The Shocker blasts through the wall of Captain Stacy’s
home, before blasting Stacy himself! Shocker blasts through Stacy’s safe, in
order to get his hands on the priceless clay tablet that was still in Captain
Stacy’s possession. Gwen worriedly checks on her father, having heard the
commotion and the Shocker makes a quick getaway. Sometime later, the Shocker
busts down the wall of a seedy pawnshop, looking to fence the tablet to the
highest bidder. Shocker is told that everyone is scared of Spider-Man and no
one wants to touch the tablet, and he decides to really give them someone to be
scared of!
Peter hears a radio report of Shocker’s rampage and
switches to Spider-Man to go look for him. He wants to make this quick, as he’s
seeing Aunt May off at the train station soon and doesn’t want to miss it.
Spidey quickly finds Shocker and they fight until Shocker knocks Spidey off a
roof. Spidey saves himself with his webs and plants a spider-tracer on Shocker
as he’s escaping, so he can easily find him later. Peter heads to the train
station and sees off Aunt May, who’s heading down to Florida for her health with
Anna Watson. Peter sees a newspaper article about Curt Connors, which reminds
him of the last time he fought Connors as the Lizard (back in ASM #45). Peter
ponders the idea of getting a summer job working for Connors, thinking it would
be a fantastic learning experience.
Meanwhile, at the hospital, J. Jonah Jameson continues
to blow a gasket over his paper’s positive reporting on Spider-Man since Robbie
has been in charge, even needing to be sedated. Peter meets up with Gwen at
their usual hangout spot, where they’re surprised by Flash Thompson, home from
the war! Flash flirts with Gwen a bit, causing Peter to lash out at him. He and
Flash fight until Gwen breaks it up, angry with Peter at flying off the handle.
She accuses him of never being around when there’s trouble and finds it ironic
that he’d get so hostile with someone who’s actually seen combat. This causes
Peter to stress about how his secret identity continues to cause problems and
realizes that he may have blown it with Gwen, all thanks to his jealousy and
temper.
Peter then decides to go look for the Shocker to blow
off some steam. He quickly finds him robbing an armored car and the two battle
once more! Spidey finds it difficult to hurt Shocker, as his suit automatically
vibrates to soften the impact from Spidey’s punches. They continue their
intense fight until Spidey blinds Shocker with his webbing and delivers his
strongest punch, knocking Shocker out cold! Spidey is then fired upon by the
armored truck guards before they see Shocker webbed up and realize Spidey was
helping them. Spidey reflects on his rotten luck, for though Shocker is
captured, the tablet is still missing, things are rough with Gwen, and he
forgot to take any photos, landing him back in dire straits once more!