Our story starts off at the train station, where
Peter Parker is sending his Aunt May off on a doctor-ordered vacation. In the very
same station, Dr. Curt Connors awaits the arrival of his wife Martha and son
Billy, when he suddenly thinks his hand turns green and scaly! Things return to
normal and Connors thinks he may have imagined it but also considers the
possibility that the chemicals he used to help Spidey stop the Rhino last issue
could be triggering his dormant lizard DNA again. Martha and Billy soon arrive
and search for Curt, who is hidden behind a nearby arch. Suddenly, Curt’s arm
starts to tingle and his hand once again turns green and scaly, as he
frantically runs away through the crowd so that his family won’t see him as a
monster once more. Curt escapes into a tunnel as Martha tries to convince Billy
that the fleeing Curt they saw wasn’t his father. Deep in the tunnels, the
transformation is complete as Curt Connors becomes the Lizard once more,
smashing through the wall deeper into the sewers in order to find a place to
plan.
After seeing Aunt May off, Peter spots Martha and
Billy, concluding that had seen Dr. Connors earlier, as he thought. He changes
to Spider-Man, as that is how they know him and Martha tells Spider-Man that
they saw Curt running away, leading them both to surmise that that can only
mean one thing. Spidey searches through the tunnel that Connors escaped into
while thinking of his first encounters with the Lizard from all the way back in
ASM #6. He finds the hole in the wall the Lizard left but knows that there are
too many tunnels to follow him and advises that Martha and Billy head to their
hotel while he’ll continue to search. After searching for a while in vain,
Peter decides to tackle his other problem of paying for Aunt May’s trip and so
heads to the Daily Bugle.
At the Bugle, Peter runs into Betty Brant and
congratulates her on her engagement to Ned, hardly believing the difference
from when he thought he was in love with her. Peter then asks J. Jonah Jameson
if he’d be interested in pictures of the Lizard or Spider-Man, desperately
needing the money. Peter evens resorts to saying he’ll get photos proving
Spider-Man is a menace. Frederick Foswell notes Peter’s desperation for a story
and, finding it suspicious, decides that he’ll tail Peter sometime to see if there’s
a story there. Peter stops by the Silver Spoon café to get out of the rain and
runs into the usual group of Gwen Stacy, Harry Osborn, and Flash Thompson. Gwen
offers to catch Peter up on the material he missed in class that day as Flash
and Peter rib each other about Flash’s recent drafting.
Just then, all eyes are on Mary Jane Watson as she
approaches the table and the group is stunned to discover that Peter already
knows her. Peter introduces Mary Jane to the group before Mary Jane steals
Peter away so that he can take her to a music spot she discovered. Peter notes
that Gwen seems a bit jealous, while Flash is convinced Mary Jane must have
lost a bet. That night, the Lizard prowls the streets and decides he needs to
take care of Spider-Man before he can continue with his plans. He scales a wall
and robs a jewelry showroom high in a skyscraper, planning that Spider-Man
himself will be accused of the crime. That way, either Spider-Man will be too
busy running from the police or he’ll seek the Lizard out, creating a win-win
situation for the Lizard. After the police inspect the crime scene, Spider-Man
is indeed the main suspect, leading to the Daily Bugle putting out a special
edition detailing Spider-Man’s supposed robbery.
Peter sees the headline and correctly deduces that the
Lizard is trying to frame him. This causes Peter to worry all through classes
that day. Finally at night, Spidey goes out looking for the Lizard, eventually
swinging upon him. After setting up his camera, Spidey tackles the Lizard,
leading to a stylish confrontation. While trying to reason with the Lizard,
Spidey gets slammed into the wall by the Lizard’s tail. Spidey then tries
playing possum but the Lizard instead attempts to leave causing Spidey to jump
after him, taunting him so that the Lizard focuses his attention on Spidey.
They continue their fight at the top of a building, before Spidey gets knocked
off by the Lizard’s tail. Spidey saves himself with his webbing but the Lizard
severs the webs causing Spidey to try and make a web cushion to save himself.
Spidey still hits the ground hard and a nearby doctor diagnoses it as a severe
arm sprain while the Lizard escapes. Spidey swings off to alert Martha Connors
about the situation, who understandably doesn’t take the news well. Peter
wearily makes his way back home and gets a call from Mary Jane inviting him out
the next day. Peter declines, not wanting anyone to see him while it’s known
that Spider-Man has a wounded arm, as he agonizes about how to stop the Lizard.