Marvel Super-Heroes #14 offers up not a new hero nor gives an existing character space to develop, but rather delivers one of Marvel's most successful characters in a story which was done apparently as a fill-in. Stan Lee and Ross Andru with the magnificent help of Bill Everett on inks give us a story in which Spidey fights a villain he never ever meets. The Sorcerer has vast mental powers based on years of study with mystics around the world and he also seems to be pretty handy in the laboratory since he has his very own "Synthetic Man" (also dubbed a "Hollow Man" at one point). To test his own powers and to announce his villainy to the world he uses a Voodoo doll to give Spider-Man (and consequently Peter Parker) powerful headaches and ultimately uses his control to make Peter catch a flight and come the New Orleans which is of course celebrating Mardi Gras. There Spidey encounters the Synthetic Man who he fights with limited effectiveness. The Sorcerer had sent a package to NYC addressed to Spider-Man and his hope was that the authorities would get the package and learn of their new super-villain. But the package is deemed undeliverable and is returned. When the postman rings the doorbell (and I'm sure he rings twice..they always do) it creates a short in the system which controls the Synthetic Man and which is attached to the Sorcerer's nogging and seemingly kills him ending the threat as the Synthetic Man walks into the Gulf and disappears. Spidey heads home without any clue what has happened.
This is a fun story, light and breezy and seeing Spidey handled by Ross Andru is a treat since he's almost my favorite Spidey artist after Ditko. I loved Bill Everett's inks and only wish he'd done more. The story by Stan is just okay, but that's okay. I don't know if there were any repercussions from this story, such as the Sorcercer didn't really die or the Synthetic Man was found or something. Seems like a nifty story there maybe. This story came at a time when Spidey was dominating Marvel with his new thirty-five cent magazine hitting the stands at this same time. Decent stuff!
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