The Amazing Spider-Man #3

 "Is this the end of Spider-Man?"

Once again we see why The Amazing Spider-Man is absolutely the flagship title in these early years. It's got fun, it's got action- but, with Peter Parker's youthful angst, this issue is a proper character study and that gives it a level of depth that, as of Spring 1963, no other Marvel title quite has.

It's only issue #3 and, as such, it's fun to see a few firsts. We have the first use of what will become known as the Spidey Signal. We have the first use of the title "Daily Bugle", with J. Jonah Jameson still said to be "publisher". And, of course, we have the introduction of Doctor Octopus, or Otto Octavius, who is both an absolutely top tier Spidey baddie and Marvel's foremost example of nominative determinism.

It's the early '60s, so Doc Ock's origin story absolutely has to involve exposure to large amounts of radiation, which is very much in fashion for origin stories at this point, and probably not exactly a good thing for Doc Ock's health a couple of decades down the line.

We never really learn exactly what Doc Ock plans to do with the atomic plant that he seizes, but that isn't the point here- the point is the self-confidence of our talented but very young hero, whose crisis of confidence after his initial defeat to Doc Ock is extremely well handled. It's perfect how it should be a school pep talk by an unwitting Human Torch (who responds to Peter's enthusiastic thanks with a casual "Huh? Oh, sure, sure! Glad you enjoyed it, fella!") that galvanises Spider-Man to defeat Doc Ock with a combination of both the cleverness and the perseverance that we will come to know him for... and, incidentally, Steve Ditko is really good at showing his determined persistence.

Another thing worth mentioning is that, so far, we've had no real strong sense that this is all occurring in a shared universe. So far it's been like DC of the time- crossovers happen, yes, but there isn't really a rigorously maintained continuity. But it's still very early, and there's no need to define things yet. But I'll not that, after the appearance of the Fantastic Four in The Amazing Spider-Man #1 and the use of the Hulk in Fantastic Four #12, Johnny Storm's appearance here gives us a hat trick of crossovers.

That digression aside, though, this is as good as it gets for early '60s Marvel.