The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeAmazing Spider-Man Annual #2 (cover-dated October 1965, on sale June 1965) marks the first genuine team-up between Spider-Man and Doctor Strange — the two signature characters Steve Ditko created and drew simultaneously for Marvel — making it a genuine crossroads of the early Silver Age Marvel Universe. The 20-page lead story, 'The Wondrous World of Dr. Strange!', also introduces the villain Xandu and the Wand of Watoomb, a mystical artifact that would recur across decades of Marvel continuity in Marvel Team-Up, Secret Defenders, and Doctor Strange tie-ins. By sending a street-level, wisecracking teenager into Ditko's kaleidoscopic mystic dimensions, the story established a 'fish out of water' template — Spider-Man operating far outside his comfort zone alongside a vastly different kind of hero — that Marvel writers returned to repeatedly. A five-page rogues-gallery feature spotlighting the Circus of Crime, Scorpion, Beetle, Crime-Master, and J. Jonah Jameson's Spider-Slayer robot also provided a de facto visual index of the wall-crawler's early foes at a time when the character's supporting cast was still being defined.
In The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2 (1965), a 25-cent marvel from Marvel’s early years, Spider-Man stumbles into a mystical clash when he intercepts two henchmen sent by the sorcerer Xandu to steal half of the Wand of Watoomb. Written by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, with art and inks by Ditko and colors by Stan Goldberg, this story brings the web-slinger into the supernatural realm, teaming up with Dr. Strange to thwart a dangerous magical scheme. The cover, also by Ditko, captures the eerie grandeur of the encounter.
In a thrilling crossover of cosmic intrigue and web-slinging action, Spider-Man stumbles into a mystical showdown when he intercepts two henchmen sent by the sorcerer Xandu to claim a fragment of the Wand of Watoomb. Mistaking them for ordinary crooks, he teams up with Dr. Strange to unravel a hidden threat that stretches beyond the streets of New York and into the realms of ancient magic.
In "The Uncanny Threat of the Terrible Tinkerer!", Peter Parker stumbles upon strange alien alterations to a professor's radio, leading him to uncover a secret alien conspiracy with Earth in their sights. As he investigates, he finds himself entangled in a web of high-tech intrigue centered around Professor Cobbwell and a hidden agenda that could reshape the planet.
In "Marked for Destruction by Dr. Doom!", Dr. Doom devises a cunning plan to use Spider-Man’s skills against the Fantastic Four—only to be thwarted when the web-slinger refuses. Enraged, Doom sets his sights on capturing Spider-Man, but a prank by Flash Thompson in a homemade suit leads to a shocking mix-up: Doom takes the real Flash hostage, forcing Spider-Man to come to his rescue. With Aunt May and J. Jonah Jameson caught in the crossfire, and the Fantastic Four making a cameo, Spider-Man must outwit Doom before the villain’s latest scheme comes to full force.
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The issue was plotted and drawn by Steve Ditko with dialogue by Stan Lee — the Grand Comics Database credits Ditko as plotter and Lee as dialoguer, and a note on the opening page of the original printing read 'This could be called our "be nice to Stevey Ditko" issue!', an acknowledgment that Ditko had conceived the story independently. This was produced during the strained late period of the Lee–Ditko collaboration: by early 1965, the two had stopped communicating directly, with Ditko delivering pages and plot notes through production manager Sol Brodsky, and Lee scripting from those notes without speaking to Ditko. It was precisely within that unusual workflow that Ditko chose to finally unite his two most prominent Marvel creations, giving him full creative latitude over the mystical visuals. The issue appeared as a 72-page giant at 25 cents, padded with three reprints from Amazing Spider-Man #1, #2, and #5, plus the new villain pin-up gallery.
Trivia · 7 facts
- First appearance of Xandu (full name: Xandu the Unspeakable), a sorcerer who covets the Wand of Watoomb to revive his comatose lover Melinda; he returned in Marvel Team-Up #21 (May 1974), Marvel Fanfare #20–21, Secret Defenders #6–8, and the Spider-Man/Doctor Strange: The Way to Dusty Death graphic novel.
- First introduction of the Wand of Watoomb as a named mystic artifact; the weapon appeared prominently in the 2016 Doctor Strange film (used by Wong).
- First recorded team-up of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange — Steve Ditko's two most prominent Marvel co-creations — fighting together in the lead story 'The Wondrous World of Dr. Strange!' (Doctor Strange had appeared in only a brief, non-interactive cameo during Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1).
- The annual runs 72 pages at 25 cents and contains, in addition to the 20-page original lead story, a five-page new rogues-gallery feature spotlighting the Circus of Crime, the Scorpion, the Beetle, J. Jonah Jameson's Spider-Slayer robot, and Crime-Master, plus three reprints: 'Spider-Man' from Amazing Spider-Man #1, 'The Uncanny Threat of the Terrible Tinkerer!' from Amazing Spider-Man #2, and 'Marked for Destruction by Dr. Doom!' from Amazing Spider-Man #5.
- The lead story was reprinted in Doctor Strange #179 (April 1969), Giant-Size Spider-Man #4 (April 1975), Marvel Tales #167 (September 1984), Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 3 (1991 and later editions), Spider-Man's Greatest Team-Ups (1996), Essential Spider-Man Vol. 2 (1997), the Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus Vol. 1 (2007), and Marvel Masterworks: Doctor Strange Vol. 1 (2010), among numerous international editions.
- The scene of Spider-Man being pulled into an alternate dimension through a mystic portal is noted by comics historians as a possible influence on a similar sequence in the 1969 Spider-Man animated series episode 'Revolt in the Fifth Dimension.'
- The cover — a montage of multiple Spider-Man figures on a yellow background — does not depict Doctor Strange at all, an unusual omission for a crossover annual and one noted by multiple reviewers as a missed promotional opportunity for the guest star.
Cast · 18 characters
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Reprints
↩ Reprints The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (1963), The Amazing Spider-Man #2 (1963), The Amazing Spider-Man #5 (1963)
Reprinted in Tales of Suspense #71 (1965), Fantastic Summer Special #1 (1968), Doctor Strange #179 (1969), Spider-Man Comics Weekly #23 (1973), Spider-Man Comics Weekly #56 (1974), Mundi Comics Super Héroes Presenta #37 (1976), Doctor Strange Master of the Mystic Arts #[nn] (1979), Die Spinne #131 (1979), Doctor Strange Master of the Mystic Arts #[nn] (1979), Le Fils de Satan #17 (1980), Spider-Man Pocket Book #6 (1980), Stan Lee Presents the Marvel Comics Illustrated Version of Spider-Man His Greatest Team-Up Battles #[nn] (1981), Marvel Tales #165 (1984), Marvel Tales #167 (1984), Marvel Tales #168 (1984), Marvel Tales #169 (1984), Marvel Tales #196 (1987), Marvel Masterworks #16 (1991), Spider-Man's Greatest Team-Ups #[nn] (1996), The Essential Spider-Man #2 (1997), Spider-Man Komplett #2 [3] (1999), Spider-Man : l'intégrale #1965 (2002), Spiderman: Stan Lee y Steve Ditko #3 (2003), Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man - Barnes & Noble Edition #3 (2004) + 20 more
Key issues in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual
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