The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2: The Wings of The Vulture

The Amazing Spider-Man (Marvel Pocketbook) #2

by Stan Lee

Reprints/Collects:
The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #47-52
The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) Annual 04

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

170 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2004

About the author

Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) was an American writer, editor, creator of comic book superheroes, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.

With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spiderman when Stan Lee wrote and John Romita did the drawing, before there were multiple Spidey series and the Marvel circus got complicated. So the enjoyable years with the baddies being the Vulture (albeit a newer version), Kraven the Hunter, Mysterie & Wizard and of course none other than the Kingpin crimeboss extra-ordinaire. Here is still a young yet experienced Spiderman who has yet to woe one MJ or even Gwen. With his extra job Peter Parker has little time to be a student with a social life.
The good old days in colour glorious fun and a nice treat for those rainy vacation days.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume two of this series of classic Spider-Man reprints.
Here Peter Parker faces villains such as Kraven the Hunter, the Vulture, the Wizard, Mysterio and the Kingpin, as well as coming to the fateful decision to end his crimefighting career and be Spider-Man no more.

I continue to enjoy the tone and style of these classic Spider-Man tales from Lee's iconic 60s run, with the balance of web-swinging action and secret identity drama being just right.
In fact, weirdly, I've begun to enjoy the drama of Peter Parker's social life, including being torn between MJ and Gwen Stacy, a little more than the punching and wise-cracking of the more action-focused elements.

There's also some pretty historically major Spider-Man moments on offer here including his first face-to-face confrontation with the Kingpin and the now-iconic Spider-Man No More storyline which sees him chucking his costume in the trash.

What makes this book slightly less enjoyable than the previous volume ('The End of the Green Goblin') is that it includes the Spider-Man Annual #4 right in the middle. The story on offer there, with Spidey teaming up with the Human Torch to take Hollywood by storm, is far goofier and less convincingly-written than Lee's other work here.
Having read and really disliked the one-off special 'Lo This Monster!' too, I get the impression that longer-format self-contained stories just weren't really Lee's forte and he was at his best with serialised adventures.

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[Shevek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great volume of the legenday Lee/Romita's run. Apart from Kraven and the Vulture, who are the most recurrent foes of these stories, it is worth highlighting the first appearance of the Kingpin, who has remained as one of the main villains of the Marvel Universe over the decades. This book also contains 'Spider-Man No More!', one the best one-shots of the web-slinger and the precedent for a bunch of stories in which Peter Parker tries to quit being a superhero. A must-have for Spidey's fans.

[Matej · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great classic Spider-Man paperback. The plot and the art are both as amazing as you would expect from a Stan Lee, John Romita Sr. collaboration.
The only down side of this collection is it's misleading title, the Vulture is featured in only 1 issue, and it is not even the original Vulture.

[Sukhvir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing