Starting off action packed right away, the Rhino
escapes his confines, smashing right through the wall, the tranquilizers from
last issue having worn off. Meanwhile at the Daily Bugle, Frederick Foswell
congratulates Betty Brant and Ned Leeds on their recent engagement, when
J. Jonah Jameson storms in, telling Foswell to get the story on the Rhino’s
escape! We then return to Peter Parker, having just met the lovely
Mary Jane Watson, acting completely smitten with her. Aunt May and Anna Watson seem very satisfied
that the two teenagers are hitting it off so well. Mary Jane turns on the TV to
dance as she and Peter get to know each other, when the station is suddenly
interrupted with the news of the Rhino’s escape. Mary Jane suggests they go
down there to see the Rhino in action, which suits Peter just fine as he wanted
to head there as Spider-Man anyway.
Peter and Mary Jane hop on Peter’s bike to head in the
direction of the action. Meanwhile, in a nearby law office, the Rhino’s
attorney, Foggy Nelson, discusses with his law partner, Matt Murdock, the
frustrations the Rhino’s escape places on the case. Back with the Rhino, he’s
causing as much destruction as possible in order to draw Spider-Man out. The
Rhino then thinks of how this all started, acting as a muscle man for a group
of professional spies. The spies then subjected him to numerous experiments, grafting
his Rhino suit to him, to act as their perfect assassin. The Rhino had other
ideas, destroying their lab and deciding to use his new talents to make himself
rich by offering his unique services to any who would pay. Seeing that the area
is now cordoned off, the Rhino waits for Spider-Man to arrive.
Speaking of, Peter and Mary Jane arrive at the scene,
with Peter telling Mary Jane that he’s going to go off to take photos as his
excuse to switch to Spider-Man. Spidey sets up his camera and jumps down to
tackle with Rhino. After Spidey avoids the Rhino’s attacks for a while, the
Rhino decides to make Spidey come to him by charging right through a building
in the direction of innocent bystanders. Spidey swings down upon the Rhino once
again as the crowd looks on, including MJ and Foswell. After initially tackling
the Rhino, Spidey gets stunned by a sudden charge from him, as the Rhino keeps
going, ramming right into a huge truck. The Rhino then turns around to charge
once again into the still stunned Spider-Man, as a brave cop drags Spidey out
of the way as the Rhino runs once more into tons of debris. In all of the smoke
and confusion, Rhino thinks he’s finished off Spidey, and decides to finish his
previous mission by going after Jameson’s son again.
Spidey is extremely thankful to the brave police
officer, seeing him as the true hero of the day. Spidey changes back to Peter,
snagging his camera from the alley he left it in, while noticing a small
fragment of the Rhino’s hide left behind, which gives Peter an idea for how to
stop him. Peter reconvenes with Mary Jane, telling her that he took some photos
from a nearby building and takes her back to her apartment after making plans
for the next day. At the Daily Bugle, Foswell types up the story for the elated
J. Jonah Jameson, when Peter arrives with the photos he took. Peter then also
overhears that Jonah’s son is being held in a Westchester hospital and thinks
that the Rhino may go after him again. In order to prevent that, Spidey swings
over to the lab of Dr. Curt Connors to ask for his help. The two of them use
the piece of the Rhino’s hide to synthesize something to help Spidey take down
the Rhino.
Spidey then arrives at the hospital just as the Rhino
smashes through the guards to get to John Jameson. Spidey intervenes, covering
Rhino in his webs, which seems to prove no issue to the dangerous criminal.
Spidey then dodges another charge from the Rhino, as he goes hurtling clean
through the wall to the ground below. It’s then that Spidey and Connors’
creation takes effect, as a chemical they treated Spidey’s webs with starts to
melt away the Rhino’s suit! With the man now exposed, Spidey easily knocks out
the Rhino, as Jonah arrives to make sure his son is okay. As Peter makes his
way home on his bike, he runs into Gwen Stacy, Harry Osborn, and
Flash Thompson. They tell Peter that Flash was drafted and needs to report for a
physical. When Flash makes fun of Peter for not get drafted himself, the other
two don’t find it as funny, as Peter heads home. At home, Peter realizes that
Aunt May wasn’t able to refill her medicine prescriptions. Realizing he’s been
neglecting Aunt May, Peter calls MJ to cancel their plans tomorrow while
stressing over his seeming inability to manage his life.