Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #26

Background

A creature calling itself Carrion tried to get the Maggia to hire it to kill Spider-Man but they were unimpressed and tried to kill him. He escaped unharmed.

Spider-Man was complaining about his messed up love life, as he had screwed up his proposal to MJ and Betty was still attracted to him despite being married.

The White Tiger took on a street gang called the Savage Skulls in the South Bronx, learning they were targeting a drug lord. After the drug pusher offered him a job, Tiger knocked him on his butt.

The Masked Marauder and his goons began a heist against Citibank's headquarters, using a robotic "birdroid" that doubled as a flying bomb. After the goons were defeated, the bomb had opened the vault and transformed into a robotic human. Spider-Man didn't have any luck against the silent machine and didn't do any better when Masked Marauder blinded him with an "opti-blast."

Story 'Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory'

Masked Marauder continued to blast Spider-Man with his ray, Spidey realized that there had been no time to shield his face. Marauder gloated over the webhead's agony, reminding him of how he and Daredevil had thwarted his attempt to control the Maggia. The ray's ability to temporarily blind an enemy had been strengthened to create permanent blindness. Tri-Man, the robot, lunged at Spidey, whose spider sense warned him to dodge. He landed oddly and twisted his ankle, making him unable to stick to the wall. Tri-Man began to pummel Spider-Man but he was saved when a goon ran in and warned that the police were coming. Masked Marauder ordered the men to grab the safe deposit boxes and ignored Spider-Man, not seeing him as a threat.

The Marauder's gang escaped into the waiting van, which was then carried away by a helicopter. The police blamed Spider-Man, who barely managed to escape by blindly web swinging away. He grumbled that he had just cleared his name with the police but now was wanted again. Spider-Man worried that his career and secret were over but swore he'd get Masked Marauder no matter what.

Meanwhile, Betty Leeds and Mary Jane ran into each other at Peter's apartment, surprised to see each other. The ladies tried to one up each other, saying they had keys to the apartment. MJ casually mentioned that Peter had asked her to marry him. They began to enter his apartment, not knowing that Carrion was hiding behind the door.

Spider-Man tried to swing his way home to get some rest and on the way he over heard a radio report saying that the police were seeking him as a suspect in the Citibank heist. Meanwhile, Daredevil decided that he wanted to help Spider-Man knowing that he was no thief. In the South Bronx, the White Tiger arrived home from a night of crime fighting and found himself confronted by his sister. She was unhappy that he had skipped classes to be a superhero.

A wobbly Spider-Man stood on the roof of a building and was startled to hear a voice demand to talk to him. He didn't recognize Daredevil's voice and stepped back off of the ledge. Daredevil swung down and saved him, confused by Spider-Man's behavior. They went back to a rooftop and it was only after Spidey stumbled into pigeon cages that Daredevil realized he was blind.

General Comments

Again, Masked Marauder isn't that interesting of a villain.

The competition between Betty and Mary Jane was more entertaining. It's funny that both women are dating Peter but neither of them bat an eye. The 70s were a different time.

White Tiger's story isn't overly interesting but he's being introduced to the audience. We'll see what happens.

Daredevil arrived conveniently but that's the way comics work.

I'm here for Carrion and he only had a cameo.

Overall Rating

Like I said, we'll see where this goes but this was another pretty forgettable issue.