Spider-Man swims to the bottom of the Hudson River to
find his wrecked Spider-Mobile. Still with no way to get it out, he swims back
up to the pier, ruminating on everything that happened last issue with the
supposed Mysterio. Peter inspects his injured hands before he hears something
up on the pier. He swings up to find Mysterio and attacks him, passing right
through him, causing Spidey to land on his injured hands! Spidey calls out this
new Mysterio as an imposter, prompting Mysterio to lift his helmet and reveal
nothing there, claiming he really is dealing with a dead man! Assuming
it’s just another illusion, Spidey sprays his webs all over, coating Mysterio
head to toe. However, when he tries to inspect his immobile foe, the webs
fall apart, completely empty, as if Mysterio just vanished!
Back at his barren new apartment, Peter uses the only
thing he owns, a phone, to call up Aunt May. Mary Jane arrives while Peter’s on
the phone, and while she gets comfortable, Peter suddenly sees the Kingpin
behind her! He tells Mary Jane to get down and throws the phone at the Kingpin,
who completely vanishes! With Aunt May royally freaked out, Peter tries to
assure her that everything is okay, and MJ admits that that little display has
her worried too! Glory and Mrs. Muggins barge in to see what all the commotion
was about, and Peter and MJ sheepishly claim they just dropped the phone. Peter
introduces Mary Jane to Glory, who invites them to a party she’s having the
following weekend. At the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson gets a call from the
new Mysterio, reporting that Spider-Man seems so rattled, he thinks he’s
fighting a ghost! Jameson is elated at this news, so happy that he offers
raises to Robbie and Betty, royally freaking them out! Peter and MJ arrive just
then, and Robbie asks to speak with Peter, while Betty talks to MJ. After Betty
asks MJ how things are going with Peter, she tells MJ that she and Ned finally
picked a date to get married! Mary Jane is overcome with happiness at this
news, and the news is quickly shared with Peter and Robbie as well, with
everyone full of joy.
On the way out, Peter muses to Mary Jane how much
feelings can change. Betty was his first real girlfriend and there was a time
when he hated Ned but now, he couldn’t be happier for them! His thoughts are
cut short when he spots someone who looks like Gwen in the crowd and
frantically runs after her! He soon loses her, thinking her just another one of
Mysterio’s illusions, and tells a concerned MJ that he’ll call her later. Some
time later, Spider-Man goes out looking for Mysterio, angrier than ever now! Having
found an image device on his costume that he realized Mysterio planted to
transmit and project his illusions from, Spidey built a device of his own to
track the transmissions. He soon tracks down Mysterio’s lair and confronts him.
The clearly flustered new Mysterio tries the “dead man reveal” again but Spidey
punches him and flips him over, removing his mist-spewing gloves in the
process. Spidey takes down the new Mysterio and webs him up, before removing
another mask designed to make it look like he didn’t have a head! He reveals
himself as a guy named Daniel Berkhart who used to work with the original
Mysterio, and decided to use the gadgets he left to mess with Spidey. When he
frustratedly asks why it didn’t work, Spidey replies that maybe clothes don’t
make the man!
In an epilogue, Jameson gets a call from Berkhart at
the police station. Berkhart threatens to reveal Jameson’s role in his
activities unless he provides him with a top-rate lawyer! Feeling panicked,
Jameson races out of the building, and just tells Betty that he’s going to
Paris and may be gone awhile!
Excelsioring your collection