Amazing Fantasy #16

AN AMAZING WORLDLong Island… A teenager bounds through the streets using kinetic energy to leap through the air. In a Manhattan office, Maxie Shiffman is on the phone asking for more time to pay his rent. He says Spider-Man is one of his clients which means the money will be rolling in soon, he just needs a little more time. Schiffman’s secretary tells him his bookie was on the phone, “something about broken thumbs”. Shiffman decides to place a classified ad in The Daily Bugle.Forrest Hills, Queens… The Human Torch is on TV. A show called “The Amazing” mentions how the Baxter Building was lifted into the air and it might be linked to the reappearance of Namor, The Sub-Mariner. Peter Parker thinks just a few days ago he would have found all this amazing, but today it doesn’t matter. Aunt May doesn’t like the news and asks Peter why he is so quiet. The show talks of a green skinned monster on a rampage in the South West and of a Norse God battling a South American dictator. Peter thinks all this really is amazing and in comparison, what happened to him means nothing. He thinks back to how he was bitten by a radioactive spider, how he gained his powers, how he became a wrestler to earn money and fame, how he appeared on TV, how he didn’t stop a burglar from running past him because it wasn’t his problem, how he arrived home to find his Uncle Ben shot, how he caught the man who did it, how it was the same burglar, how it was his fault. It’s been days but he still feels guilty. Still feels ashamed.A cemetery… Uncle Ben’s funeral. Peter and his aunt are the only ones there. Peter wishes there was a better ending to this story. He’s glad he didn’t tell Shiffman his real name so he won’t be able to contact him. He doesn’t want to be on TV, doesn’t want to be Spider-Man – who caused all of this. Aunt May would be devastated if she knew. His powers gave him the ability to stop that burglar and that gave him the responsibility, but he failed....