Our story begins with our hero in a rough spot, as
Peter Parker gets an earful from his Aunt May, nagging him about going out with
Mary Jane Watson. Peter reminds Aunt May that he already has a girlfriend, and
eventually decides to go out as Spider-Man, in order to avoid more of Aunt
May’s pestering. While swinging around, Spidey spots some thieves exiting a
store. The thieves happen upon a nearby blind man, who we know to be Matt
Murdock, alias Daredevil, and Spidey swings down and stylishly defeats the
crooks, earning gratitude from Murdock. After Spidey swings off, Matt surmises,
with help from his enhanced senses, that Spider-Man must be very young, about
17. Matt thinks about how he was planning on taking down the crooks himself and
changes to Daredevil in order to make it back to his law office in a quicker
and more fun fashion. There, Matt encounters his law partner, Foggy Nelson, as
he tells Matt that he and Karen Page, their secretary, are going to the circus
the next day, and invite Matt to join them, but Matt declines, feeling wary of
his feelings for Karen.
Meanwhile, the next day we check in on the
aforementioned circus, where we discover that it’s actually the
Circus of Crime, run by their leader, the Ringmaster! The Ringmaster rushes to make sure
everything is ready for their plan, revealing that they’ve advertised that
Spider-Man will be at their circus, hoping to draw a bigger crowd. Peter later
sees the advertisement and thinks that maybe it’s not such a bad idea to show
up, hoping to improve his public image. Peter checks in with J. Jonah Jameson
to make sure he doesn’t need him, and Jameson scolds him for not bringing in
any photos lately, even telling Peter he’s through printing about Spider-Man.
Betty Brant then tries to make plans with Peter but sees the circus ticket and
assumes Peter is going with another girl, rushing off before Peter can explain.
Back at the Nelson and Murdock law office, Matt hears
about Spider-Man’s attendance at the circus and decides to join Foggy and Karen
after all. With all of our various characters arriving at the circus, Matt,
Foggy, and Karen find their seats, as Pete switches to Spider-man, making a
grand entrance. Spidey puts on a daring acrobatic display, wowing the cheering
crowd. The Ringmaster is surprised at Spider-Man’s actual arrival but decides
that it can still work for his plan. The Ringmaster calls Spider-Man down and
uses the hypnotic device in his hat to hypnotize Spider-Man, along with the
entire audience. While everyone is hypnotized, the circus goes about stealing
their valuables. There is one person unaffected by the Ringmaster’s trick
however, due to his blindness, giving Matt the opportunity to switch to
Daredevil to confront the Ringmaster.
Before Daredevil can reach the Ringmaster, Ringmaster
commands the hypnotized Spider-Man to defend him. Daredevil knows he’s
outmatched, and realizes he’ll have to outthink Spider-Man, being grateful that
Spidey doesn’t currently have all of his faculties. Daredevil climbs up the
trapezes, and is able to outmaneuver Spider-Man, due to Spidey having to stop
to receive more commands from the Ringmaster. With this pause, Daredevil is
able drop down, knocking the Ringmaster over with a large circus ball, and grabbing
his dropped hat, using it to break Spider-Man out the Ringmaster’s control.
With Spidey now in control of himself again, the Ringmaster commands his Circus
of Crime to stop the two heroes.
Daredevil and Spider-Man plow through the first wave
of attackers with little difficulty. Daredevil quickly realizes that Spider-Man
doesn’t really need his help, as he changes back to Matt Murdock to enjoy the
show. The strongman tries swinging a heavy barbell at Spidey, who easily
catches it, flipping him over, before throwing the barbell to more of the
performers, incapacitating them. Spidey jumps up to the trapezes and webs the
acrobats to their trapezes. Finally, the human cannonball shoots himself at Spidey,
but Spidey is able to swing him around, sending him flying directly into the
last of the circus members. The Ringmaster recovers his hat and tries to
hypnotize Spidey once more, but Spidey simply closes his eyes and the conks the
Ringmaster on the head. Using the hat, Spidey lifts the hypnotic spell on the
audience. Our issue ends with Matt cheekily giving the captured Ringmaster a
card for their offices, and Spidey swings off, thinking it ironic that this is
the most fun he’s had today.
Excelsioring your collection