Spectacular Spider-Man #42
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!
Peter Parker is running late the Empire State University boat ride up the Hudson River and changes into Spider-Man to get to the ship before launch. Aboard the ship are Peter's colleagues Professor Morris Sloan, Marcy Kane, Steve Hopkins, Phillip Chang, and Debora Whitman believe that Peter is running late. Although Marcy Kane could care less, Debra secretly hopes that Peter makes it because she thinks he is cute. While nobody is looking, Spider-Man lands on the roof of the ship, change into his civilian guise and slips down among the other passengers. While everyone is happy to see Parker, Marcy questions how he got on board when the gangplank was removed five minutes ago. Before Peter can come up with an excuse, they are joined by Curt Connors who is delighted to see Peter made it.
Meanwhile, not far away, the Frightful Four, along with their newest member Electro, arrive on Liberty Island. They make short work of the security guards so they can carry out their plan to get revenge against Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. At that moment, aboard the cruise ship, Peter Parker is bothered with how Marcy Kane constantly puts him down. His thoughts are interrupted by Debora Whitman, who tells him that she finds him impressive that he is pursuing a career in science. She gets down on herself, saying she will never accomplish anything as impressive and has resigned to a life as a secretary until she eventually settles down and has a family. As Peter tries to console Debra, he suddenly sees what appears to be a flaming message over the Statue of Liberty created by the Human Torch. When Debora asks Peter to hold her, she quickly discovers that he discovers he is gone.
Hating to leave Debra like that, Peter has slipped away where he can change into Spider-Man. He then hitches a ride on a passing tugboat in order to get onto Liberty Island. As he climbs to the top of the statue, the wall-crawler is unaware that he is walking into a trap being set by the Frightful Four. Inside the statue, Electro puts on a flame suit that mimics the Human Torch's powers so they can get the drop on Spider-Man. At first, the villains fool Spider-Man until Electro begins shooting bolts of electricity at him. Spider-Man manages to slip away and overhears that Electro planned this attack with others, leaving him to wonder if he has reformed the Sinister Six. Suddenly, Spider-Man is ambushed by Sandman and Trapster, who are soon joined by Electro and the Wizard. The quartet easily overpowers and incapacitate Spider-Man. But before the Sandman, Electro, and Trapster can kill Spider-Man their leader stops him, as Spider-Man is important to the next phase of their plan, destroying the Fantastic Four.
This story is continued in Fantastic Four #218....
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Frightful Four (Wizard, Trapster, Sandman, Electro) Morris Sloan, Debra Whitman, Phillip Chang, Steve Hopkins, Curt Connors, Marcy Kane
Continuity Notes
The Frightful Four use the Statue of Liberty to set their trap as it has been the regular meeting place of Spider-Man and the Human Torch since Strange Tales Annual #2.
The flame suit that Electro wears is the one first developed by the Wizard back in Strange Tales #110.
Spider-Man wonders if the Sinister Six are back together, at the time of this story the group has not been together since their first clash with Spider-Man back in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1.
Sandman mentions that Electro is replacing the Brute as the 4th member of the Frightful Four. The Brute had a brief tenure with the group in Fantastic Four #177-178.
