I think the only good thing that can be said about the early issues of Spider-Man, and what made them good, was the human drama. The conflicts that Peter Parker had to deal with when maintaining a double identity. Because I can tell you this: For the most part the villains were bland, stupid, and the action scenes weren't very exciting. Not to mention that any excuse to have the Fantastic Four (or at least the Human Torch) guest star in these early issues were taken at any possible opportunity. I know that when it came to guest stars at this point there weren't a whole heck of a lot of them to choose from, the Silver Age was starting and all, but shit, don't you think Spider-Man was a good enough character to support himself without guest stars?

But it's kind of ironic that they stuck all these guest stars in early issues of Spider-Man, because most times today Spider-Man is usually the character they stick in as a guest star in early issues of new series these days. By his fourth issue Spider-Man had saved a space capsule, fought the Chameleon (A

communist!), the Vulture (an old man who could fly!), the Tinkerer (a really evil radio repair man!) and Dr. Octopus (a fat guy with mechanical arms!), it was obvious to the Stan Lee-Steve Ditko creative team that Spider-Man needed a really phenomenal character for our hero to face!

Unfortunately, the character they came up with was the Sandman. Who could turn into sand. And as we all know, sand can be really scary! I mean, have you ever been to the beach? You get sand everywhere, and I do mean everywhere.

Anyway, this fourth issue of Spider-Man is titled "Nothing Can Stop the Sandman!", which isn't a very accurate title considering that Spider-Man does manage to stop the Sandman... Oh, I'm sorry to ruin the ending for you.

I will say this about this comic: It does have a good beginning. As I said above what made these early Spidey stories work was the thought Stan Lee put into the stories to add that human element. The story starts off with Spider-Man cursing a Daily Bugle billboard demonizing Spider-Man, just before realizing some shady characters

that are about to rob a jewelry store. Spidey tries to stop them before they actually break in. These quick witted thugs then turn things around and say that Spider-Man is harassing them and call for a police officer to arrest him, causing Spider-Man to flee. Spider-Man, blaming Daily Bugle owner J. Jonah Jamison's editorials for that situation goes to the Bugle offices and leaves J.J.J. a surprise on his chair.

Exiting the Bugle building, Spider-Man spots the Sandman for the first time and attacks him. Of course, Spider-Man is not prepared for his sand powers and is easily knocked aside. During the fight his mask rips open,

and Spider-Man flees, fearing that he risks exposing his secret identity and getting arrested. Apparently being outed as Spider-Man would cause him to be arrested and his poor Aunt May would be forced to sell shoe laces for a living.

While Spider-Man is running away like a total puss, the Sandman uses his unique powers in order to rob a bank.

I would like to point out that this is early enough in Marvel's history that Stan felt the need to write a narrative explaining everything that was going on in every action panel. So if you ever wanted to read a pulse pounding narrative explaining how the Sandman turns his finger into the shape of a bank vault key in order to open it, then this is your chance!

Meanwhile, Spider-Man is at home trying to fix his mask with a needle and thread, and it's not going so well. I think it's kind of funny that on this page that Peter Parker explains that he isn't very good at sewing, and yet his costume is a pretty

complicated design. It's not like he got somebody to make it for him, so it really makes you wonder how long it took him to make it to begin with if he was constantly stabbing his finger with a threaded needle.

Apparently the Parker household subscribes to the Exposition Channel because it just happens that as Pete is trying to fix his mask there is a special news bulletin about the Sandman that explains -- in detail -- the origins of the Sandman. Who he is, what his motivations are, and how he got his super powers.

Because you know the media outlets would have access to that sort of information and they'd totally report a news story about a guy who could turn into sand without any sort of disbelief ever.

Just at that moment Aunt May comes barging into Peter's room with cookies and milk, causing Peter to (in a panic) shutting off the TV and throwing on a bath robe to hide his Spider-Man costume. With the amount of times the Aunt May comes barging into Peter's room in these early issues of Spider-Man you'd figure she's trying to catch him jerking off or something. What the hell is your problem Aunt May? Can't

You ever give Peter any sort of privacy? Must you always barge in at inappropriate times with constant offers of milk and cookies? Inquiring about Peter's studying? "Oh Peter, you've been studying so hard so I brought you some milk and cookies." they even made the word "SO" in bold. Like she's implying something. I shit you not.

So to cover up the fact that Pete's wearing bright red and blue PJ's he tells his Aunt May that he's sick, and as usual, smothering Aunt May comes in with the thermometer and explanations of how frail Peter is. With Aunt May dodding over him, Peter has to wait until his Aunt May leaves him the fuck alone so he can finish fixing his mask and go to the rescue.

Meanwhile, the Sandman eludes the police chasing him by turning into a pile of sand in a vacant lot, because you know, a police force that is aware that you have the ability to change into sand is totally going to miss the giant pile of sand that suddenly appeared just off the path they were chasing you on.