A prison riot! This should be a weird one. Not at first, though. It’s all smiles as we pick up with Peter Parker & Gwen Stacy walking down the street, their romance officially rekindled. Like, super-rekindled:
Peter is planning to propose! But, after they part for the afternoon, first he figures he’s got to get himself a real job. So he heads over to The Daily Bugle, where JJJ happens to be in desperate need of a photographer. There’s a riot at a prison (Like on the cover!) and JJJ needs pics right now. Peter’s not going until some demands are met, though:
I love Joe in the background there. Things really seem to be looking up for our hero. That usually means something terrible is coming. Anyway, Spider-Man swings to the jail, thinking that every other photographer will be stuck on the outside, while he can sneak inside for the real scoop. You’d think the cops would become very suspicious of this news photographer who’s constantly in places he couldn’t possibly be. At any rate, he sneaks into the prison with ease…
In recent issues, Stan has tackled corrupt politics, racism, pollution and drug abuse, and now he’s working on the rights of the accused. And the scumbags of comics fandom like to pretend modern comic creators “shouldn’t push their agenda in their work” these days, like it’s a new thing. Spidey heads deeper into the prison, and hears “Turpo” has the warden hostage, so he finds his way to the warden’s office, musing on the things the con told him back there. In the office, Turpo has the warden making a phone call at gunpoint. The warden says he’s selling everyone else down the river…
Pretty deft little creative maneuver there, keeping Turpo a bad guy while still being sympathetic to the convicts. Spidey smashes through the window and takes out Turpo and his goons, and then throws the door into two more waiting outside, which brings him face to face with the rioters. He tries to explain that they’re being used. Someone asks why they should believe Spider-Man…
That’s an awfully nice prison warden. I daresay this is somewhat unrealistic. As Spidey swings away, the warden himself is in front of the TV cameras, saying prisons need better funding and reforms before they explode. All’s well that ends well, but this issue’s only half over! As Spidey swings back into the city, a guy leaning out a window catches his attention.
This random guy, who I believe is meant to be Johnny Carson even though he’s not named, wants to interview Spidey about the prison riot on TV later tonight, and after some haggling, agrees to pay “the usual rate,” though he doesn’t say and Spidey doesn’t ask what that is, which seems like a poor choice. So he heads on back to the Bugle, where they’ve heard Peter wasn’t at the riot. But he’s got news for them…
Pete finds out they won’t get paid until Friday, and he was hoping to wine & dine Gwen tonight. I mean, I’m sure she’d understand, but now he’s really committed to that TV show in the hopes of getting some quick cash. Which… doesn’t seem like a reasonable expectation, either, but whatever. He webs on back to the studio, where he’s brought on as a surprise guest. Johnny has him do some Spider-stuff, and then Spider-Man says he’d like to talk about “the prisoners locked up in our understaffed, over-age, over-crowded jails”…
With the cops on the set, Spider-Man is forced to skip out before getting paid. He sure did give a speech, though. Pretty cool of him. Now he has no choice but to go see Gwen and just be honest about being broke. Or so he thinks…
Man, things are going way too well for Peter Parker! It’d be a shame if something totally insane happened next issue…