(Cover Date: April, 1969)

Summary: After his battle with the Mandarin, Iron Man, along with Janice, watch the ambulance take the fallen Stark LMD away. At SI, IM beams instructions to the LMD so that the ambulance drivers find it alive & well. The LMD is returned to SI by police helicopter, & Tony locks it in his vault. Sitwell is supervising the recovery of the ship that Whitney Frost escaped in & crashed in the Everglades. Janice tells Tony that her lawyer, Vincent Sandhurst, is pressuring her to sell her company to Tony. Sandhurst needs his fee to care for his brother, Basil. Upon returning home, Vincent finds his brother has become the Controller. They recall how Basil had worked for Cord & was badly injured in a chemical fire. The Contoller moves in an exo-skeleton powered by the mind. Basil shows Vincent his Mind-Wave Absorbatron that he has connected his servants to tap their mental forces. Basil attaches a disc to the unwilling Vincent's forehead to connect him remotely with the Absorbatron. Tony & Janice drive to the town where Vincent lives to settle the sale. Tony finds the people in a restaurant are all wearing discs. The Controller pulls Janice out of the car, attaches a disc to her & flies away. Tony follows as IM & forces the Controller to the ground. The Controller is not fazed by IM's repulsor rays. He knocks IM down & puts a disc on him. He then flies away with both IM & Janice in his arms to be added to the Absorbatron. more

(Cover Date: May, 1969)

Summary: The Shocker breaks into the Stacy home & stuns George Stacy. He steals the clay tablet from the safe. The Shocker stuns a pawnshop owner after he tells him that there is no market for the tablet since Spidey is involved. Pete hears about the Shocker on the radio & tracks him down. They fight, & the Shocker leaves after knocking Spidey off of a building, but not before Spidey tags him with a spidey tracer. JJJ becomes enraged in the hospital after seeing the Daily Bugle has a favorable headline about Spidey. Gwen gets upset with Pete after he becomes jealous about her & Flash. Spidey tackles the Shocker after he robs an armored truck. At the end of the fight, Spidey knocks the Shocker out & takes away his wrist units. Spidey takes off after one of the armored truck guards starts to shoot at him. The guards find the stolen loot, along with a webbed-up Shocker. more

(Cover Date: April, 1969)

Summary; Sitting in his room, Pete is despondent about causing JJJ to collapse. Harry arrives back at their apartment, so Pete has to scramble to make sure that he doesn't see him in his Spidey suit. In the city, Quicksilver recalls escaping from Magneto's island with Wanda & the Toad & crashing their ship in the Adirondacks. He left them to talk to the Avengers. Jarvis tells him that they are in Africa. Quicksilver sees a newspaper headline that Spidey is wanted by police. He decides to apprehend Spidey to redeem himself. Peter sells his pictures of the Kingpin & Spidey at the museum to Robbie. Spidey delivers the clay tablet to Captain Stacy. Spidey is confronted by Quicksilver who tries to overcome him with his speed. In the hospital, JJJ becomes apoplectic when he sees the Daily Bugle newspaper with photos vindicating Spider-Man. Quicksilver creates a vortex around Spidey to draw away the air. Spidey stops him dead in his tracks with an arm thrust. He carries the dazed Quicksilver up the side of a building as the police show up. Quicksilver decides to give up the fight & says he will find another way to redeem himself.

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(Cover Date: March, 1969)

Summary: With IM caught in his neutralizing rays, the Mandarin uses his power ray to remove IM's helmet. To his surprise, the face that is revealed is not that of Tony Stark. IM tells the Mandarin to turn on the TV. Stark is seen meeting with the media at his lodge. The Mandarin leaves IM in Mei-Ling's custody & teleports to the lodge find Stark. IM makes Mei-Ling angry about the Mandarin's lack of love. She slams a door while leaving, which causes a damaged lamp to fall in front of the neutralizing ray, freeing IM. Tony takes off his mask & flies to his lodge. He recalls the Stark LMD that he secretly built in Cord Labs. The Mandarin enters the lodge & strikes down the Stark LMD when it fails to obey him. IM shows up & gets into a fight with the Mandarin, ripping off his teleportation belt. The Mandarin's robot reserve teleports into the lodge, but IM easily destroys them. Worried about Tony, Janice runs into the lodge, & the Mandarin takes her as a hostage. The Mandarin takes her to his aircraft, which was piloted there by Mei-Ling. IM crashes into the craft. When the Mandarin is about to kill Janice, Mei-Ling steps in front of his power ray due to Janice's love for Tony. IM punches the Mandarin into the instrument panel, which causes the airship to go out of control. IM flies away with Janice as the airship crashes into a mountain. Back at the lodge, they see the Stark LMD being loaded into an ambulance to be taken to the hospital.

Comments: The scene on the cover of the prior issue actually takes place in this issue.
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(Cover Date: March, 1969)

Summary: In his jail cell, the Kingpin rages about Spidey having the clay tablet. A cop shoots at Spidey to try to arrest him. At his apartment, Peter hides the tablet in his closet & tries to sleep, while thinking about his current worries. At ESU, Gwen thinks that Peter is a coward by leaving when trouble comes up. With Robby present, the dean tells the protestors that the trustees have voted to convert the exhibition hall into a low-rent dorm & that they have been granted amnesty. The Kingpin escapes from his jail cell by breaking out the bars. Thinking that a robbery is in progress, Spidey falls into a trap by the Kingpin. Spidey fights against the Kingpin who wants the tablet on him. JJJ & Ned drive up in a Bugle car & call the police to arrest Spidey. Kingpin is picked up by his wife. Angered, Spidey grabs JJJ after he accuses him of stealing the tablet. JJJ suffers some type of medical condition & collapses. Spidey wonders if he is as dangerous as JJJ says he is. more

(Cover Date: February, 1969)

Summary: Spidey looks for the Kingpin after he stole the clay tablet from the ESU Exhibition Hall. While waiting, Kingpin slaps a henchman after he mentions his wife. The protesters, including Randy Robertson, are interrogated by the police as to whether they were working with the Kingpin. Gwen gets into a spat with the protesters outside when they mention Peter. Spidey finds the Kingpin's hideout but senses a trap. The Kingpin's henchmen fire at a web dummy in the window. Spidey swings in to knock them out, then engages the Kingpin in personal combat. Kingpin grabs Spidey's forearm, & Spidey pretends to pass out from the pain. Spidey resumes the fight when the Kingpin lets go. Spidey webs up his cane, causing it to explode, which stuns the Kingpin. As the police arrive to arrest the Kingpin, he tells them that Spidey is his accomplice. Spidey follows the Kingpin's aid, Wilson, to where the tablet is stored & takes possession of it. When Spidey alerts the police outside, they shoot at him. An angry Spidey declares that if he is going to be treated as a menace, then he will become one.
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(Cover Date: January, 1969)

Summary: The Kingpin takes advantage of a student protest at the ESU Exhibition Hall to attempt to steal the petrified clay tablet. Spidey tries to stop him, but the Kingpin gets away with the tablet after Spidey is forced to save Randy Robertson from being crushed to death. Spidey follows the Kingpin's car, unaware that the Kingpin is leading him into a trap. more

(Cover Date: February, 1969)

Summary: The Mandarin completes his lab beneath Mei-Ling's shop. He creates fake photos of Tony Stark with communist agents. Reporters interrupt Tony's date with Janice Cord to ask him about the photos. Tony leaves them without comment. Since Tony has not responded about the photos, the government, represented by Senator Byrd, cancels their contracts with SI. Tony receives a call from Mei-Ling to come to her shop if he wants a solution to his dilemma. Outside the shop, Iron Man runs into Fury & Sitwell who want him to meet with SHIELD's executive committee. IM flees from them & avoids the SHIELD heli-carrier. Tony goes to Cord Lab to hide & runs into Janice. He convinces Janice to trust him despite her doubts. IM crashes through the skylight of Mei-Ling's shop & is confronted by the Mandarin. The Mandarin animates two stone statutes that attack IM. IM quickly shatters the two statues into pieces. He follows the Mandarin into his lab. They have a brief skirmish before IM is immobilized by neutralizer rays. The Mandarin boasts that he is going to remove IM's helmet to prove he is Tony Stark & then destroy him with his power rings.


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(Cover Date: January, 1969)

Summary: At a Chinese curiosities shop, a hooded figure receives a crate containing the Hulk. After testing the Hulk, the hooded figure sends the Hulk to kidnap Janice Cord. Tony is meeting with Janice & her attorney regarding the sale of her company to him. Hulk leaps away with Janice with Iron Man in pursuit. They skirmish along the way, until they arrive at a power plant. They fight there until the Hulk falls into an electrical generator. The "Hulk" is shown to actually be a robot & collapses from the damage sustained. The hooded figure is revealed to be the Mandarin, who states that he has confirmed that Tony Stark is Iron Man. more