Issue(s): Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #83
Cover Date: Oct 83
Title: "Delusions"
Credits:
Bill Mantlo - Writer
Al Milgrom - Penciler
Jim Mooney - Inker
Bob DeNatale - Assistant Editor
Danny Fingeroth - Editor

Review/plot:
The Punisher is put on trial after his recent capture following his raid on the Kingpin. He's presented as being relatively delusional and he winds up being taken to a mental hospital.

Meanwhile, the Black Cat decides that she's spent enough time in the hospital and gets into her cat suit and goes out on the prowl despite her injuries.

When Spidey catches up with her, he's got mixed feelings about her recovery...

...in part because one of the reasons he quit grad school was to spend more time with her in the hospital, and in part because the costume represents her past life as a criminal. But now she wants to be his crime-fighting partner, something he's not sure he wants.

Police Captain Jean DeWolff expresses some romantic interest in Spider-Man, which i'd say was out of character, except Mantlo is the character's creator.

Obviously the direction Mantlo is going with the Punisher is not where the character will end up. On the one hand, he's using mercy bullets. On the other hand, he's pretty loopy. Not too long from now, he'll be reinvented as a hard-boiled killer. But this is a decent interpretation.

They manage to get through the entire trial without calling the Punisher "Frank Castle", since that name won't be revealed until his 1986 mini-series.

As usual, Mantlo's writing isn't great, but, combined with Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #81-82, isn't a terrible arc.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: There's a reference to the Hobgoblin's apparent death in Amazing Spider-Man #245. This issue is really part of a three-parter with the previous two issues, but it weaves in between the events of Amazing Spider-Man.

References:

• Spider-Man is worried that the Hobgoblin, who seemingly died in Amazing Spider-Man #245, is actually still alive.
  
• There's no footnote, but the Punisher's origin story is recounted here. It had previously only told in the b&w magazine Marvel Preview #2.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Marvel Tales #222

A collected edition of the Punisher's B&w stories was announced for late 1983, but something like that didn't happen until the very late 1980s. That(and this issue) should probably show how ambivalent Marvel had become over the Punisher at this stage.

A romance with captain Dewolff would have been something different for Peter. An older woman and a member of law enforcement, two boxes none of his girlfriend's have ticked, i think.