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ow pages
1st appearance of Sandman (William Baker) w/ origin; 1st app. Betty Brant; 1st "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man"; COMIC BOOK IMPACT rating of 8 (CBI).


Amazing Spider-Man #4 added Sandman to the rapidly growing pantheon of Spider-Man's amazing rogues gallery, following Doctor Octopus making his own debut in issue #3,. "Nothing Can Stop...the Sandman!" has also become one of the Silver Age's most classic comic tales. The storyline doesn't hold back from Peter Parker facing all the worst aspects of being Spider-Man. J. Jonah Jameson's editorials make it possible for criminals to threaten Spider-Man with assault charges; later, Peter looks like a coward when he stops himself from possibly harming bully Flash Thompson. Spider-Man also has to abandon his first battle with Sandman after his mask is torn for the first time. Creators have also frequently returned to Amazing Spider-Man #4 as a Silver Age touchstone. There's a reference to Sandman (then just another prisoner named William Baker) doing time on a "prison island" later established as Marvel mainstay Ryker's Island. It's also been established that a younger version of super-powered private eye Jessica Jones is one of the teens watching the Sandman brawl with Spider-Man after the villain tries to hide out in Peter Parker's high school.
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