Classics #5 - The Amazing Spider-Man #24

Here we are at number five on my personal list of "Top 10 Spider-Man issues by Stan and Steve," and this time around, "Spider-Man Goes Mad!"

The idea of a super-hero needing psychiatric care was certainly a strange one, but leave it to Stan Lee and Steve Ditko to find a way to make it entertaining.

The issue starts out by piling woes on Peter Parker. He's worried because Aunt May is barely getting by on limited funds. He tries and fails to get photos to sell to the Daily Bugle. He finds out his girlfriend, Betty Brant, is writing letters to Ned Leeds, who's working in Europe. Then J. Jonah Jameson starts a newspaper campaign against Spider-Man, and gets the attention of a noted psychiatrist who announces that Spider-Man is "a very sick man."

Peter begins to wonder - can it be true? When he starts experiencing hallucinations and reality seems to distort around him, he seeks help from the psychiatrist and winds up on the couch.

I won't say what happens next since it would spoil the surprise, but Lee and Ditko manage a delightful twist on the storyline.

I wanted to draw particular attention to the cover of the issue - it's one of Ditko's best, with an unusual design and lush inking, all centered around the anguished pose of our hero. It's made even better by the moody colors - note the dark colors on Spider-Man's costume.

The one thing that tied together the Lee and Ditko run on this comic was that you never knew what to expect next. It's a lesson every comics creator could benefit from - and it's one of the keys behind the success of Spidey!

Grade: A