Amazing Spider-Man, The (1963 series) #130

Unable to sleep, Spider-Man goes out web-slinging and quickly comes upon a group of crooks headed for a job. He overhears them heading for a particular skyscraper and drops in on them in his unique way. After a short run-in, most get away but Spidey’s able to snag one of the goons. He presses the crook for information, but just as the guy is about to talk something remote shorts out his brain! This leaves the shocked Spidey with a feeling that things are going to get weird in the coming days! At that same time, at a pier, those same crooks’ boss Hammerhead has a meeting with the Jackal! The Jackal tries to convince Hammerhead that he can be of use to his operation but all he does is enrage Hammerhead, causing the mobster to swear death on him! Unknown to Hammerhead, however, this is all apart of the Jackal’s plan!

Early that following morning, Spider-Man heads to the Baxter Building and wakes up the Human Torch, asking about the car they’ve been building together. Johnny takes Spidey to his garage where he introduces the webhead to his brand new Spider-Mobile! While he thinks it’s ugly, Spidey is impressed with the car’s spider-signal and web-shooters. After Torch shows Spidey all of the vehicle’s various gadgets, they decide the last thing to do is take it for a test drive! This turns out to be a disaster since Spidey never learned to drive, and ends up driving on the wrong side of the road and on the sidewalk, only narrowly avoiding pedestrians and other cars! The Torch then forces him to stop and takes the reigns, deciding to teach Spidey how to drive himself! Meanwhile, all of this is seen from the shadows by Doctor Octopus, fresh out of prison! Doc Ock thinks that this will serve his plans well and rendezvous with his henchmen, before loading into a helicopter to return to his Westchester lair.

A few hours later, Spidey returns to his apartment and soon gets a call from Aunt May. His call is soon interrupted when Mary Jane drops by to tell him about Professor Warren trying to reach him. The two keep things light and flirty as they head back to campus, and MJ reminds Peter of Betty and Ned’s upcoming Christmas Eve party. We then fast forward to Christmas Eve, when Spidey catches more of Hammerhead’s men pulling off a heist. He snares them with the webbing from his Spider-Mobile, but before he can question them, his spider-sense alerts him to the arrival of their hard-headed boss! Hammerhead flips the Spider-Mobile over and surprises Spidey with his speed, knocking Spidey out while he escapes. A few moments later, Spidey regains consciousness and spots the police checking out his overturned car. He webs them up and drives off after snagging an envelope that he theorized was what Hammerhead had been after. Little does Spider-Man know, the letter was left by the Jackal, all part of his plan to get Spidey, Doc Ock, and Hammerhead to destroy each other, leaving him the only one left!

Peter then heads to the Christmas Eve party, being sure to engage the camouflage mode on his Spider-Mobile first! Inside, he’s greeted by Betty and Ned, before they notice J. Jonah Jameson trying to get Peter’s attention. Turns out, Jameson wanted to present Peter with his Christmas bonus…one of his very own cigars. Mary Jane tries to pull the disappointed Peter away to find some mistletoe, but he admits that he’s not feeling in the mood. He ducks into a side room, unsure how to tell MJ that he’s not ready for another relationship yet, so soon after Gwen. He’s finally able to read the letter he found at the crime scene and makes a shocking discovery! He changes to Spidey and hightails it to Doc Ock’s Westchester lair just in time to see his fears confirmed with his own eyes: Doc Ock is marrying Aunt May! To be continued!