Thugs attack Spider-Man in the Casbah. Dispersing them, Spidey follows recklessly and is shot; the bullet creasing his skull, knocking him into a canal. Pulling himself out, half-conscious, he recalls how he accidentally broke open Aunt May’s old steamer trunk in Forest Hills to find a newsclipping labeling his long-dead parents as traitors. May tells him his parents went to Algiers, Algeria and died in a plane crash, their bodies found with incriminating evidence. Distraught, Spider-Man accosts a late-closing storekeeper, thinking him a burglar. Unable to forget, Spidey decides to travel to Algeria, visiting the Fantastic Four and getting a ride from Reed Richards. In the Casbah, he looks up the restaurant owner whom May said identifi ed his parents’ bodies. The owner gives him the address of the Master of Intrigue for whom Richard Parker worked. However, a spy overhears and informs the Master who sends the thugs that attack Spider-Man. Now, regaining consciousness, he continues to the address, fi nding hidden fi les in an offi ce. Within he fi nds a card designating his father as an enemy spy but is interrupted by the Master — the Red Skull -— who summons his mute muscleman Sandor. Spidey easily defeats Sandor, tearing his costume in the fi ght, and departs with the card. The Skull, seeking revenge, calls upon the Finisher who “electro-scans” the costume piece to fi re a seeking-missile at Spider-Man. When Spidey uses webbing to dispose of it, the Finisher fi res another that Spidey leads back to his car. The explosion mortally wounds the hitman who, before dying, confesses that Richard Parker was a double agent, and that the Skull found out, arranged for the restaurant owner to plant the false evidence, then sent the Finisher to booby-trap the airplane. Seeking proof, Spider-Man attacks the Skull, whose destructor-beam strikes his weapons-packed command chair causing an explosion that singes Richard’s enemy spy card revealing a U.S. counterspy card underneath. The Skull escapes but Spider-Man is exultant. He has proved his father’s heroism and his parents’ innocence.
Much of the story is told in fl ashback from Peter’s discovery of the newsclipping to his questioning of the restaurant owner in Algiers as well as the true story of Richard and Mary’s deaths as told by the Finisher.
Includes greytone frontispiece featuring Spider-Man & Sandor. Story followed by “A Day at the Daily Bugle” (1 page), pin-up w/ J. Jonah Jameson, Joe Robertson, Ned Leeds, Betty Brant; “Peter Parker, the Super Sports Star!” (2 pages), pin-up w/Peter imagining using his powers in baseball, football & shot-put; “Where It’s At!” (1 page), a New York map showing Daily Bugle, Coffee Bean, ESU, Peter and Harry’s apartment, May and Anna’s house locations w/Peter, Harry, May, Jameson, MJ, Gwen cameos; “This is Spidey as We Know Him But…” (2 pages), pin-up w/Spider-Man as Lil’ Abner, Dick Tracy, Mickey Mouse, Archie Andrews, Charlie Brown, Superman; (all Larry Lieber, pencils; Mike Esposito, inks) “Here We Go-A-Plotting!” (3 pages), a farcical tale featuring Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, John Romita concocting the next Spider-Man plot w/ Spider-Man, Peter Parker, Aunt May, Dr. Doom, & Roy Thomas cameos. (Marie Severin, pencils; Frank Giacoia, inks) (Stan Lee, all scripts; Art Simek, all letters). Richard and Mary Parker’s full names revealed in OHMU:SM ’07. Finisher’s real name revealed in novel Spider-Man: Secret of the Sinister Six.
