Appearing in "Spider-Man!"
Featured Characters:
- Spider-Man (Peter Parker) (First appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- Aunt May (First appearance)
- Uncle Ben (Death)
- Flash Thompson (First appearance)
- Liz Allan (First appearance)
- Raymond Warren, one of Peter's teachers (First appearance)
- Bernard O'Brien (not named)
Adversaries:
- The Burglar (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Baxter Bigelow (not named)
- Crusher Hogan
- Max Shiffman, television producer
- Midtown High students
- Sally Avril
- Scientists
- Seymour O'Reilly (not named)
Locations:
- United States of America
- New York City, New York
- Manhattan
- Science hall
- Television Studio
- Forest Hills, Queens
- Manhattan
- New York City, New York
Items:
Synopsis for "Spider-Man!"
- Synopsis not yet written
Appearing in "The Bell-Ringer!"
Featured Characters:
- Old Pedros
Supporting Characters:
- Other villagers
Locations:
- Mediterranean island
Synopsis for "The Bell-Ringer!"
On a small Mediterranean island of fisherfolk, Old Pedros is the town bell-ringer. One day the volcano atop the island begins to erupt. The villagers evacuate and put out to sea. Old Pedros, though, stays at the church. "The bells must be rung," he tells himself. "Someone will hear. For centuries someone has always heard!" Molten rock streams toward the church. Before it reaches Old Pedros, a ray of sunlight surrounds him. The superstitious villagers swear they saw him ride that ray into the sky. Did their eyes play tricks on them, or did Someone hear the bells?
Appearing in "Man in the Mummy Case!"
Featured Characters:
- Rocco Rank (First appearance)
Adversaries:
- Mummmy
- Egyptian slavedriver
Other Characters:
- 2 police officers (Joe named)
Locations:
Items:
- Sarcophagus
Synopsis for "Man in the Mummy Case!"
Rocco Rank, a career criminal, breaks into a museum to escape a policeman. While he looks for a hiding place, he hears mummy's voice promising to protect him from the police. All he has to do is lie in a sarcophagus. The mummy reassures Rank that he will not suffocate or become another mummy. Rank finally agrees and gets into the sarcophagus, which the mummy shuts. The policeman double back, finds a broken window, and searches the room. The mummy is motionless, and the sarcophagus is empty, so he leaves. Rank is safe from the police ... but he has become a slave building the Pyramids.
Appearing in "There Are Martians among Us!"
Featured Characters:
- Martian woman and her husband
Supporting Characters:
- None
Adversaries:
- None
Other Characters:
- Police
- Searchers
- TV reporter
Locations:
- Unknown
Vehicles:
- Flying saucer
Synopsis for "There Are Martians among Us!"
The discovery of a crashed flying saucer frightens a small town, especially when the townspeople realize that the Martians are among them. A month goes by with the aliens still at large. A man leaves for the city and tells his wife to stay in the house where she is safe. Later that day, though, she has to go to the store for coffee. On her way home she is captured! When her husband gets home and finds her missing, he makes a desperate phone call ... to another Martian, who like him must have four arms ....
Notes
- This was the last Amazing Fantasy comic until 1995. This is also the first one called Amazing Fantasy instead of Amazing Adult Fantasy.
- Though the conclusion of "Spider-Man!" invites readers to return for the next issue, this would be the final issue of Amazing Fantasy (successor to Amazing Adventures and Amazing Adult Fantasy). In 1995, editor Danny Fingeroth inserted three stories (Amazing Fantasy #16-18) between this one and Spider-Man's next appearance, in Amazing Spider-Man #1 (March 1963).
- Artie Simek was credited in this issue as Art Simek.
- The "science hall" where Peter attended the demonstration was later identified as General Techtronics Laboratories East.
- The television producer was later identified as Maxie Shiffman, the policemen who tells Peter Parker of his uncle's death as Bernard O'Brien. From the group of High School students, only Flash Thompson's full name is given, the others would not be given names until later, including Liz Allen and Seymour O'Reilly. Sally Avril is named by first name, but she would not be seen again for another thirty years until her reappearance in Untold Tales of Spider-Man #11.
- Amazing Spider-Man #240 establishes that this story takes place during Peter Parker's sophomore year in high school.
- The Spider-Man story was reprinted in Fireside Book Series #1, Amazing Spider-Man #1 (Pocket Books) and Marvel's Mightiest Heroes: Spider-Man.
- Man in the Mummy Case was reprinted in Doctor Who Weekly #30.
Trivia
- The cover ultimately published for Amazing Fantasy #15 was not the one originally planned. Originally, Steve Ditko both penciled and inked the cover, but at the last minute Stan Lee decided to have Jack Kirby come in and redo it.[1]
- The date on the cover (August) is one month earlier than the date in the insignia (September 1962) for this issue.
- The "Experiments in Radio-Activity" exhibit (where Parker got his spider bite) was in room 30 of the science hall.
- The television producer tells Parker that should go on The Ed Sullivan Show, which ran on CBS between 1955 and 1971 (and from 1948 to 1955 as Toast of the Town).
- Anthology titles like Amazing Fantasy presented stories that were usually only three to five pages long. The "Spider-Man!" story was therefore divided into two parts, even though Part 2 immediately followed Part 1.
- The Spider-Man story uses the word spectacular to refer to a television show. Today the preferred term would be special.
- Plot elements in the live action Spider-Man movie originate from this issue.
- The cover of this issue appears in the comic galleries from the video games The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin (Sega CD version) and Spider-Man.
See Also
Recommended Reading
- Chronologically, Spider-Man appears next in Amazing Fantasy #16, although the next published issue was Amazing Spider-Man #1.
- The Burglar appears next in Amazing Spider-Man #170.
- Ben Parker's funeral is shown in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #1.
- Although the death of Uncle Ben is not shown in this issue, it can be partly seen in a flashback in Amazing Spider-Man #1 and is fully depicted in Amazing Spider-Man #200.
- A more detailed version of this origin story is told in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #60.
- The unnamed Security Guard appears next in Amazing Spider-Man #200.
Links and References
References
- ↑ Brian Cronin,"Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #31!", Comics Should Be Good, ComicBookResources.com: December 29, 2005.