Captain Stacy is buried among the crowd of mourners
who have come to pay their respects to a great man. Peter does his best to
comfort Gwen, while worrying what may happen if she ever finds out he’s
Spider-Man! J. Jonah Jameson and Joe Robertson also pay their respects to
Captain Stacy, and Jameson evens notices how Stacy’s political enemies, such as
D.A. candidate Sam Bullit have come to say goodbye to him! On the car ride
home, Peter feels immense guilt for Captain Stacy’s death, only compounded by
the fact that Gwen blames Spider-Man as well! The next day, Gwen pays a visit
to Sam Bullit, in order to help him with his campaign. She wants him to bring
Spider-Man to justice and he feels her endorsement will mean a lot. Bullit
feels her father was too soft on crime and that more intense measures are
needed to punish those who need to be punished…including Spider-Man!
After Gwen departs, Bullit calls Jameson to ask for
the Bugle’s support, which he enthusiastically gives with Bullit’s promise to
take down Spider-Man! Robbie voices his opinions on Bullit, that he’s a
potentially racist fascist who only wants to control things as he sees fit! Later,
Peter catches a TV appearance where Bullit hypes up his plans to bring down
Spider-Man, promising the public that no one is safe until that happens! The
next day, Bullit continues to sway public opinion against Spidey, emphasizing
his desire to make the streets safe again. That night, Spider-Man realizes how
effective his words have been, as the streets are entirely empty; people are
afraid to leave their apartments for fear of him! Still feeling guilty
over his part in Captain Stacy’s death, Spidey wonders if maybe they’re right!
Spidey changes back to Peter and quickly notices that
he’s being followed by a mysterious car. The car pulls in front of him, which
turns out belongs to Sam Bullit, who wants to talk to Peter! Bullit thinks
Peter knows something about Spider-Man but Peter refuses to talk, taking
vehement issue with Bullit’s fearmongering. Bullit drives off and his men rough
up Peter when he refuses to give them any information on Spider-Man. Peter
pretends to be beaten until they round the corner, quickly changing to Spider-Man
to chase after them. He quickly tracks them down, hanging one guy from a
lamppost before chasing the other one. No matter which way he runs, Spidey
keeps on top of him, before finally getting tired of toying with the terrified
thug. Spidey webs him up with a message for his boss before swinging off,
feeling better than ever! That feeling is immediately quashed when he swings
into his apartment, only to find that Gwen and Bullit are there, and they saw
him come in through the window! To be continued!