Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #214

I have about 20 books on my Comixology Wish List specific to Namor The Sub-Mariner, ready to be purchased at a moment's notice. When choosing which one to read today, how could I pass up such an intriguing solicitation as the one for Amazing Spider-Man 214?

Thanks to the Wizard, Spider-Man must rescue the tenants of his building from a burning rooftop. But passed-out Wino Charlie wasn’t aware of the danger! Can Spider-Man save himself, and Charlie, from a certain, fiery death?

Being that the book has a cover date of March 1981, it probably won't spoil it for anyone if I say that...Charlie made it! That whole bit was done in five pages.

That burning building was Peter Parker's place of residence. It isn't clear (to the reader, or Peter Parker) why that particular building was chosen for arson, aside from an attempt to bring Spider-Man out. But of all buildings to torch...

Anyway, Parker has to shack up (at the insurance company's expense) at a fancy hotel with his hot neighbor from down the hall and some dude who sings country music too loud. That's the kind of "every man" situation that made Parker so relatable, you know?

Elsewhere, Sandman and The Trapster (hey, wasn't he Paste-Pot Pete before?) are busted out of jail by the Wizard and an unknown (at this point) ally who appears to be in charge.

Ah, but Namor suspected something was up! He had someone keeping an eye on things.

The above Atlantean heads home to give his report and in no time we're all...

Right on.

Now for some reason, Namor thinks Peter's hot neighbor is the one plotting against him so he goes straight to the hotel in which she's staying.

Being that his spy was tailing someone else altogether, I don't know how Namor concluded he should go to that specific room on the ninth floor. Atlantean instinct? Namor appeared in issue 211 of this series as well, so perhaps this lady is our villain in disguise and it's just not made clear here.

We ignore that and enjoy a pretty good scrap in which Spider-Man mostly has the upper hand until he thoughtlessly spears Namor into...one of those pesky water storage tank that was in every rooftop in New York-based comics of the time. Smooth move, Ex-Lax.

So a soaked Namor gets his mojo back and just as he's questioning web-head...

Hugging a rope is good advice?

Our villainous mystery woman reveals herself.

And now we're all caught up!

Seriously though...a caption box points out that Llyra was last seen in Sub-Mariner #50. I looked it up, that book came out in the spring on 1972, almost nine years earlier. I would think that if you're going to keep an air of mystery around someone for a big reveal later, it would be a character that most people would care about and/or recognize. You do that with Doctor Doom. I'm not sure that Llyra generates the same reaction.

Nonetheless, this was an entertaining read even if it took a while to finally get my Sub-Mariner fix and I dig that the primary villain is an Atlantean. The Frightful Four take down Spidey/Subey and the story continues in the following issue.

This one was by Denny O'Neil with art by John Romita Jr., Jim Mooney and Bob Sharen.