Thursday, October 27, 2022

The Sting(s) Of The Scorpion!

 

Having recently looked in on the goings-on of the Scorpion, resurfacing following his incarceration by the insidious Mister Kline, let's now look back over seven years prior to those events, to when Mac Gargan began his career as the tailed villain--courtesy of the checkbook of J. Jonah Jameson, who also finances a hard-working yet under the radar scientist named Farley Stillwell to make use of a new serum that will hopefully give Gargan powers greater than Spider-Man's. In so doing, Jameson begins a misguided but nevertheless illegal operation of hiring hitmen to take out Spider-Man.


At the risk of skipping ahead, Gargan wasn't in our roundup of covers which declared the title character(s) to have met DEFEAT!, but defeat is just what befell the web-spinner more than once when he went up against the power of the Scorpion.


(Magnanimous of Stan Lee to give his artist top billing in the credits, only to then enlarge his own name and emblazon it in red, eh?)



As we've overheard, in addition to his impressive strength, Gargan has been given an artificial tail which has a kick of its own when utilized properly. Fortunately, his "creator" as well as his benefactor are insistent that he take the time to practice sufficiently, so that his tail acts almost as a part of him. In truth, it will become a powerful appendage that would often catch his enemies off-guard and allow him to claim or reclaim the advantage.


But what of Spider-Man? Is Gargan really the stronger of the two? Decisively.



Interesting--according to Jameson here, he's tried something like this before. Who can shed some light on the subject?

You'd think that along with Jameson, Stillwell would also be doing cartwheels. But unlike others who in the future will be only too happy to be commissioned by Jameson, this doctor has a conscience, and races to undo the effects of his serum on Gargan--assuming his patient is receptive to the idea, though that ship appears to have sailed.


Regrettably, Stillwell dies in his attempt to reach Gargan--which is when Spider-Man arrives for Round Two, though only to receive more punishment from the fists and the tail of the Scorpion.




Jameson's soul-searching comes too late, as Gargan has clearly recognized him as a liability that must be eliminated. And so we're soon witness to a violent scene at the offices of the Daily Bugle, even as Spider-Man struggles to regroup and make another attempt to stop his foe. This time, however, he remembers that there's more to being Spider-Man than duking it out with an opponent. (Better late than never, pal--we didn't fork over 12¢ to see a guy in a spider-suit not use his powers.)



The Scorpion returns nine issues later, where we learn that not only is Jameson still a loose end for Gargan, but also that the successful incarceration of prisoners at a "jailhouse" hinged on the level of credulity inherent in its staff.


(Whoops! Looks like you've been demoted, Mr. Ditko!)



What to do, what to do? When it comes to saving his own skin, Jameson is more resourceful than most--particularly when he can put out an extra edition of the Bugle at a moment's notice to light a fire under someone, even when not taking into account the fact that a hero doesn't need to be conned into doing the right thing. Too bad that things happened to work out fine for the Scorpion, but not so much for Jameson.




While definitely a deadly conflict, this encounter between Spider-Man and the Scorpion comes across as more of a ruckus than a full-fledged battle with so much on the line, thanks to Jameson's antics as well as Spidey keeping one eye on reporter Ned Leeds scoring personal time with Peter Parker's girlfriend, Betty Brant. With the arrival of the police, however, the party's over, though it goes without saying that Spider-Man isn't keen on letting the Scorpion get away scot-free.




Eventually, Spider-Man is able to maneuver the Scorpion over the Hudson River, where the two plummet to finish their fight. And if you were thinking that Spider-Man won't be able to deliver any of his usual barbs while battling an opponent underwater, how long have you been reading comics?



Gargan's defeat--defeats--of Spider-Man have probably been relegated to trivia by this time, especially considering how often he's been bested by the wall-crawler since. Still, the character went on to make numerous appearances over the years, even taking high-profile gigs as part of Egghead's Masters of Evil as well as becoming the new Venom in Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers.

COMING UP:

This villain gets one HELL of a makeover.


10 comments:

  1. "Interesting--according to Jameson here, he's tried something like this before. Who can shed some light on the subject?"

    That was a reference to Mysterio's first appearance, ASM #13. Jameson didn't create Mysterio but he agreed to pay him to defeat Spider-Man.

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  2. A couple of other Scorpion thoughts,..

    I much prefer Ditko's short, stubby scorpion tail (and the way it's attached to his back) to t(e longer, barbed version that he has by the time the 1980s come round. It looks as if it can pack more of a punch.

    After these two appearances, Scorpion doesn’t return to ASM until, what, the #140s? I think this marks him out as a Ditko creation rather than a Lee creation. Stan was happy to keep going back all those villains who first appeared in ASM #1-15 and that he saw himself as the creator of but Scorpion and Molten Man, who came along later when Ditko was carrying more of the plotting, spent a long time on the bench.

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  3. Much obliged for the Mysterio reference, dangermash! And that's a good observation about villains in Lee stories having to be dusted off following Lee's time on a book. I wonder if there are any exceptions? (Dr. Doom comes to mind, appearing just a few issues after Lee's departure, though he might well have been part of the overall plot which Archie Goodwin saw to completion.)

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  4. Depends what you mean by exceptions, CF.

    My idea of an exception would be the Spider-Slayer. First appearance ASM #25, so likely to be a Ditko creation. But Stan let it come back in ASM #58, albeit with a very different design.

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  5. As Dangermash pointed out, the Scorpion had a long hiatus. I didn't even know who this joker was until I ran across him in Marvel Tales.
    Like a lotta villains, he seemed much more dangerous in his early appearances then later on, just like his erstwhile partner Mr. Hyde. Here he seems pretty lethal. He was much less impressive in that CA arc you reviewed a while back, C.F. Still, the character merited a closer look.
    Great review of some classic comics here, I enjoyed it, but with Halloween coming up, are we gonna see any spooky stuff anytime soon? That's kinda been a time-honored tradition around here, y'know.

    M.P.

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  6. The Scorpion has long been a very cool antagonist. I first remember reading about him in Spidey Super Stories, plus his appearances on the 60's Spider-Man cartoon. I read the reprint of his first appearance in an old Pocket Book of Lee/Ditko issues (volume 3).

    I didn't read his second appearance until I borrowed an Essentials volume a few years ago, and that's when I noticed that many of these Ditko panels were lifted to make identical animation cells for the aforementioned cartoon. It was quite fun looking through these early stories and getting pleasant cartoon flashbacks (I imagine there were a few episodes that borrowed heavily from the art of Ditko and/or Romita, but the Scorpion ones were the most obvious).
    -David P.

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  7. Good lord, David, you remember the '60s cartoons--that certainly takes me back. I'd love to get my hands on a DVD of those--I'd even be willing to wince through those opening vocal arrangements! :D

    M.P., whoops! Halloween completely slipped my mind in terms of PPC posts. :( Will the November elections be scary enough for you? =:O

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  8. Yes. Yes, they will.

    ...and any month is a pretty good month to revisit horror comics, C.F.!
    We ain't on a clock here.:)

    M.P.

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  9. The Scorpion has always been one of my favorite Spidey villains, probably because in the sixties cartoon he tore apart Spidey's web. That told me he was a powerful villain and thus a big menace.

    He also has an interesting origin, as the Scorpion would not be a villain without the procedure that give him his powers. Doc Ock was similar, but at least the explosion was due to his own experiments/mistakes. The Scorpion was an experiment of another. He is tragic in a way that Doc Ock or the Green Goblin are not.

    I also think he was an early example of a villain just like the hero, but even more powerful (both spiders and scorpions are arachnids). The Scorpion had more strength than Spidey. He could climb. And he had a device helping him (his tail versus the web-shooters). But this was an aspect of the character that was rarely played upon.

    As others mentioned, the Scorpion had a long hiatus from ASM after Ditko left. Although Lee did use the Scorpion in Captain America.

    His detective skills were rarely brought up later, and I felt that was another neglected aspect of his character. Yeah, he is crazy, but he still has those skills.

    The Scorpion is one of those villains I feel has enormous potential, and I've been very disappointed that he's never been as prominent as I think he deserves. After I saw No Country for Old Men, I had the thought that the Scorpion should be portrayed similarly as Anton Chirguh. A professional criminal of immense skill, but devoid or compassion or remorse. But he should have his own twisted sense of morals because that would make him more interesting, and call out to the fact that he was not originally a bad guy. Not that he is "honorable", but that his violence is controlled and not meaningless.

    Like many things concerning Ditko's run on ASM, the people who came after him (and I include Stan Lee himself on this) rarely reached the high creative quality that Ditko himself achieved during his tenure as plotter. Although I must admit I really liked ASM annual #18 (Scripted by Lee, but plotted by DeFalco) and is my favorite Scorpion story after these two issues by Ditko.

    Chris

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  10. That's a fine story indeed, Chris--another example of Spider-Man using his powers to avoid being a punching bag for the Scorpion and allowing him to finally take him down. And even after a ten-year hiatus, Lee's script was cooking on all cylinders.

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