Amazing Sider-Man #263
The Spectacular Spider-Kid!
Ollie Osnick is patrolling the city in his new costumed identity of the Amazing Spectacular Spider-Kid. As he moves across the city with his mechanical spider-legs, Ollie thinks back to how misguided he was in the past, worshiping Doctor Octopus. He recalls how he used his mechanical arms to go on a crime spree, only to be stopped by Spider-Man. Since the hero gave him a second chance by letting him go, Ollie was inspired by Spider-Man to be a hero. Modifying his mechanical arms, he took on the guise of Spider-Kid to try and fight crime like his new hero. His thoughts are interrupted by a woman's scream. Spider-Kid follows the sound to an alley where he finds members of the Blazing Skull gang attempting to mug an elderly couple in an alleyway. When the Spider-Kid tries to stop them, he trips over his own mechanical legs and crashes into the thugs. This allows their would-be victims escape. The two gang members are furious that their victims escape and are about to teach Spider-Kid a lesson when the sound of approaching police cars scare them away. When the police arrive on the scene they are confused by the sight of the Spider-Kid. Having completely recovered from his fall, Ollie manages to escape. Considering what he accomplished on his first night out as a superhero, Ollie believes that Spider-Man would be proud of him.
Meanwhile, Spider-Man and the Black Cat are racing away from the Kingpin's headquarters after a failed assault. Although the battle was a failure, the Black Cat is happy that Spider-Man now knows about her new bad luck powers. However, Spider-Man is worried as to why the Kingpin gave her these powers and what his game is. The Black Cat assures the wall-crawler that she is in full control of her newfound powers. However, given the fact that the Cat had kept this a secret for so long leads him to doubt her assurances. The Black Cat is insulted and abruptly leaves the scene. As Spider-Man goes his own way, he can't blame the Black Cat for getting short with him, as he has been on edge since his recent battle with the Hobgoblin. The Hobgoblin had kidnapped Liz Osborn in order to get at her husband Harry. Liz appeared to go into labor during the battle, but after she was rushed to the hospital the doctors determined it to be a false labor brought on by the stress of being held hostage. Spider-Man was going to visit Liz in the hospital, but now it is too late so he decides to retire for the night.
Returning home, Peter Parker grabs a quick bite to eat and thinks about how his Aunt May has been mad at him since he told her that he dropped out of grad school. Peter realizes that he has been meaning to call his Aunt and try to patch things up but things have been keeping him away from doing so. After washing his costume, an exhausted Peter Parker heads off to bed. The following morning, Ollie Osnick is woken up by his mother. Ollie is exhausted from being out late the night before and gets ready for school. There Ollie is harassed by a group of kids led by his old friend Brad Rossi. This bullying is stopped by Jane Lane, who Ollie considers the prettiest girl in his school. Osnick is impressed to discover that she stood up for him and wonders what she would think if she knew he was secretly the Spider-Kid. Meanwhile, Peter Parker arrives at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital to see how Liz Osborn is doing. There he meets Harry and the doctors tell both of them that the pregnancy has hit some complications and that it is too soon to determine if everything will be okay. Harry is wracked with guilt over the whole situation, as he blames himself for it and he doesn't know what he would do if Liz didn't make. Peter thinks to himself how much he can relate because that's just how he felt when Gwen Stacy died.
Later that day, back at Ollie Osnick's school, the class bell rings. Walking the halls, Ollie accidentally bumps into Brad Rossi. Rossi is about to beat Ollie up when the frightened youth warns Rossi against it, saying that he has powerful friends. Brad finds this hilarious and he, and everyone in earshot gets a good laugh when Ollie claims that he is friends with Spider-Man. Ollie is allowed to leave, he vows to make Brad Rossi regret making a fool of him. Having seen this, Jane Lane has had enough of Brad picking on Ollie and dumps him on the spot. Furious over this, Brad vows to get revenge against on Osnick for ruining his relationship. Back at the hospital, Mary Jane Watson arrives and learns that Liz is still in labor. She offers to stay with Harry so that Peter can leave. Peter is consumed with worries about what would happen if Liz lost the baby. When Peter gets back to his apartment he remembers that he left his Spider-Man costume to soak overnight. He rushes to the sink and fishes out the costume and realizes, to his horror, that it shrunk in the water overnight. With no other choice, Spider-Man goes into his closed and digs out the black and white costume that the Black Cat sewed for him, based off of the alien costume he recently got rid of.
That evening, Ollie Osnick is tinkering in his lab and puts the finishing touches on his newest invention, a modified flashlight. Changing into his Spider-Kid outfit, Ollie goes to the roof of his apartment building. He points the flashlight at the sky and turns it on. It illuminates a bright spider symbol in the night sky. This is spotted by Spider-Man, who is web-slinging across the city. Curious to know what is going on, Spider-Man goes to check it out. He finds Spider-Kid on the rooftop and asks him what he is doing. Ollie is upset to see that Spider-Man has changed his costume again as their outfits no longer match. Suddenly, Spider-Man realizes that he is talking to Ollie Osnick. When Ollie explains that he wants to be Spider-Man's sidekick, the wall-crawler isn't impressed. Spider-Man tries to explain the dangers of crime fighting and that he is able to do what he does due to his super-human abilities. Although Spider-Man tries to let Ollie down gently, the boy takes the rejection hard and runs off crying. As it so happens, Jane Lane is passing by and when she sees the Spider-Kid leaping between two buildings, she recognizes him as Ollie based on his physique and decides to follow him and see what is going on. She isn't the only one who sees Ollie either, the members of the Blazing Skull Gang spot the would-be hero and decide to get revenge against him.
Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Liz Osborn continues to struggle through the labor process. Doctors realize that they are going to have to engage in medical intervention to help her through the birthing process. While elsewhere, Spider-Man searches the area to try and find Ollie in order to make him understand. Jane Lane finds Ollie first and he brings her into a nearby alley so he can confide in her in privacy. That's when the Blazing Skulls arrive, prompting Ollie to grab Jane and flee. Before the thugs can catch up with him, Spider-Man leaps in and incapacitates most of the thugs. However, some of them got past Spider-Man and now have Ollie and Jane cornered in a dead end alley. Ollie courageously stands up to the thugs. Although he is no match for them, they are frightened off when they notice Spider-Man atop one of the buildings. As the crooks flee, Spider-Man webs up the entrance to the alley, stopping the gang members in their tracks. In the aftermath of the battle, Jane Lane is impressed by Ollie's bravery but was worried that he could have been seriously hurt. Spotting Spider-Man up on the building, Ollie tells her that he is going to hang up his costume, just for her.
Changing back into Peter Parker, Spider-Man returns to the Columbia where he learns that Liz's birth was a success thanks to a cesarean section. Harry is overjoyed that his wife has given birth to a healthy baby boy. They all celebrate and are soon allowed to see Liz and the newborn. This renews hope in Peter, and he decides that he needs to tie up some loose ends. The next day, Brad Rossi and his pals are about to begin their daily bullying on Ollie Osnick when suddenly Spider-Man shows up. Not only are they shocked to see that Ollie was telling the truth about being friends with thew wall-crawler, Brad Rossi is also surprised to see that Ollie is now making time with his ex-girlfriend Jane Lane. Spider-Man swings away and although he has problems of his own to sort out, he can't help but feel great.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Black Cat, Spectacular Spider-Kid, Harry Osborn, Liz Osborn, Normie Osborn, Zelda Osnick, Brad Rossi, Jane Lane
Continuity Notes
Ollie recalls his embarrassing and short-lived career as "Doctor Octopus", that happened in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #72.
At this story, Spider-Man and the Black Cat had just escaped from the Kingpin's office building. Their battle with the Kingpin is chronicled in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #99. It's here that Spider-Man learned that the Black Cat was given powers by the Kingpin. That happened in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #89.
Spider-Man recounts his battle with the Hobgoblin, that happened last issue.
Peter recalls how his Aunt May is upset with him for quitting grad school. Peter told her this in Amazing Spider-Man #253. This issue erroneously attributes these events to Amazing Spider-Man #252.
Peter relates Harry's inability to protect Liz from the Hobgoblin to his inability to protect Gwen Stacy. Gwen was killed during a battle between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin back in Amazing Spider-Man #121.
The black and white costume that Peter Parker puts on here is not the one alien costume he got from Battleworld back in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8, a costume that Peter gave up in Amazing Spider-Man #258 after discovering that it was alive. This is actually a cloth version of the costume made by the Black Cat in Peter Paker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #99.
Norman "Normie" Harold Osborn is born in this issue but, he is not named until Amazing Spider-Man #265.
