Have Yourself a Sandman Little Christmas!

While covering a Polar Bear Swim for the Daily Bugle, Peter Parker's jolted out of his thoughts with the arrival of the Sandman on the beach. Changing into Spider-Man, Peter tries to stop the Sandman, but the villain proves to be too much for the hero to handle and he escapes.

Deciding that since the Sandman has been more a Fantastic Four foe, Spider-Man decides to pay the FF a visit at the Baxter Building. There he only finds the Human Torch, and the two agree to work together in trying to track down the Sandman. While tracking down their enemy, the Human Torch and Spider-Man stop thieves from stealing Christmas presents from Misty Knight.

Finally tracking down the Sandman, the two heroes try to stop him but are knocked out and left inside a water tower while the Sandman escapes. Breaking free, the two track the Sandman down and learn that he broke out of prison to visit his sick mother for Christmas. Telling them that his mother doesn't know that he's a criminal, the two heroes agree to let the Sandman visit with his mother on the promise that he will return to prison. Spider-Man gives Sandman the gift he intended to give to Gwen Stacey to give to his mother.

After the Sandman's allotted time is up the two check out his mother's apartment and find that the Sandman escaped out the drain pipe. The two decide to accept their loss and celebrate the holidays before tracking down the Sandman again.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Human Torch, Sandman, Misty Knight

Continuity Notes

• Sandman emerges from the ocean where he was dumped by the Hulk in Incredible Hulk #138.

• Spider-Man states that he has only tackled the Sandman "once" and that his foe has been more of a Fantastic Four villain than his. This is not entirely accurate, the facts:

  • Spider-Man has actually fought the Sandman more than once by this point in history. He fought Sandman in Amazing Spider-Man #4, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Annual #1, Giant-Size Spider-Man (vol. 2) #1, Untold Tales of Spider-Man #3, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1, Amazing Spider-Man #18, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #37, Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #7-9. Although many of the stories are flashback stories listed above were published after this issue, he does seem to forget two encounters that were originally published after to this issue.

  • However, Spider-Man is correct in saying that at this point in time, the Fantastic Four had clashed with the Sandman more frequently. Fighting one member or the entire team in Strange Tales #115, Fantastic Four #36, 38, 41-43, 57, 61, 94, and Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Comics Magazine #9-10.

• Although Misty Knight is not identified this issue. She later confirms her identity and recounts her meeting with Spider-Man years later in Marvel Team-Up #64.

• Johnny mentions having "girl troubles", he is referring to how his relationship with Crystal had recently ended. She was forced to return to Attilan, home of the Inhumans, due to the fact that the pollution in the air outside of her kingdom was making her ill, as seen in Fantastic Four #105. He was briefly reunited with her in Fantastic Four #117-118, however she was still forced to return to Attilan.

• Per the Sliding Timescale, this story couldn’t have happened on Christmas. Yet, the story could not be told in any other fashion. How to reconcile this with continuity is anyone’s guess.