I was feeling a bit low last week and needed a mental energy burst, so I read the greatest epic in the whole damn history of comic books for the zillionth time.
It was contained in just three consecutive issues of Amazing Spider-Man, numbers 31 through 33. It was plotted and drawn by the great Steve Ditko and scripted by Stan Lee. And it celebrated its 50th anniversary just a couple’a months ago.
Any comic book geek worth a durn knows about “The Master Planner Saga.” Hell, a lot of us think it’s what moved “funny books” into the realm of literature.
The story’s been reprinted many times and it’s easy to find, so I won’t summarize it in detail.
Besides, I only wanna talk about just one moment from the story.
Yeah, webheads — THAT moment. The one cleverly paid homage to in the second of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies — you know, the really terrific one with Doctor Octopus.
Lemme set it up.
Aunt May lies dying in a hospital. Her only chance for survival is a vial of ISO-36 serum stolen by Doc Ock.
So Spider-Man and the Doc duke it out in the tentacled one’s secret lair beneath the Hudson River. When a support beam dislodges, Octopus disappears, tons of machinery collapse, and Spidey’s left trapped and helpless under a unit the size of the USS North Carolina.
Ironically, the serum is just out of his reach, losing its potency with each passing minute.
Plus, the ceiling’s about to crash in and bring with it the surging river above!
So here’s “the moment”…
In a four-page sequence that still leaves me exhilarated when I re-read it, an exhausted but determined Spidey, after struggling panel after tortured panel, finally cries, “No matter what the odds. No matter what the cost — I’ll get that serum to Aunt May!
“Anyone can win a fight — when the odds are easy! It’s when the going’s tough — when there seems to be no chance — that’s when it counts!”
And like the legendary Atlas, Spider-Man gathers his last bit of strength, hoists the mammoth machinery above his head, and throws it off.
I’m getting gooseflesh just talking about this.
Feeling discouraged? Frustrated? Ready to give up your dream?
Right this minute, revisit a book, movie, TV show, anything that inspires you to overcome adversity and keep charging. (For me, it’s always been Amazing Spider-Man #31-33.)
Then take a look at this…
