Spider-Man #28 — Nick Peron

Feb 21

Feb 21 Spider-Man #28

Something about a Gun--Part 2

After busting up an illegal gun sale to a minor, Spider-Man is searching for the gun, as it was picked up by a young boy in the middle of the battle. He struggles to remember what the boy looks like, and is lost in thought when he walks into the path of a speeding ambulance. Spider-Man leaps out of the way, but it causes a cyclist to swerve out of the way causing him to crash. The cyclist is spilled from his bike and lands on a kid walking down the street. As Spider-Man assures that the boy is okay, the cyclist tries to pick a fight with the wall-crawler. Spider-Man easily dodges his punches, then webs him up to a lamp post for trying to stir up trouble. Watching this from inside a nearby laundromat is Rags Williams, one of the crooks that Spider-Man failed to bust. As the web-slinger walks away in the other direction, Rags manages to slip away undetected.

Meanwhile, Elmo Oliver plays with the gun he picked up off the ground. Entertaining the idea of getting revenge against Cavendish, the local bully with the weapon. Twirling it around like his favorite action hero, Elmo accidentally drops the gun to the ground. He climbs off the jungle-gym to recover it and slips it into his jacket just as some of the other kids come to tell him lunch is over and if he is hiding from Cavendish. Elmo insists that he is not afraid of Cavendish because he now has a gun. At first, the boys don't believe him, thinking that this is another one of Oliver's imaginative fantasies. He then shows them the weapon and tells them to give a warning to Cavendish that he is gunning for him and walks away. By this point, Spider-Man has entered the school and asks the secretary to let him see the principal. She insists that he sign in, but the wall-crawler tries to explain that there is no time. That's when the one of the teachers comes in and tries to force Spider-Man out of his school. Spider-Man's agility prevents him from getting hurt, and the teacher ends up landing on a lunch table and is covered in spaghetti. This is met with cheers from the school children who ask Spider-Man to do some tricks for them. He obliges by using his clinging ability to stick to the ceiling. This is when more school administrators, including the principal, arrive and demand to know what's going on.

Spider-Man pulls the principal into the nearby stairwell and tells her about how one of her students may have picked up a gun from the bust that happened outside of the school. The principal agrees to help the wall-crawler and listens to the description of the boy the wall-crawler saw earlier. Meanwhile, Cavendish and his gang are walking through the halls intimidating everyone they pass. When they meet up with the gang of boys who got a look at Elmo Oliver's gun, they tell Cavendish that Oliver has a message for him. The boys then go to a nearby pizza parlor where they are overheard by Rags talking about how Elmo Oliver plans on meeting Cavendish in the playground at 9 pm that evening and how he intends on shooting the bully. Elsewhere, Elmo walks the street imagining that he is facing various monstrous threats and that they back away from him because he is now armed with a gun. Later that evening, Elmo's parents are worried as their son hasn't returned home from school yet. That's when Spider-Man arrives, having learned of the boy's identity from the principal. He tells the Olivers that their son might be in the possession of a gun.

Knowing that this son is being bullied, and worried that they have not instilled a sense of right and wrong in their son, the Olivers fear that Elmo may have gone out to hurt the kid who has been tormenting him at school. They tell Spider-Man that their son likes to hang out in the school playground, sitting on the jungle-gym to think. With no time to lose, Spider-Man takes the parents out with him to find their son. Meanwhile, Elmo waits at the playground for Cavendish and his pals to arrive. Elmo demands that Cavendish give back all the money he took. This is met from mockery from Cavendish who isn't the least bit afraid of Elmo. Even when Oliver pulls the gun out and threatens to shoot the bully, Cavendish still scoffs, intent on pulling the gun out of his hands. The whole tableau is being watched by Rags who is waiting to take control of the situation and get the gun back. That's when Spider-Man and Oliver's parents arrive. When the wall-crawler tries to talk Elmo into putting the gun down, he mentions child abuse. This causes Cavendish to angrily tell Spider-Man to stop talking about such things. Just then, the web-slinger's spider-sense goes off, warning him that Rags is nearby preparing to take a shot at the hero.

Quickly, Spider-Man turns and webs Rags up to the merry-go-round in order to stop him from shooting. Thinking that Spider-Man may know that his father beats him, Cavendish runs at Spider-Man telling the hero to stop lying about his father. Seeing his hero in trouble, Oliver pulls the trigger of his gun. He narrowly avoids hitting Spider-Man thanks to his spider-sense and reflexes. However, it is a close call, as the bullet passes through the web mesh that Spider-Man has under his arms. Having almost shot Spider-Man, Elmo is horrified by what he has almost done. The wall-crawler manages to talk Elmo into handing over the gun and tells the kid that he needs to be one of the good guys and never let his anger get the best of him, telling him that the wrong decision can ruin his life forever. Elmo understands and promises Spider-Man that he will try his best to follow Spider-Man's advice.