The Marvel Comics Library: Spider-Man #1
"Spider-Man Tackles the Torch!" is a delightfully meta tale from the legendary team of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, where the creators themselves are the unlikely stars of a story that blurs the line between reality and imagination. When a mysterious stranger claiming to be from the fifth dimension interrupts their creative block, the resulting chaos leads to a whimsical, self-aware moment that feels like a secret wink from the Marvel Universe to its fans. The story is illustrated by Steve Ditko with coloring by Stan Goldberg and lettering by Artie Simek, while the cover by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko adds a striking, otherworldly flair to this unique entry in the Marvel Comics Library series.
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Lee and Ditko are having a story conference stricken with writer's block when a man walks into their office and offers to discuss ideas with them. They tell him to scram and when he doesn't take the hint, Ditko boots him out the door. The man gets up in the hallway outside and dissolves into sparkles, resolving to return to the fifth dimension as no one seems to be interested in his tales. Meanwhile, as Lee and Ditko mourn the fact that nothing supernatural ever happens to them, they decide to knock off for lunch.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).