Jazzy John Romita tags back in on pencil duties this issue. Stan & Frank hang on from last issue as Spidey notices the spy camera that just saw him with his mask off. He webs it up, hoping no one saw his face, but of course, Smythe did.
The typical mad scientist lab! All the usual stuff, make yourself at home. Spidey has an idea, and heads over to Curt Connors’ lab, where, as always, Curt’s like “Yeah, man, whatever you need.” Spidey starts mixing up some chemicals, and then…
Aaaaalright. Not sure where that’s going. He thanks Connors for the use of his lab and then swings off. Meanwhile, JJJ is still fuming that his control over the Spider Slayer have stopped working, and then the controls themselves start fuming…
JJJ is always telling Robbie to write up these stories, like he’s not the editor who assigns them to other people. From there, we check back in on Smythe, who’s having a great time. He’s stolen JJJ’s money, he’s seen Spider-Man’s face, and now he’s got “the four top gang leaders of New York” gathered at his place to see how they can use the spy network he built to actually commit crimes now that he’s the only one controlling it. Then he scans until he finds Spider-Man again, showing them all his unmasked face. Sort of. Looking right at the camera, he starts tugging on his own skin…
I mean… ok. So, what, the idea is he unmasked when he thought no one was looking, and was wearing a mask of some dude under his Spider-mask? And now he’s wearing them the other way around? If I was one of those guys, I’d have to assume Spider-Man is a really weird dude. Anyway, Smythe still wants to sell them on his services, so he reveals he’s got a bigger version of last issue’s robot, which he climbs inside to go fight Spidey in person. And Spider-Man himself, at that moment, is swinging by The Daily Bugle, where there’s another protest, this time about the spy cameras, and JJJ is actually leading it.
Seems like a lot of the times Stan really hits on a social ill, he finds a way to walk both sides of the line. Last issue, Randy was protesting that minority groups are disenfranchised and calling out JJJ. But by diverting both of them to a new protest, he can back off of the issue before getting in too deep. Still, he was trying to get social issues into the book, and that’s pretty cool. He laid the groundwork for ever-more socially conscious, “world outside your window” storytelling. Spidey does swing down and say hello, and in the course of their conversation, Jameson openly admits to having been controlling the robot. You know… the robot that stole the controls for the spy network last night? I mean… right? Nothing will come of that. JJJ never faces consequences for his forays into villainy. Spidey swings off, noting that the spy cameras are no longer setting off his danger sense, so no one must be watching. He’s got a date with Gwen tonight, so he’s putting Smythe and the cameras on the back burner for now. Back home, he finds Harry sitting in their living room, feeling down about MJ. Pete suggests he’s trying too hard to get her affection.
Decades from the publication of this issue, Stan Lee would tell people all the time that Pete & MJ were his favorite couple. They even worked that into his cameo in the Spider-Man PS4 game. It was his decision for them to get married in the late 80s, even though pretty much no one working on the comics at the time wanted them to. But it sure seemed like he was on Team Gwen back in this era. Speaking of Gwen, Pete goes to pick her up, asking what she wants to do tonight, and she says she wants to check on Flash. Pete’s not into that, but…
Flash is clearly not in the mood to talk about it, so Gwen & Peter leave. They catch dinner and a movie, and Gwen makes Pete realize she’s not still got a thing for Flash, she’s just concerned for him as a friend. Which makes him feel like a jerk, so after he takes her home, he decides to go visit Flash again. Unfortunately for him…
Smythe’s bigger Spider Slayer has bigger versions of all the tricks. A webshooter, gas, the whole thing. And, as Spidey taunts him by saying he’s still controlling it remotely and won’t have a chance, Smythe pops up to set him straight:
Next issue promises to be quite the battle. Alongside this issue, Spider-Man’s 2nd ongoing title launched. Marvel Team-Up, as the title would suggest, paired Spidey with at least one other hero every issue for adventures. Occasionally, someone else would take top billing (Usually the Human Torch), but the vast majority of them starred Spider-Man. It started out bi-monthly, 6 issues a year. My first issue is #3, though, so it’ll be a little longer before MTU shows up on this blog. Still, seemed worth nothing where it began.