"The Wonderous World of Dr. Strange!" (20 Pages)
By Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
The mysterious Xandu walks into a New York City bar, and mystically takes control of the minds of two thugs, and sets them on a mission to recover the missing half of the Wand of Watoomb, held by Dr. Strange. Recover it they do, roughing up Dr. Strange in the process, a crime that is witnessed by Spider-Man, who makes a failed attempt to stop them. Xandu now possesses the complete wand, giving him frightful power, but the combined attacks of Spider-Man and Dr. Strange ends the menace.
First appearance of Xandu and the Wand of Watoomb.
Collected in Marvel Comics Illustrated Version of Spider-Man His Greatest Team-Up Battles and reprinted in Doctor Strange (1968) #179.
"Spider-Man" (V-816) (14 Pages)
By Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
Reprinted from Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #1.
Peter Parker is beating himself up over the death of his Uncle Ben. Worse, he and his Aunt May have no income and the rent's due. Peter decides to use his new powers to put on public shows for cash, but once Daily Bugle editor J. Jonah Jameson starts publishing articles declaring that Spider-Man is a menace, the shows fizzle. Jameson holds out that the public should be following the exploits of TRUE heros, like his son John, an astronaut. Even when Spider-Man rescues his son from an imminent crash, J. Jonah calls for Spider-Man's arrest.
"The Uncanny Threat of the Terrible Tinkerer!" (10 pages)
Reprinted from Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #2.
Peter Parker's skills in Midtown High's science classrooms have been noticed, and his teacher get's Peter an apprenticeship with Professor Cobbwell's lab. One of his first assignments is to pick up a radio at the repair shop of the Tinkerer. Peter does so, but his spider sense is going mad. When he later investigates as Spider-Man, he finds that the Tinkerer is in league with aliens. He has been planting spy devices into the electronics that he repairs so that the aliens can gather intelligence about the human race before their invasion.
Includes pin-ups of the Circus of Crime, Scorpion, the Beetle, Jonah's Robot, and the Crime Master, all by Steve Ditko.
"Marked for Destruction by Dr. Doom!" (21 pages)
Reprinted from Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #5.
Doctor Doom, fresh off his defeat by the Fantastic Four, is looking to form a new strategy for the demise of the FF. He invites Spider-Man to his New York City hideout to suggest a partnership, which Spidey rejects. Not to be denied, Doom revises his strategy to one where he holds Spider-Man hostage to bend the Fantastic Four to his will. The plan goes afoul when Doom inadvertently captures Flash Thompson, who was in the middle of a prank to scare Peter Parker by posing as Spider-Man. Now Peter is faced with having to rescue his school rival from the menace of Doctor Doom. Also in this issue, the relationship between Peter Parker and Betty Brant starts to heat up.
Cameo appearance by the Fantastic Four.