While Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #6 was largely reprinted material, we do learn on the final page that Morbius the living vampire is in some alien dimension - and he is not alone. Some strange being whom we do not see is forcing him to return to Earth. This issue picks up on that story, although it begins with somewhat more mundane material. Spider-Man crashes into the headquarters of Harlem crime lord Morgan and the Web-Slinger is a man on a mission. "Play hour's cancelled, punks! I want your Crimelord boss Morgan -- and I want him now!" he says, as he cleans house on Morgan's two-bit thugs. Back in Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #5, Morgan hired the assassin known as the Hitman to kill Spider-Man. That attempt failed and now Spider-Man is here to deliver a message to Morgan. He webs the crime boss to his office chair and spins him around like a top. "Times like this, it's more kicks being Spider-Man than the Fonz! Well, than Laverne and Shirley anyway" he thinks, in a nice bit of '70s pop culture name-dropping.

But we are talking about Peter Parker and you just know his luck will soon take a turn for the worse. It starts when he retrieves his street clothes. He left them in an air vent over a delicatessen and, to his embarrassment, he now smells like chopped liver. Even worse, Morbius rematerializes on a nearby rooftop, using the dimension-spanning bands of the Living Eraser he obtained in Marvel Two-in-One #15. He's not alone: Morbius appears to have some other entity inhabiting his mind. The entity's curiosity becomes aroused at Morbius' reaction to a picture of Spider-Man on the side of a Daily Bugle truck. "It provokes memories. Anger, humiliation, defeat. A wealth of feelings...what rich possibilities," the entity says.

Over at the Daily Bugle office, Glory Grant is finishing up some late-night filing. Glory is Peter's neighbor and J. Jonah Jameson's executive secretary. She and Peter are planning on doing some grocery shopping that evening, but before he can arrive, Morbius crashes through the window and kidnaps her. "I seek Spider-Man, woman! And I'm driven by too many demons to be gentle or reasonable as I do it!" he says. He came to the Daily Bugle seeking information on Spider-Man. It seems he saw Glory filing away some photos of Spider-Man and figured she had some kind of connection to him. He carries her to the top of a water tower. Luckily for her, she does have a connection to the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man (although she doesn't realize it). Spidey swings in and kicks Morbius away from Glory. But Morbius returns the favor and decks Spider-Man with a punch; really nice work by artist Sal Buscema on this panel. They are fighting at night and in a thunderstorm - an appropriately creepy setting for a battle with Morbius. "It's easy to forget when a guy feels light as a Kleenex...that he still can hit like an H-bomb!" Spider-Man thinks. But Spidey gets distracted and is clipped by a passing truck. The blow only stuns him momentarily, but it destroys both of his web-shooters. Morbius goes back after Glory, who is still atop the water tower high above the city, intending to feed on her blood. Spider-Man leaps to the rescue, but this time, he has to get Glory to safety without his webs, which is considerably trickier. He almost falls after Morbius tries to dislodge them, but is able to snag the narrowest of ledges on a nearby building. Morbius doesn't press the attack; instead, he is preoccupied with battling the alien being within his own body. "You will attack them again and again...so long as it pleases me. Starting now, Michael - the Empathoid commands!" We get our first look at the Empathoid, a menacing alien android who feeds off others' emotions.

We also get some nice B-story material involving the supporting case. Flash Thompson passes by the restaurant he and Peter visited in Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #3, where he saw Sha Shan, the girl who saved his life in Vietnam. Sha Shan ran off and Flash has been troubled ever since. This time, he sees her in the window above the restaurant. "Now that I know she's in there, I've got to do something about it -- whatever the cost!" he says. What Flash doesn't know is that Achmed Korba, the restaurant's owner, is watching him. It's a nice slow build for a story that will culminate in a classic four-part storyline beginning in Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #12.

Also, this was the era when Aunt May was going through her goofy "gray panther" phase, where she becomes an activist for senior citizens' rights. She, Mary Jane Watson and Anna Watson are working on some signs for an upcoming rally at city hall. Grey panther power...right up!" she says. This somewhat silly storyline will play out over in Amazing Spider-Man.

Next issue: Spider-Man vs. Morbius and the secret of the Empathoid revealed!

Reviewed by Bruce Buchanan.