Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #9
The Bridge Part 3
At the Thompson home, Flash continues to fume over the fact that Peter Parker is going to the prom with Liz Allan. This isn’t helped by the fact that Flash’s father keep on slapping berrating the boy for letting a geek like Parker make him less of a man. While at the Allan home, Liz is busy trashing all the momentos that Flash had given her while they were dating, her mother can’t understand, but Liz insists that going to the prom with Peter is the best thing for her to do. At the Daily Bugle, unaware that Peter already promised to go to the prom with Liz Allan, Betty Brant tells J. Jonah Jameson that she cannot work late because she is going to the prom. While in the city, the Sandman continues to absorb all the grit and dirt he comes into contact with since being exposed an an experimental solvent by Spider-Man. By this point, the Sandman has increased in size and his condition has now started affecting his mind.
Meanwhile, at the Parker home, Aunt May has Peter try on his Uncle Ben’s old suit and she thinks he looks great despite how dated it is. Aunt May can’t wait to see Peter and Mary Jane together. However, Aunt May tells Peter that he promised to take her and a good person sticks to their responsibilities no matter what. This shames Peter since he has been shirking his responsibilities over the past few days. When she tells him to change out othe tux and go out, Peter decides to go out as Spider-Man. He swings over to the Thompson home where he sneaks into Flash’s room to look for his stolen notebook so he can work on developing a cure for the Sandman. When he hears Harrison Thompson yelling, Peter decides to crawl along the ceiling to check out what’s going on. In the next room he sees that Harrison is forcing Flash to lift two cases of beers, berating him that only winners will win the ESU sports scholarship. Peter is horrified when he witnesses Harrison start to beat his son.
Back at the Parker home, Aunt May answers the door and finds Betty Brant in tears. When May tells Betty that Peter isn’t home, Betty tells May that she had to quit her job at the Bugle because J. Jonah Jameson would not let her take time off to go to the prom with Peter. This comes as a surprise to Aunt May who was unaware that Peter agreed to go with Betty. By this point, Peter has returned to the lab at Midtown High without his notebook and tries to come up with a solution but can’t without his notes. Realizing that all of his recent problems are his own making, Parker begins to wonder how he is going to get himself out of this mess. While back in the city, the Sandman’s mental state continues to deteriorate as his mass continues to grow. Although his memories are fuzzy, he knows he wasn’t like this before and begins contemplating suicide. While back in Queens, Aunt May gets another visitor, this time it is Liz Allan. Liz has come to drop off a watch of color so Peter knows what color coursage.
By this time, Peter is pacing the streets trying to figure out what to do. Peter knows he could easily win the bridge walk and get his notes back, but fears what sort of punishment Flash will get from his father. It’s then that he happens to bump into his science teacher, Hugh Del, who encourages Peter to continue his solvent experiment as it will surely win the ESU science grant. Peter wonders what the point is when Blake’s virtual reality rig will likely win. Del explains that his enthusiasem toward Blake’s experiment wasn’t because he thought he would win, but so Blake would be encouraged to finish his project and that he actually thinks that Peter has the better experiment and apologizes for what Peter overheard. After this pepe talk, Peter has renewed confidence Peter rushes home to finish his project. There he is greeted with Aunt May who has a corsage for all three of his prom dates. May scolds him for being so irresponsible and tells him that he was playing with the emotions of three different people. However, she tells him he lucked out because Mary Jane cancelled because she didn’t want to go to the prom with a “square” she doesn’t even know, leaving Peter with only two women to deal with.[1] At that very moment, both Betty and Liz are putting on their dresses and looking forward to the prom. However, when Betty’s nephew brings her attention to an old photo album, Betty notices how young she looks in the photo.
Soon, Peter and Flash prepare to do the bridge walk with their entire class watching, including Liz. While Liz thinks this is stupid, Flash tries to egg Peter on by reminding Parker that he has his notes. Peter reminds himself to start thinking smarter and he suddenly says he is no longer going to the prom with Liz. This comes as a surprise to everyone. Peter explains to his classmates that his only motivation for agreeing to go to the prom with Liz was to be able to say no to Flash Thompson, since he has succeeded in doing so, he feels no reason to push things any further. This upsets Liz so much that she slaps Peter in the face. Flash begins to mock Peter but loses his balance and falls over the bridge, but manages to grab onto the ledge. While everyone is distracted, Peter slips away and changes into Spider-Man and quickly rescues Flash before he falls. Flash is greatful that his hero saved his life and thanks him. This is when Flash admits that he has been having a rough time lately, that with graduation looming everythign is starting to change and he was scared. Seeing Peter Parker show backbone and Liz not going to the prom with him were kind of the final straw. Spider-Man surprises himself when he admits that he can relate and leaves Flash in Liz’s hand. Liz sheds a tear beacuse something never change, especially for her.
While everyone is enjoying the prom, Peter works in the lab to come up a with a cure for the Sandman. When the cure succeeds, Sandman thanks Spider-Man for his help by socking Spider-Man in the face and escaping. When Peter returns home he finds a letter from Betty waiting for him. She apologizes for standing Peter up at the prom, saying that she realized that she realized that she has to move on from the past and going to the prom with him would have been a huge step backward. Reading this from the bridge, Peter gives a sigh or relief and thinks about how everything turned out and admits that he deserved everything that happened to him but is glad that things turned out the way they did because it could have been a whole lot worse.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Sandman, Aunt May, Flash Thompson, Betty Brant, Liz Allan, J. Jonah Jameson, Hugh Del, Harrison Thompson, Doris Allan
Continuity Notes
Aunt May and her friend Anna Watson have been trying to set up Peter with Mary Jane since Amazing Spider-Man #15. Although she appears to be flaking out here, the real reason is because she secretly knows that Peter is Spider-Man since he first got his powers as explaiend in Marvel Graphic Novel #46. However, despite their efforts to avoid each other, Peter and Mary Jane will eventually meet in Amazing Spider-Man #42.
