Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #151
Story 'Lock-Up'
Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #151
| Editor: | Jim Salicrup |
| Writer: | Gerry Conway |
| Pencils: | Sal Buscema |
| Inker: | Sal Buscema |
| Cover Art: | Sal Buscema |
This issue mostly deals with Robbie Robertson's ordeal of being in prison with Tombstone but it does have its Lobo moments.
It is three weeks after Eduardo Lobo asked Gloria Grant to steal the Daily Bugle's file on the Kingpin (which seems like too long ago to fit in with the flow of the story but that's what the caption says) and Gloria still feels guilty about doing it. She feels a need to talk to Eduardo about it so she goes to the Plaza Hotel on Fifth Avenue and opens the door to room 7165. Inside, Eduardo sits at a desk, issuing instructions in Spanish to six tough-looking men. He stops when he notices Gloria entering the room. She nervously asks him who the other men are and he explains that they are "friends of my family" who have come to help in the war against the Kingpin. Eduardo ushers Gloria out into the hall. There, she tells of her fear over this war. She also tries to explain the guilt she feels for stealing the file but Eduardo stops her with a kiss. He promises that they will talk of this tonight at her apartment. For the time she is in his arms, Gloria loses her fears and doubts but then Eduardo sends her on her way and the worries start to creep in once again.
At Lazy Louie's Louisiana Luncheonette, Flash Thompson and Betty Brant gripe about J. Jonah Jameson's latest anti-Spider-Man crusade. Gloria Grant enters the restaurant and approaches their table, looking decidedly "frazzled". When Betty asks what's wrong, Glory replies, "Oh everything. The man I love is a mobster and he's made me a thief."
When Peter Parker sees the latest anti-Spidey headline on a front page that is graced with a Nick Katzenberg photo, he decides, "enough is enough". First, as Spider-Man, he tracks down Katzenberg and intimidates him into admitting that the "campaign" is all Jonah Jameson's idea. He leaves Nick dangling from a web in such a way that he can slide out of his coat... and land right in the condiments of a hot dog stand. Nick, covered in relish, runs to the Bugle. Meanwhile, Betty and Flash have convinced Gloria to come to the office and confess her transgressions to JJJ. But when Nick, Flash, Betty, and Gloria look into Jameson's office, they see the boss webbed to the ceiling. Spidey is grabbing JJ by the tie and demanding to know why Jonah is picking on him. Katzenberg takes an incriminating photo of the incident. When Flash tries to take the camera away, Nick knees him in the groin. Katzenberg races off to develop his shot. Spidey, knowing he has given Jonah more ammo against him, splits the scene.
Later, after the webbing has dissolved, Jameson orders a new front page for the next edition. He wants to use Katzenberg's photo with the headline "Spider-Thug Assaults Bugle Publisher". Gloria chooses this moment to confess to her boss that she stole the Kingpin file and gave it to Eduardo Lobo. Jonah smilingly thanks her for letting him know where that file went. When Glory tells him that the theft of the file may cause a gang war, Jonah says, "Gang wars make good copy. Might even help us increase our circulation." Gloria can't believe she is hearing this, even from Jonah Jameson. And, of course, she's not. She's hearing it from the Chameleon. Once he is left alone in Jameson's office, the villain assumes his regular appearance as he gloats over the turmoil that is sure to come from a Lobo-Kingpin vendetta.
As night falls, Betty and Flash take Gloria out to dinner where she pours out her heart to them. They walk her back to her apartment and advise her to call the cops on Eduardo. But Gloria is "more confused than ever" after talking to Jonah Jameson, so she feels she must hear Eduardo's side of the story first. Alone, she enters her apartment, remembering that Eduardo promised to see her tonight. She calls his name and he responds from the darkness of her living room. He stands by the window, silhouetted by a huge full moon. He tells her that he is sorry it "must end this way" but he heard the doubt and fear in her voice this morning and he knows that "sooner or later, you will betray us". Before Gloria's eyes, Eduardo metamorphoses into the blue-furred werewolf. With his shredded shirt hanging off of him, with red eyes glowing and white fangs bared, he approaches his lover. "Forgive me, Gloria," he says, "I truly loved you".