A John Byrne cover (he also does the cover for #5).
An amazing splash page.
Followed by a terrific sequence of Spider-Man punching and wisecracking, with some of Greg LaRocque’s best work.
He also pays tribute to New York’s water towers. John Romita Jr. and, especially, Frank Miller, put these structures in every Manhattan skyline–but in the mid-to-late ’80s they started to disappear. Nice to see them again.
So this story is off to a good start. From there, we get a solid recap of what’s up in the world of Doctor Octopus since he was committed to a mental institution, and a great punchline to the fakeout on the cover, which showed Spider-Man being attacked by Doc’s famous arms.
He’s not the villain! Just his arms are the villain! The arms have a life of their own. They break him out of the prison hospital so that in issue #5 he can be the main baddie.
Look how evil he is—he destroys a word processor!
The ending of this story is pretty funny. Spider-Man beats the Doc and is about ready to destroy his arms when…
It’s ridiculous to think that the instrument of a criminal enterprise would be protected by a court order, but it’s a pretty funny and creative way to ensure Doc Ock can return, with his arms, in the future.