Timeline for ASM 63-67

[StrayLamb]

The timeline for ASM 63-67, SSMMAG 2 & FF 543/3 doesn’t seem quite right. Most noticably, it has Harry Osborn searching for his missing father before Norman actually goes missing.

This is how it appears to me that it should go together..

ASM 66 (3:3 - 4:1)-FB [Quentin Beck escapes from prison and begins plotting his revenge on Spider-Man]

ASM 63 (1 - 11:4) [Adrian Toomes, who’s been in hiding since ASM 48, decides it’s time to fly again; Spidey badly jarring his shoulder; Toomes steals Blackie Drago’s Vulture wings from a museum and breaks him out of prison; Norman Osborn calls round to see Harry, telling him he’s been having visions of Spider-Man and the Green Goblin]

SSMMAG 2 (1 - 17:1) [Captain Stacy conducts a seminar at the Executive Club, showing footage of Spidey battling the Green Goblin; Norman Osborn is shaken by the footage and taken to a private hospital room, but his memory of being the Green Goblin returns, and he races off into the night; at one of the Goblin’s many hideouts in a slum district, Norman suits up and plans his revenge on Spider-Man]

NOTE: This is when Norman Osborn goes missing. There may be a gap here of some days.

ASM 63 (11:5 - 20) [Toomes proceeds to beat up Blackie Drago, to prove who’s the real Vulture; Pete sees them from the sidewalk, but decides he wouldn’t be much use with his injured shoulder, so he heads to the Bugle; Jonah takes him to the roof to take photos of the two Vultures in battle, but Pete ducks out to suit-up; the police arrive to apprehend Drago, who swears he’ll never put on the Vulture wings again; the Vulture attacks Spidey]

ASM 64-65 [Robbie brings another photographer up to the roof; Spidey snags Vulture’s legs with his webbing, and is carried over to the Bugle Building; he shouts out to Jameson and Robertson to take cover, calling them by name, and causing Robbie to wonder if Spidey is someone he knows; they crash into the Bugle sign, and Robbie shoves Jonah aside, saving his life, but he gets knocked out by a chunk of falling masonry; sporting a new hair-do, MJ calls on May, asking if she’s heard from Pete, but May tells her he hasn’t called her for days; George Stacy meets with Gwen after school, telling her that he knows now that Peter didn’t attack him, but was trying to help; he tells her he tried to call Pete, but neither he nor Harry were home, then he asks what’s wrong with Norman Osborn, as he hasn’t seen him at the club lately, and she tells him she thinks he had a nervous breakdown; they see the battle atop the Bugle Building, and join the crowd of spectators, including Betty Brant, who tells them that Pete’s up there with Jonah and Robbie; the Vulture knocks Spidey off the roof, and he lands hard on a web-cushion; the crowd scatters as the Vulture lands to check on him, but finds Spidey was playing possum; he grabs Vulture’s power-pack, snapping it; as it fizzles, Vulture flaps away, and Spidey passes out.

As the crowd calls for Spidey to be unmasked, Captain Stacy takes charge, telling them they don’t have the right without expert legal advice, then follows after the ambulance, which takes Spidey to the prison infirmary; the doctors are told that the police commissioner has ordered that he’s not to be unmasked until he’s had legal advice; Foggy Nelson arrives, upholding the decision; hours later, Spidey wakes to find Stacy being taken hostage by prisoners; still groggy, Spidey decides to bluff it out by pretending to throw in with them; Harry continues to search for his missing father, calling at the Executive Club; Spidey rips out the fuses, plunging the facility into darkness, then returns to the cons, taking them out two at a time, and freeing Captain Stacy, then takes off]

NOTE: Norman Osborn is already missing during ASM 64-65.

ASM 66 (1 - 11:3) [Spidey swings back to the Bugle roof to collect his camera and civvies, then heads back to his apartment for a nap, but sleeps badly, as he worries about Norman Osborn, who’s still missing, and thinking that Gwen hates him; Pete wakes up early and finds his bruises have nearly healed; he heads to the Bugle, but Betty warns him that Jonah’s fit to be tied; Pete enters Jonah’s office, but JJ throws him out, telling him he’s got all the pix he needs from a staff photographer, and that he’s finished there; Ned Leeds enters with the pix, but they’re all blurred, and Jonah starts pulling out his hair. In need of cash, Pete sells his motor bike to a pawn broker, but as he leaves, Mysterio appears, shoving him aside; as a crowd gathers and the police arrive, Mysterio vanishes in a cloud of smoke; Gwen sees Pete and rushes into his arms, telling him that her dad explained everything, and they head to the Coffee Bean, where they have eyes only for each other; Joe Robertson joins George Stacy for lunch to compare notes on Spidey]

NOTE: The Coffee Bean scene continues to page 11, panel 4.

FF 543/3 (1 - 4:6) [Wyatt Wingfoot is helping Johnny Storm get his car ready for the weekend’s formula-one race, when they see Spidey on the tv; Pete brings Jonah some pix of Spidey, but Jonah tells him to go out and get pix of Johnny Storm at the weekend’s race]

NOTE: There's a free afternoon here for this to occur, leaving time for Johnny to finish getting his car ready before the weekend's race.

SSMMAG 2 (17:2 - 20:2) [Next morning, as they meet up at ESU, Pete asks Gwen if she’s seen Harry, but she tells him Harry’s staying with his dad until he’s back to normal. During class, Pete is distracted, worrying about what will happen if Norman Osborn regains his memories; after classes, Pete suggests to Gwen that they drop by Norman’s house on the way home; Harry asks them if they’ve heard anything about his dad, explaining that he ran away from the hospital and has vanished]

ASM 66 (11:4 - 20) [Joe Robertson joins George Stacy for lunch to compare notes on Spidey; Getting off the bus, Pete runs into Harry and asks if there’s any word about his dad; Pete asks Harry to drop him at Aunt May’s; at the door, Pete hears May cry out and he smashes the door open to find May watching Mysterio on tv; she tells Pete that Mysterio broke in across all channels, and is threatening to destroy the city; Mysterio challenges Spider-Man to meet him at the place where they had their first battle; Mrs Watson comes in with the shopping, and Pete asks her to call the doctor, explaining that he something he has something urgent to do; suiting up, Spidey heads to the location and confronts Mysterio]

NOTE: Norman Osborn is still missing.

ASM 67 [Spidey battles Mysterio, leaving him webbed up]

FF 543/3 (4:7 - 12:1) [That weekend, Johnny Storm arrives at the race track with Wyatt, Crystal and Gorgon; Spidey climbs a tower for a better view; Johnny sees Spidey on the tower just as the race starts, and he inadvertantly flames-on, causing his race car to explode; webbing up his camera, Spidey swings down, as the Torch absorbs the flames into his body; the Torch starts throwing fireballs at Spidey, but Crystal intervenes, telling Torch he’s acting like a baboon, and they agree to a truce]

SSMMAG 2 (20:3 - 25) [Spidey goes in search of Norman Osborn, checking all of the Green Goblin’s old haunts; Norman returns home, telling Harry his fever broke and he came back to his senses]

FF 543/3 (12:2 - 12:6) [Next morning, Ben reads a Bugle article to Johnny, “Spider-Man Apprehends Mysterio After Foiled Jewel Heist”]

NOTE: At no point during the preceding episode with Mysterio does Spidey foil an attempt at a jewel heist. Spidey left Mysterio webbed up at the end of ASM 67, but we never saw him get picked up by the police. He must have escaped at this point, and then Spidey nabbed him later during a jewel heist. As per the next entry, Mysterio must still have managed to get away again after this.

SSMMAG 2 (26 - 58) [The next evening, Harry calls Pete to tell him his dad came home, and is throwing a dinner party; Norman entertains the kids with humorous anecdotes and light-hearted small-talk, but all the while there’s a deadly undercurrent of tension between him and Pete; when dinner’s served, Norman starts quizzing Pete on his unexplained absences, sometimes for days at a time, but Pete tells them he sometimes goes to stay with his Aunt May; Pete creates a smoke bomb in the fireplace, tells Harry to get the girls to safety, and that he’ll follow with his dad; with the room filled with smoke, Norman starts tossing furniture around, trying to find Pete, who lures him out of the house; climbing a wall, Pete suits up, while Norman does the same in one of his nearby Goblin hide-outs; arming himself with Goblin-bombs, the Green Goblin heads to Aunt May’s house on his glider; realizing his intent, Pete swings over and finds him circling the house; as they get into battle, Goblin threatens to divulge Pete’s secret to May, so Spidey lures him away from the house. Goblin hurls a pychedelic pumpkin bomb at him, causing Spidey to hallucinate, but he overcomes the hallucinatory gas with his Spider-Strength and will; Spidey attacks the Goblin with deadly speed, shaking his self-confidence, then gets his satchel of weapons away from him; they get into it, trading blow for blow; pulling his punches, Spidey beats the Goblin down, then uses one of the psychedelic bombs on him, making the Goblin breathe in the vapors; Spidey uses an hypnotic suggestion on him, and after several minutes, Norman wonders why he’s wearing a Green Goblin costume, and starts ripping it off; hoping the effects will be permanent, Spidey carries Norman back to his apartment, and changes them both into civvies, then takes him back to the hospital]

SM/DP 7 [JJJ sends Pete & Ned Leeds to Chicago to cover a political convention at Wrigley Field, where Jack McPherson is running on a campaign to stop the Viet-Nam war; Frankie Bagge hires Mysterio to impersonate McPherson, to discredit him, with Deadpool acting as a distraction; Pete & Ned attend a rally, when Deadpool, disguised as a protester, throws a rock at a cop, and the police start tossing tear gas; Pete suits-up and tackles Deadpool, while McPherson is knocked out by Mysterio, who takes the podium in his place; as Mysterio spouts a lot of pro-war dogma, Spidey swings in & hits him, revealing him to be Mysterio, who creates hallucinations, causing the crowd to riot; Spidey knocks out Mysterio, then trusses up Frankie & her brother, but Deadpool lets them go; later, the Bugle blames the riot on Spider-Man]

NOTE: This story is specifically set during the 1968 Presidential campaign, and mirrors the 1968 National Democratic Convention protests, which occurred during late August, although at the International Ampitheater, rather than Wrigley Field. This convention must have taken place at around the same time in the MU.

ASM 198 (5)-FB [Mysterio is placed in a cell with Danny Burkhart, and after training Danny to replace him, Mysterio fakes his own death]

NOTE: Mysterio must have finally been imprisoned after the events of FF 543/3 and SM/DP 7.


Suggested updates:

JAMESON, JOHN JONAH JR.
---
ASM 62
* SSMMAG 2
ASM 63
ASM 64
ASM 65
ASM 66
FF 543/3
ASM 67
A 59
---

MYSTERIO/QUENTIN BECK/"NICHOLAS MACABE"/"DR. LUDWIG RINEHART"
---
ASM@ 4
ASM 66-FB
ASM 66
ASM 67
* [SM/DP 7]
ASM 198-FB
---

OSBORN, HARRY
---
ASM@ 5-FB
ASM 63
* SSMMAG 2 (1 - 17:1)
ASM 65
* SSMMAG 2 (17:2 - 20:2)
ASM 66
SSMMAG 2 (20:3 - 58)
ASM 70-BTS
---

SPIDER-MAN/PETER BENJAMIN PARKER
---
DD 43
* ASM 63 (1 - 11:3)
* SSMMAG 2 (1 - 17:1)
* ASM 63 (11:4 - 20)
ASM 64
ASM 65
* ASM 66 (1 - 11:4)
* FF 543/3 (1 - 4:6)
SSMMAG 2 (17:2 - 20:2)
*ASM 66 (11:5 - 20)
ASM 67
FF 543/3 (4:7 - 12)
SSMMAG 2 (20:3 - 58)
A 59
---

[Leoparis]

Great job on pointing out that Harry is already looking for his father in ASM 65 and that the early part of SSMMAG 2 must have occurred earlier.

I'm less convinced by the rest.

NOTE: The Coffee Bean scene continues to page 11, panel 4.

in ASM 66 (11:4) Peter is no longer at the Coffee Bean but in the bus. He steps off the bus in 11:5 and helps Harry looking for his father.
In 11:4 his thought is "No matter how many things are going wrong in my life--now that I have Gwen again--nothing will ever make me toss the towel!"
That's a thought he could have at other times as well. If you look for a break in the middle of an issue, the better place is during a change of scenery and characters not in the middle of a bus ride, surely.

NOTE: At no point during the preceding episode with Mysterio does Spidey foil an attempt at a jewel heist. Spidey left Mysterio webbed up at the end of ASM 67, but we never saw him get picked up by the police. He must have escaped at this point, and then Spidey nabbed him later during a jewel heist. As per the next entry, Mysterio must still have managed to get away again after this.

That is true and I had a note to that effect:

In spite of three parallels to these Nov-Dec 68 stories (JJJ refusing photos, Mysterio, Wyatt) I am not 100 % certain Pope carefully planned it this way: In ASM 66 one storekeeper says Mysterio threw the handed cash aside but that could have been a smokescreen for an unseen jewel heist or maybe another storekeeper falsely claimed he had jewels stolen. We have too many stars aligned to let that little detail get in the way.

If the store was a jewelry, you have what could have been interpreted by the Daily Bugle as a foiled jewel heist (Mysterio left without taking money). The scene takes place at a corner of Madison Avenue and there are jewelry stores on Madison. And Mysterio gets apprehended later by Spider-Man at the end of ASM 67. The headline does not say Spider-Man foiled the jewel heist himself nor that he apprehended Mysterio during the jewel heist. It simply ties Mysterio's very public appearance in ASM 66 with him being left in webs in 67. After all the Bugle has no way to know about their fight in the amusement park in 66-67. If they don't mention the action on Madison, what are they going to write in the article?

This is part of a more general problem with referenced stories we never saw. I prefer to tie them to existing stories as otherwise they strain actual continuity. ASM 66 refers to Mysterio's last appearance in ASM Annual 4 so a capture by Spider-Man for a jewel heist could not happen before ASM 66, otherwise I would have placed FF 543/3 earlier in FF, circa FF 62, at a time when Gorgon is with the FF (not really an issue because the Royal family has their personal teleporter). Imagining a distinct event shortly after ASM 67 seems to me a repetition of the Madison store scene and leaving him webbed up. It also imagines three repeated escapes in short order (ASM 66, before jewel heist, before SM/DP 7). If you accept that the headline refers to ASM 66-67, the BTS appearance is unneeded for FF 543/3.

I quite agree with SM/DP 7 occurring between ASM 67 & 68. I had put it closer to ASM 68 in order to give more time to Mysterio to set up his impersonation but that is minor. His ability to hack TV channels and fake content would certainly attract politicians and he's got all the material needed.

Finally, we have an unresolved Mysterio (Quentin Beck) appearance in Spider-Man: Negative Exposure 3 that should take place before ASM 141 in the general chronology and before the ASM 198-FB for Beck.

[StrayLamb]

Thanks for the thoughtful critique, Leoparis.

NOTE: The Coffee Bean scene continues to page 11, panel 4.

in ASM 66 (11:4) Peter is no longer at the Coffee Bean but in the bus. He steps off the bus in 11:5 and helps Harry looking for his father.
In 11:4 his thought is "No matter how many things are going wrong in my life--now that I have Gwen again--nothing will ever make me toss the towel!"
That's a thought he could have at other times as well. If you look for a break in the middle of an issue, the better place is during a change of scenery and characters not in the middle of a bus ride, surely.

Indeed, i goofed there, misreading page 10 for page 11. I've fixed that in the edited post above.

NOTE: At no point during the preceding episode with Mysterio does Spidey foil an attempt at a jewel heist. Spidey left Mysterio webbed up at the end of ASM 67, but we never saw him get picked up by the police. He must have escaped at this point, and then Spidey nabbed him later during a jewel heist. As per the next entry, Mysterio must still have managed to get away again after this.

That is true and I had a note to that effect:

In spite of three parallels to these Nov-Dec 68 stories (JJJ refusing photos, Mysterio, Wyatt) I am not 100 % certain Pope carefully planned it this way: In ASM 66 one storekeeper says Mysterio threw the handed cash aside but that could have been a smokescreen for an unseen jewel heist or maybe another storekeeper falsely claimed he had jewels stolen. We have too many stars aligned to let that little detail get in the way.

If the store was a jewelry, you have what could have been interpreted by the Daily Bugle as a foiled jewel heist (Mysterio left without taking money). The scene takes place at a corner of Madison Avenue and there are jewelry stores on Madison. And Mysterio gets apprehended later by Spider-Man at the end of ASM 67. The headline does not say Spider-Man foiled the jewel heist himself nor that he apprehended Mysterio during the jewel heist. It simply ties Mysterio's very public appearance in ASM 66 with him being left in webs in 67. After all the Bugle has no way to know about their fight in the amusement park in 66-67. If they don't mention the action on Madison, what are they going to write in the article?

This is part of a more general problem with referenced stories we never saw. I prefer to tie them to existing stories as otherwise they strain actual continuity. ASM 66 refers to Mysterio's last appearance in ASM Annual 4 so a capture by Spider-Man for a jewel heist could not happen before ASM 66, otherwise I would have placed FF 543/3 earlier in FF, circa FF 62, at a time when Gorgon is with the FF (not really an issue because the Royal family has their personal teleporter). Imagining a distinct event shortly after ASM 67 seems to me a repetition of the Madison store scene and leaving him webbed up. It also imagines three repeated escapes in short order (ASM 66, before jewel heist, before SM/DP 7). If you accept that the headline refers to ASM 66-67, the BTS appearance is unneeded for FF 543/3.

I see what you're getting at here. You're placing an emphasis on the word "after" in the headline. I can accept that interpretation. I have suggested moving the FF 543/3 (1 - 4:6) to immediately after ASM 66 (1 - 11:4), as there's a free afternoon here after the lunch scenes where Spidey could have taken a few photos, been filmed on tv to be seen by the FF, and to take the pics to Jonah, leaving time for Johnny to finish getting his car ready for the weekend's race.

If you get a chance, take another look at the edited post above, and tell me what you think.

[Pocokk]

Shouldn't ASM 63 (1 - 11:3) be ASM 63 (1 - 11:4) instead? As panel 4 is still the same scene as the previous ones and only panel 5 (11:5) starts a new scene with the vultures.

[StrayLamb]

Yep - thanks Pocokk. I was supposed to change that for ASM 66, but changed it on ASM 63. I have a real problem with similar numbers.

Fixed - hopefully.