PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #8

"...And Only One Shall Survive!"

• Writer: Archie Goodwin
• Artist: Sal Buscema
• Inker: Mike Esposito
• Print Date: July, 1977

Featuring:

Plot Summary:

Morbius stands shouting on a nearby rooftop, haloed by a glowing figure, while Spider-Man and Glory Grant watch from a nearby skyscraper. Spider-Man realizes that some of creature is controlling Morbius and forcing him to attack. Finally, Morbius' will gives out, and the Empathoid commands him to attack. Spider-Man leaps from the building with Glory Grant in his arms and bounces down to the ground level. Glory runs into a subway tunnel to find help while Spider-Man gives Morbius the confrontation he wants.

Ugh.. More Morbius. Well, hopefully this is the last Morbius story I read for a while. And if Morbius alone isn't enough, I get to suffer through the one and only appearance of THE EMPATHOID. I might need a drink before starting this.

Meanwhile, downtown, someone else is facing his own kind of crisis. Flash Thompson sneaks across the rooftops and breaks into a building in search of Sha-Shan. His search pays off and he finds the woman who saved his life in Vietnam, but he's confronted by the 'bald-headed creep who runs this place'. Sha-Shan admits that she is married. The restauranteur, Achmed, is her husband. Visibly disappointed, Flash Thompson walks out more lost and more uncertain than before.

Flash and Sha-Shan will only end in tears. I remember that from Amazing Spider-Man, but I still haven't read her original story over in ASM #108.

Back to a particular battle uptown, Spider-Man has KO'd Morbius with a single punch. A glowing figure rises from Morbius' prone form, and the Empathoid admits that he forced Morbius to fight too long without the blood he needed to sustain himself. With his host unconscious, the Empathoid is in need of a different host - Spider-Man! The Empathoid possesses Spider-Man allowing Spider-Man to remember events he couldn't otherwise know.

In his memories, he sees Morbius appearing in a world unlike Earth. Morbius wanders a barren world populated only by ruins. During his travels, a figure rises from the grounds. Morbius' twisted and tormented feelings woke the Empathoid from where he lies dormant. The Empathoid was an android who was supposed to share feelings but instead he was flawed and fed on feelings. After his creators died and left him trapped on an abandoned planet, he waited until Morbius appeared with the means to take him back to Earth. He meshed his atoms with Morbius essentially possessing and forced him to return to Earth.

While Spider-Man recalls all this Morbius has snuck off. Spider-Man heads off as well, but the Empathoid warns him that he will fight Morbius again and soon.

The Empathoid.. Created on a distant planet.. Possesses Spider-Man like we didn't see that coming. How fast can I get through this? And, so Spider-Man is possessed by a malevolent parasite craving emotions, so he.. goes to bed? You think would be a good opportunity to, say, stop by and talk to Mr Fantastic? Consult with Dr Strange? Hell, look up Howard the Duck for that matter.

As dawn approaches, Morbius quickly slakes his thirst on a mugger, and flies off to rest during the daylight hours. Peter Parker spends the morning fixing his web-shooters before crashing for sleep with the Empathoid craving strong emotions in his head.

Tonight, Spider-Man patrols the city in search of Morbius. As the Empathoid rages in his head, Morbius strikes vowing that the Empathoid must pay for using him. The fight carries the pair through the Holland Tunnel and into New Jersey as the battle rages on the top of a truck. The fight continues in a nearby refinery, as Spider-Man claims he is doing the only thing he can do with the Empathoid possessing him. Spider-Man leads Morbius on a merry chase to a nearby football stadium where a college game is underway. The flood of emotions in the stadium strikes the Empathoid like a wave and he revels in the feelings. Spider-Man momentarily forgets Morbius who strikes from behind and carries them both onto the football field. The stadium crowd reacts - some in fear, some in confusion, and others in anger - to the battling pair, and the resulting emotions overwhelms the Empathoid. With a scream, the Empathoid releases its hold on Spider-Man and falls to the grown dead. Spider-Man's gamble, the Empathoid could overdose on emotions, has paid off. Their fight ended, Morbius leaves to continue to search for a cure for his condition.

Hehe, OK, seeing the Holland Tunnel, y'know - actual scenery, in the issue was neat, but otherwise, I was just happy to get to the end of this issue. Next up - The White Tiger. I can do him more justice.