I: Feature Story: "The Man Called Electro"

Pages: 22

Script: Stan Lee
Pencils: Steve Ditko
Inks: Steve Ditko
Letters: Artie Simek

First Appearance: Electro/Max Dillon, Harris

Villain: Electro

Origin: Electro/Max Dillon

Guest Appearance: Aunt May, Flash Thompson, Liz Allan, Betty Brant, J. Jonah Jameson

Flashback Cameo: Harris

Synopsis: Spider-Man races through the city, swinging from building to building. He passes by a shootout and is seemingly ignoring everything he passes by - including a high-stakes shootout between some gangsters and the police! He hits the streets running and changes into his street clothes. His race against time now complete, he hand-delivers a doctor's prescription to his bedridden Aunt May. As she rests, he attentively sits by her bedside.

Across town, a super-powered man named Electro is powering up by use of a giant electrical transformer. He decides to knock over an armored car, and it is a comparatively easy task for someone with his abilities to manipulate and project electrical currents.

Peter is informed by a doctor making a house call that they must move his Aunt May to a hospital, as her condition has gotten worse. His mind is so much on his sick aunt that he doesn't even hear his classmates teasing him later at school. When he visits her at the hospital, he sees his friend Betty Brant keeping vigil at her bedside. Later, when Spider-Man tries to find some action so he can take some money-making pictures for the Bugle, he finds nothing but a driving rainstorm that completely soaks his costume. Making matters worse, he tries to study for his midterm exams, but he can't get his mind off worries about his Aunt May.

The next day, J. Jonah Jameson is at his bank making a deposit, and it just so happens that Electro is at the rear entrance trying to rob the place. He makes away with a large bag of money and gets away by climbing up the side of a building using his electrical power to grab ahold of the iron beams inside the concrete. Jameson sees this and presumes that Electro is really Spider-Man, and prints banner headlines in the Bugle accordingly! Peter hears about this terrible accusation just as he receives word that his aunt's operation is going to cost one-thousand dollars. Peter asks for the money as an advance from JJJ, but is turned down. Jameson tells him he would gladly give him the money if he came up with photographic proof that Spider-Man is indeed Electro. Peter decides what he should do instead is go after the reward money being offered for Electro's capture.

He sets out looking all over for Electro but runs into dead end after dead end, until finally, his spider-sense is triggered and he has found his man! Unfortunately, Spider-Man makes the mistake of touching Electro, and he is stunned into unconsciousness. Electro escapes with all the money, and with his escape goes Peter's chance at getting the reward money and being able to pay for Aunt May's operation. Still, he decides he needs the money so badly that he fakes some pictures to make it appear as if Electro is changing into Spider-Man's costume. Sure enough, JJJ is thrilled to have such pictures, and gives him the money he asked for. The next edition of the Bugle runs the photographic "proof" that Spider-Man and Electro are one and the same. Peter feels ashamed about what he has done.

When Electro reads the headlines, he's thrilled. He knows Spider-Man is out of action, and nothing can stop him as he reigns over the city in terror. He reflects back on how he got his powers: as an egotistical line repairman, he was begged by his boss to rescue a fellow lineman from electrocution. He did so - but only under the assurance he would get paid a huge bonus for doing so. Right after he rescued his co-worker, a freak bolt of lightning zapped him while he was near the livewires, and it instilled in him supreme powers over electricity. He conducts currents through his body, and through a harness he developed in his costume, has control over it with evil efficiency; he decides to use these powers to embark on a life of crime.

Back to the current day, Electro heads to a federal penitentiary to spring some prisoners to get them to be his flunkies. Peter overhears discussion about Electro trying to break into the prison, but he cannot leave his Aunt May's bedside. He sits with Betty Brant, hovering over his beloved aunt. At the prison, Jameson is sure that Spider-Man and Electro are the same person, since Spidey isn't around to help quell the jailbreak. In fact, things aren't going as Electro planned, as the hasty prisoners start a rush to the gates and a riot breaks out.

Aunt May's doctor informs Peter that her operation was a success, and so he decides to spring back into action. He tells Betty that he is going to shoot pictures of the prison riot, and despite her warnings to stay away from danger, he swings into action as Spider-Man. As he web-swings his way through the city, Jameson spots him and realizes that he and Electro are not the same person after all! Once again, Jameson fears he will be a laughingstock. As soon as Spidey reaches the prison, he puts on rubber gloves and boots to guard against Electro.

Speaking of the electrical super-villain, he is busy trying to get some of the rioters to calm down and work under his control, but before he can get them organized, Spidey hops down and starts punching the heck out of the prisoners. Electro gets in on the act, and despite being outnumbered by a wide margin, Spider-Man keeps everybody on the run. Eventually, Spider-Man gains access to a water hose and aims it at Electro, hitting him with an intense surge of water and causing Electro to short-circuit. Spidey hands Electro over to the prison guards and gathers his camera.

Peter is very happy to be able to sell his pictures of his fight with Electro to Jameson, who tells the young photog that this will make up for those other pictures that were faked. Betty turns up her nose to Peter, telling him that she's disappointed with him for putting his life in danger constantly to take pictures. Betty tells him that he reminds her of another person she once knew, and that she doesn't want to be hurt again. Peter doesn't respond well to her vague message, and heads to the hospital to his Aunt May. As he leaves the hospital, Betty races up to him, apologizing for what she said, and they walk down the street to reconcile their relationship.

--synopsis by Gormuu

Issues Reprinted
Spider-Man from Amazing Fantasy #15 and
Amazing Spider-Man #1-10

Click on cover image to learn more about each issue.