This comic book review of Amazing Spider-Man #3, is a comic book review not only of a great spider-man story, but the first appearance of one of spider-man’s classic nemeses Doctor Octopus.

This story starts with Spider-man Capturing some common criminals, an easy tasks for the superhero. Ironically this leads him to wish for a more challenging of a foe.  This leads us to the change of scenes where we get introduced to Doctor Octopus, or perhaps I should say Doctor Otto Octavious.  Whom while performing a delicate, and radioactive experiment suffers from an accident.

The accident leaves the doctor hospitalised, having suffered some brain damage and with the doctors unable to remove his  mechanical arms that had earned him the nickname Doctor Octopus.  It’s the brain damage however that leads us down the road of a compelling story, as it leaves doctor octopus insane and power-hungry.

Spider-mans wish seemed to come true, a foe worthy of a fight, and a foe that may just defeat him, and in fact does. 

Story

This story offers great depth, it provides us with a super-villain whom acquires his powers in a fashion more similar to that of the hero’s we have seen.  he is not seeking powers, but instead gains them by accident, and unfortunately suffers a tragic brain damage at the same time.

It is also a story of spider-man coming to terms with the possibility of defeat, and even suffering one,  that almost leads him to hang up his webs for good. But in the course of the story, he learns that he must not just give up, that his one defeat will not be his last.

Both aspects of this story are what make it so compelling.  it is not the kind of tale where we have a menace that we see as purely evil, but instead an unfortunate victim, but that does not change that he needs to be stopped.  We also have a story of a hero learning his limits, and how to stretch beyond them.

Art

as great of a story that was told in these pages, I feel that the artwork was a bit on the lacking side, but I would not call it horrible.  The fact is many of the action sequences where quite good,  and the character design for doctor octopus is exceptional.

That said I found many of the panels felt flat and two dimensional , in particularly the non action shots.   Even the opening page was one of the weakest opening pages I have seen so far, and that is where first impressions are made.

There was also a great lack of detail in this comic book that i feel would have added depth to the scene and the world.

Characters & Development

Spider-Man

Spider-man had some good growth of character in this issue. It is in these pages that he learns how to deal with defeat for the first time, facing a menaces whom is both smart and powerful like himself, he finds himself discarded as a waste of time.

It is this that nearly leads him to hang up his costume and web-shooter and stick to having a normal life.  However a guest speaker at his high school and a fellow superhero The Human Torch unknowingly persuades Peter Parker into realizing that giving up is the wrong course of action, and lets Parker know he is not alone in having near defeats.

Doctor Octopus

Doctor Octopus on the other hand, is not our typical bad guy.  Having suffered an accident, that made him who and what he is, he deserves a bit more compassion from the reader, and I feel he gets it.  This does not stop him from getting what he deserves in being defeated.

Comic Book Review Summery

Amazing Spider-Man #3 is quite a good book; and seeing Doctor Octopus and Spider-man battle each other for the first time makes it even better. Although I can’t help but wish there was more time and detail put into the artwork of this classic issue.