To recap last issue's action, Spider-Man's old foe the Vulture made an enemy when he crossed Morgan, the Harlem crime-lord. So Morgan hires a new villain called the Hitman to get revenge. Spidey and the Vulture tussle in an unfinished office building, only to be separated by a grenade explosion. It's the Hitman and he's here to fulfill Morgan's vengeance on the Vulture - by killing Spider-Man!

The Hitman is sort of a mercenary version of the Punisher. He has no superpowers, but he is armed to the teeth and his military-style combat tactics make him a formidable foe even for Spider-Man. He's even got a private plane and a souped-up motorcycle. Believe it or not, the Vulture actually saves Spider-Man's life, although only because he wants to kill the Wall-Crawler himself. "I won't let you spoil it!" the Vulture declares. "Not when I had that web-slinging wimp just as I wanted him." A dazed and weakened Spider-Man decides to take the fight outside, but the Hitman drives the Vulture away with a blast of tear gas to the face. All three men go their separate ways for a few hours, although they know the battle will resume. The Hitman and Vulture renew their fight later on right there in Peter Parker's neighborhood. Of course, Spider-Man jumps in. Unfortunately for him, he takes a bit of a beating, courtesy of the Vulture. The fight spills over to Central Park, where the Hitman stalks his prey while Spider-Man and the Vulture fight. He appears to wing Spidey with a rifle shot. A helpless Spider-Man dangles from his web-line and the Hitman puts him in his sights, preparing for the kill shot. He waits to pull the trigger until the Vulture is right there at Spider-Man. "You've still got one last tantalizing crack at him," he thinks. "You're going to come so close -- just before my bullet robs you of it forever!" However, what neither villain realizes is that Spidey isn't really hurt - he's just setting them up. Using his vaunted spider-speed, Spider-Man ensnares the Vulture with his legs and spins him around just as the Hitman fires his would-be fatal bullet. Instead, the gunshot slams into the Vulture's power pack, destroying the villain's source of power. "My power pack -- the bullet's shattered it! Without it, I can't fly!" the Vulture screams. "I know, Vulch -- I planned it that way," Spider-Man replies. The Vulture crashes to the ground, where the police pick him up. Meanwhile, the Hitman makes his escape, knowing he's blown the assignment Morgan hired him to perform. He next turns up in Amazing Spider-Man #174. The Vulture shows up next in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #44-45.

We also get some more build-up to the Brother Power/Sister Sun storyline that will begin in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #12. Flash Thompson and Mary Jane Watson go to the restaurant where Flash and Peter spotted Sha Shan, the girl who saved Flash's life in Vietnam, in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #3. The owner, Achmed Korba, informs Flash and Mary Jane that no one by that name works there. However, he goes to a private room above the restaurant - and there's Sha Shan, sitting on a bed and looking a lot like a prisoner.

There's a pretty funny interlude in the story, too. After the initial fight with the Hitman and the Vulture ends, Spider-Man decides to head home and study a bit. He goes to retrieve his clothes, which he webbed up into a ball and hid on a rooftop, only to find a leaky pipe has dripped water onto them. In the frigid cold weather, the web-bundle has frozen solid! "Other superheroes may not have my problems -- but how many of them could invent the wash-and-wear bowling ball?" he thinks. He gets home only to discover he has no clean clothes. "Can't salvage anything from here unless mildew gets very popular," he says as he rummages through his dirty clothes. So he decides to thaw out his frozen clothes in a pot of boiling water. Of course, Mary Jane and Flash drop by his apartment during the middle of this and notice a cloud of smoke in the kitchen. Mary Jane fishes into the pot with a broomstick and pulls out Peter's shirt - which has shrunk to the size of a kid's shirt! "You've been running a secret laundry for munchkins, right, Petey?" Mary Jane jokes.

By the way, the late Dave Cockrum contributed a fantastic cover for this issue. Best known for his Uncanny X-Men work, Cockrum never did much with Spider-Man, but looking at this cover makes you wonder "What if...?"

Next issue: Dreaded Deadline Doom strikes Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man, so instead of a new story, we get a reprint of Marvel Team-Up #3 featuring Spider-Man and the Human Torch versus Morbius the Living Vampire!

Reviewed by Bruce Buchanan.