Spectacular Spider-Man #48
Double Defeat
Spider-Man and the new Prowler are left to die in a room filling with gas by Belladonna. However, Spider-Man manages to bust free, the Prowler is burned in the escape due to Belladonna's trap and is turned over to the police. After a fruitless search for Belladonna, Spider-Man returns to his apartment, where he is visited by Debora Whitman and the two decide to go out for coffee.
Meanwhile, in the hospital, the Prowler revives and recovers his equipment with the intention of getting revenge on Belladonna. Peter meanwhile, realizing there is a tie between Belladonna and fashion designer Desiree Vaughn-Pope goes to pay her a visit to Spider-Man. He instead meets her sister Narda (who is really Belladonna) tells Spider-Man that her sister had gone to visit Roderick Kingsley who is in league with her. Going after Kingsley, Spider-Man is unaware that Narda is phoning Kingsley and tipping him off that Spider-Man is coming, under Belladonna's order to eliminate him.
Spider-Man spying the paranoid Kingsley is pacing around his apartment with a gun sends down a web filled dummy when Kingsley shoots the spider-dummy, Belladonna overhears it via a bug she planted in Kingsley's apartment. Belladonna is then visited by the Prowler who plans on getting revenge. However, the arrival of an alive-and-well Spider-Man breaks things up, and he webs up Belladonna, Prowler and the rest of her goons nice a snug for the authorities.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Belladonna, Prowler, Debra Whitman, Aunt May, Roderick Kingsley, Nathan Lubensky, J. Jonah Jameson, Lou Sneider, Desiree Vaughn-Pope, Len Wein
Continuity Notes
Belladonna mentions her last clash with Spider-Man, that happened in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #43.
Spider-Man recounts his animosity with NYPD's Lieutenant Keating. That happened in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #46. He also recounts how District Attorney Blake Tower cleared him of criminal charges. Spider-Man was wanted for questioning in the deaths of George Stacy (Amazing Spider-Man #90) his daughter Gwen (Amazing Spider-Man #121) and the apparent demise of Norman Osborn (Amazing Spider-Man #122). He was cleared in Amazing Spider-Man #186.
The man who recovers Peter's burned stuffed animal is writer Len Wein. This story was published around the time that Wein left Marvel Comics to work for DC Comics following a falling out with management. Unlike other real life people, Wein's appearance here is exempt from the rules of the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616. Marvel Comics creators exist in the modern age in the relative prime of their lives.
