Directly following up on last issue, this one begins
with a Daily Bugle publication proclaiming how Doctor Octopus escaped during
his battle with Spider-Man. Spidey arrives at the Daily Bugle to find the
temporary secretary, hired by J. Jonah Jameson to replace Betty Brant, angrily
quitting and storming off. Betty arrives and asks for her job back and Jonah
happily, as happily as he is capable of, takes her back. Meanwhile, after
escaping from Spider-Man in their last struggle, Doctor Octopus embarked upon a
crime spree across the country, in order to try and draw Spider-Man to him, to
destroy him once and for all. After continuously failing to draw Spider-Man
out, Ock decides to return to New York and take the fight to him.
Back in New York, it’s made apparent that Spider-Man
hasn’t been after Doc Ock due the fact that he has no money, as well as exams
coming up, typical teenager problems, unbeknownst to Ock. Aunt May worries that
Peter may be getting sick, as Peter heads to school. Back at the Daily Bugle,
Betty gets a call from a mysterious person, who we see is Doctor Octopus, in
order to ascertain that she still works at the Bugle. Peter soon arrives, and
just after, Doc Ock bursts in through the window in order to take Betty
prisoner, to draw Spider-Man out. Ock holds back Peter and Jameson, and tells
Jameson to print a note for Spider-Man in his paper, telling him to come to
Coney Island for their showdown, if he wants to save Betty. Peter comes back
later to the Bugle as Spider-Man, pretending to be oblivious, and Jameson
points him in Ock’s direction, before also deciding to head to Coney Island
himself, in order to make sure they get the story.
On the way to Coney Island, Peter realizes that Aunt
May was right, and he actually is getting sick, as it’s getting harder and
harder to move upright. He arrives at Coney Island, just as Betty gets free of
her restraints, and tries to take Ock by surprise. However, Spidey is so
weakened from his flu, that his punches barely have any effect, and Doc Ock
quickly overwhelms him and leaves him barely conscious. He unmasks Spidey, for
everyone to see, including Betty and Jameson, but surmises that it was just Peter
dressing up like Spider-Man, rather than the genuine article. Doc Ock makes his
escape after tossing Peter aside, and Peter is taken home, where a doctor
diagnoses him with a simple 24 hour virus, saying he should be good as new
tomorrow. During the night, Peter has fitful dreams of his Spider-Man persona
berating him for going after Doc Ock while he was sick.
Peter awakens the next day, feeling good as new, but
gets a verbal lashing from Aunt May, as she was told what had really happened
the previous night. Peter promises not to be so reckless in the future and
heads to school. At school, Peter earns some derision from Flash Thompson about
the ordeal, which earns Flash the ire of Liz Allan, flipping out on him, as she
thinks that Peter was incredibly brave. In his hideout, Doctor Octopus is
furious about the whole thing, feeling fooled by a teenager, and sets out to
once again try and draw Spider-Man to him. He sets free a number of dangerous
animals from the nearby zoo, and police attempt to deal with them as best they
can. Peter finds that Liz is now much more interested in him than before, and
ends up having to escape her in order to switch to Spider-Man.
Spider-Man arrives to help with the escaped animals,
grabbing a lion and tossing it into a net held by awaiting police officers. He
then recaptures a bear and a gorilla, as a short distance away, Doc Ock is
about to drop a large sign onto a helpless crowd below. Spider-Man arrives just
in time to web up the sign as he and Doc Ock face off once more. Spider-Man
tries tying Ock to a large chimney, but he escapes it and continues his chase,
eventually tagging Spider-Man. Spidey dips down an airshaft, but then uses his
webs to fling himself back up quickly, surprising Doc Ock and allowing him to
flip him over and land a good hit. Their scuffle eventually ends up with them
falling through a skylight into a deserted sculptor’s studio, where the spilled
cleaning fluid starts a fire!
The furious movements from Spidey and Ock, cause a
large heavy sculpture to fall on Doc Ock, which then causes the floor to
collapse under him, as the fire spreads. Spider-Man uses some quickly spun web
shields to eventually escape the burning building, through the window. He
changes back to Peter, as responding firefighters drag a barely conscious Doc
Ock from the burning building, and hand him off to waiting police. Liz once
again tries to ask out Peter but he brushes her off, heading himself to finally
go ask out Betty, ending the story on a happy, hopeful note.