Comics : Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #49

This story is part of a Lookback Series: Al Observes

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In Detail...

"From the Depths of Defeat!"

	Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #49  Summary: Kraven and Blackie Drago as Vulture (Note JR/ME credits mixup)  Arc: Part 3 of "Kraven the Hunter and the New Vulture"
	Editor:  Stan Lee Writer:  Stan Lee Pencils:  John Romita, Sr. Inker:  Mickey Demeo Cover:  John Romita, Sr.	Staff Only Images Review Edit
	Jun 1967 : SMURF 049.500 : SM Title : Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1)  Reprinted In: Marvel Masterworks #22  Reprinted In: Marvel Tales #189  Reprinted In: Marvel Tales #35  Reprinted In: Essential Spider-Man #3  Reprinted In: Spider-Man UK Annuals 1982 (Story 1)
Characters: Watson, Anna, Aunt May Parker, Betty Brant, The Big Man, Green Goblin II (Harry Osborn), Gwen Stacy, J. Jonah Jameson, Kraven The Hunter, Mary Jane Watson-Parker, Vulture II (Blackie Drago)

We pick up right where #48 left off. The splash page shows a beaten Spidey lying in the snow with the heads of Jonah Jameson, Mary Jane, Harry, Gwen, Aunt May, the Vulture and Kraven swirling around him. (A nice effect but why are MJ, Gwen, and Harry smiling?) The temperature is dropping to dangerous levels, but instead of freezing our hero to death, the increasing cold actually revives him. Still weak, still dizzy, Spidey slowly gets to his feet and unsteadily climbs down a nearby fire escape. Too weak to web-sling, he walks back to his apartment. Peter has removed his mask but not the rest of his outfit when his roommate Harry walks in. Using the last vestige of his speed, Pete dives into bed and covers up before Harry's eyes can adjust to the darkness.

Elsewhere, Kraven the Hunter is filled with jealousy over the newfound notoriety of the new Vulture. Seething that "I'm the one who first beat Spider-Man." and "No wing-flapping, flying fool can steal my glory from me!", Kraven takes his frustrations out on his tiger Rajah. He releases the big cat, grapples with it, throws it around, and allows it to slink back to its cage. "Next I shall crush the Vulture", he proclaims.

Now, then, what time is it exactly? Is it the same day Pete fought the Vulture? Is it the same day May and Anna dropped by before? It sure seems like it but SOME time must have passed because Anna and May have shown up again. They are visiting to see how Pete is (don't know why they're doing this since he wasn't even home for their last visit...whenever THAT was) and are sorry to see him still in bed, "with his Spidey suit on, no less!" Pete is very nervous that someone will pull off his bedcovers and reveal his duds, but all Aunt May does when she approaches is feel his forehead. She discovers that Pete still has a fever. Over her nephew's protestations, May calls Dr. Bromwell to request a house call. As all the others finally leave his room, Pete leaps up to remove his Spidey suit. He discovers that he is already feeling MUCH better but, even so, he must stay in bed and wait for Dr. Bromwell in order to satisfy Aunt May.

Out in the city, the Vulture attacks an airborne helicopter by hurling himself at it like a battering ram. (And, believe it or not, this technique works!) There is a passenger in the copter carrying an attache case filled with uncut diamonds and the Vulture demands the case or else. Fearing that another ramming will send the helicopter into a deadly dive, the pilot throws the case out to the villain. The Vulture soars off, gloating, "A man with wings can do anything!" (The Vulture says this or variations on this so many times, you can't wait for him to be beaten just so he'll shut up.) Kraven arrives on the scene just as the Vulture flies off. He has missed his prey but he has gotten a good look at him. He's also gotten the scent.

At the Bugle, Fred Foswell tells JJJ that they need good photos of the Vulture. Jonah tells Betty Brant to "get that creep Parker on the phone". (My, Jonah was so harsh back then, wasn't he?) Betty's call is answered by Harry who tells her that Pete can't come to the phone. The doorbell rings. It is Gwen and Mary Jane, ready to cheer Peter up. MJ puts a record on the hi-fi but Harry nixes that. Pete needs absolute quiet and NO visitors. So, MJ and Gwen leave, escorted by Harry while a perfectly healthy Peter Parker must stay in bed, waiting for the Doctor.

And back in the sky, the Vulture soars until his foot is snagged by a rope thrown by Kraven the Hunter. The two villains fight. The Vulture thinks he has the upper hand but Kraven has the whole battle planned. He shifts his weight just so...and the two of them topple down through a skylight.

Back in his room, Pete listens to a transistor radio. There is a news bulletin that Kraven and the Vulture have crashed into the Explorers' Exposition at Exhibition Hall. Pete sneaks a peek into the living room and sees that May and Anna are both dozing. Now he can slip out. "I'm rarin' to go now!", he says.

Quickly, Spidey reaches Exhibition Hall. Kraven has chosen the location because the Explorers' Exposition is decked out to resemble a jungle. Kraven has even managed to cover the skylight with a net so the Vulture cannot escape. Spidey sets up his camera, parts the net, and joins the party.

Kraven decides the first priority is to destroy Spider-Man. He pushes the Vulture away but Peter takes advantage by leaping down and clobbering both of them. The Vulture is stunned but Kraven springs back immediately. Spidey flips Kraven with his feet but hears the Vulture's wings behind him. He turns and grabs the Vulture BY the wings, tossing him to the ground. (The jungle set includes rather large vegetation and Spidey is perched through much of this on a tree branch.) The Webslinger tells the Vulture that he was sick when they fought last. "Even Doris Day could'a knocked me for a loop that time!", he says. Even as the Vulture tumbles, Kraven sneaks up behind our hero. Even warned by his spider-sense, Pete can't move fast enough and Kraven gets him in a head-lock. ("Kraven's unbreakable python grip!") The Vulture begins socking Spidey in the jaw, yelling, "Let me polish him off!" Wrong thing to say. Kraven wants to finish him off himself.

But Spidey uses judo to break Kraven's grip. (Well, Stan called it judo.) The Vulture proposes a partnership to take out the Web-spinner but a selfish Kraven won't hear of it. The Hunter hurridly uses his paralyzer ray from ish #47. Spidey leaps out of the way and the ray hits the Vulture instead, putting him out of the fight for good.

Spider-Man rushes Kraven and rips the paralyzer ray out of the Hunter's costume. Even so, Kraven kicks him away. It is time for "the ultimate confrontation, the ultimate reckoning" and the jungle villain is confident that his is the greater strength. But Spidey "whumps" him "with the kinda whump that once staggered the Hulk!" Kraven's eyes go wide with shock for a moment...then he topples over with a "thump!"...out cold.

Spidey webs the two villains to the floor, takes a photo for Jolly Jonah, then hurries back to bed before the Doctor arrives; which he does 3 minutes and 22 seconds later. (Hey! That's what Stan said!) Bromwell pronounces Pete completely healthy and our hero offers to take May and Anna to a "way-out Western at the Bijou". "That would be nice, Peter!", May says, "You've been cooped up so long, you can use a little excitement."

For those wondering, the only other appearance of Blackie Drago was Amazing Spider-Man #63, in which he was thrashed by the Original Vulture and gave up the wings for good. In his three issues, Blackie was zapped by Kraven and whipped by Adrian Toombs but never actually defeated by Spidey. The original Kangaroo is another villain who never actually got beaten by Spider-Man. (He only got fried in an atomic inferno.) Can anyone think of others?

By Al Sjoerdsma (E-Mail)