(The Kingpin decides to stand in for Spidey's dad and give him the good swing-around he never had as a child. Tomorrow, if he's lucky, he'll be taking him on the roundabouts. Cover from May 1968.)
"O, Bitter Victory!"
Written by Stan Lee
Layouts by John Romita
Pencils by Don Heck
Inking by Mike Esposito
Lettering by Sam Rosen
So now Spider-Man's in trouble. The Kingpin has a hold of him and is swinging him round and round and round.
Luckily Spider-man has a plan - to crash into something. Upon release, he crashes into the control panel of Kingie's brainwashing machine and sends it kaput. Flames burst forth. Smoke's everywhere. Confusion reigns. In that confusion, our hero escapes.
But not without a cost.
As a result of the explosion, he's suffering from double vision. He's in no state to return to the fray. The Kingpin, on the other hand, is suffering from nothing. Spider-Man's act of sabotage came too late to save Captain Stacy from a good brainwashing, and now Kingie can proceed with the next part of his plan - to send Stacy off to await his next set of orders.
Making his way back into the club's main hall, the brainwashed cop assures MJ, Gwen and Harry there's nothing to worry about, and everyone except Pete gets on with enjoying the evening. Where's Pete? He's gone back home to get some rest so he can be fully fit to fight the Kingpin next time round.
The next day, knowing something has to be done about Captain Stacy, Peter goes round to confront him and, in an act of self defence, ends up knocking him to the floor - just in time for Gwen to walk in and find him standing over the fallen pensioner.
Now, this is where Pete's total cluelessness about how to deal with people kicks in because, we can all see that it's right here that he should tell Gwen that Spider-Man's told him her dad's been brainwashed by the Kingpin. She won't believe him of course but it does mean that, when she notices her dad's acting oddly (ie, being evil) that the penny'll drop and she'll see that Pete was in the right all along.
Needless to say, showing the same failure to communicate that's repeatedly wrecked his love life for years, he keeps his silence, causing Gwen to throw him out and to declare to herself that she can never forgive him.
There's only one thing for it, Spidey's going to have to get some evidence that the captain's under the influence. He follows him and, hey presto, the ex-cop goes down the police station - where he practically seems to live despite being retired - and tries to steal some documents. Spidey gets it all on camera and, the next day, it's splashed all across the front of The Daily Bugle. Well, it makes sure everyone in the whole of New York knows there's something going on...
...but, if Gwen felt like she could never forgive him before, how's she going to react to him having been the one to dob her dad in?
Oh, Peter, if only you'd just learn to pass-on information, like other people do...
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