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The Amazing Spider-Man (1963-1998)
Amazing Spider-Man (1963-1998) #8
Special Tribute to Teenagers Issue!
Part I-The Terrible Threat of the Living Brain
...and bonus attraction
Part II-Spider-Man Tackles The Torch!
Part I-The Terrible Threat of the Living Brain
...and bonus attraction
Part II-Spider-Man Tackles The Torch!
26 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1964
7 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
About the author
Stan Lee
7,563 books2,348 followersStan 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
March 25, 2024
You could actually take Peter Parker (PP) out of the first part of this issue and insert Archie in his place! A boxing match with Flash Thompson (Reggie) ends when a robot (the "Living Brain") goes haywire! Second story is one of the many SM/HT 'fights' that were a cornerstone of Marvel during the 60's. Would really like to see the HT/SM relationship evolve; facing off against an enemy that they can only defeat if they are willing to REALLY work together. Sidenote: once knew someone who had five (!) copies of this book! Five brothers in the family and each one had their own copy! He traded all five copies for a Ken Griffey UD rookie card! Should have asked the "Living Brain" first!
May 28, 2022
The Living Brain is one of Marvel's and Stan Lee's worst villains.
June 18, 2023
o mini capítulo foi a coisa mais aleatória que eu já li
May 11, 2025
spider-man crashing a party just to beat the shit out of johnny storm and flirt with sue storm was maybe the funniest thing ever. rename the robot in the A-story chatgpt and you’d have a very topical comic🤓☝️
anyway maybe the most refreshing silver age comic i’ve read and that’s genuinely saying a lot!! no offense stan lee but u suck major major balls
anyway maybe the most refreshing silver age comic i’ve read and that’s genuinely saying a lot!! no offense stan lee but u suck major major balls
November 26, 2017
My least favorite issue so far of Spider-Man.
Two stories: story #1 was silly. A robot was programmed. No biggy. It was asked who the real identity of Spider-Man was. Peter was able to program it. Meanwhile, Flash picked on Peter again. They agreed to a boxing match to settle things. Two rogues tried to steal the robot-computer during the match. peter walloped Flash twice. The second time was just as Flash turned his head. Everyone cried. "Foul." Phooey. It was fine.
Spider-Man takes on the runaway robot that had been accidentally knocked thus sending it into chaos/killer mode. Yeah, okay. Spider-Man eventually foils it and the two rogues were arrested. Eh.
The second story has Spider-Man crashing a party that the Human Torch attends. We get it, there is a rivalry, but Spider-Man instigated the whole episode. He even takes on the rest of the Fantastic Four. Bah! Boring.
I will say, I love the language. "Blithely" was used. I would die to read that in a comic book today.
Letters even were off this time out. Eight issues in and this has begun to drag? I hope it's just an off issue.
Two stories: story #1 was silly. A robot was programmed. No biggy. It was asked who the real identity of Spider-Man was. Peter was able to program it. Meanwhile, Flash picked on Peter again. They agreed to a boxing match to settle things. Two rogues tried to steal the robot-computer during the match. peter walloped Flash twice. The second time was just as Flash turned his head. Everyone cried. "Foul." Phooey. It was fine.
Spider-Man takes on the runaway robot that had been accidentally knocked thus sending it into chaos/killer mode. Yeah, okay. Spider-Man eventually foils it and the two rogues were arrested. Eh.
The second story has Spider-Man crashing a party that the Human Torch attends. We get it, there is a rivalry, but Spider-Man instigated the whole episode. He even takes on the rest of the Fantastic Four. Bah! Boring.
I will say, I love the language. "Blithely" was used. I would die to read that in a comic book today.
Letters even were off this time out. Eight issues in and this has begun to drag? I hope it's just an off issue.
July 7, 2019
AMAZING FANTASY 15, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 1-10 (Spider-Man's First Arc)
Peter Parker is easily one of the greatest creations in the history of comic books. Even if you threw out every other plot element besides the character himself, you'd still have a character story that deals with so much poignant emotional and psychological conflict.
The dialogue is what really makes this. Stan Lee divides Peter Parker's dialogue into 3 distinct styles: Peter Parker's thoughts, Peter Parker's words, and Spider-Man's words. This structure says a lot about our protagonist; Peter Parker's words are presented in a very introverted and articulate manner. Spider-Man's words, conversely, are presented in a very extroverted and sarcastic manner. This presents the central conflict of the character, in that Spider-Man is a cathartic part of Peter's psychology; he is everything Peter is afraid to be, but can be behind the security blanket of a mask.
The only truth to the character is his thoughts, as he tightly controls the presentation of Peter Parker to hide suspicion he could be Spider-Man. This plays even further into the notion of Spider-Man being a cathartic release for him, in that his thoughts are designed as this fusion of Peter's intellect and Spider-Man's wit. Peter Parker's spoken words lack much of the wit which is present in his own thoughts. Spider-Man presents all of that wit, because he has more freedom to do so; behind the security blanket of a mask, there's less consequence.
And this plays into the deeper theme, of "Great Responsibility" coming with "Great Power." Because there is no physical consequence to himself. But his choice of how he uses this newfound freedom and newfound power has consequences for others... which, as iconic as they are, I won't dare spoil here. These consequences affect his romantic equal Betty Brant, his loyal to a fault Aunt May, the think-tank editor J. Jonah Jameson, or the city of New York as a whole and its perception of him; even if these consequences don't necessarily affect him directly, they still create a whole plate of intimate character conflicts that have nothing to do with spandex villains. The villains simply create a plot of his actions, where these ongoing conflicts resulting from his actions are his character evolution.
Peter Parker is easily one of the greatest creations in the history of comic books. Even if you threw out every other plot element besides the character himself, you'd still have a character story that deals with so much poignant emotional and psychological conflict.
The dialogue is what really makes this. Stan Lee divides Peter Parker's dialogue into 3 distinct styles: Peter Parker's thoughts, Peter Parker's words, and Spider-Man's words. This structure says a lot about our protagonist; Peter Parker's words are presented in a very introverted and articulate manner. Spider-Man's words, conversely, are presented in a very extroverted and sarcastic manner. This presents the central conflict of the character, in that Spider-Man is a cathartic part of Peter's psychology; he is everything Peter is afraid to be, but can be behind the security blanket of a mask.
The only truth to the character is his thoughts, as he tightly controls the presentation of Peter Parker to hide suspicion he could be Spider-Man. This plays even further into the notion of Spider-Man being a cathartic release for him, in that his thoughts are designed as this fusion of Peter's intellect and Spider-Man's wit. Peter Parker's spoken words lack much of the wit which is present in his own thoughts. Spider-Man presents all of that wit, because he has more freedom to do so; behind the security blanket of a mask, there's less consequence.
And this plays into the deeper theme, of "Great Responsibility" coming with "Great Power." Because there is no physical consequence to himself. But his choice of how he uses this newfound freedom and newfound power has consequences for others... which, as iconic as they are, I won't dare spoil here. These consequences affect his romantic equal Betty Brant, his loyal to a fault Aunt May, the think-tank editor J. Jonah Jameson, or the city of New York as a whole and its perception of him; even if these consequences don't necessarily affect him directly, they still create a whole plate of intimate character conflicts that have nothing to do with spandex villains. The villains simply create a plot of his actions, where these ongoing conflicts resulting from his actions are his character evolution.
January 6, 2021
ASM #8 contains two tales:
"The Terrible Threat of The Living Brain!"
A company brings in a new robotic computer called the Living Brain to school for a demo, where Peter insults Flash Thompson's intelligence and a brief fight ensues. Their teacher, Mr Warren, suggests that they settle this inside of the boxing ring (what kind of school is this?!) where predictably Parker knocks Flash out. During this match the b story is two thieves try to steal the Living Brain which goes on a rampage and Spider-Man shows up (in the school, again, it could not be more obvious that a pupil could be Spider-Man, Parker cleverly points the finger at Flash - the alternative is that Spider-Man is a creepy dude who is always stalking the school out!).
"Spider-Man Tackles the Torch!" (drawn by Jack Kirby inked by Ditko)
Spider-Man has a minor squabble with Johnny Storm aka the Human Torch as Spidey gate-crashes Johnny's girlfriend. Spidey knocks out another dated joke "Who writes your dialogue, Frank Merriwell" (I don't mind admitting I had to google that one), the rest of the FF turn up, Spidey calms down and calls it quits.
Two non-essential tales in the ASM canon, though the second strip does establish the competition between the Torch and Spidey that continues to this day.
Firsts; The Living Brain appearance. Who notably is brought back into the series by Dan Slott in later issues of ASM.
"The Terrible Threat of The Living Brain!"
A company brings in a new robotic computer called the Living Brain to school for a demo, where Peter insults Flash Thompson's intelligence and a brief fight ensues. Their teacher, Mr Warren, suggests that they settle this inside of the boxing ring (what kind of school is this?!) where predictably Parker knocks Flash out. During this match the b story is two thieves try to steal the Living Brain which goes on a rampage and Spider-Man shows up (in the school, again, it could not be more obvious that a pupil could be Spider-Man, Parker cleverly points the finger at Flash - the alternative is that Spider-Man is a creepy dude who is always stalking the school out!).
"Spider-Man Tackles the Torch!" (drawn by Jack Kirby inked by Ditko)
Spider-Man has a minor squabble with Johnny Storm aka the Human Torch as Spidey gate-crashes Johnny's girlfriend. Spidey knocks out another dated joke "Who writes your dialogue, Frank Merriwell" (I don't mind admitting I had to google that one), the rest of the FF turn up, Spidey calms down and calls it quits.
Two non-essential tales in the ASM canon, though the second strip does establish the competition between the Torch and Spidey that continues to this day.
Firsts; The Living Brain appearance. Who notably is brought back into the series by Dan Slott in later issues of ASM.
December 2, 2020
Sudah dari dulu manusia takut kalau mesin dan komputer akan bisa 'hidup' dan 'berpikir sendiri' lalu mengancam manusia pembuatnya. Ini tema komik Amazing Spider-Man no. 8 yang terbit tahun 1964. Tapi jangan bayangkan ancaman kecerdasan buatan itu akan berupa otak komputer secanggih SkyNet di Terminator yang bisa menguasai semua jenis mesin dan jaringan komputer. Di komik ini musuh Spider-Man barangkali bisa disebut nenek moyang AI jaman kiwari: masih berupa robot dengan roda di kakinya, jari tangannya tiga, dan belum bisa ngomong. Ia memang bisa menjawab apa pun tapi dengan catatan kita harus menginput manual data-data yang ada. Jawabannya adalah berupa tulisan kode di secarik kertas yang mirip dengan struk belanja di toko swalayan. Tidak apa-apa, yang penting dia bisa 'mengamuk'. Cerita yang menarik justru tentang adu tinju antara Peter Parker dengan Flash Thompson, teman sekolahnya yang suka mengejek dirinya. Bisakah Peter menahan tenaga superheronya agar identitasnya sebagai Spider-Man tidak ketahuan?
June 2, 2023
Ada dua cerita di dalam komik ini, yaitu ketika ada robot yang memiliki sistem canggih dalam membaca otak manusia dan ketika Spider-Man menantang Human Torch untuk berduel.
Yang pertama, robot canggih yang awalnya untuk dipamerkan di SMA di mana Peter Parker berada, malah jadi tidak terkontrol akibat dinyalakan secara sembarangan oleh petugas yang membawanya ke sana. Selain itu, ditampilkan juga adegan di mana Peter Parker berduel tinju dengan Flash Thompson. Peter yang awalnya selalu menyembunyikan kekuatan laba-labanya, di volume ini, ia sedikit memunculkannya sehingga Flash mudah dikalahkan.
Kedua, Spider-Man merasa iri dengan kepopuleran Human Torch sehingga ia menghampiri si manusia api ketika sedang berkumpul dengan teman-temannya. Seperti anak remaja yang ingin menunjukkan kelebihannya, Spider-Man menantang duel Human Torch yang pada akhirnya Fantastic 4 malah ikut perkelahian mereka berdua.
Yang pertama, robot canggih yang awalnya untuk dipamerkan di SMA di mana Peter Parker berada, malah jadi tidak terkontrol akibat dinyalakan secara sembarangan oleh petugas yang membawanya ke sana. Selain itu, ditampilkan juga adegan di mana Peter Parker berduel tinju dengan Flash Thompson. Peter yang awalnya selalu menyembunyikan kekuatan laba-labanya, di volume ini, ia sedikit memunculkannya sehingga Flash mudah dikalahkan.
Kedua, Spider-Man merasa iri dengan kepopuleran Human Torch sehingga ia menghampiri si manusia api ketika sedang berkumpul dengan teman-temannya. Seperti anak remaja yang ingin menunjukkan kelebihannya, Spider-Man menantang duel Human Torch yang pada akhirnya Fantastic 4 malah ikut perkelahian mereka berdua.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 9, 2022
It's an okay story, and an enjoyable read, but the Living Brain isn't exactly Doctor Octopus. Ditko draws a better Spidey than Kirby, who covers him in the 2nd story with the Fantastic Four, though the FF story is a little bit of Silver Age fun. The Peter versus Flash "fight" is a memorable moment in Spider-Man history, but the issue doesn't seem otherwise essential. Recommended for readers who want to see Kirby's Spider-Man, a character he didn't draw a lot, as well as fans of Ditko/Lee Spider-Man stories, and Silver Age Marvel fans.
October 15, 2019
Molto apprezzata la prima storia, in cui Peter di fatto "mette a posto" il bullo che lo tormenta ma al contempo mantiene lo "status quo" di loser nerd da bullizzare.
La seconda storia in cui fa a botte con la Torcia Umana non l'ho capita, sinceramente. Questi si menano ma poi arriva la Donna Invisibile e tutti amici come prima? Seriamente, zio Stan?
La seconda storia in cui fa a botte con la Torcia Umana non l'ho capita, sinceramente. Questi si menano ma poi arriva la Donna Invisibile e tutti amici come prima? Seriamente, zio Stan?
July 20, 2025
Molto apprezzata la prima storia, in cui Peter di fatto "mette a posto" il bullo che lo tormenta ma al contempo mantiene lo "status quo" di loser nerd da bullizzare.
La seconda storia in cui fa a botte con la Torcia Umana non l'ho capita, sinceramente. Questi si menano ma poi arriva la Donna Invisibile e tutti amici come prima? Seriamente, zio Stan?
La seconda storia in cui fa a botte con la Torcia Umana non l'ho capita, sinceramente. Questi si menano ma poi arriva la Donna Invisibile e tutti amici come prima? Seriamente, zio Stan?
August 21, 2022
This one was actually pretty lame. Worst of the early issues. First Peter gets put in a fight against Flash Thompson and there's this Living Brain, and then he gets in a fight with the Human Torch. Super annoying.
December 8, 2020
[2,5] This issue was a bit tedious to read, I'm definitely not a fan of this fight. Was nice to see Flash being knocked out though.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 16, 2021
2.5 stars. The first story was okay, didn't love it, and I didn't like the second at all. Oof.
March 18, 2022
I like this Spiderman for the most part.
The human torh confrontation was too much though.
The human torh confrontation was too much though.
July 21, 2022
Title: De que va esto?
Stars 3.8
Stars 3.8
July 29, 2022
No sé que fue más epico, que Peter Parker se agarró a las trompadas con Flash o que Spiderman se agarró a las trompadas con Antorcha Humana
September 13, 2022
my favorite one
this was my favorite out of the 15 spiderman comics i had when i was growing up. this edition really goes into the more social and relatable side of spiderman!
this was my favorite out of the 15 spiderman comics i had when i was growing up. this edition really goes into the more social and relatable side of spiderman!
October 8, 2024
????????????? what is his problem😭😭😭
February 17, 2023
Feels like a lesser issue, with the main threats coming from a computer/robot that is fairly easy to deal with and the ego of The Human Torch, but this is enjoyable enough.
March 5, 2016
March 2016
*Single Issue*
I don't know how I feel about this issue. The Living Brain was interesting because Peter really had to think about everything he did in order to defeat him but the short comic story at the end with the Torch wasn't fun, I don't really understand why Spidey thought that was a good idea.
*Single Issue*
I don't know how I feel about this issue. The Living Brain was interesting because Peter really had to think about everything he did in order to defeat him but the short comic story at the end with the Torch wasn't fun, I don't really understand why Spidey thought that was a good idea.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews