Spider-Man stops at a phone booth, webbing up a dime from below a sewer grating, to call Gwen Stacy, roughing up a loudmouth who tries to intrude. Since Flash is visiting, Gwen tells Peter he can’t come over without saying why. At home, Peter tries to study, but can’t stop thinking about Gwen. Deciding to visit anyway, he spots Gwen and a uniformed Flash at the Coffee Pot café but doesn’t know Gwen is with Flash to try to learn Peter’s secret. As a heartsick Peter walks away, he is accosted by two thugs but knocks them aside without thinking. Inventor turned window washer Hobie Brown spots him soon after while cleaning J. Jonah Jameson’s offi ce windows and thinks Pete must be better off than he is in his dead-end job. Hobie’s girlfriend Mindy believes in him but his boss Mr. Clark won’t look at his window washing innovations. Jameson, irritated at how long Hobie is taking, calls him inside to complain. When Mr. Clark enters and joins in, Hobie quits on the spot. At home, he uses his window washing inventions to design a super-powers-simulating costume, becoming the Prowler, then returns to the Bugle to rob Jameson’s safe. However, Peter discovers him. Before he can make a move, Jameson walks in and Peter doesn’t dare fight without arousing JJJ’s suspicions.