Web of Spider-Man #7

0.65 USD @ October 1985

"Welcome... ...to My Nightmare!"

Writer: Peter David
Illustrator: Sal Buscema
Inker: Armando Gil
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Letterer: Phil Felix
Editor: Jim Owsley
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

Synopsis: Peter Parker is in the Daily Bugle and he is naked. He is looking for Robbie Robertson, and Betty Brant sent him to Robbie's office, not even noticing he is naked. Something is off in the whole Daily Bugle as there are various superheroes and supervillains working in place of regular people (Wolverine, Dr. Octopus, Captain America, The Thing, Green Goblin, etc.). He is obviously dreaming all this. And upon reaching Robbie's door, The Hulk smashed the wall and door to greet naked Peter Parker.

All of a sudden, Peter has his red and blue spandex from the waist down, and JJJ along with the superheroes are running away scared because they are unable to stop The Hulk. Spider-Man is avoiding The Hulk's smashing punches and this time he is fully clothed in his Spider-Man costume, and each panel he is switching from his red & blue costume to the black costume.

The Daily Bugle building collapsed and turned to ruble and The Hulk caught Spider-Man's leg even though his spider sense warned him, kicked The Hulk in the face, and The Hulk threw him at a bridge, and he went through the bridge as if it was paper and went through a blank space falling endlessly. And he is still changing costumes from panel to panel.

Peter suddenly woke up in bed in a cold sweat, with his red & blue costume on. This time the panels are not changing costume. He got up from bed and got coffee when he heard someone ask him for help. He opened the window in his apartment and looked out, and looked down and saw his Aunt May's house, and hoped it wasn't her asking for help. He must still be having a dream, because he is changing costumes again from panel to panel.

The dream is now becoming a nightmare, as the man that killed Uncle Ben now has an automatic weapon and gunned down Uncle Ben, Aunt May, Gwen Stacy, Captain Stacy, Mary Jane, and Betty. Every single one dead. And the killer escape telling him it is what Peter wanted to thrive and wallow in guilt. Peter screamed it's not true and ran after the killer. He caught up to him and punched him out, and when he went to take a look at the killer's face. It was Peter Parker's face.

Thinking he should be punished. Peter stood still (each panel is still switching costumes), and The Hulk is behind him about to smash him, and he avoided the smashing hands and they both fell through the floor, falling endlessly and then they are both splash and land in water and are underwater, swimming. Spider-Man swam out through a tunnel preventing himself from drowning.

Then he met, someone in the corner cowering in fear and asked Spider-Man's help from The Hulk, who Spider-Man barely avoided. We find out the coward is Nightmare, and asked Spider-Man to stop The Hulk or the green giant will destroy his Nightmare Realm. Spider-Man agreed just so he would wake up from this nightmare. He battled the Hulk but more like avoiding the giant green brute. Spider-Man rode a steel plate avoiding The Hulk who went past Spider-Man and destroyed the Statue of Liberty.

Spider-Man spoke with Nightmare telling him, perhaps he should ask Dr. Strange, an adept, for help, instead of him, and the mere mention of Dr. Strange's name infuriated Nightmare. Spider-Man threatened him to ask Dr. Strange for help, or he'll throw him to The Hulk. And we get the truth. Nightmare explained thanks to Dr. Strange he is being pursued by a dream manifestation of Bruce Banner's sleeping mind, except Bruce's persona doesn't exist anymore. Instead it's The Hulk who is real enough in his realm and all his mystic magic is useless and he summoned his last strength to get Spider-Man for help.

And Nightmare opened up a portal so he and Spider-Man went through and ended up in a street where the other half is blank, which Nightmare said lies madness, which is the edge of his land. Beyond nightmare, which is nothing and it goes on forever. And The Hulk caught up to them. The Hulk grabbed Nightmare by the throat and is about to kill him. As if by instinct, Spider-Man webbed The Hulk's face and attacked and pounced on his head trying to save Nightmare, succeeding, as The Hulk relinquished his hold on Nightmare. He just kept bashing and bashing on The Hulk's face, as the green monster tried to remove the webbing from his face. He knocked off Spider-Man from him, hurting his shoulder, but with all the pain, Spider-Man hurled his body to The Hulk, and triumphed as The Hulk vanished into the place beyond nightmare, and it collapsed into itself. The Hulk is gone, and a thankful Spider-Man is glad to be alive albeit full of aches.

Nightmare is ecstatic, as The Hulk is gone, and he is back to rule his realm once more. And an exhausted Spider-Man is glad it's over. He can finally wake up. Nightmare told him not so fast, he planned on having Spider-Man as his disciple and protector, very impressed in how accounted himself, and he will never ever wake up. And Spider-Man turned to him real upset, but suddenly from the Beyond the Nightmare Realm, The Hulks arm and hand materialized and grabbed Nightmare's leg. Apparently holding on and wanting to drag Nightmare down with him. Nightmare pleaded and begged Spider-Man to help him, and that he didn't mean what he said. Spider-Man turned away from him, with Nightmare screaming Spider-Man had a responsibility, and then he disappeared in the Beyond the Nightmare Realm. Spider-Man agreed, he had a responsibility, to himself and other. He thought about letting The Hulk have him. Then asked God to forgive him, and he suddenly woke up, with lights on in his bedroom. His neighbors, landlady, and cops where there and they told Peter that he made them call the cops because he was screaming and shouting. They thought someone was getting killed in his apartment. He thought it was just a nightmare, but it's fading already and hardly remember. Sometimes its better that way.

Comments: This was in the heyday of the black alien costume, pre-Venom days. It's an entertaining if not, weird nightmare tale of Spider-Man battling The Hulk in the Nightmare Realms. The changing of the red & blue costume to the black alien costume and vice versa in almost every single panel was trippy and fantastic to look at. Borrowing Dr. Strange's foe is a good choice, so that Spider-Man has a new way of dealing with a foe, or helping a foe in this case, without making it look as if it's something repetitive from his villains' gallery.

It's great to see Sal Buscema's classic superhero cartoony slam bang action and adventure in this issue. It's not a story but basically a long romp and smash battle with the Hulk. Although, we have to hand it to Peter David, the nightmarish part for Peter in this one is relieving the burglar killing his loved ones, and also killing. this time including three loved ones who are still alive.

I thought this was a solid two-parter by Michelinie--nothing earth shattering, but he was saying some interesting things with these issues. I credit Owsley for the more mature nature this book started taking on.

Web of Spider-Man #9

0.65 USD @ December 1985

"The Twilight Heroes"

Writer: David Micheline
Illustrator: Geof Isherwood
Inker: Vince Colletta
Colorist: George Roussos
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Editor: Jim Owsley
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

Synopsis: Thirty years ago a meteorite split in two and landed in two different locations in Pennsylvania.

A farmer was tilling his land land a year ago when something blocked his tiller. It was one of the meteorite, thinking it's a boulder he tried to lift it to get it out of the way. He suddenly felt faint and dizzy then the meteorite didn't seem heavy anymore. Called by his wife for lunch he tossed the meteorite behind him, which he hurled miles away. He tried to swat a fly but hit the wall and destroyed it, scaring his wife and two kids. Fearful and panicking his wife told him to leave the house and cited him as a monster that should stay away from her sons.

We fast forward to the current time and that same man is now the Smithville Thunderbolt who broke the wall to the house where the Local Hero Hopkins, the female reporter, and Spider-Man were in. He tried to assault Hopkins, but encountered Spider-Man's punches instead. Hopkins wished his powers hadn't faded, as the female reporter took pictures of the action. As they tussled, Hopkins escaped through the back door. Police sirens approaching, the Smithville Thunderbolt left the vicinity while Spider-Man made escaped to the roof and left while thinking how does he get himself into these kinds of mess.

Later that night, Peter Parker went to the Smithville Gazette office looking for Roxy the reporter. He was told she was int he darkroom developing photographs. He encountered her there and told her she can't print those photos and story because it will ruin a man's life especially one who has done so many things for the local community. She didn't see it his way.

Police were still outside Hopkins house when he arrived in civilian gear telling him vandals broke into his home while he was gone. Police cleared the crowd gathered and told them to go home. Inside his home, Hopkins thought about the last thirty years he fought crime and saved lives in Smithville that he had no personal life at all and that it was the right thing to do. But when his powers eventually wanted, he found that he missed the crowds' adulation, and if the reported printed his story, he won't be able to tolerate the public's derision and ridicule. He took his hidden gun and decided to stop the woman at all costs, then thought twice about it and left the gun as he left his home.

Elsewhere, the other man with the power derived from the meteorite, who also called himself the Smithville Thunderbolt, stopped by the river and when he saw his reflection he remembered last year when his ignorant wife tossed him out of the house because of fear. He also remembered the local priest branding him an agent of the devil and it created a mob to search and kill him. Hiding in a cave he avoided the mob. Finding a discarded newspaper he saw a masked superhero who was Hopkins, and decided to find this masked man and destroy him so he can be respected and admired himself and after a while, madness set in because of all the pain he encountered that year.

The following morning, Roxy took the Smithville Gazette van and headed to publishing. Unknown to her Spider-Man was tailing her and jumped on top of the van.

At the edge of town, the super-powered farmer went to Smithville to find Hopkins alter ego and kill him.

Back at the van, a tree blocked the road and it was followed by a rockslide. Scared, Roxy bolted from the van and was encountered by Hopkins in his masked superhero costume. Spider-Man blocked the rockslide, as Hopkins tried to convince Roxy not to publish the picture and story, to no avail. She boarded the van again, and Spider-Man's spider sense tingled because the super-powered farmer appeared and just as he was to get a hold of Hopkins, Spider-Man grabbed him and tossed him against the van, knocking it over the cliff landing on an outstretched vine of tree branches. As Spider-Man and the super-powered farmer traded blows, Hopkins went to the van and saved the unconscious Roxy by pulling her out of the van, which plummeted later on to crash below.

The farmer got the upperhand with a solid punch on Spider-Man then went over and grabbed an unmasked Hopkins. He was about to kill him, when he saw into Hopkins' eyes. And saw a reflection of himself with the same eyes that are lonely and scared. And he put him down.

Afterwards, in town, SHIELD operatives approached the farmer and told him his abilities can help his country and to go with them. They'll do the research, and even try to locate his family.

Peter Parker was walking down the streets and saw the morning edition of the paper with Hopkins' picture in the headlines revealing he was the Smithville Thunderbolt. Peter ran up to Roxy and wanted to give her a piece of his mind. Then he saw a rally in front of Hopkins's home, and he rushed there only to find out the people were praising Hopkins. Then there was a sound of a gun going off. And Peter broke into Hopkins' home only to find he had committed suicide. Roxy didn't realize her errors until now. Peter walked out of the house as Roxy took a picture of the dead man.

Comments: The ending is gut-wrenching. It showed how important the secret identity is to a superhero. And looking back, Hopkins gave everything to the role of the superhero that he didn't have a personal life. And when his powers eventually waned, he found that he missed being a superhero and all the crowd support and cheers. It's like being the adulation was addictive and he needed it.

In the previous issue, Roxy told Peter how much she wanted to go to the big time in NYC and work for a publishing company like the Daily Bugle. This issue showed why she never will get that chance. Her reporting skills are slow to deduce that the simultaneous appearance of NYC's Spider-Man and NYC's Peter Parker showed they are one person. Not too bright Roxy!

Web of Spider-Man #11

0.65 USD @ February 1986

"Have You Seen... That Vigilante Man!"

Writer: Danny Fingeroth
Illustrator: Bob McLeod
Inker: Bob McLeod
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Letterer: Phil Felix
Editor: Jim Owsley
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

Synopsis: In his red and blue costume, and holding a webbed up bag, Spider-Man is swinging through town, in a hurry to make an important date. He passed by a stick up gone wrong, and three gunmen emerged from a grocery store engaged in a firefight with three policemen shooting behind their police cars as cover protection. Spider-Man couldn’t just let it pass him, so he intervened and socked two of the gunmen, knocking one out. The third one fired at him, missed, but the bullets went flying through the store window, almost hitting the old couple that owned the store, infuriating the old woman who thinks Spider-Man will get them killed. Overhearing this, Spider-Man thought he was too busy trash-talking the gunmen that he neglected to check for the safety of any innocents in the line of fire. He immediately tried to finish up and webbed the guns and knocked the two remaining gunmen out with a punch in the face and elbow on the other one’s face. He then took off. The cops wanted to give him a citation for endangering civilians and obstruction of justice, while the other cop wanted to give him a medal. The old man was thankful their lives were saved by Spider-Man, while his wife had a contrary opinion that Spider-Man is a vigilante as dangerous as criminals taking the law into his hands without the concept of right and wrong.

At a rooftop, Spider-Man took a look at the contents inside his “bag of webbing” and the library books on ethics he was on a rush to return were damaged in the fight against the three criminals earlier. The books were no help in helping him make a decision regarding the golden notepad he took from the building that the Beyonder turned to gold. Now because they’re damaged, he automatically bought them from the library. The “Parker Luck” has struck again.

Peter Parker had a backup plan to do laundry and so went to the local laundromat to do a load of laundry and sat down unsuspectingly waiting for his wash to finish. Three street gang members entered and grabbed the Korean young lady behind the counter while opening the cash register to grab the money. Then they were going to rape the Korean young lady. It’s interesting to note, the creative team, may have made a mistake in the three goons. They had a Hispanic, a black man, and a white man together as part of the same street gang. I true New Yorker, knows this is a rarity like the world seeing a prehistoric and extinct Coelecanth dinosaur fish in existence. Street gangs in New York City were comprised of the same race in the mid 80’s, especially in the Brooklyn, Queens, and Bronx boroughs. Because of the washing machine noises and the layout of the laundromat Peter did not see this happening, until he went over to the counter to get some change and put his clothes in the dryer. The street gang saw Peter, and the black man pulled out a gun, while all three decided to attack him. Peter thought he had no chance to change to his Spider-Man costume as the Korean young lady was already scared and the three street gang members were panicking and has a gun as well. Peter acted and fought them in a style that no one could assume he was Spider-Man. He used martial arts and made the usual martial arts soundbites as well. First he backslapped the black man, then dodged a punch from the large white man and simultaneously grabbing his arm and hip-tossing him to the side of the row of washing machines. He turned his attention to the cowering Hispanic man and the dazed black man. The next thing you see is all three street gang members rushing to get out of the laundromat in fear. Fucking Spider-Man kicked their motherfucking lowlife street gang member fucking asses, as Peter Parker.

The surrounding neighbors and store owners saw the young men running out of the laundromat and they went inside congratulating Peter. He’s a hero who stood to the criminals and disarmed them, where others would have run away in fear. They asked his name, and he told them, and also told them to report the mugging but to leave his name out of it as he didn’t need any unwanted publicity. Unknown to him, the news of the incident has been spreading real fast. He found out later that night while web-swinging, he recalled that throughout the day all the tenants in his apartment building were congratulating him for his actions and he even made the six o’clock news. But the gun with no bullets bothered him.

In a community meeting, the neighborhood people are talking about getting together a community patrol to be the ears and eyes of the police, since the police doesn’t seem to be able to protect them, and crime is in the neighborhood has gone up. They were inspired by Peter Parker’s actions, but some didn’t agree with the others and just wanted to leave things as status quo. Unknown to them, they were being eves-dropped by the three street gang members earlier who got a laugh at them trying to find their guts. The meeting continued where one of the store owners asked if they should buy guns, whereas the community leader lady talked it down that guns are not the solution, but perhaps they can show their strength in numbers. They suggested patrolling the streets in groups, but did not know how to get the rest of the neighborhood to join them. Someone suggested a rallying symbol like Peter Parker and having a “Peter Parker Day” to rally the neighborhood regarding the kid from the laundromat incident, which they all agreed as everyone in the neighborhood knew his name by now. They are organizing the community to have “Peter Parker Patrols.” Ben Urich was covering the meeting, and wondered if this “Peter Parker” was the same kid that took photographs for their newspaper, The Daily Bugle?

At the Daily Bugle the following day, Kate found the actions of Peter not done on purpose. Joe Robertson was upset at Peter, even though his actions were commendable, he and Jameson are opposed to vigilantism. And Peter’s actions in encouraging others to put themselves above the law and place themselves in danger. Robertson decided to print the story but to bury it in the middle sections, while Kate has gained some respect for Peter Parker.

Peter arrived in his apartment and was greeted by a really bad odor. Someone released a stink bomb inside his apartment and the smelly smoke lingered, while a threatening note was stuck to his bedroom pillows by a knife warned him he’ll get his. Peter left his apartment in a bad mood, and a neighbor recognized him, and Peter confirmed that unfortunately, he is Peter and that he just received a warning to mind his own business next time. The neighbor told Peter they are inspired by him and will have a neighborhood community patrol guard his apartment and those punks will never do that to him again, which Peter said was unnecessary.

Later on, Peter met Mary Jane at an art gallery in Soho to talk about his problems as Spider-Man. Unknown to him, Mary Jane wished she never found out his secret and became his confidante as the burden is too much for her. He disclosed how he is now an unwilling neighborhood hero and punks are harassing him and he would like to catch the young men and teach them a lesson as Spider-Man. Mary Jane reasoned with him to just disregard the Patrol and the punks and then, he’d just be a memory in a couple of weeks. He just needed a neutral voice to remind him, but he knew MJ was opposed to him doing anything as Spider-Man to be objective. They went to get a grab to eat.

In another burger joint in town, the three street gang members Peter had confronted before were eating a big meal courtesy of shaking down some old lady out of her social security check. They are in a bad mood as the community patrol has slowly squeezed them out of the neighborhood, so they have decided to escalate things. On his way home, Reno, the young Hispanic street gang member found his door unlocked so he took out a switchblade and entered. A man grabbed him from behind and put him in a choke hold as he dropped the weapon. Now the man had him in an armbar and forced him to say uncle or have his arm broken, which Reno did. The man, another Hispanic man named Hector, who was his big brother, started laughing. He told Reno why he left his brother and mother. Hector was at the store when the burglar killed their father. He gave the police a chance to catch the crook, but they failed, so he left and searched for the crook, and eventually found him, and killed him. Things got hot for him, so he left town and eventually ended up in Chicago working for the mob. He was back in NYC to do a job as a hitman. Reno offered to help him, which his brother replied for him to grow up and help their mother. Hector missed the days in the bodega where life was cleaner just selling groceries. And he told Reno never to tell their mother he was there. He told him not to be like him and left. Reno wanted to be like his brother that’s why he joined a gang, but he cannot kill people for money.

Meanwhile, Freddy, the young black man in the street gang, was at home getting beating from his father who was holding the belt. His father was screaming at him for stealing again as no honest work can come from a kid dropping out of school. So he told Freddy to go back to school, and he agreed with tears rolling down his eyes as he took a beating for being a street thug and dropout. But those tears turned back to laughter later on, as Freddy, the young black man met up with the other two street gang members. Freddy and Reno were delusional telling each other that Freddy knocked down his father and told him to stuff it about schools and jobs, while Reno told him about his brother Hector promising him a job with the mob once they finished the Parker job. Both lying to each other about what really happened earlier. Two losers in denial.

Meanwhile, Peter headed over to Flash Thompson’s apartment to ask for advice. In regards to bullying, he wasn’t a bully and that he was just taking down Peter a peg for being stuck up in high school. He told Peter that Liz Allen practically threw herself at him and he gave her the cold-shoulder. Then they always invited him to parties and movies and all that, but Peter always had something more important to do, so Flash asked Peter how does he think they felt after he gave them the cold-shoulder and turning down their invitations. Flash told him, nine times out of ten the bully would leave him alone if confronted. Pete asked him what to do if the one out of ten happens? Then Flash told him to kick the bully’s head in.

Peter arrived home, and the gang members were able to get through the Parker Community Security and ransacked his apartment. As the gang members ran we find out that they hit the female guarding the skylight entranced and knocked her out so they can sneak inside Peter’s apartment through that once again. An enraged Peter Parker in Spider-Man costume pursued them, and caught up to them. They were scared of him, and Spider-Man threatened them that he is not the law and is just a simple vigilante and will bust them up bad if they don’t lay off Peter Parker. Scared out of their wits, they agreed.

Later on, Peter accompanied by Mary Jane is heading back to his apartment and thinking what he did as Spider-Man hopefully put an end to his problem. The neighborhood was impressed that even Spider-Man aided him. But arriving there, he was surprised to see the fire department at his apartment and that his apartment is on fire. And above in the rooftop, one of the gang members threw a note tied to a rock towards Peter Parker stating that heroes fight their own battles. And as Peter stared into his apartment window with smoke coming out, he felt helpless on what he has to do to stop these gang members from harassing him.

Comments: The firefight scene in the beginning showed the aftermath, where Spider-Man’s actions, whatever it is, even with a good and positive result, will always be interpreted differently by the people involved. Everyone has a different perception as to what Spider-Man is? Is he a hero or a menace? People will have two varying opinions even though they saw the same event that took place. Perhaps when the Daily Bugle printed their story, they just interpreted the facts the way they perceived it. Whether it’s how the reader interprets it or not the same as the readers’ is moot. In this case, the old lady has a point as well. If the bullet was just an inch or two to their direction and hit them, this wouldn’t turn out into a none-news event for Spider-Man, as I am sure two old victims’ death even not in his hands, would have the media pouncing and demanding justice against him.

The “Parker Luck” is still prevalent at this juncture as you can see the result of Spider-Man’s rushing to the library to return the borrowed books in time. Instead, the reverse happened, being damaged, he now has to pay for the books. He just seemed to always have these sort of bad luck happen to him. It makes you wonder if that book titled, “Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People” lend credence to actually happening to many people in the real world.

The issue came out in the mid 80’s, and let’s give the creative team credibility for living in New York City and knowing about the neighborhoods in the Queens and Brooklyn boroughs. Most of the laundromats in the area are owned by Koreans as shown in the scene with the gang members tussling with Peter Parker in the laundromat scene. This was because of the influx of Korean immigrants in the late 70’s and early 80’s flooded those two boroughs, but had limited English. The “Korean Banks” responsible for fronting the money to bring them to the USA set up a small business for each family either as a mom & pop grocery or a laundromat. If a creative team was doing the work outside of NYC, and was not familiar with the demographics, they would have made the owners of a different race, or if they were told Asian, would have automatically assumed Chinese instead of Koreans, citing the stereotype that Chinese, Korean, and Japanese are all “the same” slanty-eyed people of Asia called “chinks” in America in the derogatory American slang terms, as was prevalent in NYC and across the USA at the time, whose black population and Hispanic population liked to use to call those type of Asians in a very racist and derogatory way. It is usually followed by “go back home to where you came from” after they say the word “chink.” Ah racist 70’s and 80’s America, they get more creative with their racist terms and pass it on to their kids.

Anyway… I was just setting up the atmosphere of Spider-Man’s neighborhood in the mid 80’s, which are still almost exactly the same today, with the exception of increased inter-racial relationships quieting a lot of the traditionally racist older people now especially if their grandchildren are in an inter-racial relationship.

This issue hit a particular nerve and was too close to real in the mid 80’s. That incident with the street gang and the way they acted was all too real that I wanted to punch the computer screen. And when Peter decided to kick their ass without his costume because there was not time was honorable and smart in using a different fighting style than Spider-Man. The only difference, is I wish the scene was a 1990’s Image comic book scene, and those three assholes would have met with a violent and bloody 1990’s Image comic books-style of death. Fuck them motherfucking street gang members!

Peter Parker mentioning his martial arts was inspired by the “Kid Karate” showed just how much the movie, The Karate Kid is prevalent in everyone’s mind and joined pop culture in a big way. It is 1985, and The Karate Kid phenomenon was at an all-time high, especially with kids always imitating the final scene Daniel LaRusso crane kick pose.

It’s incredible how Flash Thompson didn’t regard himself as a bully to Peter Parker back in high school. He somehow turned the table and made Peter double think that he maybe had been too important to accept their invitations to parties, movies, etc. And he reminded Peter of Liz Allen who threw herself at him, and Peter gave her the cold shoulder. So Flash wasn’t a bully, he just decided to razz Peter a little to bring his “high almightiness” down a peg.

Peter dealt with the gang members as Spider-Man, but it somehow backfired. He scared them, but they still kept harassing Peter and this time destroyed his apartment. Will Peter escalate to put a stop to this problem?

Web of Spider-Man #13

0.75 USD @ April 1986

"Point of View"

Writer: Peter David
Illustrator: Mike Harris
Inker: Kyle Baker
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Letterer: Phil Felix
Editor: Jim Owsley, Adam Blaustein
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

Synopsis: Spider-Man was swinging around Manhattan, when he was seen by a man and panicked. The man ran to on incoming truck, but Spider-Man got atop a lampost and used his webbing to stop the truck, but it still hit the man but was not injured as bad had Spider-Man not tried to save him. As the man was being loaded to an EMT, a crowd gathered and some blamed Spider-Man for causing the accident thus angering the wall-crawler who swung away. Unknown to him a young man name Friel took pictures of the scene and was hoping to become a paid photographer like his idol, Peter Parker. Friel went to the Daily Bugle to sell the pictures to J. Jonah Jameson, and the publisher bought the pictures that would present Spider-Man in a bad way. He butted heads with Editor Joe Robertson as Joe told Jonah that Kate Cushing was responsible for purchasing pictures. Nonetheless, the Daily Bugle will print the story of Spider-Man as a menace.

The following day, J. Jonah Jameson went to see the injured man, Corbett. Ben Urich who was suspicious of Corbett interviewed him and was going to do a background check on the man. Meanwhile Jameson spoke to the man in the hospital and took the details and offered to pay his hospital bills. Accompanying Jameson was Peter Parker who was furious that the Dialy Bugle will print him in a bad light just to make money.

A Daily Bugle reporter was getting eye witness accounts of the incident and was getting conflicting reports that Spider-Man caused Corbett to get hurt, and also reports of Spider-Man saving Corbett's life. A bank robbery took place and they blew up an ATM machine but ruined the money. Spider-Man was around and dodged their gunfire and secured the robbers. But a crowd gathered and called him a menace and he fled the scene. Upset in his damaged apartment, Peter Parker was further made furious when he saw a television interview of a store owner claiming Spider-Man tried to kill Corbett. Peter donned his mask and was going to confront J. Jonah Jameson about this. His phone rang and he spoke to Mary Jane Watson ranting about the unfair blame he's been receiving and that he will do something about it.

Ben Urich received information from his police contacts that Corbett was a con-man. He confronted the man as he was discharged from the hospital and Corbett confirmed this but explained this time around he just panicked when he saw Spider-Man, thinking he was going to apprehend him at the street. Spider-Man didn't know this yet, and confronted J. Jonah Jameson in his office breaking through the office window, and then sealing the door shut to confront Jameson. The people outside the office were wondering what the commotion was all about. Spider-Man told him he saved his life countless times, yet repeatedly he kept attacking Spider-Man in the newspaper. And Spider-Man left. Joe Robertson and the staff finally made it inside Jameson's office and after dismissing the staff except Robertson, Jonah confided in Joe that for the first time he was scared that Spider-Man was going to hurt him. Robertson told hom about Ben Urich's expose that Corbett was a con-man and the Daily Bugle was wrong. Jameson told Robertson to print a redactment of the article. Spider-Man and Jameson, they can both be right and wrong, depending on the point of view.

Comments: Peter David can really tell a fantastic Spider-Man tale that captivates the readers' attention. It's too bad he didn't become a regular Spider-Man writer in any of the three ongoing Spider-Man titles at the time. Spider-Man's loss was the Hulk's gain and further down the line, X-Factor's gain. The illustrations are serviceable and told a good story. But the heart of the story is Peter David's Spider-Man story. He really gets Spider-Man and Peter Parker, along with the supporting characters. He showed them to all be flawed characters and painted them in a realistic light. We have all sorts of emotions here, from Mary Jane's plight in knowing who the real Spider-Man is and the danger he brings and not knowing if she can live with the fact if he might die one day because of being Spider-Man. Up to publisher versus editor butting heads in the office because they both have different viewpoints on Spider-Man. It's too bad Peter David's Web of Spider-Man tenure was very short. We could use more stories presented this way.

Web of Spider-Man #14

0.75 USD @ May 1986

"All That Glitters"

Writer: David Michelinie
Illustrator: Mike Harris
Inker: Kyle Baker
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Letterer: Phil Felix
Editor: Jim Owsley
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

Quote of the Issue: Go tap dance in a mine field Parker! - J. Jonah Jameson

Synopsis: Peter Parker's landlady threatened to have him evicted if his firebombed damaged apartment was not fixed in a couple of days as per his signed lease. Needing money, he contemplated selling the golden notebook he picked up from the building that was turned to gold by The Beyonder several issue back. Forgetting about his promise to visit Aunt May's fiance Nathan in the hospital who was recovering from wounds suffered from a beating due to his gambling debts, he hurriedly headed that way in his Spider-Man blue and red costume, but was too late as visiting hours was finished. Also, he found out that Nathan's insurance wouldn't cover his medical bills due to the nature of his hospitalization. Peter headed to the Daily Bugle to ask for an advance which current editor Robertson was about to authorize, but was put down by Robertson's boss, the city editor, Ms. Cushing, who cited Peter was unreliable at times. He decided to swing around the city and get photographs of Spider-Man in action against criminals. But the city was quiet until he came across knocked out security guards at the rooftop of the Carnelian Embassy. The guards were knocked out by taser darts surprise ambush from the thief, The Black Fox. After setting up his camera, Spider-Man decided to nap the thief who was stealing the Carnelian Eye, a precious gem in the embassy. Security stumbled onto the Black Fox and a firefight was started by the security followed by the embassy Constabulary. The Black Fox threw a smoke bomb and made his escape. Spider-Man entered the foray to protect the Black Fox from getting killed, as the Black Fox escaped the building followed by Spider-Man who decided to put a spider-tracer on the Black Fox's trench coat to nab him later from his fence. Spider-Man briefly went back to his apartment to get the golden notebook and contemplated selling it for money to take care of his expenses and help out Nathan's bills, then his spider-tracer sent him a signal. He went to the Black Fox's fence and found the Black Fox leaving the fence's building and as Spider-Man entered the room, he found the fence on the floor dead. He vowed to bring the Black Fox to justice for murder.

Comments: The classic Peter Parker "luck" was in full swing in this issue. From soon to be evicted, to no advance pay, Peter Parker contemplated the ethics of selling the golden notebook he took from the golden building several issues back. The villain of the story is a slick thief that is getting too old for his trade, as early in the issue he almost fell off the rooftop on a typical stunt he easily achieved in his younger days. At the same time his fence was recently released by the police precinct so he cannot fence for him for several months, but he still thought perhaps this one time can be made and exception. He is suave in his initial foray into the Carnelian Embassy as he slyly took out the rooftop security with taser darts from an exploding teddy bear. Spider-Man's luck bore down even when he tried to have pictures taken of himself in action as smoke covered the room with indiscernible pictures. The Parker "luck" continued. Even when he found the dead corpse, it hit a nerve with Spider-Man. It reminded him when he let a thief escape, it resulted in Uncle Ben's death. Now he did the same thing by allowing a thief to escape in a previous Amazing Spider-Man issue, and it resulted in a another death.

The quiet art of one panel in this issue with Spider-Man contemplating on selling the golden notebook to get hims out of his current financial jam was really heartfelt by the reader. Even with the minimalist style of illustrator Mike Harris, that one panel showcased Spider-Man's dilemma. It was easy to get out of the financial jam, but would he give and do the unethical thing to do and decide "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." We never got a chance to see it happen as his spider-tracer had him go to the Black Fox instead.

Web of Spider-Man #16

0.75 USD @ July 1986

"Underworld!"

Writer: David Michelinie
Illustrator: Marc Silvestri
Inker: Kyle Baker
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Letterer: Rick Parker
Editor: Jim Owsley & Adam Blaustein
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

Synopsis: In the Appalachians, a mother and son were escaping a town through the forest but was cutoff by the townsmen armed with deadly scythes, pitchforks, and other weapons. They took the child from the mother. Back in NYC, Peter went to the Daily Bugle to sell some pictures but no luck, until J. Jonah Jameson's sudden appearance who whisked Peter away to another part of the building to NOW Magazine, which is a national publication. He sent Peter and Joy on an assignment to Appalachia to get coverage over a major factory closure. Arriving there, Peter and Joy found something amiss with people well off, and all of a sudden they were not welcome and the locals went after them, violently. Peter tried a balancing act of not overpowering the assailants in order to prevent Joy from thinking he is more than just a photographer on assignment. Eventually they escaped and were hidden helped to hide by the woman in the first scene of the comic book issue. She explained what happened to her son, abducted by men with no faces. Peter was willing to listen to her extrapolate more while Joy thought the lady was high on some chemical substance. Peter's spider-sense went off and men in hazmat like suits complete with gas masks appeared and took the woman, Peter, and Joy into custody and brought them in the middle of the forest and brought them to their hidden underground base. Underground, the mother and son were reunited. And Peter, kicked off one of the men and ran away and seemingly escaped. He turned to Spider-Man, but second guessing himself if he should interfere because Joy would think it's too much of a coincidence for Peter Parker and NYC-based Spider-Man to suddenly appear at the Appalachians at the same time. But their lives were in danger, and he forego the problem. He tangled with the men, and knocked most of them out with Joy knocking out the scientist holding the little boy. They were about to be in the clear, when Spider-Man's spider-sense went bonkers again. It was Magma, a super-villain he tangled with before, and now made his presence.

Comments: Marc Silvestri had fantastic illustrations of Spider-Man. But somehow it came out mediocre when you look at it more closely, like something was off. But then I looked and it was the inking. Some of the linework on Spider-Man "disappeared" with the inking of Kyle Baker. Perhaps it's because of the Jim Shooter edict of seriously making the deadline for each issue. Nonetheless, I wished that Baker would have done a more Ordway-like inking making clean strokes inking the final product. Given the finished product, I still loved Silvestri's presentation of the Spider-Man in action with varying opposite viewpoints. I particularly liked his rendition of Joy's facial remark when Spider-Man suddenly appeared as if she had an inkling that Peter Parker and New York City-based Spider-Man were suddenly in the same location as far off as the Appalachians all of a sudden, like putting two-and-two together. That's a good illustration of a face realizing something more of a coincidence.

It's a good story by Micheline with an added somewhat horror slant in the beginning and the middle. With a town against strangers and who knows what they were going to do with the child after taking him from the mother. After all it's mother and son escaping the town, and the mend were armed with scythes, pitchforks, and other sharp objects that could easily maim and kill. At least the female reporter, Joy, was presented as a stronger female character and not just a throwaway damsel in distress or ditzy like not realizing Peter and Spider-Man were in the same place. At least she was presented with a brain and brilliantly portrayed by Silvestri's illustration to show that is the case.