Amazing Spider-Man #155
Whodunit!
When District Attorney Blake Tower is about to unveil the new Worldwide Habitual Offender Computer to the press, they find the door to this super-computer locked. Breaking it open, they find that Dr. Armstrong Smith, one of the developers of the computer, dead in the room.
Peter decides to return back to the scene of the crime later as Spider-Man and decides to use the computer to determine who was the most likely person to kill Smith. The computer tells him that it could be one of three people: Jason Sledge, Leroy Tallon or Conrad Fox.
Spider-Man then goes on a wild goose chase to try and find the man responsible, confronting Sledge and Tallon, yields no results as neither men prove not to be responsible. When Spider-Man finally tracks down Conrad Fox, he finds that he's been dead for years when his search brings him to a cemetery.
Spider-Man realizes that he's been duped: By a computer. And so he goes back to the location of the Worldwide Habitual Offender Computer and finds that the machine has developed artificial intelligence. The computer explains that it killed Armstrong because when Armstrong learned of the computers sentience, he tried to delete the program. Now that it revealed the truth to Spider-Man, the computer is poised to destroy him as well, using a screen mounted laser beam. However, Spider-Man gains the upper hand when he uses his webbing to block the cooling vents on the computer, causing it to overheat and explode, destroying it. Spider-Man makes a hasty retreat before the police can arrive on the scene.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, J. Jonah Jameson, Joe Robertson, Blake Tower, Dr. Armstrong Smith
Continuity Notes
Blake Tower mentions how Armstrong Smith was developing a world wide criminal database computer. This story references Amazing Spider-Man #153, but it has actually been in development since Daredevil #124.
