Issue(s): Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #47, Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #48
Published Date: Oct-Nov 80
Title: "A night on the prowl!" / "Double defeat!"
Credits:
Roger Stern - Writer
Marie Severin - Penciler
Bruce D. Patterson - Inker

Review/plot:
Peter is out on a date with Debra Whitman, but when he hears on the news that Spider-Man is wanted for a series of break-ins, he cuts the date short. Again.

He's not really interested in Debra anyway, but he doesn't realize that she's very interested in him.

Peter uses his press credentials to check out the latest crime scene. It's at a posh Soho apartment, and based on the description of the intruder, Peter thinks it sounds more like the Prowler than Spider-Man. He drops in on Hobie Brown, who says he's given up being the Prowler, but discovers that his costume and equipment are missing.

It turns out the new Prowler...

...is actually the old burglar called the Cat. He's been hired by Belladonna. He's in a panic now that he knows they're blaming Spider-Man for the crimes because he doesn't want to face Spidey again, but Belladonna forces him to stay in the game.

After stopping to visit Aunt May, where we see the first appearance of Aunt May's soon-to-be fiancee Nate Lubenski...

...and dropping by the TA's office to hurt Deb's feelings some more, Spidey hunts down the Prowler.

But during the chase, they both get caught in one of Belladonna's death-traps.

Spidey eventually escapes...

...but the new Prowler is left unconscious for the police. Spider-Man explains that it's really the Prowler that's been committing the break-ins, but Spider-Man refuses to head down to the station with Detective Lou Snider to give a statement.

We're led to believe that the owner of the posh Soho apartment is Belladonna...

...but it's really her sister and partner in the fashion industry.

Spider-Man catches Belladonna when she goes after Roderick Kingsley again, also preventing the Cat/Prowler from killing her.

That's the last we'll see of her.

We see that Kingsley really is ruthless, killing (what he doesn't know to be) a fake Spider-Man.

Belladonna has a 1940s pulp villain sort of look and MO, and Marie Severin has an old fashioned style that creates just the right mood. Pretty good stuff.

There's an odd sequence where Peter accidentally destroys a stuffed "bear" (clearly actually a stuffed dog). I'm not sure if the bear has ever been seen before or who the guy at the end is supposed to be.

Quality Rating: B-

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - first Nate Lubenski

Chronological Placement Considerations: Peter is still working for the Globe.

References:

Spider-Man remembers that he didn't part with the original Prowler on the best of terms in Amazing Spider-Man #93.

• But Hobie Brown gave up being the Prowler after the fiasco of the big Defenders recruitment drive in Defenders #62-64.
  
• While swinging around and thinking, Spider-Man winds up at Aunt May's old house, which he hasn't been to since Amazing Spider-Man #200
  
• Spider-Man last saw Belladonna in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #43.
  
• The Cat burglar was last seen in Amazing Spider-Man #30.
  
• Spider-Man hasn't been wanted by the police since Amazing Spider-Man #186.

Cross-over: N/A

Continuity Implant? N

Reprinted In: N/A

great issues. roger managed to make belladonna an interesting character, in a little used field (fashion), and make her a threat to spidey. plus write an intellegent story.

now why doesnt Stern get more credit? he was THE bronze age writer for me.

That's not Elliot S! Maggin, is it?

Whoever that guy is at the end, he has a Superman belt buckle.

This plot almost a hint for Stern's Hobgoblin solution: Spidey thinks he knows the villain's identity, but it turns out to be her (never-before mentioned) sister.

My first comic book, good old days

The bear-dog appeared in Amazing Spiderman 169
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/spideyunmasked5-2.jpg

Thanks Bob. Still wish i knew why they called it a bear!

Funnily enough, the bear-dog is being discussed right now at Comics Should Be Good (link in my name), where somebody says that's supposed to be Len Wein picking it up out of the trash

Thanks for the link, S. Len Wein makes sense since he's the one who "gave" Peter the bear-dog.