Issue(s): Web of Spider-Man #5
Cover Date: Aug 85
Title: "The enemy within!"
Credits:
Danny Fingeroth - Writer
Jim Mooney - Penciler
Greg LaRocque - Inker
Keith Williams - Assistant Editor
Christopher Priest - Editor

Review/plot:
Last issue of Web, we saw Doctor Octopus semi-subconsciously escape from his mental hospital and then embrace the madness and super-villain life instead of the life of a respected scientist. In a nod to the scientist side, however, Doc is wearing a new lab-coat influenced costume.

I've linked to this same Christopher Priest essay about ten times now, but at the beginning of it he describes the new costume as the "the moral equivalent of a dentist's smock" and describes some additional inner workings, including why Mooney is on pencils and LaRocque on inks, although i think his recollection of the timeline is a bit off.

Some insight into the way Doc Ock (and presumably other villains) manage to attract all of their henchmen: a scene in this issue is devoted to two goons talking, and once asks if the Doctor has "lost all his marbles" and the other responds, "Probably, but who cares? I still think he's a genius -- and we can make a ton of money workin' for him." Not a full explanation but it's something.

Octopus has been spending his time fighting against a practice robot that looks like Spider-Man.

But eventually the real Spider-Man tracks him down and replaces the Spidey-bot, and when Doc Ock realizes he's fighting the real thing, he goes into a catatonic state (even though he seemed to have Spidey beat while he thought he was fighting the robot).

Beyond that, Peter finds that he doesn't quite have the friendly relationship with the new City Editor, Kathryn Cushing, that he had with Robbie.

The fact that this issue doesn't end with a big brawl between Spidey and Octavius is an interesting twist and it's generally a decent issue.

Quality Rating: B

Historical Significance Rating: 4 - first Kate Cushing. New costume for Doc Ock.

Chronological Placement Considerations: Spectacular Spider-Man #104 takes place during this issue. On page 6, there's a "the next afternoon" caption and Spider-Man thinks to himself, "Another day of searching, and i still haven't found Ock... though I did manage to save Rocket Racer's hash!". Amazing Spider-Man #267 also takes place while Doc Ock is still at large, between WOSM #4 and this issue's conclusion.

References:

• I wondered in my entry on the Secret Wars mini-series why there was never a Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus face-off, but as Spider-Man reasons in this issue, it was probably because of the thorough beat-down that Spidey gave Doc Ock in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #79.
  
• Doc Ock's Spidey robot was built on principles developed by the late Mendel Stromm (misspelled with only one 'm'). No footnotes, but Stromm previously lived and died in Amazing Spider-Man #37. A robot double called the Robot Master appeared in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #68.
  
• Spider-Man saved Rocket Racer's "hash" in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #104.
  
• Peter and Aunt May buried the hatchet in Amazing Spider-Man #265. In this issue Peter learns from Nathan Lubenski that Aunt May is having money troubles.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

yeah, secret wars very carefully had Spidey and Doc ock avoid each other. Secret wars didn't really mesh well with the character arc doc had been on since PPSSM #76. However, having Doc break down again at the sight of Molecule man's power was a good fix. To be honest, Doc ock was the only villain there intelligent enough to appreciate what molocule man was doing.