Our story starts by recapping last issue, detailing
Betty Brant’s distress at the Daily Bugle attack and Ned Leeds taking her home,
as well as Aunt May’s fainting spells. When Anna Watson decides take Aunt May
out, Peter decides to go out swinging as Spider-Man. He finds nothing worth
noting about, narrowly missing the Cat Burglar, mentioned last issue, climbing
up a nearby wall. The Cat Burglar praises his luck at not being spotted and
hopes that he’s too small time for the likes of Spider-Man to deal with. The
Cat enters an apartment and cleans out the safe inside. Later on, the owner of
said safe comes home to find it empty, being none other than J. Jonah Jameson!
This causes Jonah to put out a $1,000 reward for anyone who can bring in the
Cat Burglar!
At that moment, across town, a group of masked mystery
men attack a truck transporting uranium through the city. Spider-Man swings
down to intercept them, as one of the men tells the one driving to get ready.
Just as Spider-Man is off balance, they make sharp turn, sending Spidey flying
off the truck, while the men are able to stay on due to their magnetic shoes.
Spidey gracefully flips around, landing safely on a wall but finds that the men
and the truck have gotten away. Spidey then hears about the reward for the Cat
Burglar’s capture and swings by the Bugle to tell Jameson that he should have
the reward money ready, as Spidey plans to bring him in! Jameson, livid at the
idea of possibly having to pay Spider-Man, calls Frederick Foswell to get him
to use his contacts to find the Cat Burglar first.
The next day, Peter is on his way to see Betty when he
runs into Liz Allan! Liz reveals that she’s gotten a job recently and asks a
favor from Peter. Liz has noticed Flash Thompson following her, in order to
find out where she works, and she asks Peter to distract Flash for a bit. Peter
intercepts Flash, much to Flash’s annoyance, before Peter spots a figure he
thinks must be the Cat Burglar on a nearby roof! Peter and Flash tussle a
little bit before Peter very lightly taps Flash, knocking him out just long
enough to go intercept the figure. It turns out, it wasn’t the Cat, just a
disgruntled ex-employee, there to get even with his boss. Spidey apprehends the
man quickly before heading back to Flash as Peter, just as he comes to, and
gives him a fake address of where Liz works.
Peter finally gets in contact with Betty and she tells
him there’s something important she needs to say, so he races over to see her.
Once Peter arrives, Betty reveals that Ned has asked her to marry him! Peter,
shocked, decides he needs to reveal that he’s Spider-Man and propose himself.
However, when he brings up Spider-Man, Betty recoils, saying that she couldn’t
love someone who puts their life in danger, and says that she was attracted to
Peter in the first place because he was nothing like that! Thinking she now
wants Ned over him, and realizing that Spider-Man will always come between
them, Peter storms out, leaving Betty crying, as she reveals to herself that
it’s really Peter she loves. Peter walks through the city depressed, before
hearing a shot, and coming upon a group of fleeing thieves as Spider-Man.
Spidey easily captures the crooks, as one of the masked men from before looks
on, before alerting his mystery boss to tell him that the group was captured.
Back at home, Aunt May quickly gets up after having
experienced another dizzy spell, not wanting Peter to worry. She tells Peter
that Betty called quite a few times but Peter feels there’s nothing left to
say. Meanwhile, the Cat Burglar decides to make one last score and sets out
with his gear. Foswell, as Patch, alerts JJ to some info he found on the Cat,
as JJ hopes they can get him before Spider-Man does. While trying to break into
an apartment, the Cat Burglar is spotted by another tenant and the police are
alerted, shining a searchlight on the area, which draws Spider-Man there.
Spidey chases the Cat Burglar, as he uses an explosive to try and drop a large
water tower on Spidey! Spidey dodges around his gunfire, as police suddenly
appear ahead of the Cat Burglar, blocking him off. The Cat sets off a smoke
bomb to try and cover his escape, as the police search around. The cops end up
finding him in a nearby chimney, and Spidey gets pics of the situation, while
Jameson is relieved he doesn’t have to pay Spider-Man. Our story ends with
Peter taking the photos to the Bugle, rebuffing Betty when she tries to speak
him, as he leaves dejectedly, with the metaphorical spirit of Spider-Man
pushing the two forever apart.