Amazing Spider-Man, The (1963 series) #165

Having been alerted to something going on by his spider-sense, Spider-Man drops through the skylight of a tall skyscraper, to find a heist in progress! He runs through a couple of doors into a dark room where he’s attacked by the unseen perpetrator! After being briefly stunned, Spider-Man chases after the perpetrator and ends up running into uniformed guards. Spidey realizes this lab must be a secret SHIELD installation, when the guards shoot at him, thinking he’s in on the heist! Spidey webs up their eyes and makes a hasty escape out of the window, wondering why he always needs to stick his nose in everywhere. Elsewhere, Curt Connors’ wife Martha and son Billy return from a shopping trip, when Curt suddenly doubles over in pain! While Curt tries to figure out what’s wrong, their door gets knocked off its hinges by the arrival of the perpetrator from the heist earlier, Stegron! Stegron grabs Billy and reveals to Curt that he’s left materials in Curt’s lab with instructions on what to do with them. Stegron leaves with Billy and tells Curt that if he wants to see his son again, he has 48 hours to finish what the instructions tell him!

Meanwhile, Spidey is changing back to Peter in an alley, when he spots Flash Thompson. He runs up to Flash and confronts him about going out with Mary Jane, telling Flash that he thought they’d buried all of their old animosity. Flash then tells Peter that he didn’t realize he and MJ were still an item, and would never have cut in if he did, since Peter is his friend! He then leaves to go have a little chat with MJ about her behavior, leaving Peter to feel embarrassed at himself at his blow up! Elsewhere, at ESU, J. Jonah Jameson meets with Dr. Marla Madison about his plans to take down Spider-Man. She uses a psycho-cybernetic helmet to run tests on him and once they’re done, states that they have everything they need to defeat Spider-Man! Some time later, Peter meets up with Mary Jane to have a much-needed talk. Mary Jane reveals that Flash really laid into her and Peter admits that he has trouble reconciling her behavior. She admits that in the beginning things felt so simple, but that she’s worried she doesn’t know how to handle a relationship like the one they have. She admits to feeling frustrated, seeing all of their friends being happy, while Peter keeps abandoning her to run off and take his photos. This then causes her to feel possessive and frustrated in herself and then frustrated in him, and the whole thing keeps going around in circles.

As the two settle down at the planetarium for a show, Peter suggests that maybe they should just let things ride for a bit, until things level themselves out. While the other attendees aren’t too happy with their talking, Peter and MJ both admit to feeling relieved that they finally cleared the air, just before the lights in the whole building go out! At the same time, Curt works on what Stegron needs, and he notices the stress is causing his hand to change! Back at the Natural History Museum, Stegron uses a device to reanimate the dinosaur skeletons as Peter makes another excuse to go take photos, that Mary Jane takes much better this time. Spidey runs into the reanimated dinosaurs as they clamber out the door of the museum, making their way to Central Park! Spidey’s spider-sense then alerts to him to an attack by Stegron, finally clueing him in on who’s behind all this. Spidey lays into Stegron, who loses his control console in the scuffle. Stegron knocks down a stone pillar, causing an entire wall to collapse and bury Spidey in debris! By the time Spidey has dug himself out, Stegron is gone! Finally, back at Curt Connors’ lab, the strain from working under such pressure causes Curt to transform once more into the Lizard, who claims that he’s going to destroy Stegron! To be continued!