An Ill Wind...

Peter Parker is in San Diego as part of his book tour for "Webs". Appearing on a daytime talk show, he is visibly bored as the host interviews Louis Baxter III a wealthy yacht enthusiast who is preparing for the North American Cup race. He is going to be competing with Australian tycoon Artie Crippen. Peter's boredom is broken thanks to the humorous remarks from another guest, a best selling writer from New York. Peter interrupts the interview when he laughs at one of Tama's jokes. This is not received well by the host or Baxter, but the show goes on, shifting the focus to Peter Parker's book. The interview is watched by the costumed criminal known as Boomerang. Furious to learn that there is a book out about one of his foes, especially in light of his last defeat, Boomerang tosses one of his weapons at the television.

He has been hired by a man named Mr. Lily to sabotage Louis Baxter's ship so he can win the North American Cup. Revealing a scale model of the marina where Louis has stored his ship, Lily goes over their plan. Back at the television studio, Peter asks why the writer why she goes on these book tour circuits.

She explains that a writer has got to eat, and that's when Louis Baxter approaches them. He gives Peter some advice regarding self-promotion, saying the key is self-absorption. With this little bit of advice, Baxter gets into his sports car and speeds away. With the exchange over, the writer asks Peter to join her for dinner, an offer he accepts. Three hours later, Peter is back in his hotel room and places a call to his wife Mary Jane. He complains about how much he hates doing talk shows, and his evening dinner was reduced to eating bad fast food because the closest restaurant was closed down for health code violations. After the call is over, Peter thinks about how much he misses it back home but noticing that he packed his Spider-Man costume he decides to go out web-slinging.

Unfortunately, this does little to stop him from feeling homesick and missing his wife. However, his thoughts are turned away when he witnesses an explosion at a local marina. Spider-Man tries to ignore it, but goes down to the marina to investigate. There he overhears the security guards at the scene who have found a boomerang at the scene of the explosion. Suddenly, the wall-crawler's spider-sense goes off alerting him to someone lurking around on a nearby rooftop. Against his better judgment, Spider-Man swings toward the man and discovers that it is his old foe Boomerang. Despite himself, Spider-Man finds some joy in sparring with Boomarang once more. However, the villain keeps Spider-Man on the defensive with one of his trick boomerangs and escapes. The security guards are attracted to the area from the sounds of battle and try to arrest Spider-Man. However, the wall-crawler has no intention of being incarcerated and he flees the scene.

The next morning in New York City, the staff at the Daily Bugle are celebrating the return of Joe Robertson who had been recovering in the hospital since Tombstone injured his back. However, the celebrations quickly end when some federal agents arrive to arrest Joe for his failure to report a murder committed by Tombstone 20 years ago. While back in San Diego, Peter Parker and his writer friend are signing books at a local book store. When the writer asks Peter to join her for lunch, he has to turn her down as he has an engagement at the local yacht club. There, Peter meets with Louis Baxter, who seems unconcerned about the failed attempt to blow up his yacht. He also scoffs at Peter's warnings about Boomerang, who seems to be out to kill him. Their meeting is interrupted by Artie Crippin who accuses Baxter of using his wealth and influence to keep him out of the race. As the two men argue with each other, Peter's spider-sense goes off warning him that Boomerang is approaching.

Suddenly, Boomerang tosses a sonic boomerang into the yacht club, bombarding the patrons with a blast of sound. Trying to warn Crippin to get down, Peter's warning is too late and Crippin is killed when the boomerang strikes him in the throat. Seeing how Louis is upset at his rival's death, Peter is left wondering who hired Boomerang. While everyone flees the club, Peter slips into the kitchen to change into Spider-Man. Diving into the water, Spider-Man manages to leap up and grab Boomerang's leg. While this catches the assassin off-guard, he has the advantage as there is nowhere Spider-Man can fire a web-line. Ultimately, Boomerang shakes the wall-crawler off his leg with one of his rocket boots and flees the scene. Spider-Man manages to slip by in the confusion. As he is squeezing the water out of his costume on a nearby rooftop, Spider-Man tries to convince himself not to get involved. However, after overhearing Louis Baxter talking to a television news crew, he realizes he just can't turn his back on this, no matter how badly he wants to get back home. That evening, at Louis Baxter's mansion in La Jolla, he pays Boomerang a large sum of money for killing Crippen while also maintaining Baxter's reputation. However, he is concerned about interference in his plans. Boomerang assures Louis that, should Spider-Man interfere, he will deal with the cursed wall-crawler once and for all.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Boomerang, Mary Jane Watson, J. Jonah Jameson, Joe Robertson, Ben Urich, Kate Cusing, Louis Baxter III

Continuity Notes

• Peter Parker has been promoting his book "Webs" since in Amazing Spider-Man #304.

• The writer is depicted as Tama Janowitz. This should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616. Particularly since Janowitz, as of 2018, is in her 60s and to take her appearance as factual would greatly age characters.

• Boomerang mentions his last defeat at the hands of Spider-Man. The narrative states that this was in Amazing Spider-Man #281. However, Boomerang has faced Spider-Man one more time since then, as seen in Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #17-18. Its omission here is due to the fact that the encounter from Webspinners was published years after this story.

• Peter and Mary Jane are referred to as husband and wife here. However, years later, their marriage is erased from existence by the demon Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. As such they should be considered a common-law couple as opposed to husband and wife.

• The original twin towers of the World Trade Center are depicted as some of the buildings in the New York City skyline. This should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616. This is because the towers were destroyed during a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 and a new tower has since been built. The timescale has moved forward to the point where the modern age does not begin until after the original towers were destroyed.

• Joe failed to report a murder committed by Tombstone, when he decided to finally come clean, Tombstone almost broke his back, as seen in Spectacular Spider-Man #139. Joe had been recovering in the hospital since then.

• One of the kids waiting in line mentions how Spider-Man was seen the night before. This prompts another to ask if Spider-Man was "swimming with Shamu". This should also be considered a topical reference. The aquarium known as SeaWorld has named many of its show orcas "Shamu", however, they have since phased out the attraction in 2016.