Now then, here's a strange little bit of trivia I encountered recently. I was re-reading ASM #18 ("The End of Spider-Man!"), the issue in which everyone thinks Spidey has turned coward because he needs to stay home and take care of an ailing Aunt May. In the issue, May's friend Anna "Watkins" often stops by to take care of her. (Anna "Watkins" is clearly Anna Watson... she looks like Anna Watson and is said to have a niece... undoubtedly another example of Stan screwing up a name again... though for the purpose of what I'm bringing up, I suppose you could suggest otherwise.) Anyway, on page 13, panel 6, Pete talks to Aunt May and wonders where Anna is. May replies, "But Mrs. Watkins had to leave, dear! Her niece is away and she had to cook dinner for her husband!"
OK, my question is... is this the only time that Anna's husband was ever mentioned? What became of him? If you look at UTOS #16, for instance, (the one where Mary Jane's life is profiled, starting with the time she saw Pete leave the house as Spidey to go fight the burglar who killed Uncle Ben), even though this story takes place before ASM #18, there is no mention of any husband for Aunt Anna. I can NEVER remember any other reference to a husband for Aunt Anna.
Now, as I said, I suppose you could argue that Anna "Watkins" is not Anna Watson. No, she's just another friend of Aunt May who looks like Anna Watson and lives nearby and has a niece. But, really, come on! Here's another explanation. May was still woozy from her illness and hallucinated that Anna had a husband. Now, I know I'm making an awful big deal out of one little caption in a comic book that is thirty-some years old... but I smell a story opportunity here. "The Case of the Missing Husband!" Sound good?