Our story opens upon an ambitious fellow by the name
of Joe Smith, determined to be the new boxing champ. He gets a manager named
Tommy Tomkins to arrange a match for him. However, Joe soon proves to be quite
the hapless loser, failing handily at both boxing and wrestling. Tommy then
tells Joe that maybe he’s not cut out for these kinds of sports and gets him a
role as an extra in a movie. Joe shows up on set in a monster costume and is
instructed to smash apart the set, as Joe feels rather humiliated. While Joe is
smashing apart the cheap set, one of the arc lights get damaged, falling into
some spilled chemicals, and giving Joe the full brunt of an enormous electrical
shock! Joe quickly comes to, much to everyone’s relief, but feeling like
something is off.
We then cut to Peter Parker as he arrives at the Daily
Bugle, to find yet another new secretary on the way out the door.
J. Jonah Jameson spots Peter, blaming Peter for Betty’s departure, as Peter rushes off.
Just then, Peter bumps into Ned Leeds and they both inquire about Betty,
realizing neither one knows where she is. Ned gets rather aggressive, thinking
Peter knows more than he’s letting on, while Peter invites him to find Betty if
he’s so interested, while wondering about her location himself. Back with Joe,
they gear up to shoot another scene as the director tells Joe to attack the
trained stuntmen. Joe is suddenly overcome with an unstoppable rage, barreling
through the stuntmen for real, with his strength greatly increased! In his
blind rage, Joe continues his rampage into the street, flipping over cars and
causing the passersby to run in panic.
Peter is walking by at that moment, still lost in his
thoughts, until he notices the flying debris. He descends upon Joe as
Spider-Man, webbing him up. However, Joe tears right through the webbing, and
the two trade punches, with Spidey noting how non-talkative Joe is being. Joe
ends up throwing Spidey into a garbage truck, with Spidey feeling that Joe
doesn’t really want to harm him, and that something more must be going on. Just
then, Joe’s manager Tommy finds him as Joe’s heads starts to clear, as they escape
together to figure everything out. In another part of town, Harry Osborn and
Flash Thompson drop off Harry’s father Norman Osborn, telling them he has some
business to attend to. After Harry and Flash leave, Norman puts on a fake
goatee and meets with a mob big shot, offering to pay him and his guys
handsomely to take out Spider-Man, and to spread the word to everyone he can!
Later, Peter arrives at Empire State University while
a protest is going on. The protestors try to pull Pete in causing Harry and
Flash to think he’s with them. However, Gwen Stacy then points out that Peter
is leaving, as he claims that he has nothing to protest about, which earns him
flak from both the protestors and Flash and Harry, while Gwen thinks there’s
more to him than he lets on. Meanwhile, Tommy takes Joe home, where he promptly
falls asleep, and the mob boss puts the word out about the bounty on
Spider-Man. After class, Pete goes out swinging as Spider-Man and quickly runs
into some of the goons hoping to collect the reward, easily taking them out.
Back with Joe, he awakens and his berserker rage overtakes him once more, as he
storms out to get even with everyone that laughed at him before. Joe arrives at
the gym he used to frequent and begins steamrolling through all the guys in
there.
Spidey, nearby, hears the commotion and stops in and
the goons think it’s the perfect opportunity to collect the reward on Spidey.
This causes a big free-for-all, as Spidey, the goons, and Joe are all attacking
each other, with some furious and frantic action! Spidey continues to wallop on
Joe, when suddenly he is broken out his spell, as everything goes back to
normal. The police show up and Tommy intervenes, saying that the movie studio
is dropping all of the charges against Joe and that they want to sign him to a
contract, being so impressed with his work before! Spidey heads out, only to
run into more goons as he easily and angrily plows through them. A nearby bust
reminds him of Ned and how his life as Spider-Man will always keep him from
Betty, and he gloomily makes his way home. There, Aunt May is saying goodbye to
Mary Jane Watson, her face still obscured, after she had stopped by. Peter
comes in the back door, and Aunt May tries to rush him to the front to meet
Mary Jane, but she’s already driven away. The issue ends with Peter gloomily
making his way upstairs, frustrated with how everything seems to be going
poorly for him.