Beschreibung:

CGC certified: VG (4.0). White pages. Not cleaned and pressed. Cover: Steve Ditko pencils and inks, Stan Goldberg colors. Story: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Art: Steve Ditko Colors: Stan Goldberg. Lettering: Artie Simek. GPAnalysis: A 4.0 sold for $154 in 7/22. Six issues after Spidey and Daredevil put the Ringmaster behind bars, the carny-crime king is back on the streets and planning more mischief. Among his several accomplishments as a Spidey scholar, Andrew Rilstone has mapped out the chronology of Lee-Ditko's Amazing Spider-Man run. Rilstone's chart suggests that about two months of "Marvel time" has elapsed between Ringmaster's arrest in ASM #16 and his release in ASM #22. Spidey, fed up with the broken legal system, pays the parolee a visit and tells him to keep his nose clean, while surreptitiously slipping an electronic tracer into Ringmaster's hatband. Ditko has been plotting ASM for at least four issues now, and his Objectivist ideals are slowly creeping into his storylines. Spidey's aggravation with Ringmaster's wrist-slap sentence may be Ditko's jab at what his post-Spidey mouthpiece Mr. A would probably call "soft on crime, bleeding heart FOOLS!" Ditko's personal life is a mystery, and his love life is particularly opaque. His obituary states that "There is no indication that Ditko was ever intimately involved with another human being. No marriages. No romantic flings." — Michael Dean, "Steve Ditko: 1927-2018," Comics Journal online. It's not surprising, then, that nosy fans should seek salacious clues to Ditko's sex life in his stories. Consider, for instance, this mag's four-page spread in which sexy snake charmer Princess Python uses the "advantage of being a FEMALE" to try and seduce Spidey in the midst of battle. Pressing her slinky body against Spidey's, she purrs, "Y'know, Spider-Man, you're not too hard to take! Why don't you and I team up?? We could make beautiful music together!!" Spidey declines: "Sorry, ma'am, I happen to be tone deaf!" The Princess sics her pet python on Spidey, who spends a full page tying the snake in a knot. We Googled "tangled snake metaphor" just for kicks, and according to "hiddendreaming.com," a tangled snake represents "hidden sexual desires" and "suppressed wishes which were not fulfilled completely." The website also told us that our computer now has three viruses, which it would gladly cure for a modest fee. Meanwhile, the Urban Dictionary website told us that a "snake tangle" is "a sexual gathering comprised of all male participants." Enjoying the Spidey Sale? Order a fully-illustrated softcover catalogue for 30 bucks. Only about 100 copies were printed and they're going fast. To reserve a copy, contact PBA's Director of Comics: [email protected] Consign to PBA Galleries. Our comic sales average a 98% sell-through rate, our prices realized are top-of-the-market, and our research-intensive catalogues are the best in the business. Seeking Silver Age Marvel, Golden Age superheroes, and pre-Code horror. Contact [email protected]