scientific background, he already had a pretty big lab). Spider-Man searches for the Looter, but can’t find him. But fate has a way of bringing people together (especially in comic books), so when Peter decides to check a new science exhibit, it just happens to be Looter’s next target since he’s looking for another meteorite. Gwen Stacy is there too 
(which makes sense since she’s a science major like Peter) and tries to get Peter to notice her so they can strike up a conversation. Unfortunately, Looter shows up and Peter takes off to change into Spider-Man, making Gwen think he was scared and ran away. Spidey fights the Looter, who’s stronger than he expected and ends up getting away after distracting Spider-Man by endangering the crowd. When Peter returns, Gwen is pissed off at his apparent cowardice and he can’t figure out why. Since Looter left empty-handed, Spider-Man stakes out the museum exhibit, figuring he’ll show up again. He’s right, but when Looter sees Spidey he tries to escape with a helium balloon. Spidey tags along and knocks Looter out, letting him drift down to the waiting cops.
This is a pretty good issue with some good fight scenes, although Looter’s
not exactly a classic Spidey villain. His motivations are a bit strange, since he originally wanted money to do scientific research (even though he’s not very good at science), then needed more meteorites to insure his super powers didn’t fade. As far as I know, his powers do stay and he does have a few more appearances over the years. The whole “Looter” motif sounds like more of Ditko’s Objectivist stuff, since he considered people who succeed without merit to be looting the system … or something. I never 
really understood all that Objectivist crap. Fester’s a bit of a dimwit anyway, since he lists Aristophanes (who I’m pretty sure was a playwright) as a famous scientist. I’m not sure if that was a mistake by Stan, or if he was just trying to show how stupid Fester really is. On the romantic front, Gwen is still interested in Peter (and he’s started noticing her) but now she thinks he’s a pussy for running away when Looter showed up and isn’t shy about bad-mouthing him to Harry and Flash.