Amazing Spider-Man, The (1963 series) #112

Spider-Man drops Martin Blank at the hospital and tells the very confused nurse to burn his Gibbon costume. Spidey swings off, reminiscing about his life with Aunt May, deathly worried about where she could be. Just then, Spidey’s spider-sense tingles and he watches one car cut off another, nearly hitting a bunch of people on the sidewalk. He swings down and discovers two mobsters attacking another for late debts. Spidey then uncharacteristically decides to ignore the mugging in order to look for Aunt May. However, he still garners the attention of the criminals who shoot at him, making them think they scared him off! Just after, Spidey encounters a crime bookie crying for help from a nearby window, in the midst of being kidnapped! The kidnapper shoots at Spider-Man as well, who ducks behind a chimney. Spidey then swings off, reasoning that getting involved will only waste time that he could be using to find Aunt May.

Feeling terrible about himself, Spidey swings back to his apartment to change back to Peter Parker. He runs into Harry and tells him he’ll let him know if he hears anything about Aunt May. Hours pass in a fruitless search and Peter wanders near the Daily Bugle, deciding to see if Robbie will be able to help at all. As soon as Peter sets foot in the place, J. Jonah Jameson begins berating him for not bringing any photos lately, even with the new staff photographer position given him. Jameson gets angrier by the second, threatening to put Peter’s salary on hold until he brings actual newsworthy photos! Peter consults with Robbie, who tells Peter that Aunt May’s note seems authentic and suggests leaving things for the police. On his way out, Betty Brant lets Peter know how concerned she is about Aunt May’s disappearance, which he appreciates.

Outside, Peter breaks up a fight between two kids, before he’s found by Mary Jane and her Aunt Anna. Mrs. Watson expresses her concern about Aunt May and wonders if perhaps she was kidnapped due to Peter’s work taking photos of criminals. Mary Jane feels like they’re just being paranoid, but Peter starts to worry that someone may have discovered his identity as Spider-Man and that Aunt May’s disappearance is connected with all the criminal activity happening recently. He goes out swinging as Spider-Man to hopefully learn some info about what’s going on. Spidey quickly finds a mobster and interrogates the guy, learning that he does contract work for an unknown employer who’s currently involved in a gang war with another crime boss! Spidey leaves the guy and swings off, not noticing Gwen and Flash in the crowd. Gwen is still stressing about everything with Aunt May, still feeling responsible for her disappearance.

More hours pass on fruitless searching, when Spider-Man comes upon another crime scene, three hoods breaking into a rival gambling joint. He swings down to tackle the thugs, hoping to find some more answers, either about the gang war or Aunt May. To his surprise, Spidey finds the mobsters to be much stronger than expected!  One of them manages to stun Spidey and as they escape, Spidey grabs at one of their shirts. After his head clears, Spidey discovers that he snagged a strange type of harness they were wearing under their clothes that undoubtedly was increasing their strength! As Spider-Man contemplates what connection this could have to the ensuing gang war, one of the crime bosses makes his identity known as Spidey comes to face to face once more with…Doctor Octopus! To be continued!