Spider-Man #44
The Anniversary Syndrome
It is just after midnight and Peter Parker cannot sleep. As such, he gets out of bed and begins changing into Spider-Man to go out on patrol. He takes one last look at his wife, Mary Jane, as she sleeps peacefully.[1] Before he heads out, he looks at a photo of himself and his late Uncle Ben. He tells his Uncle that he hasn't forgotten and that he does it all for him.[2] As he leaves, Mary Jane wakes up and watches him go. She whispers out to her husband, praying that he will be safe.
By 12:30, Spider-Man meets up with Detective Connor Trevane in a darkened alley. The wall-crawler spooks Trevane and he turns to shoot at the hero. Spider-Man webs up his hand before someone can get hurt. Upset by this, Trevane still gives Spider-Man the file he requested because he still owes the masked hero, but Connor insists that they are even after this. Spider-Man sarcastically acts hurt and then leaps off with the info.[3] With the information from the file, Spider-Man is able to track down a criminal by the name of Frank Lemoyne. Pinning Frank to a wall and threatening to smother him in webbing, Spider-Man learns what building that Frank was going he was going into. Locating the warehouse where an illegal deal is going on. In order to distract the guards on the roof of the warehouse, Spider-Man tosses a large crate into the nearby river. He then quickly takes down the guards and begin looking through the skylight. Down below he sees an illegal arms deal underway and crashes it. Spider-Man quickly wraps up the arms dealers. However, when the mastermind behind this deal -- a man who calls himself simply "The Dealer" -- has a bodyguard to deal with the wall-crawler, his old foe the Hobgoblin.
Spider-Man warns the Hobgoblin that this is not the night to interfere with him, however, the villain still attacks. While Spider-Man knocks out the Hobgoblin, the Dealer manages to escape. After webbing up the Hobgoblin and the other crooks, the wall-crawler demands to know where the Dealer has gone. At first, the Hobgoblin refuses to reveal his location, but when Spider-Man threatens to toss him off a building, the mercenary tells the web-head about the Dealer's hideout in Times Square. As the web-slinger heads in that direction, the Hobgoblin vows to get revenge against Spider-Man the next time they meet. When the hero arrives in Times Square, he discovers that the Dealer is in an armed stand-off with police. The web-slinger quickly goes inside and webs up the Dealer and turns him over to the authorities. Spider-Man then begins heading home when he spots a police officer is chasing a thief. This reminds him once more of the day many years ago when he let a burglar run past him. Spider-Man quickly webs up this crook and turns him over to the police officer. The officer thanks Spider-Man for his help, as there is no telling what the thief could have done if he had gotten away. However, Spider-Man knows all too well what could happen, as the burglar he let go years ago was the same man who shot and killed his Uncle Ben. He returns home where he falls to sleep, his final thoughts are how he does it all for Uncle Ben.
The following morning, Mary Jane answers a phone call from Peter's Aunt May. She tells May that Peter is still sleeping because he was up late studying but assures her that he will join her on her annual trip to the cemetery to visit his Uncle Ben. When asked, Mary Jane tells May that Ben would have been very proud of Peter if he was still alive today.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson, Hobgoblin, Connor Trevane
Continuity Notes
Peter and Mary Jane are referred to as husband and wife here. However, years later, their marriage is erased from existence by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. As such they should be considered a common-law couple here.
This story has multiple references to the fact that Peter's Uncle Ben was murdered by a burglar that Peter could have stopped, leading to his crime-fighting career as Spider-Man. This happened in Amazing Fantasy #15. Per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, Uncle Ben was murdered roughly nine years prior to this story.
Spider-Man mentions that Trevane is on his side because his son was rescued by Spider-Man during Carnage's recent rampage.
