When we last left our hero (yes, I've always wanted to use that line), Peter Parker was nearly unconscious and perhaps near death on a hospital floor, the victim of radiation poisoning following a battle with the Molten Man, who made his return in Amazing Spider-Man #132 following an almost 100-issue absence.

The Molten Man burns his way into the hospital looking for Ned Leeds, whom Peter brought in after Ned also contracted radiation poisoning. The Molten Man (Mark Raxton) attacked the Daily Bugle reporter in the previous issue after Ned came to investigate a tip at Raxton's apartment. It seems Ned may have seen too much for the Molten Man to allow him to live. "My secret will die with you, Leeds -- that is, if I let you die!" he ominously declares. Meanwhile, a well-meaning intern discovers the unconscious Peter and starts to examine him. But before he can loosen his shirt, he hears a scream from the Admittance Room - the receptionist's reaction to the Molten Man's sudden entrance. He leaves Peter to check it out - good thing, too, as he would have discovered Peter's Spider-Man costume underneath his clothes. The still-weak Peter drags himself into a storeroom and changes in to Spider-Man. He blasts the Molten Man with water from a high-pressure fire hose, kicking up a cloud of steam. He figures his spider sense will give him the advantage, but rather than fight, the Molten Man burns through the wall and escapes. Spidey goes to Ned's window to check on the sick newsman. In his sleep, Ned mumbles, "Chemicals...rocks, glowing...so much light...fire everywhere...rocks glowing." Spider-Man thinks, "Sounds like gibberish to me," but in fact, Ned is giving him a clue.

Back at Mary Jane Watson's apartment, M. J. is having a heart-to-heart talk with Liz Allen, Peter's old high school classmate and the step-sister of the Molten Man. She explains that after he was captured in Amazing Spider-Man #35, she took a job as a nurse to be close to him and to try to help him. As it turns out, the metal that covered his skin was reacting and changing - and he will die as a result. But despite Liz's attempts at kindness, the Molten Man only lashed out at her in anger at his condition. She blames herself for the fact he attacked an intern and escaped from the hospital where he was being treated. There's a funny moment where Peter tries to sneak in through the window of Mary Jane's next-door neighbor, but is discovered by the dog of the house. Peter walks into the room with ripped-up pants leg: "Do me a favor, M. J. Don't ask," he says. Acting on a tip from J. Jonah Jameson, Peter checks out a warehouse robbery on the West Side of town. Workers on the site act suspiciously when he comes around, so Peter calls Ned, who is feeling better at this point. Ned tells him that whatever the Molten Man is up to, it involves radioactive isotopes - which is what was stolen from the warehouse. That's the clue Spider-Man needed to make sense of the Molten Man's plan: "Rocks from the museum - meteor rocks - those radioactive isotopes...it all fits together somehow. Raxton...the Molten Man...must be trying to recreate the alloy which originally coated him." Spider-Man notes that the Science Museum has a similar meteor on display, so he deduces that's where the Molten Man will strike next. And he's right - Spidey catches the villain in the act of stealing the meteor. But rather than fight, the desperate Molten Man escapes, dons a fireproof disguise and gets on the subway, with Spider-Man right behind him. However, the Molten Man's core temperature is getting too hot - he burns through his asbestos clothes. He says his body is being consumed by its own heat. "I only needed time - time to reverse the deterioration," he screams. "But Spider-Man wouldn't stop hounding me! He wouldn't leave me alone!"

The enraged Molten Man gets off of the train and he and Spider-Man fight on the tracks, which are on a bridge. The Molten Man batters Spidey and has him down on the tracks. "He's gone off his rocker! He's in so much pain, all he wants to do is to hurt...to kill." Spider-Man thinks. In order to distract his foe, Spider-Man slings the Molten Man's bag containing the meteors and isotopes into to water below the bridge. The Molten Man leaps off after them, despite Spider-Man screaming that the water is too cold. In the story's final panel, the narrator tells us what happens next: "A sudden burst of steam -- a distant, almost mild explosion -- and a man ends as he has lived! Consumed by the passion within him--and a madness in his soul."

After stepping aside to let the legendary John Romita provide the art on the previous issue, regular artist Ross Andru is back this month.

Normally, I don't have many major complaints with Spider-Man comics from this era - in fact, the 1970s were the Golden Age of Spidey, as far as I'm concerned. But there's a pretty big blunder in this issue. After being near death at the end of the previous issue, Spider-Man gets up off the floor and takes on the Molten Man as if nothing was wrong. In fact, his radiation poisoning is barely acknowledged in the rest of the story. Cliffhanger endings are great in the first issue of a two-part story, but this one feels really forced and artificial. This certainly isn't a bad two-part story, but because of this apparent gap in logic, it isn't as strong as many other Conway/Andru stories.

Next issue: The debut of the Tarantula - and the return of the Punisher!

Reviewed by Bruce Buchanan.

Reprinted In:
Marvel Tales #110