PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #7

"Cry Mayhem - Cry Morbius"

• Writer: Archie Goodwin
• Artist: Sal Buscema
• Inker: Jim Mooney
• Print Date: June, 1977

Featuring:

Plot Summary:

The scene is a certain social club on mid-Manhattan's Westside as events suddenly take a very anti-social turn. Spider-Man busts in demanding to speak to the crimelord boss Morgan right now. Spider-Man plows through a half dozen thugs, bursts into the back room, and confronts Morgan about sending the Hitman after him back in issue #5. Webbed to the swivel chair, Spider-Man sends Morgan spinning into his thugs as he makes his exit out the window. He picks up his clothes from a nearby vent, and heads uptown - not realizing he left his change of clothes in a deli vent, and now reeks of liver and onions.

As darkness closes in on the city and the rain falls, Flash Thompson stands vigilant outside a particular restaurant. Finally, a blind in the shop opens and Flash recognizes Sha-Shan in the shop. He heads off not realizing that he's being watched himself.

The consequences of Flash's actions will wait for another issue however for this storm-lashed night, even greater, graver events are shaping. Morbius, the Living Vampire, stands atop a nearby brownstone. He has just returned to the world and he rages, "Why force me to come here?" to someone unseen - but not unheard. Morbius has another voice in head. Once that forces him to smash some dimension spanning bands (What is this about?) and then forces him to take flight in search of prey. Morbius spots a lone news vendor still open and swoops down. But he stops when he spots an image of Spider-Man on a passing Daily Bugle newsvan. Instead of seeking sustenance, the voice tells Morbius that he has a better plan.

At the Daily Bugle, a lone light burns in the executive offices. Glory Grant waits catches up on her filing as she waits for Peter to arrive. As she goes through the Bugle's photos, Morbius smashes through a nearby window. He grabs Glory and flies out the window claiming that Glory is going to help him find Spider-Man. From the street, Peter spots the pair flying off, and quickly changes into costume. Morbius believes that the Bugle follows Spider-Man's actions closely and that Glory knows how to contact Spider-Man. As Morbius threatens Glory, Spider-Man comes swinging to the rescue.

The two exchange punches sending Morbius flying into a nearby apartment building, and Spider-Man down to the streets. Spider-Man, focused on Morbius, isn't paying attention, and gets clipped by a passing van sending him sprawling, stunned, into the alley. Morbius swoops down to take advantage.

Fortunately, things are not bad all over, and Aunt May, Anna Watson, and Mary-Jane work on making placards for an upcoming protest. However, the rain is letting up and Mary-Jane heads home to get some sleep. Once she leaves, Aunt May practices her "Grey Panther" protest chat - "RIGHT UP!"

Now, let's shift back to Manhattan, Morbius, instead of swooping down on Spider-Man, apparently has a change of heart and flies off. Morbius wants to end the fight, but his unseen companion wants to raise the emotional level of the battle. Instead of pouncing on Spider-Man, Morbius is forced back towards Glory Grant. Spider-Man realizes where Morbius is going, but his web-shooters are trashed from the accident and he can't quickly follow. Climbing the walls, Spider-Man somehow reaches Glory just as Morbius flies in for the kill. Spider-Man grabs Glory and starts wall-crawling towards the street below. Morbius attacks again, nearly knocking them off the building, and again, Morbius doesn't press the attack. He flies to a nearby rooftop where a struggle of wills occurs. Morbius wants to finish off Spider-Man and Glory, but THE EMPATHOID vows to control Morbius and prolong the fight as much as possible.

Overall, this was kind of a blah issue for me. First off, I'm not a big Morbius fan. Seeing him in a Spider-Man just makes me roll my eyes and steel myself for a mediocre character driving a mediocre story. Secondly, Morbius apparently banished himself from this dimension in an issue of Marvel 2-in-1 that I hadn't read, so I had no idea what was going on with returning using some dimension spanning bracelets at the beginning of the issue.

Aunt May, in a completely uncharacteristic move, is planning on protesting with the Grey Panthers. Honestly, except for the "RIGHT UP" (instead of Right On) joke in the last panel, that entire page contributed nothing.

We see Spider-Man get hit by a truck in the middle of a fight. Apparently, he forgot to bring his spider-sense along to the fight because I don't see how that happens otherwise.

Plus, the "EMPATHOID"?? - c'mon now.

Ok, the part with the clothes reeking of liver was funny.

Things to watch out for though: Do we ever see Mr. Morgan again? He's been in the background of a couple of issues now, but I don't recall him making any "major" appearances at all. I'm curious to see if the character is simply forgotten or if there is some story dealing with him that I haven't read yet.