Our story begins with
Spider-Man bemoaning a billboard advertising J. Jonah Jameson’s
anti-Spider-Man news articles. Just
then, Spidey spots some crooks about to break in to a store. He swings down and webs them up, however one
of the crooks says that he’s going to sue Spider-Man for assault and
battery. Spidey realizes he screwed up,
as he should have waited for the criminals to actually break in to the
store. As they haven’t done anything
illegal, the crooks call for a police officer to arrest Spider-Man, and Spidey
cuts out, as he doesn’t have any evidence against the crooks.
Spider-Man blames Jameson’s articles about him, turning
people against him to the point that criminals don’t even fear him
anymore. Spidey swings by the Daily
Bugle to pay Jameson an angry visit but finds the place empty, so he leaves a
little surprise for Jonah instead. Spidey then hears police sirens and sees a
mysterious figure climbing a ladder to a roof and figures he must be who the
police are after. Spidey swings down on
the figure, who introduces himself as the Sandman,
and Spidey realizes that he’s wanted all over by the police. Spidey tries grabbing him, but Sandman turns
his body to sand and slips out of Spidey’s grasp, before turning his body rock
hard to resist Spidey’s punches.
Sandman then knocks Spider-Man away, which ends up tearing
his mask. Peter then imagines that even
if he captures Sandman, his identity will be out, and Jameson’s crusade will
have him thrown in prison, leaving Aunt May to fend for herself. Peter considers the risk too great, and so
flees the scene leaving Sandman to head for a nearby bank. There, Sandman uses his powers, including
turning his finger into a sandy key, to break into the bank. Back at home, Peter is attempting to sew up
his torn mask, with a lot of difficulty.
During his struggles, he sees a news report on TV that chronicles how
the Sandman came to be. He was a career
criminal named Flint Marko who was able to escape prison, and while hiding out
at a nuclear testing center, was caught in an explosion which ended up turning
his body into sand.
Peter suddenly hears
Aunt May coming and throws his robe on to hide his Spider-Man costume. Aunt May surmises that he must be sick due to
how tightly he’s clutching his robe and Peter goes along with it to divert
suspicion. Meanwhile, Sandman evades
capture by the police. The next day,
Peter heads to the Daily Bugle, where
J. Jonah Jameson has discovered the surprise Spider-Man left him, as he gets
webbed to his chair. Peter runs into Betty Brant, Jameson’s secretary, on
the way in, and she asks Peter to give Jameson a change of pants. Peter obliges and asks Jameson for an advance
on his next paycheck. Jameson is not at
all happy about Peter’s request and tells him not to come back until he’s
gotten new pics they can use.
Dejected, Peter arrives at school where Liz Allan reminds Peter that they had date plans. Peter realizes he forgot and tells her he
can’t make it, as he was planning to hunt down Sandman after school. Liz angrily storms off, giving Flash Thompson ample ammunition to
insult Peter. Nearby, Sandman is still
evading the police but he’s getting tired and happens upon Peter’s school and
decides it’s a good place to hide out.
Peter meanwhile, due to his woes, was spacing out in class and was then
tasked with taking a box of old bottles to the janitor, where Peter finds him
adjusting the new king sized vacuum cleaner the school had just gotten.
Sandman, now inside the school, ducks into a classroom and
finds it full of people. Sandman tries
to convince the principal who’s there, Principal Davis, to give him a diploma,
as Sandman views this as the perfect opportunity, given he never finished
school. The principal bravely stands up
to Sandman, urging the students to escape while they can. Having heard the whole thing from the hallway,
Spider-Man suddenly bursts into the room and decks Sandman as the students
cheer him on. Realizing he’s too dangerous,
Spider-Man tries to lure Sandman away from the students, leading him to the
gym, and attempting to trap Sandman in his web to no avail.
After Sandman envelopes Spider-Man in his sandy body, Spidey
rolls down the stairs towards the basement, and the landing frees him from
Sandman. Spider-Man threatens Sandman
with a drill, knowing he’ll turn to sand to avoid it. This gives Spidey the opportunity to grab the
new high powered vacuum cleaner and he uses it to suck up Sandman, trapping him
in the vacuum, thereby defeating him.
Peter then realizes he forgot to get any pictures of the fight so takes
some nearby sand and punches and jumps through it to make it look like he’s
fighting Sandman, rationalizing that it’s not immoral, as the actual thing had
just happened. Spider-Man hands the imprisoned
Sandman to the police, as J. Jonah Jameson demands they arrest Spider-Man
too. Now with the day saved, Peter tries
to re-make his plans with Liz, but Flash antagonizes him, telling Peter she’s
already made plans with him. Peter loses
his temper but realizes he can’t fight Flash for fear of hurting him and so has
to seemingly chicken out of a fight. The
issue ends with Peter hearing that the public still distrusts Spider-Man,
leaving Peter to wonder if it’s all worth it.
He concludes, however, that he can’t give up being Spider-Man and hopes
the world will understand one day.