Spider-Man (1967) Episode Nineteen: To Catch a Spider / Double Identity

To Catch a Spider

First Aired: January 13th, 1968

Synopsis: Doctor Noah Boddy frees Electro, the Green Goblin, and Vulture from prison, saying that together they can all get revenge on Spider-Man. They soon begin their attack, with the Green Goblin throwing a pumpkin bomb at Spider-Man which dulls his Spider-Sense. Soon afterwards, Vulture attacks Spider-Man with concussion bombs, draining Spider-Man of his stamina, before Electro appears before Spider-Man and declares that he has to meet the villains that night, otherwise they'll destroy the city.

Spider-Man works out that Noah Boddy must be behind freeing everyone from jail, partially because he's the only one smart enough to, and partially because there were reports that no one was seen during the jailbreak. When he goes to the spot to fight the trio, Spider-Man soon ends up hiding behind a webbing. The villains quickly start bickering and fighting each other, eventually leading to them taking each other out. When it's down to Boddy, he approaches what he thinks is Spider-Man's hiding place, but finds it empty right before Spider-Man webs him up. In the aftermath, Spider-Man reveals why the villains all started fighting each other - he learned ventriloquism, and only made it look like they were all insulting each other.

Webbing Does Not Work That Way

• Spider-Man conjures up a webbing baseball bat at one point, but really, is it that notable at this point?

Miscellaneous Notes:

• It doesn't appear as often as you'd think, but a pumpkin bomb with gas to dull Spider-Man's Spider-Sense is absolutely a weapon the Green Goblin has used in the comics. It had appeared by this point - it first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #39, in which the Green Goblin used it to help him unmask Spider-Man.
• When looking over pictures of the villains to work out who could have freed them, Spider-Man comments that, "Goblin would take first prize in a stupidity contest." I'd argue that in the comics at least, the Goblin is one of Spider-Man's more clever foes, albeit one who is quite mad. Heck, even the version in this show isn't as bad as some of the guys Spider-Man's fought.
• Just before going out to fight Spider-Man, Noah Boddy comments that it's ten minutes to midnight (the time they agreed to meet). Looking at the clock reveals that it's actually ten PM; apparently this guy can't read analogue time. I like to think that they spent two hours just standing around, not doing anything.
• Noah Boddy also apparently has no sense of tactics, as on Spider-Man hiding from the group of villains, he comments, "You fools! He's outfighting and outwitting you!" Remind me why Spider-Man thought this was the only guy smart enough to free the villains?

Review: Villains teaming up is a trope I often enjoy, since it gives us a new threat for the protagonists to face while remaining quite familiar. The interactions between villains themselves can also be quite entertaining, whether they're friendly with each other, or barely able to stand each other. While this episode doesn't really deliver on the latter front, it does do a good job of presenting the villains as a threat to Spider-Man. It helps that not only are all three villains from the comics, but they've also all done probably the best job at fighting Spider-Man in the past. I'd be lying if I said that I was excited about Noah Boddy, but hey, using him as a mastermind-type figure isn't a bad idea for someone who's not much use in a physical fight like him.

But...that ending. Hooo boy, that ending. There's basically two ways to view it. The more generous way is that the villains' lack of trust in each other and their lack of respect for each other, something clearly shown earlier in the episode, was their undoing. We can take a moral from it that being more trusting - or heck, even just being professional enough to leave personal grudges for later - is more productive in the long run. It also shows Spider-Man exploiting a natural rift in the group, which on paper is a good way to defeat a group such as this.

The less generous way to view the ending is that it's more or less a deus ex machina showing up to conveniently save Spider-Man, which wasn't thought out well enough as to how it work. Worse, ventriloquism is one of the most Silver Age-y tropes possible - I'm overexaggerating, but I swear that every hero in the Silver Age knew how to throw their voice at one point or another. While I'd like to say that I go with the former way to view the ending, I can't lie - this is definitely some pretty silly nonsense, and a pretty bad way to end the conflict.

Double Identity

Synopsis: After taking some pictures of some antique books, Peter Parker steals one of them, only to be confronted by Spider-Man outside the shop. Spider-Man is stunned by the doppelganger's camera. When the doppelganger is in his hideout, he reveals himself to be Charles Cameo, a famous actor. Disguising himself as famed painter Salvador A. Fricasso, Cameo is able to steal some of the real Fricasso's paintings, despite Spider-Man's best efforts to stop him.

Cameo continues committing thefts, stealing a statue when he disguises himself as J. Jonah Jameson, and stealing a goblet from an auction. Jonah himself thinks that Spider-Man is behind the thefts, of course, and so sets a trap. When Cameo shows up to steal some tapestries from a warehouse, this time disguised as Spider-Man, the police and Jonah are nearby...but then Spider-Man shows up. The two Spider-Men agree to fight, and whichever one is defeated can be unmasked and arrested by the police. The real one, of course, wins, and Cameo is arrested by the nearby police officer.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• When Peter Parker is accused of being a thief thanks to Cameo's disguise at the start of the episode, J. Jonah Jameson says that he can't be a thief. That's pretty in-character for the Jonah of the comic books. What follows is not: Jonah says that he's defending Peter because he doesn't want people to think the Daily Bugle hires thieves. That's pretty damn selfish of him.
• I mentioned a few episodes back that it looked as if Spider-Man might have been shot in one scene; in this story, it unambiguously happens while he's following Cameo after a crime. Then, moments after crumpling to the ground, Spider-Man gets up and comments that he was only grazed. It's technically subverting that he was shot, but still, I wasn't expecting to see that here.
• As mentioned, Jonah lays a trap for Cameo (who he thinks is Spider-Man) by essentially leading him to some rare tapestries in a warehouse...tapestries which Cameo starts stealing when he arrives on the scene. Wouldn't you, y'know, choose an empty warehouse for the location of your trap, just in case it fails?

Review: It feels like this episode's got one good trick up its sleeve - opening on Peter Parker, only for him to be revealed to be a criminal - and then after that it's out of clever ideas. Later on there's a bit where Cameo is seemingly disguised as Jonah, and Spider-Man webs him up after he makes some hints that he wants to steal a nearby goblet, only for it to really be Jonah. I want to call that a clever bit, but given that in the scene just before Cameo had said that he was planning on reusing his Jonah disguise, it's really a case of the episode cheating to get the drop on the audience.

Anyway, if you've read a few stories with the Chameleon, you've essentially seen this, only it's a watered-down and not very exciting version of those stories. The opening reminded me of Amazing Spider-Man #80, in which Spider-Man ultimately captures the Chameleon when the Chameleon disguises himself as Peter Parker. The difference is that there it was done as a relatively clever conclusion to the story, whereas here the villain disguising himself as Peter is just done to trick the audience, so the effect wears off quickly. Other than that, it's pretty same-old same-old - Cameo steals something, Spider-Man is surprised by who he was, rinse and repeat. If the Chameleon wasn't a classic Spider-Man villain, I might have gotten something out of this; as it is, it's not exactly impressing me.