White pgs; Universal holder; Unrestored
1st app & origin of Mysterio (Quentin Beck); Steve Ditko cover & art; COMIC BOOK IMPACT rating of 8 (CBI)
If you're going to do a hero book with Steve Ditko you may as well go for broke and throw him the most unusual and imaginative villains you can. Thus, Mysterio was born! You can feel everything falling into place by this point, as the Lee/Ditko machine fires on all cylinders. Even the cover seems more confident, more willing to experiment, and more full of ideas than ever before. Note, also, the classic hucksterism along the bottom of the cover, with Marvel happily bragging about its stark break with past conventions, as more and more readers turn on to the Marvel Age of comics. The story within this comic's pages is a real blast as well, introducing a new antagonist, with a bit of a twist, as well as heightening the ongoing tension between Parker/Spider-Man, and Daily Bugle editor, J. Jonah Jameson, who ends up in a sticky situation by the end of the tale.