Spider-Man waits for Black Cat to strike at the Hendricks Museum of Musical History. What loot has the Cat set her eyes on now? And when she and Spider-Man battle it out, will Black Cat bare her fangs? Peter discovers that new girlfriend Dawn Starr has ulterior motives.
...In Love and War!
At the start of this issue, Spider-Man is in a museum, guarding a wax recording of a love song. He's assuming that the Black Cat is planning to steal it, as she's recently been stealing artefacts associated with love. However, the Black Cat doesn't turn up, so Spider-Man leaves the museum and heads to Empire State University. There he meets Dawn Starr, and the two agree to have a date in a few days, before Peter has to go to classes.
At the end of the day, Peter changes back to Spider-Man, and goes looking for the Black Cat again. He assumes that she's stealing the artefacts out of a devotion to her father. Spider-Man heads to the museum where he was last night, and just as he predicted, the Black Cat is there, stealing the wax recording. Spider-Man tries to stop her, but the Black Cat's mysterious control over luck gives her the chance to escape before Spider-Man can stop her. The next day, Spider-Man's in the Daily Globe where he hears about a collector of romantic artefacts, called Lazlo Bellflower. Realising that it's a potential place for the Black Cat to strike, Spider-Man manages to get himself an assignment to photograph the collection later that evening.
To kill the time until he meets Bellflower, Peter decides to go to Empire State University to grade some papers. Upon noticing a woman in his office, he changes to Spider-Man, only to find it to be Dawn Starr trying to steal some exams. As Spider-Man he manages to frighten her not to do it again, and after she's gone, he notices the irony: The Black Cat is a thief who claims to like him, whilst Dawn Starr claims to like him and turns out to be a thief.
Meanwhile, the Black Cat, in her civilian identity of Felicia Hardy, is meeting with Lazlo Bellflower, and offers him the three artefacts she's already stolen in return for the only known love letter written to Paris by Helen of Troy. Obviously Felicia doesn't intend to pay for it, and so changes to the Black Cat and steals the letter from Bellflower. Whilst his is happening, Peter Parker is outside trying to get inside, but is being told that something came up so that he can't meet him. Peter works out that the Black Cat must be inside, and so changes to Spider-Man.
Spider-Man manages to get over the large fence surrounding Bellflower's house and inside, where the Black Cat is just finishing her robbery. The Black Cat is reluctant to hurt Spider-Man, saying that he'll understand everything soon, but manages to get away when Spider-Man has to avoid a falling chandelier. Luckily, Spider-Man manages to put a spider-tracer on the Black Cat before she leaves, and follows her to her hideout. When he gets there, the Black Cat reveals that she's used the stolen artefacts to make something of a shrine to Spider-Man, since she loves him. Spider-Man realises that whilst the Black Cat does love him, she also needs some psychiatric help, and convinces the Cat to do so.
Notes
- Features the Hostess Fruit Pies ad, "Thor Meets The Ricochet Monster!"
- Mark Gruenwald was assistant editor on this issue.
- This issue was reprinted in Spider-Man VS. The Black Cat #1
- Diamond (Direct) and square block price variants exist for this issue.
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