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Appearing in "The Spider and The Burglar...A Sequel"

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Synopsis for "The Spider and The Burglar...A Sequel"

Spider-Man has been injected with a large dose of anti-depressants and left to die by Mysterio. Spider-Man survives the injection however it has left him without his spider-powers. In spite of this, Spider-Man is determined to learn why Mysterio rigged his Aunt May's death and returns home, once more lamenting his lot in life since becoming the Amazing Spider-Man. Unknown to Spidey, the Burglar who shot his Uncle Ben manages to free himself in from the boiler room in the Restwell Nursing Home and decides that maybe May Parker's nephew will know the secret of the hidden loot.

Meanwhile, Peter has begun trying to track down who it was that rented and trashed his Aunt May's old home in Forrest Hills. After meeting with Anna Watson and the rental company that rented out his aunt's home, Peter is shocked to learn that it was rented by the man who shot and killed his Uncle Ben. Returning to his apartment and changing back into Spider-Man, Peter vows to track the Burglar down and stop him once and for all, considering even killing the man responsible for his uncle's death.

Peter decides to do some more research on the man who killed Uncle Ben when he finds a lead to follow by checking the Daily Globe's morgue files, he decides to check the video archives of a television station that ran news stories about the case. When Peter Parker is denied admittance because he has no appointment, he risks his life climbing a web-line into the building as Spider-Man despite the fact that he has no spider-powers. Inside, he finds the tape he is looking for and reviews it. On his way out he hears a commotion and sees a security guard chasing a man. Unlike the first time he found himself in such a situation, Peter stops the man being chased and realizes that ironically enough the security guard he just helped was the same man who he refused to help all those years ago when he first became Spider-Man.

After Peter returns to his apartment to find that Burglar is there waiting for him, Peter instantly pounces on the man and the two are locked in a brutal fight. During the scuffle, the Burglar drops his gun, but recovers it in the struggle and strikes Peter on the head with its butt, knocking him out. When Peter revives, he finds himself in the very warehouse that the Burglar holed up after he shot Uncle Ben. The Burglar then starts grilling Peter about hidden loot and explains that Aunt May's house used to be owned by a Prohibition-era crime boss named Dutch Mallone. He explains that Mallone -- among other criminal enterprises -- had a successful bootlegging operation during the 30's until he was busted by Elliot Ness for tax evasion. It was being incarcerated with Mallone that the Burglar learned that he had a large sum of money stashed in the home that would eventually be bought and owned by Ben and May Parker. He explains that's why he went to the Parker home that fateful night. When Peter refuses to tell the Burglar anything because he killed Aunt May, the crook reveals that anything that happened to his dear aunt was all the doings of Mysterio. Getting a moment of inspiration, the Burglar decides to leave Peter to do one last thing and will come back to kill Parker later.

The whole time trying to break free, Peter finally manages to bust loose and decides to go after the Burglar not as Peter Parker, but as Spider-Man. Secretly following the Burglar, Spider-Man is led right back to the Restwell Retirement home. When the Burglar goes into the basement, Spider-Man attempts to confront him there and is shot and left for dead. The Burglar returns to the warehouse shortly thereafter to shock Peter Parker by showing him his Aunt May alive and well. Apparently, Mysterio had faked her death to get Mallone's loot for himself and the Burglar would hope that threatening Parker's aunt in front of him would loosen the boy's tongue.

Realizing Peter isn't there, the Burglar is shocked when Spider-Man -- only winged by the bullets and is alive and well -- is waiting there for him. Spidey attacks the Burglar head-on attacking him with an unbridled fury. In a fit of rage, Spider-Man unmasks himself, revealing that Ben Parker was his uncle, much to the Burglar's horror. When Spider-Man proves to be too much for the Burglar to handle, he tries to flee. However, Spider-Man continues to chase after him, using his spider-signal to intimidate and further strike fear into the Burglar. When Spider-Man finally has him cornered, the frightened Burglar suffers a heart attack and dies of fright. Spider-Man then sets off a fire alarm to get the authorities to show up and convinces Aunt May that he came to her rescue for her nephew Peter.

Later, with Aunt May once more in the hospital, Peter goes to visit her and she tells her nephew that she no longer thinks of Spider-Man as a menace. She also ends up solving the mystery of what happened to Mallone's loot: When she and Ben had first moved into the home and did renovations they found a box inside one of the walls. Inside they found the remains of Mallone's money all right, however, it had long since been destroyed by silverfish. Later, after the anti-depressants that Mysterio injected him with have been flushed out of his system, Peter changes into Spider-Man and finds that his powers have returned to full strength and decides that after this whole experience he will continue being Spider-Man.

Notes

Continuity Notes[]

  • Peter questions Harold Grimsby about who he rented Aunt May's old home to. He rented it to the Burglar in Amazing Spider-Man #170.
  • There are various references to the origins of Spider-Man, particularly the death of Uncle Ben at the hand of the Burglar. This event was originally depicted in Amazing Fantasy #15.
  • Facts about Dutch Malone should be considered topical references per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616. Eventually, it will be impossible for the Burglar to have met Malone in prison if Malone ran a Speakeasy during the Prohibition without prematurely aging the Burglar. Modern readers should presume that the Burglar only heard of Malone and his stash at the Parker house while in prison, or the fact that Malone was a prohibition-era gangster is topical. This is a matter of interpretation of the reader at this time as Marvel has yet to address this issue.
  • On page 35, the burglar says that Spider-Man "got rid of Rinehart" (Rinehart was Mysterio); and indeed Mysterio does not appear in this issue. However, in the last panel of the previous issue, Mysterio was free and well, having injected Spider-Man with chemicals. Mysterio had decided not to continue pursuing the treasure, instead opting for scams that were less glamorous but more secure.

Chronology Notes[]

Flashbacks occur in this story that affects the chronology of the following characters:

Ben Parker:

May Parker:

Burglar:

Trivia

  • Wolfman states that Stan Lee came back to write one page of this issue, and asks the reader to figure out which one. It's page 37.
  • The cover of this issue is one of the 32 that appear in the comic collection from the 2000 video game Spider-Man.

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