CSBG Archive
Comics Should Be Good Top 50 Countdown! – #33
Here’s #33! Click here for the master list!
Enjoy!
Amazing Spider-Man #33

This is remarkable among most of the other comics on this list because it is not here because it is the first appearance of some notable character and nor is it the first issue that a famous writer or artist did on a title – nope, this issue is on the list and is such a stand-out number because of the story that happened in the story, a story that ended up becoming perhaps THE story that epitomized Spider-Man.
In the story, the conclusion of the three-parter that saw Spider-Man matched up with the Master Planner (Ditko seemed to love using mysterious bad guys), who is revealed to be Doctor Octopus!
Both Doc Ock and Spider-Man are searching for a serum called ISO-36. Doc needs it for his radiation research, while Spider-Man needs it to save Aunt May, who has become sick due to a transfusion she had received in the past from Peter – his radioactive blood now has bad side effects on his aunt, and you better believe Peter is feeling guilty about that!!
So at the end of last issue, Spider-Man managed to get the serum from Doc Ock, but not before the villain knocked a huge iron unit the size of a battleship down on Spider-Man, pinning him mere feet from the serum. The bad news gets worse when the underwater base is beginning to leak – not to mention that Octopus leaves his henchmen behind to shoot Spider-Man if he somehow escapes.
Not a pretty situation to be in, eh?
So #33 shows the mastery of Steve Ditko, as he depicts Spider-Man slowly but surely getting the gumption to free himself. Stan Lee’s dialogue for Spider-Man’s thought balloons are good, but this issue is almost all down to Ditko.
This issue has been re-done many, many times over the years – Spider-Man is in a tough spot and forces himself to dig deep into his inner resolve and sense of responsibility to get out of it.
Beautiful comic book storytelling.
As for other notable #33s…Detective Comics #33 had the first telling of Batman’s origin, Space Adventures #33 had the first Captain Atom, Flash Comics #33 had the first Shade, plus there were a bunch of good issues of Moore’s Swamp Thing, Morrison’s Doom Patrol, Gaiman’s Sandman, Lee/Kirby’s FF…lot of very good #33s, but none nearly as great as this one!






19 Comments
Dan K
July 6, 2008 at 9:34 am
A truely great comic, not least because the story could not be told as effectively in any other artform.
Here’s a nice clip of Stan Lee talking about ASM #33:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ivvEgkWDGo
wil
July 6, 2008 at 10:31 am
is it me, or for each and every single one of these the relevant Lee/Kirby issue of Fantastic Four gets an honorable mention?
buttler
July 6, 2008 at 10:37 am
Well, there was Detective Comics #33, which first told the origin of the Batman. Just a couple of pages at the front of the book, but it’s definitely just a wee bit more memorable than this one.
And just for the record, some first appearances: Captain Atom (Space Adventures #33), the Shade (Flash Comics #33), and hey, Gnaark! (Teen Titans #33).
Also Ditko’s first work for Marvel, in Journey into Mystery #33.
Brian Cronin
July 6, 2008 at 10:42 am
Because they are all awesome!
Brian Cronin
July 6, 2008 at 10:42 am
Definitely good enough for an honorable mention!!
Bill Reed
July 6, 2008 at 11:15 am
And don’t forget the stunning series finale we got with Sleepwalker #33!
No?
Well, this one’s good too, I suppose.
buttler
July 6, 2008 at 11:29 am
And in Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane #33, Lana zapped Lois into the Phantom Zone so she could have Superman all to herself! Wotta revoltin’ development!
buttler
July 6, 2008 at 11:45 am
I can’t believe I didn’t remember this because I was just talking about this yesterday, but Action Comics #33 was where Tex Thompson first became Mr. America.
Not exactly hold-the-presses news, as that alias only lasted him a year and a half before he switched to Americommando, but that’s the version that Roy Thomas decided to bring back in All-Star Squadron anyway.
stephen cade
July 6, 2008 at 1:27 pm
This is one of my all time favorite comics stories–I’d have chosen it as well. That’s not meaning any disrespect to the other issues listed. I don’t have to put them down to make this one sound better. It succeeds on its own merit!
wil
July 6, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Ok, can i go out on a controversial limb and argue ever Lee/Ditko Spidey as equal/better to Lee/Kirby FF, at least in this context…
bring the potential hate
Random Stranger
July 6, 2008 at 4:52 pm
“Ok, can i go out on a controversial limb and argue ever Lee/Ditko Spidey as equal/better to Lee/Kirby FF, at least in this context…”
One of the definitive Spider-Man stories versus an okay Submariner story? It’s not even a contest. (The early 30′s in Fantastic Four were a bit of a lull in my opinion; the big ideas had been played and Lee and Kirby were just kind of firming up their foundation before launching on that incredible block that starts at #39 and doesn’t slow down for two years.)
You could start a fight arguing that #33 is better than #50, the Spidey/Fantastic Four crossover in issue one, and Amazing Fantasy #15 but saying that you put this particular issue of Spider-Man on the same level as the Fantastic Four isn’t remotely controversial.
Cass
July 6, 2008 at 5:30 pm
I love that cover. You can really feel Spider-Man’s misery. Look at the water; it’s heavy.
Spiffy
July 6, 2008 at 10:51 pm
I agree. This was one of the first issues of Amazing that showed how deep the character (and the stories) could really be.
Sure, in some sense, there’s still the cheese present in all of those early books, but there was definitely more. There was a gravitas, a personal cost, that was pretty rare in those days.
Graeme Burk
July 7, 2008 at 4:17 am
You’re also forgetting Quasar# 33 which had the first appearance of Quarkie the Quasar-Dog, who was revealed to be Quasar’s childhood pet. It also included the classic story “The Quasar Key to Fort Quasar” where a tour is given of Quasar’s secret hideout, the Quasar Dome, only Nighthawk from the Defenders is playing a giant practical joke on Quasar.
Graeme Burk
July 7, 2008 at 4:25 am
Not that I think anything can top Amazing Spider-Man 33, but issue 33 of the Moore Swamp Thing isn’t just a ‘good issue’, it’s the issue which reprints the original House of Secrets Swamp Thing story and says it’s actually a part of Swamp Thing’s backstory– the first hint of Swamp Thing’s role as a plant elemental that eventually leads to the Parliament of Trees. It also features the first in-DC continuity appearance of Cain and Abel, which Neil Gaiman would refine for Sandman.
Again, totally agree with the vote given here, but thought I’d point out how pivotal this #33 is!
Jeff Ryan
July 8, 2008 at 6:39 am
In Quasar #33, it was revealed that Quasar’s dog Quarkie was really–oh, wait, Graeme beat me to the punch.
But seriously, Quasar 33 has just abotu everything you can want. Cable-ready, huge big-screen monitor, an a classic aspect ratio flatscreens just can’t deliver! When you think great televisions, think Quasar!
RichYan33
July 13, 2008 at 6:04 pm
They missed a chance to do this scene in Spider-man 2 when Doc Ock slammed Pete into the wall in the coffee shop. Of course that scene makes no sense in the first place. Doc didn’t know he was Spider-man. He threw a car at Peter Parker, who if he hadn’t been Spider-man would have just been killed.
Ricardo Amaral
August 12, 2008 at 11:07 am
It is also missing the incredible last issue of Giffen’s Legion of Super-Heroes, in which Earth is destroyed. That would be my choice.
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