Step Into My Parlor...' Said The Spider To The Fly!

J. Jonah Jameson complaining, as usual, to City Editor Joseph Robertson that he has devoted years exposing Spider-Man as a menace but that the sales figures for the Daily Bugle are dropping. Robertson says the reason for sales dropping is because of the Daily Globe making a comeback. He further says that the Globe scooped the Bugle on the White Tiger story and that it has a new publisher in the form of K. J. Clayton. Just then, Peter Parker shows up, explains to Jameson that he was sleeping, and is told both that he cannot rest and that he should be out taking photos of Spider-Man. Parker explains to Jameson that he (Jameson) had told him (Parker) not to take any photos of Spider-Man because they were making him (Spider-Man) look too sympathetic. Then Parker gives Jameson an idea when he (Parker) tells him (Jameson) that most of Spider-Man's regular enemies are all in jail. With that, Jameson says he is going out and to put Parker on the list to receive a cigar-scented Christmas card. This leaves Robertson and Parker naturally perturbed at Jameson's sudden change of nature.

Several hours later, at the waterfront, readers find the police facing a hostage situation, led by Captain Bonner. Soon Spider-Man swings into action, but he is not interested in taking photos because it is only "measly little kidnappers."

By going unnoticed, Spider-Man uses a web-line to sneak across into the building where the kidnappers are. Inside, the kidnappers are holding an old man and a young woman hostage. The leader is Rick Deacon, of whom the other members of the gang say that Captain Bonner (Deacon's former parole officer) had sworn he had gone straight. Suddenly the kidnappers hear a creak upstairs and Deacon sends one of his henchmen, Chino, to investigate. Chino, bursting into an upstairs room with his gun ready, suddenly comes across Spider-Man, who makes a witty remark. Spider-Man webs up Chino's mouth then webs away his gun and finally knocks him out.

Then Spider-Man comes across the rest of Deacon's gang by accidentally falling through the floor. He defeats them all, let alone Richard Deacon himself, who escapes with one of the hostages. When Deacon and the hostage are outside the waterfront building, the police and Deacon's former parole officer, Captain Bonner, confront them. Spider-Man quickly webs away the hostage, and Deacon fires wildly towards him. The police are quick to fire at Deacon, and he falls over the pier into the water.

Meanwhile, at a secret laboratory farther down the waterfront, readers find Jameson talking to a certain scientist, Dr. Harlan Stillwell Ph.D., with a request to create a new superhero. Stillwell reminds Jameson that he also came to his brother Farley with a similar request, but also that it had ended up transforming former private investigator Macdonald Gargan into the Scorpion, which had led to Dr. Farley Stillwell's death. Stillwell is in desperate need of funding to carry out this sort of research and accepts Jameson's offer.

Ironically, Jameson's commission of a fortune dovetails exactly with Stillwell's ongoing research, which involves the common housefly. But Deacon had been outside, listening in on the previous conversation about creating a superhero between Jameson and Stillwell. The seriously wounded Deacon comes inside and forces Stillwell to experiment on him. With the experimental equipment quickly set-up, it is not long before the process has turned Deacon into a human fly.

It begins with Spider-Man swinging back to the Daily Bugle Building, where readers find Robertson asking Jameson whether he is all right when the phone rings.

On the phone is Stillwell, who tells Jameson that something has come up and that he better hurry over. Jameson again quickly makes his exit from the Bugle Building and hurries over, only to find the lifeless body of Stillwell, who has been shot to his death. While running from the scene, he is captured by Deacon, who has now assumed the identity of the Fly. The Fly takes Jameson hostage and flies to the Bugle. At the Bugle building he crashes through the window and administers his terms in rescuing Jameson; those terms are that he wants a re-match with Spider-Man.

Spider-Man manages to fight the Fly and defeat him and get some photos for the Bugle.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Human Fly, J. Jonah Jameson, Joe Robertson

Continuity Notes

• Joseph Robertson mentions that the Daily Bugle was scooped on the White Tiger story by the Daily Globe in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu # 22 causing sales figures to drop.

• There are multiple mentions of Harlan's brother, Farley's, creation of the Scorpion. That happened in Amazing Spider-Man #20.