These issues have the helpful “Back in Black” bar on the cover to indicate that, chronologically, they take place during Amazing Spider-Man #539–543. I’ve noted in that post that it’s unrealistic to think that Spider-Man had time to do anything else during the course of those issues, where he was hunting down Aunt May’s attacker with a focus and intensity we haven’t seen before.
It also doesn’t help that most of the Back in Black tie-ins have super-generic covers, like the one above. It’s not until this story is in its third chapter that we get a cover showing the main villain: Mister Hyde.
In this story, we see the rarely explored “scientist” side of Mister Hyde, i.e., Calvin Zabo. Usually, we just see him when he’s transformed into his monstrous, hulking, villainous alter-ego. In this story, Dr. Zabo kidnaps kids around New York City and injects wthem with a serum that has them mutate into Spider-Manish characters.
With the help of Curt Connors, Spider-Man foils the plot.
English (US) · 