After tangling with a new villain in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #3, one of Spidey's oldest foes (in every sense of the word) the Vulture returns to torment him in this, the first part of a two-part storyline.

The issue starts with the Vulture tracking down a thug by the name of Joe Knuckles. It seems Mr. Knuckles was hired to extort money from Adrian Toomes, not realizing he was messing with the deadly Vulture. The Vulture scoops Joe Knuckles up and deposits him into the Hudson River. It turns out that Morgan, the Harlem crime lord (last seen in Captain America #183) frequently opposed by the Falcon, ordered the attempted shakedown. However, he's got a new plan now: "Why not make that bird an ally in our move from Harlem to take the whole enchilada?" Morgan says. "Deal now, double-cross later. That's Morgan's style!" But the Vulture is insulted by Morgan's offer. He hangs the crime lord from a light pole in response, eliciting some laughs from the police. "The Vulture's made me look the fool...to the man and my people!" Morgan thinks. "Got to make him pay for it...and I know the way it'll hurt most!"

Meanwhile, Peter Parker realizes he's overslept and is about to miss the bus to his morning class. So he gets in his Spider-Man attire and hitches a ride - only to be knocked off into the snow by a low-hanging tree branch (in Manhattan?!?). A cabbie driving through isn't very sympathetic, "You wanna play in snow, go to Central Park, fancy britches! I can't earn a livin' with you meditatin' in traffic!" It's a humorous little interlude. He gets to school only to fall asleep during his chemistry lab experiment. The professor tells him he hasn't completed his experiment in time. "You must be mistaken," Peter says. "I'm sure I had everything correct before I doz - er, started thinking." The professor tells him, "It doesn't really matter, Parker -- if you can't remember to light your Bunsen burner!" It's just not Peter's day - and if the Vulture has anything to say about it, it'll only get worse. Speaking of the winged villain, he's not playing hard to get. The Vulture is kidnapping people off the streets and holding them hostage on a skyscraper, demanding that Spider-Man confront him. "So come flu or frostbite, it's time for Spidey to get on the case!" Peter thinks. Meanwhile, Morgan watches the scene unfold on television. A mysterious man enters his office and Morgan hands him a suitcase full of cash, presumably to take care of the Vulture.

Spider-Man swings into action. As always, the Vulture tries to keep the fight in the skies, while Spider-Man wants to steer the fight into an empty office building. As it turns out, the building wasn't just empty - it was unfinished, meaning Spider-Man doesn't have the advantage of close quarters that he hoped for. Spider-Man manages to get on the Vulture's back and attempts to defeat him by ripping off the power pack that fuels the Vulture's wings - the same way he has won in the past. But this time, the Vulture has booby-trapped the power pack and Spider-Man gets a jolt of current when he tries to remove it. The Vulture is about to close in on the helpless Spider-Man when an explosion separates the two. The stunned hero and villain look up to see a third player enter the battle - a new bad guy know as the Hitman! "You can forget your revenge," Hitman tells the Vulture on the final page of the issue. "I've taken a contract to make certain of that -- by killing Spider-Man myself!" Not looking too good for our hero, is it?

This issue also gives us a slow tease of the upcoming Brother Power/Sister Sun storyline that won't culminate until Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #12. Peter stops by the restaurant where he and Flash saw Sha Shan in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #3, the girl who saved Flash's life in Vietnam. However, the restaurant's owner, Achmed Korba, informs Peter that no one by that name works there - as we see Sha Shan crying in the back room of the restaurant. But that's another story for another time.

This issue was pretty typical of Spider-Man comics in the late 1970s: good, solid, month-to-month storytelling with enough teases to bring you back the following issue without so much back-story that it became confusing. This isn't the best Vulture story ever, but the twist with the Hitman gunning for Spider-Man, rather than the Vulture as we believed, is a nice way to set up a cliffhanger.

Next issue: This two-part story concludes with Spider-Man versus both the Vulture and the Hitman!

Reviewed by Bruce Buchanan.