Appearing in "Once Upon A Time, There Was A Robot...!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- ⏴ Mendel Stromm ⏵ (First appearance)
- ⏴ Norman Osborn ⏵ (Name revealed)
Other Characters:
- NYPD
- Max Young ⏵ (First appearance)
- Osborn Industries (First appearance)
- Unnamed guard
- Doc Ock (Mentioned)
- Betty Brant (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
Locations:
Items:
Synopsis for "Once Upon A Time, There Was A Robot...!"
Professor Stromm is released from prison and is picked up by ex-con Max Young. Frederick Foswell watches as his ex-cell-mate is up to something and tries to follow. Someone tries to shoot Foswell, and Spider-Man stops it and follows Foswell. After he loses him, Pete returns to The Daily Bugle for his whereabouts. He arrives and explains that Stromm has threatened revenge on the man who set him up for prison. Back at school, Pete tries to talk to Gwen and her temper flares up, but as she begins to slap him, he stops her hand. Gwen notices Flash threaten Peter and not flinch and notices she’s defending Pete. Meanwhile, Stromm has created a remote-control robot and sends it to Oscorp.
As it destroys the labs, the robot latches onto Spider-Man and is destroyed when he jumps into a fire. Professor Stromm begins another robot with a destruction beam. Osborn arrives at Oscorp and knows it’s Stromm but can’t say since he double-crossed him. Spider-Man goes to follow Patch and he leads him to the Professor’s hideout when Patch is grabbed. The robot is set loose so Spider-Man attaches a tracer to the robot to save Patch. Both are trapped as the robot reaches Osborn and begins to destroy his office. As Spider-Man enters to save Osborn, he’s upset about ruining his plans.
As Spider-Man fights the robot, Osborn knocks him out and the robot leaves him for dead, returning home. Spider-Man follows and destroys the robot in Stromm’s lab. As Stromm surrenders, he begins to tell his story but is killed by a rifle. As J. Jonah Jameson gives the news to Osborn about Stromm’s death, he leaves and Osborn is seen cleaning his rifle. Pete starts to question how the rifleman disappeared so suddenly without a trace.
Notes
Continuity Notes[]
- The details of Norman Osborn's betrayal of Mendel Stromm are revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #40. Who shot Mendel is revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #39.
- Although Stromm appears to die here, his true fate is revealed in Osborn Journals #1.
Publication Notes[]
- Steve Ditko is credited as the plotter for this issue.
- credits:
- Edited and Written by: Stan Lee
- Plotted and Drawn by: Steve Ditko
- Lettered and Cherished by: Artie Simek
- Page 9, Panel 7, and Page 15, Panel 4 best fit the images on the cover
Trivia
- One of Stan's favorite quotes was when Peter thinks, "Boy! If unpopularity ever became popular, I'd be top man around here!"