Amazing Spider-Man #4

"Nothing Can Stop The Sandman!"
Stan Lee (writer), Steve Ditko (penciler/inker), John Duffi (lettering)

After an embarrassing encounter with some hoodlums who accuse him of assault, Spider-Man runs into the felon-turned-superpowered villain Sandman. The battle is cut short when the Sandman rips Spider-Man’s mask, forcing him to flee to protect his identity. Later at school Peter flubs a chance to date Liz Allen that night for the sake of battling the Sandman, not knowing that the Sandman was about to flee from police into Peter’s high school. The Sandman stumbles upon the school principal and orders him to write him a diploma. Before the Sandman can put the hurt on the stubborn principal, Spider-Man intervenes and eventually defeats the Sandman by creatively using the janitor’s vacuum cleaner (!). After handing Sandman over to the police (literally), Peter returns to his civilian identity and tries to patch things up with Liz, who promptly ditches him for “Flash.” Peter and "Flash", to use the diction of the time, almost come to fisticuffs, but the dread of harming Flash with his superhuman strength causes Peter to back off.

What's Important?

The Sandman debuts and, for the very first time, Peter Parker is forced to sew up his costume. Also in this issue "Flash" Thompson’s on-and-off girlfriend (and future wife to Harry Osborn) Liz Allan is first named, although her first actual appearance is arguably in Amazing Fantasy #15.

Another long-term supporting character in the Spider-Man titles, Betty Brant, also makes her first full appearance.

The historic first instance of Peter screwing up his love life for his unconventional career is in this issue, an event that will occur again and again and again and again, and, most important of all, it has the first use of the phrase “friendly neighborhood Spiderman.”

Ah, The Silver Age...

Aside from Liz Allan spurning Peter just because she thinks he was afraid of a superpowered, lunatic felon and Spider-Man using a vacuum cleaner to defeat the villain, there isn't much beyond the usual.

Comments

This is in many ways a classic Spider-Man story, and perhaps it's the first with all the well-tread elements: Peter Parker comes across a supervillain, messes up a good shot at a real social life because of it, has to deal with the less glamorous aspects of being a costumed vigilante while struggling to maintain his secret identity, and, for all his trouble, winds up misunderstood by the public even after he saves the day. Plus you just have to sympathize with Sandman's evil scheme. He only wants a high school diploma, for chrissakes.

Of course, there’s still a few problems, such as why Spider-Man’s "spider sense" doesn’t work when you think it should (the true effectiveness of the “spider sense” is always determined by the whims of whoever is writing) , the out-of-place scene where the janitor indirectly reveals to Peter his “new king-size vacuum cleaner” that might as well have “Plot Device!” spray painted on it, and Aunt May still being...well, Aunt May. But these things shouldn’t detract from the fact that this is one of the solid definitive Spider-Man stories from the early years.

Footnotes

None.