Synopsis
Well here's an issue that eventually became the subject of much ret-conning. Let's see how it plays out.
Believe it or not, our story opens in Algeria. Spider-Man is ambushed by a bunch of Algerian hoods and one of them manages to wing him? Head-injury means flashback time...
Peter remembers how we opened a trunk of Aunt May's in the attic. He found newspaper clippings reporting his parents death as traitors to America. Naturally, this means he has to go to Algeria to found out the truth for himself.
Which brings us back to where we started...
After getting the address of his parents "boss" Spider-Man races there only to find, the RED SKULL?!?!
Spidey beats up a henchman of the Skull's, but not before finding damning evidence against his father: an identification card in the Red Skull's spy organization.
As a broken-hearted Spider-Man prepares to leave Algeria, a man known as "the Finisher" comes after him on the Skull's orders. The Finisher is hit by his own missile intended for our hero and as he dies tells Spider-Man the truth about Richard Parker.
Spider-Man goes back to the Red Skull and acquires the proof that he needed, an ID card for Richard Parker showing him to be a double agent working for the US Government.
Notes
- If Richard and Mary were working for the US Government, then how come they weren't cleared after their deaths by the Government itself?
- Even if May and Ben decided never to tell Peter about his parents...I found it ludicrously unlikely that no one else did. The Parkers are an obvious parallel to the Rosenbergs and their children were stigmatized throughout their entire lives. Peter's last name wasn't changed, nor did they move him to a different city. There's simply no way that he could've made it to 20 without finding out that his parents were traitors.
Credits
Phantasmagorically produced by: Smilin' Stan Lee and Larrupin' Larry Lieber
Embellished by: Mickey Demeo
Lettered by: Artie Simek
Chaotic Consultant: Jazzzy Johnny Romita
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