The Amazing Spider-Man #265: After The Fox!

Writer: Tom DeFalco
Penciler: Ron Frenz

With a title like that, it goes without saying that this one's going to be crime caper!

Still on the brink of retirement, the Black Fox is completing his latest last theft ever, when he discovers the hard way that, once again, there are people out to get him.

This time it's a crack squad from the Symkarian government, who themselves are in the employ of another party – an insurance company. Well, that industry has a bit of a reputation for being thorough.

Out of the loop, Spider-Man manages to save the Fox twice, once by misreading the situation, and then again later by choice. It's an interesting decision on Spidey's part. The Fox is a bad guy, but the man of webs isn't going to just stand by and watch him get treated so nastily.

Ultimately Webs shows compassion and helps the Fox to escape, but not without slipping the jewel off of him and replacing it with a note that he must have written in a missing scene. Does Spider-Man really carry a pen with him? Well, he is a newspaper photographer, so I suppose so.

Though I usually highlight author Tom DeFalco's sense of fun, in this issue all the real merriment is to be found over on the letters page. Despite the number of months that it takes to mail an opinion in and get it printed, there's a great sense of joy amongst all the readers who've submitted theories as to the secret identity of the Hobgoblin. The script's red herrings have been getting slipped-in for over a year now, and clearly the idea has some more steam to go yet.

Mr Fox – fantastic!