Issue(s): Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #46
Cover Date: Sep 80
Title: "Deadly is the Cobra!"
Credits:
Roger Stern - Writer
Mike Zeck - Penciler
Bruce D. Patterson - Inker

Review/plot:
The Cobra escapes from jail. He ignores a plea from Mr. Hyde to rescue him as well.

This will come back to bite him. Cobra & Hyde had one of the oldest villain partnerships at Marvel, but Hyde is so unstable that Cobra was always in constant danger from his own partner. Of course, breaking that partnership is even more dangerous...

But for now it's Cobra working alone.

Meanwhile, Peter heads to the TA office and apologizes to Debra for standing her up last night. She too easily agrees to go on another date.

It's an interesting twist to see Peter being so easy going with a girl since he's always played the insecure loser role. It's part of an ongoing plot to set up Peter as being insensitive to the way he is toying with Debra's feelings without realizing it.

This issue also starts a 'mystery' of why TA Marcy Kane starts wearing head-coverings.

I really thought they were going to have her going through chemo, but it'll really turn out to just be that she's not a natural blond. I almost wonder if they backed out of a plot that they felt was too serious.

Peter's other TA peers are just good-natured goofballs.

Peter gets a call from Barney Bushkin, who is asking for pictures of the Cobra. Peter goes after Cobra as Spidey. The Cobra gives Spidey a tough time, but not too tough...

...and despite some interference by the police, Spider-Man is able to capture the Cobra. However, while Lt. Keating yells at Spider-Man for interfering in a police operation, the Cobra escapes again. This issue introduces Keating, previously having appeared in the Defenders, to the Spider-Man books (although Spider-Man is addressing Keating by name, so he must have already met him off panel).

This was quite good, with a balance of personal interactions and a good super-villain fight.

Quality Rating: B

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - introduces Kris Keating (the Foreigner) to the Spider-Man books.

Chronological Placement Considerations: This takes place the day after Peter stood up Debra Whitman in Amazing Spider-Man #207.

References:

• Peter stood up Debra Whitman in Amazing Spider-Man #207.
  
• Peter and his TA peers get to spread out a little more since Chip Martin is no longer a TA, due to the events of Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #39, where Chip became the Schizoid Man.
  
• Spider-Man compares the Cobra's speed to that of Quicksilver's, who he fought in Amazing Spider-Man #71.
  
• Cobra attacks with poison gas, but Spider-Man is ready for it, having just dealt with poison grenades from both Belladona in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #43 and the Vulture's nephew in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #44.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Two months after this issue, in Captain America #251, Roger Stern follows up on the prison escape scene by having a sedated Hyde broken out of jail by Batroc. A nice bit of cross-title continuity, which shows the thought and planning Stern put into his books.

And in ASM # 232, Stern would address the split between these villains. Stern has stated that he had a master plan to build up Hyde as a major villain (which was put to use in his Masters of Evil story). By splitting up the partnership (end ending a long status quo), Stern allowed both characters to leave a staid dynamic and become their own thing. Hyde's power level never resumed Thor levels, but he certainly got more powerful, and Cobra would have likely become a Spider-Man level villain if not for becoming involved in the Serpent Society. So this is actually historically significant issue for these two characters (although admittedly they aren't crucial characters in the MU).

I think if Stern had stayed at Marvel and especially both the Spider-Man and Avengers titles, we would have seen more development of these characters.