I: Feature Story: "What A Tangled Web We Weave - - !"

Pages: 20

Script: Stan Lee
Layouts: John Romita
Pencils: Don Heck
Inks: Mike Esposito (credited as Mickey Demeo)
Letters: Sam Rosen

Villain: Kingpin, Dr. Winkler

Guest Appearance: Capt. George Stacy, Gwen Stacy, Harry Osborn, Mary Jane Watson, Norman Osborn

Death: Dr. Winkler

Flashback Appearance: Green Goblin

Gadgets & Technology: Electronic Tracer

Synopsis: (continued from ASM #60)

As Peter stresses out over how Gwen is going to treat him now that he's responsible for implicating her father in robbery, the girl in question has confronted her father with the news article that carries Peter's pictures. Captain Stacy is still in a daze from his brainwashing at the hands of the Kingpin, and can't adequately explain to Gwen what is going on, but he decides he must go away and hide to keep from being arrested. Gwen goes with him, to look after him.

Peter calls to check on Gwen, but there is no answer. He realizes how at risk she and her father are from the Kingpin, so he swings into action as Spider-Man to check on them. By the time he reaches their home, he spots a bunch of the Kingpin's goons breaking in. He dispatches them all quickly, but when he tries to interrogate them, finds that they're all brainwashed, too!

Mary Jane meets up with Harry Osborn, who fills her in on Gwen and her dad's recent troubles. When he gives her a lift over to the Gloom Room A-Go-Go to pick up her check, the place is all boarded up and closed! Harry's father, Norman, is called to check on some unexpected financial expenditures at his company. It turns out that one of his scientists purchased a piece of electronic equipment without his permission. He confronts the scientist in his laboratory - and it happens to be Dr. Winkler! Osborn gives him an earful, then departs, leaving Winkler alone with his real boss - the Kingpin - who is hiding in behind another door.

The Kingpin is satisfied that Winkler continues building the Brainwashing Machine in his private lab, as nobody would think to look for them in the confines of a "respectable chemical plant" like Osborn's. His next orders involve disposing of Capt. Stacy, who is now compromised as an agent and worthless to him, and to destroy Spider-Man. He sends some flunkies off with an Electronic Tracer that will help them find the brainwashed Capt. Stacy.

Harry Osborn visits his dad, who is having flashbacks of his experience with the Green Goblin (see ASM #40), but his memory about those days is still very hazy. Spider-Man prepares a gas mask for his next run-in with Kingpin, so he won't risk being gassed again (see ASM #51), and then he sets out for the showdown. Meanwhile, the Kingpin's henchmen have tracked down Capt. Stacy and Gwen to an airport, where they are about to board a plane. They grab the two of them and lead them away at gunpoint.

Spidey heads to the Gloom Room to look for clues, and finds the place is empty. He finds an electronic device that doesn't seem to belong there, and it's got an "Osborn Laboratory" stamp on it. Worried that this caper might now involve the Green Goblin, he heads there straightaway.

And at Osborn's lab, the Kingpin is greeting his two new captures, Gwen and her father. Dr. Winkler straps the two of them into a chair to set a trap for Spider-Man. Norman Osborn is walking by the factory and sees Winkler's office light on, so he goes to see what the weird scientist is up to that late at night. Spider-Man comes crashing through the window, leaping atop the Kingpin and knocking him to the ground. He tries to gas him again, but Spidey is able to withstand the attack, and persists in bashing away at the tubby crimeboss.

Osborn walks in and can barely understand the tableau unfolding before him, with the sight of Gwen and Capt. Stacy hogtied and held at gunpoint by his employee, Dr. Winkler, with Spider-Man punching out the Kingpin in the background. He acts on reflex, leaping at Winkler and tackling him from behind. Winkler's gun goes off and discharges into the Brainwashing Machine, causing it to explode. This loosens a giant metal vat that hangs over Gwen and her dad. Spidey webswings his way over to them and rescues them, as the thick acrid smoke envelops the lab.

As Winkler lies dead in front of him, Norman Osborn tells Spidey that the Kingpin has raced to the roof and escaped in his private helicopter. When he returns to the scene, he overhears Gwen explaining to the cops that Spider-Man and Norman Osborn rescued them from death. The evidence of the Brainwashing Machine exonerates her father as well. But as Spidey walks away, he realizes that Peter Parker is still not out of the woods with the girl he realizes he loves.

--synopsis by Gormuu

Issues Reprinted
Amazing Spider-Man #51-61, Annual #4

Click on cover image to learn more about each issue.