Issue(s): Amazing Spider-Man #262
Cover Date: Mar 85
Title: "Trade secret"
Credits:
Bob Layton - Writer
Bob Layton - Penciler
Bob Layton & Carlos Garzon - Inker
Bob DeNatale - Assistant Editor
Danny Fingeroth - Editor

Review/plot:
This issue caused a bit of a stir due to the photo cover, but it's really just a fill-in issue. Peter Parker is photographed changing out of his Spider-Man costume by a sleazy photographer, D.J. Jones.

He spends the issue chasing the guy down, helping to protect Jones from some mobsters that he's angered...

...and then intimidating him into giving up the film.

The leader of the mobsters is named Roberto DeNatale, presumably a jokey nod to the Assistant Editor for this issue.

Technically Jones is still at large and could identify Peter Parker if he ever saw him again, but the idea is that there's so many people in New York that they'll never run into each other again.

Good art by Layton...

...and a decent story.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• Slightly tempted by the thought of just letting the mobsters take care of the photographer, Spider-Man remembers his origin from Amazing Fantasy #15, wherein he learned the "with great powers come great responsibilities" lesson.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Regarding the ending, I actually like the idea of there being too many people in New York for Jones and Parker to ever run into each again. But not long after this Peter goes his national tour to promote the book Webs. At the time, it seemed me that the odds were pretty good that Jones would recognize Peter from the TV interviews.

Yeah, aside from the TV appearances of Peter, there's also the fact that anyone mildly intelligent (and well maybe Jones isn't that) wouldn't just walk around NYC willy-nilly, he would work his way outward from people who knew Spider-Man. It would take a few seconds to make the connection that Peter Parker is associated with Spider-Man and then realize that was Peter. Of course, maybe Jones was just too stupid to do that or he got killed afterwards. A 1960's Batman story once did a similar bit, but that was really ludicrous seeing as how Bruce Wayne is supposed to be famous.

Did the only time Jones see him is for the split second he saw him in the shadows and hit him with the flash photo? If so, it's likely he won't remember any distinguishing features. Shadowy faces followed by flashbulbs will probably be forgotten soon thereafter. Only if he developed the film and looked at it would he have a real chance to identify Spidey afterwards, or if he got a better look after the panels shown.

The other thing to keep in mind is that a significant portion of the population has trouble remembering the faces of people they saw briefly and identifying them later. It often causes problems in criminal cases. It's possible that Jones saw Peter again and simply didn't recognize him.