Get ready for an epic battle between Spider-Man and the Human Torch! Plus, two mysterious guest villains make their appearance!
Story One- "The Web and the Flame!"
At the start of this issue, Spider-Man is swinging around when he hears the frenzied sounds of a panic, such as car brakes. He flies down to the street to find the Human Torch flying around flying around causing havoc, whilst the civilians all panic in fear. Spider-Man then attacks him, worried that he's become a menace to society, but neither is able to gain an advantage over the other until Spider-Man rips a fire hydrant out of the ground, dousing the Torch's flame. However, the fight isn't over, as the Torch is still ready to fight Spider-Man. Before the two can start fighting once more, a man runs out and tries to convince them to stop. Upon hearing the Torch call the man Bellini, Spider-Man recognises the name as being that of a famous director, and Bellini explains that Spider-Man interrupted a filming of his latest movie, "The Torch Goes Wild". Spider-Man then leaves the set, wondering what J. Jonah Jameson will think when he hears of this.
At the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson is looking at photos of Spider-Man interrupting the film which were taken by one of the crewmen, and chuckling to himself since they would cause embarrassment to Spider-Man. He then runs them in the next edition of the Daily Bugle. When a mysterious man hears about how Spider-Man interrupted the film, he starts thinking of what can only be described as "a dangerous idea".
A few days later, Peter Parker hears a news report about how Paragon Productions is planning on making a film starring the Human Torch and Spider-Man. As the Torch has already agreed, the studio is searching for Spider-Man. Peter decides to agree to be in the movie as Spider-Man, as he'll have money for Aunt May as well as being able to go out with Gwen without worrying about how much money he's spending. He also notes to himself that he hasn't heard of Paragon Productions before, and so must be relatively new. Peter then takes a plane to Hollywood, and finds the studio and makes an appointment to see the director of the film. Whilst he does this, two mysterious men watch him, and say to each other about how he'll never realise that he's a deadly plot until it's too late, and that between them they will cause the defeat of both Spider-Man and the Human Torch.
The next day, Spider-Man runs into the Human Torch on his way to the studio, and after the two of them make their usual insults to each other, the two of them agree to grow up and have a truce during the filming of the movie. Spider-Man then goes to the set of the movie where the first scene is being shot (which is a scene that involves invading aliens), and acts out his part as he should, as does the Torch. However, during the filming, Spider-Man notices his spider sense tingling, and wonders what it could mean. During a second shooting of the scene, the Human Torch heads straight for Spider-Man instead of the space ship, and starts fighting him, all without saying a word. The Human Torch does a few things that are very out of character, such as smashing into a reflector, and flying off from the battle, which confuses Spider-Man. Spider-Man heads for the Torch's dressing room upon being unable to find the Torch, which unknown to him, is part of the mystery villains' plan. Spider-Man then smashes the wall of the Torch's dressing room open, ready to continue their fight.
Meanwhile, the "Torch" is congratulating Spider-Man's foe Mysterio on how well their plan is folding out, and upon Mysterio telling the fake Human Torch to turn off his jets, it's revealed that the Torch who attacked Spider-Man at the studio is the Wizard, one of the Human Torch's greatest enemies. The Wizard then says about how his plan first started when he saw the Daily Bugle report on Spider-Man disrupting the Human Torch's film, and since the Torch's film was a quick one shot for the government, he could be able to convince the Torch to star in another film. He then used his money to set up Paragon Productions, and placed an ad in the paper asking for Mysterio, as he thought that the two of them would make good partners due to their mutual need for destroying both Spider-Man and the Torch. After a short fight over which one of them would be leader of the duo, they agreed to work equally.
Mysterio and the Wizard then look in on how Spider-Man and the Human Torch's fight are going. Spider-Man is intentionally pulling his punches, not wanting to hurt the Torch, despite the Torch attacking him. The two of them then fight around the studio, with Spider-Man using what materials are available to combat the Torch's flame, but neither of them are using their full strength against each other. Still watching the match, the Wizard pulls a lever in an attempt to destroy Spider-Man and the Human Torch, but the laser which is fired misses both of them, and they stop their fight as they realise that neither of them should be fighting each other. As the two start to suspect that something is up, a cage drops over the two of them, and a gas starts coming out. The two of them manage to escape from that trap, but work out that the Torch that attacked Spider-Man was an imposter. Mysterio and the Wizard then decide that the time for stealth is over, and Spider-Man and the Human Torch decide to work together to find out who is attacking them.
Remembering that his spider sense was tingling during the filming, Spider-Man correctly guesses that the villains are hiding in a small cubicle in the ceiling, and the Wizard and Mysterio emerge after the Human Torch heats up the cubicle. Unfortunately, these turn out to be holograms created by Mysterio, whilst the real villains escape through a ceiling hatch. The two heroes find the villains flying off on one of the Wizard's jet machines, and Spider-Man and the Human Torch manage to follow them by having Spider-Man attach himself with webbing to the Torch whilst he's flying. The two chase the Wizard and Mysterio to a fake jungle used by the studio for movies set in the jungle, but lose the villains when they are attacked by a giant mechanical gorilla. The gorilla is fireproof, and so the Torch is knocked out by it, whilst Spider-Man tries to work out a way to stop it. Watching these events is the Wizard and Mysterio, who have escaped to a second secret base, hidden in the jungle.
Just as the gorilla grabs the Human Torch in its oversized hand, Spider-Man finds the control centre for the robot, and manages to smash it and deactivate the gorilla. He then breaks open the gorilla's grip on the Human Torch, and whilst the Torch is recovering, Spider-Man grabs some magnetically activated fluid from the gorilla's control panel, having a hunch that it will be useful. The two then find a back entrance to where the Wizard and Mysterio are currently hiding, but are shocked to find out that it's a trap, as two transparent barriers close, trapping the two heroes together. At the same time, the Wizard boasts that he has coated the two with an invisible magnetic field, which will destroy them in a moment. The meaning of this is then revealed, as the boulders and rocks in the tunnel that two heroes are in start flying towards them, due to the magnetic field attracting them to them.
The Human Torch tries breaking through the barriers which are stopping him and Spider-Man from escaping, but it's too thick for him to escape through. Spider-Man tells him to concentrate his flame, and the Torch does so, creating a small hole. Spider-Man then uses the magnetic fluid he took before combined with his webbing to hit the magnetic field switches through the hole, effectively reversing the magnetic field. The rocks then start flying away from Spider-Man and the Human Torch, one of them smashing through the barrier between the heroes and the villains. This crash stuns the villains, allowing the heroes to defeat them more easily than they normally could.
Although the movie is over, Spider-Man gets a reward for helping capture the villains, and so earns the money to go back to New York.
Story Two- "The Coffee Bean Barn!"
This is a two page spread showing Spider-Man's supporting cast at the Coffee Bean, all thinking or saying lines typical of their characters.
Story Three- "What the Well-Dressed Spider-Man Will Wear"
This is a feature that goes over several pages, saying what Spider-Man's costume is made of, and what the importance of each part is. It then goes on to cover Spider-Man's powers in detail, as well as what he can do with his webbing, before showing a gallery of some of Spider-Man's notable foes.
Story Four- "A Visit to Petey's Pad!"
This double page spread shows what Harry Osborn and Peter Parker's flat looks like, and where everything is stored.
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