I: Feature Story: "The Enforcers!"

Pages: 22

Script: Stan Lee
Pencils: Steve Ditko
Inks: Steve Ditko
Letters: Sam Rosen

First Appearance: The Enforcers: The Big Man/Frederick Foswell, Fancy Dan, Montana, The Ox; The Abbotts

Villain: The Enforcers

Guest Appearance: Aunt May, Flash Thompson, Liz Allan, Betty Brant, J. Jonah Jameson

Cameo Appearance: The Abbotts

Synopsis: The crime boss named the Big Man suckers Spider-Man into looking foolish in front of a crowd assembled on the streets below: a man who has just robbed a jewelry store has wandered out to the end of a flagpole, and as Spidey moves in to apprehend him, the robber is jerked up by a cable to the Big Man's helicopter. As Spidey tries to get closer, he is gassed by the copter and has to create a web-chute so he can glide down to the ground. The Big Man counts on this embarrassment making Spidey look stupid to the city he is trying to protect.

Later, the Big Man convenes a meeting with rival gangleaders of the city. He shows off his partners in crime, the Enforcers: the Ox, the acrobat Fancy Dan, and the whiz with a lasso, Montana. The Big Man tells the crime bosses that he is taking over the rackets in New York, and when they argue with him, his "Enforcers" get rough with them.

Liz Allan drags Flash Thompson down to the hospital to check in on Peter's Aunt May. The doctor tells Peter his Aunt May will need a blood transfusion from him. After initially balking, due to fear of what his radioactive blood might do to his aunt, he yields to the pressure. It turns out the blood transfusion didn't negatively affect her. After Aunt May is released from the hospital, she is taken on a weeklong trip to Florida by her neighbors, the Abbotts. Meanwhile, the Big Man is starting a massive crime wave all over the city, as well as roughing up rival gangs that won't get in line under his control. Spidey tries to gain information from thieves he apprehends, but they won't talk out of fear of the Enforcers. J. Jonah Jameson tries to get some stories written about the Big Man, and puts his top reporter, Frederick Foswell, on a story that the Big Man is actually Spider-Man.

As Betty Brant leaves her job one day, the Enforcers stop her in a dark alley. They remind her that she owes loan interest to the Big Man. While they talk tough with her, Peter walks by and notices what's going on. She warns Peter away, but the Enforcers grab Peter and start to rough him up. Betty promises them the money she owes, and the Enforcers leave them alone. Peter demands to know what's going on, but Betty doesn't want to tell him that she owes money to a loan shark, so she blames the altercation on a case of mistaken identity. Peter is very concerned that Betty is not leveling with him.

Spider-Man goes out on the prowl for more information on the Big Man and grabs a street punk. At first the punk won't talk, but Spider-Man conjures up a gigantic spider and web to scare the fellow into giving him the Enforcers address at 15 Oak Street. Spider-Man heads out to the address, and before he can land on the rooftop, he is caught in Montana's lasso and pulled inside. He faces all the Enforcers alone, but since trying to defeat all of them at once is too much, so he douses the lights and escapes to the outside. Wondering who the ID of the Big Man is, he spots J. Jonah Jameson walking by the premises, and wonders if his boss could also be the Big Man.

Peter tries to call Betty to see if she knows anything about Jonah, but Betty hangs up on him, worried that Peter might get involved with the Enforcers on her behalf the more he finds out. The next day, Jameson tells Peter that Betty quit her job and he doesn't know where she is. Peter decides to make a decisive run at the Enforcers once and for all, but since he has no idea where their new hideout is, he decides on a new course of action: he will allow himself to get captured by the Enforcers! The next day, Peter starts bragging to his classmates about knowing the identity of the Big Man, and inevitably word reaches the Big Man that Parker knows his ID! And, as a matter of fact, the Big Man knows of Parker as well, and tells his boys to go pick the kid up. Montana and Fancy Dan grab Peter off the street and take him to their HQ, telling him the Big Man knows who he is! Peter wonders if, indeed, it is Jameson, as Montana tosses him into a dark prison cell to await his audience with the Big Man.

Peter changes into his Spider-Man uniform and escapes into the Enforcer's lair, which is an auto garage. The Big Man is talking to his underlings when Spidey is discovered by a thug and pushed down on the garage floor. An all-out melee starts up, with Spider-Man taking on a gang of toughs and the Enforcers. Spidey gains the upper hand on them and manages to flash his Spider-Signal beam to alert the police. Within minutes, the cops are on the scene and arresting Spider-Man's leftovers. But Spidey is not able to capture the elusive Big Man, who escapes under the cover of the hailfire of his pistol. This doesn't stop Spidey, though, from chasing down the Big Man, because he thinks he is none other than J. Jonah Jameson.

He swings straight over to the Bugle offices to scope out the situation, and sees Foswell talking to Jameson. Just as Spidey is about to challenge Jameson on his secret identity, the police bust in and arrest Foswell - for being the Big Man! They found all the crime boss' costume accessories in Foswell's car, and the lowly newspaper reporter hisses an admission that he is indeed the Big Man. Jameson realizes that once again he is a laughingstock, and in a private moment, alone in his thoughts, ponders on the fact that the real reason he despises Spider-Man so much is because of the web-swinger's selfless heroism. He admits to himself, if only for a second, that he feels the compulsion to destroy Spider-Man because he is envious of him.

Peter worries about never seeing Betty again, wondering what she must be going through that she can't share with him. And Betty sits alone in a Pennsylvania hotel room, crying to herself that she must keep her terrible secret from the boy she loves, to keep him safe from harm.

--synopsis by Gormuu

Issues Reprinted
Spider-Man from Amazing Fantasy #15 and
Amazing Spider-Man #1-10

Click on cover image to learn more about each issue.