The Camera Doesn’t Lie

Some Time Ago….[1]

Professor Miles Warren is woken up by a phone call from his student, Peter Parker, who has been troubled every since the death of George Stacy, the father of his girlfriend, Gwen. Even though it’s late, Miles is willing to talk and when he asks where Peter is calling from, he lies and says he is over at his Aunt May’s house because he’s actually out as Spider-Man trying to find Doctor Octopus. However, Peter doesn’t realize that Warren sees through this lie as his call display reveals that Peter is calling from Mort’s Autobody.[2] Peter has second thoughts about confiding in Miles Warren and hangs up, thinking it was stupid to go to him for advice because he can’t trust Warren like he could his Uncle Ben, or George Stacy, two men who are dead because of him.[3] Looking at all the crooks he just knocked out, he thinks about how he can’t keep going like this, reminding himself that he’s not some vengeance-seeking vigilante, he’s just a young man who was given powers he never asked for, powers that came at a terrible price. He thinks that maybe if he gets some rest all of this will make sense. He is also afraid of what getting arrested and having his identity exposed would do to his poor Aunt May, who already thinks Spider-Man is a menace like everyone else. He also thinks about how Doctor Octopus must be hiding out somewhere enjoying every moment of this.

Peter would be wrong because, at that moment, Otto Octavius is furious at the media’s suggestion that he is hiding. He is also angry that the Daily Bugle and the rest of the media are now suggesting that Octavius was an accomplice in the death of George Stacy and wants to send a message. Calling one of his minions, Frances Smith, he tells him to find the Bull, a former lackey that Spider-Man has been seeking out. As Frances leaves, Octopus tells him that his mechanical arms are almost repaired and when they are, he wants Francis to help him test them out.[4]

Elsewhere, Flash Thompson has come home for a weekend furlough from the military.[5] He’s at a diner with Harry Osborn, Gwen Stacy, and Mary Jane Watson, telling them about his time in the military. However, the people in the booth behind him mock Flash due to his involvement in an unpopular war. One of them defends Flash, saying that he’s serving his country and is a hero like Spider-Man. That’s when the other man points out that Spider-Man kills cops and isn’t a hero. This angers Flash and he confronts them by saying that he fight to defend their rights to be assholes in public and says Spider-Man is a hero and not a cop killer. Hearing this upsets Gwen who runs out of the diner. Flash apologies to his friends, who say its not his fault. While Mary Jane goes to try and calm Gwen down, Flash asks Harry where Peter is. Harry says that Peter has been hiding out at his Aunt May’s house since George Stacy’s death and can stay there and rot for all he cares.

Peter is in his old childhood bedroom pouring over photos of the battle between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus. He has come to the conclusion that George Stacy’s death was his fault. He is having a hard time coming to terms with this because his Uncle Ben’s death taught him that with great power comes great responsibility, due to his inaction leading to Ben Parker’s death. However, George Stacy died while he was trying to do the right thing. This has turned his entire life upside down and has left him wondering how he can ever bring himself close to anyone ever again. Downstairs, Aunt May watches the news which features the story of the murder of a local businessman named Henry Sturgess, who was considered the pillar of the community after some time in prison. As this report is being broadcast, J. Jonah Jameson and Joe Robertson use their press credentials to get access to the crime scene. They have come because they heard that Sturgess was brutally tortured before he was killed. They find the man hanging in the basement. Jonah finds a note on the corpse which reads “Here’s your Hank ‘the Bull’”

By this time, May had turned off the evening news and goes upstairs when she hears Peter hit one of the walls. Hearing her coming upstairs, Peter rushes to gather up all the photos of Spider-Man spread across the floor. She is pleased to see her nephew, and before she goes off to bed she asks how Gwen is doing. Lying, Peter tells her that Gwen is doing fine. May is glad to hear it and tells Peter to be good to her because she can see that Gwen loves him very much. What May says causes Peter to look through the photos again as her words echo through his mind. He starts to remember the day of the battle. He had dug George Stacy out of the rubble and carried him up to the rooftops because there was a doctor nearby he was trying to reach. However, George knew he wasn’t going to make it and pleaded with Spider-Man to put him down. George had shocked Peter by revealing that he knew he who he was and asked him to take care of Gwen when he was gone because there would be nobody there for her. Peter was shocked that George knew his secret and kept it.[6] Unfortunately, George died before he could respond by promising George he would look after his daughter. This makes Peter realize how foolish he was being, he was so consumed by his own grief he never thought about how he had abandoned Gwen. He forgot the greatest responsibility of all, to those he loved. He then rushes out of his bedroom to go out and find Gwen and be there for her and make up for all the time he wasn’t there.

At that moment, Doctor Octopus checks in with Francis, but there is no word from Spider-Man after Bull’s murder. Octavius is furious and after running some tests he decides to go out looking for the web-slinger himself. Not long after this, Peter arrives at Empire State University and finds Gwen with Mary Jane and tells her that he’s there for her now. However, Gwen is very upset with Peter for not being there when she needed him and tells him not to bother and walk off. Inside, Peter hands in his paper to Miles Warren, who is impressed with the level of quality. However, Peter still feels awkward about his late-night calls to Warren and excuses himself. In the hall, he finds Harry Osborn who gives Peter a hard time as well for ignoring his friends this whole time. Peter is not surprised that his friends are not happy with him but is willing to work with them to turn things around. First though, he goes up to the roof and changes into Spider-Man so he can web-sling to the cemetery where George Stacy is buried. There he once again thanks George for keeping his secret and promises to make things right with Gwen and look after her for him.

Meanwhile, Frances Smith returns to Doctor Octopus’s hideout to discover that Otto’s mechanical arms are back in working order again. He now intends to go out into the world and go after Spider-Man and set the record straight, that he is not Spider-Man’s lackey. But first, he wants to send another message by killing Frances.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Doctor Octopus, Gwen Stacy, Miles Warren, Flash Thompson, Mary Jane Watson, Harry Osborn, Aunt May, J. Jonah Jameson, Joe Robertson, Frances Smith

Continuity Notes

1. This story takes place following the Amazing Spider-Man #90. In that story, George Stacy was killed when he pushed a child out of the way of falling debris caused by a battle between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus. Spider-Man was blamed for the death.

2. Following the death of Gwen Stacy in Amazing Spider-Man #121, Warren — who had a secret infatuation with his student — later goes insane, becoming the criminal known as the Jackal, first seen in Amazing Spider-Man #129. He would later go on to create clones of both Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker in a revenge scheme against Spider-Man, whom he blamed for the death of Gwen. This was all laid out in Amazing Spider-Man #149. What’s the point of all this? Well, it was never really clear how Warren deduced that Peter was Spider-Man other than having a sample of his DNA on file. This incident probably led to Warren to make the connection later on and check Peter’s DNA.

3. Uncle Bed died in Amazing Fantasy #15. Something Peter blames himself for. I shouldn’t have to spell it out since this is rehashed like all the time.

4. In Amazing Spider-Man #90 Spider-Man doused Doctor Octopus’s mechanical arms in a chemical that interfered with the mental link he maintains with them.

5. At the time of this story, Flash is serving in the military. He left to fight for his country in Amazing Spider-Man #47-105.

6. Untold Tales of Spider-Man #1 explains that George became interested in Spider-Man’s identity after an encounter with the web-slinger early on in his career. Spider-Man sought to join the police and visited Stacy in his office. Realizing this was a stupid idea, Peter fled, but the encounter led to George looking into Spider-Man and making a connection between the masked hero and the death of Ben Parker.

Topical References

• Miles Warren’s call display is depicted as a separate unit from his phone. This should be considered a topical reference because this story was set in a time when call display was a premium service that actually required a separate machine. This is no longer the case as call display is now a common feature on all phones.

• In this story, the man who is critical of Flash’s military status calls him both a “baby killer” and “imperialist pig”, two common insults hurled at soldiers who came home from the Vietnam War. Whatever the case, the conflict that Flash fought in is considered a topical reference due to the Sliding Timescale. As such any suggestion he fought in Vietnam should be considered topical.