With Everything to Lose!

Spider-Man wakes up following a battle with the Silver Surfer and discovers that he is trapped in a glass cylinder trapped with missing tenants of a run-down New York hotel.[1] One of the prisoners explains that they were kidnapped by the Psycho-Man who has been manipulating their emotions for his sick experiments. As Spider-Man begins trying to figure a way out of this cell, Psycho-Man comes to check on them and welcomes Spider-Man to his home. When the wall-crawler vows to get free, the Psycho-Man tries to crush his bravado by showing him that the Silver Surfer is their prisoner as well.

Striding across the room in his massive body, Psycho-Man hooks the Surfer’s cylinder to a machine which will bend his emotions until he becomes an emotionless husk that he can use. That’s when Spider-Man asks what Psycho-Man wants with the Silver Surfer. The scientist tells Spider-Man that he had recently discovered the anti-mater universe known as the Negative Zone. Unfortunately, this opened up his domain of Sub-Atomica for invasion from the insectoid hordes from the Negative Zone. He intends to expel the invaders from the Microverse and discovered that the Silver Surfer has the power to do that when the alien recently visited his domain.[2] Since that discovery, the Psycho-Man has been using his Emoto-Caster to manipulated the Silver Surfer’s emotions to make him come to the Microverse.[3] Now with the Surfer’s emotions being drained, he intends to vivisect Spider-Man and learn the secrets of his biology. This is because the invading hordes have no emotion but something in Spider-Man’s genetic make-up can unlock the key to controlling the invaders.

A universe away in the Negative Zone, Annihilus inspects his armies before entering his private chambers. After drones have removed his protective armor, Annihilus enters his rejuvenation chamber and has his strength replenished with enough cosmic power to shatter a world. Emerging from the chamber and dawning his armor once more, Annihilus orders his troops to prepare for the final battle against the Psycho-Man.

Back in the Microverse, aboard the Psycho-Man’ worldship, Spider-Man is being held in a stasis field trying to stall for time. He notices that Psycho-Man has the Silver Surfer’s surfboard attached to a device and asks what experiments he is doing on it. Psycho-Man admits that while the board has some unique properties, he doesn’t plan on examining it until after he has won back Sub-Atomica. However, upon hearing his board, the Silver Surfer commands it to come to him and it flies at the cylinder that is holding him prisoner. Unfortunately, it cannot break the glass so it rescues the next best thing and pulls Spider-Man out of his stasis field. Flying past his captor, Spider-Man covers Psycho-Man’s face with webbing. While struggling to get the webbing off his face, Psycho-Man trips over his own feet and strikes his head on a nearby table. When his head pops off, Spider-Man is shocked to discover that this was not the real Psycho-Man, but a massive robotic body. The real Psycho-Man comes crawling out of the massive body and manages to escape through a secret panel in the wall.

Spider-Man frees the Silver Surfer from his containment cylinder. Furious at being manipulated the Surfer vows revenge, but Spider-Man points out that he can’t lower himself to Psycho-Man’s level. The Surfer is impressed with Spider-Man’s wisdom and fully regrets nearly killing him previously. That’s when the Worldsip comes under attack from the invading horde of Annihilus. As the vessel comes under siege, the Silver Surfer notices that the villains are ignoring Spider-Man and attacking him alone. Realizing that the invaders believe Spider-Man to be one of their own, the Surfer tells Spider-Man to lead the insectoids away while he frees the other captive humans. As Spider-Man leads the invaders away, he is suddenly brought low with a jolt of doubt from the Psycho-Man’s emoto-caster. However, before e can eliminate Spider-Man his device is destroyed by a blast from Annihilus. Soon the two tyrants come to blows, leaving Spider-Man free to getaway. Unfortunately, by this point, the invading horde are attacking the Silver Surfer again. Spider-Man arrives and scares them all away by creating a large human form out of his webbing. Free to act, the Silver Surfer uses his Power Comics to construct a ship for the other prisoners. With everyone securely aboard the ship, the Silver Surfer takes them all back to Earth. Meanwhile, Psycho-Man and Annihilus continue to battle an evenly matched fight.

Back on Earth, an alarm goes off at the Baxter Building headquarters of the Fantastic Four. Mister Fantastic, the Human Torch, and Thing rush to the submolecular studies lab and are relieved to see that it is Spider-Man, the Silver Surfer and the other missing people who were trapped in the Microverse. In the aftermath of their adventure, Spider-Man has some time alone to talk with the Silver Surfer. The wall-crawler is surprised how the day turned out, as they started by beating on each other and ended up being friends. The whole experience has humbled the Surfer, who has renewed respect for the human race. Spider-Man points out that they aren’t too different, reminding the Surfer that humans are all capable of the same mistakes that he made himself. This gives Silver Surfer much to think about and he thanks Spider-Man before departure.

The next morning, Peter Parker reports at the Daily Bugle where Betty notices all the bruises on his face and asks what happened. Peter admits that he was overzealous trying to get pictures. That’s when J. Jonah Jameson demands to see Peter’s photos. Seeing the pictures of Spider-Man and Silver Surfer’s battle. To everyone around, Jameson says they are decent enough, but when nobody is listening to Jameson, he agrees to buy them all and even offers Peter a bonus. When Peter thanks Jonah for being so generous, Jameson dismisses it saying that his pep talk earlier only encouraged Peter to do better, besides the photos prove that Spider-Man was involved with the Surfer’s earlier rampage and that is all Jonah cares about.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Silver Surfer, Psycho-Man, Annihilus, Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Human Torch, Thing), J. Jonah Jameson, Joe Robertson, Betty Brant, Ned Leeds, Ben Urich

Continuity Notes

1. These hotel patrons were kidnapped by Psycho-Man in Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #4.

2. At the time of this story, the Silver Surfer had recently visited the Microverse in Fantastic Four #74.

3. This manipulated all started in Silver Surfer #17 when the Surfer declared war on mankind. As Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #4 reveals this sudden attitude was manipulated by the Psycho-Man.