Amazing Spider-Man #PR24

[vanhornluke]

The Amazing Spider-Man #PR24 (1974)
By Arthur Korb

APPEARANCES:
Astronomy students, Jimmy, Sue, Dragon Men, Draco (Demosthenes Q. Drake), J. Jonah Jameson, blonde secretary, Spider-Man, Mary Jane Watson, paperboy, New Yorkers

SYNOPSIS:
As an astronomy professor takes his students on a nighttime field trip to look at constellations, they notice what appears to be a meteor shower, but is in fact the landing of several ships filled with Dragon Men. Their leader, Draco, announces that he will soon rule the Earth. The next day the reports of the Dragon Men’s arrival from space are printed in various newspapers, but not the Daily Bugle. J. Jonah Jameson is furious about not knowing about this and so orders Peter to get pictures. When Pete walks out of the Bugle building, Mary Jane walks up to him on the sidewalk and asks to come along with him. He initially agrees, thinking the whole story is bunk, but he notices that every time he walks by a manhole cover his spider sense tingles. Taking that as a clue, he rudely tells MJ he’ll talk to her later and then runs off so he can change to Spider-Man. Searching the sewers, he eventually finds the Dragon Men’s lair. Draco says he is pleased to see Spider-Man, since now he can kill the one person who might stop his plans (Really? Not the FF, Avengers, X-Men, etc.?), which are to deactivate all power sources in the city with his deactivation device and then cower the rest of the world into surrendering. Spidey manages to gum up the machine with his webbing so that it can’t be activated and then floods the lair. Later, he reads that the Dragon Men were found in the flooded lair and determined to be robots, not aliens from outer space. While thinking this over at the Empire State Building, Draco reappears and attacks Spidey. He reveals that he’s not an alien, but rather Nobel prize winning biologist Demosthenes Q. Drake, who blended iguana genes with his own to transform himself into a humanoid dragon. They fight, but Spidey manages to evade a charge from Draco which launches the villain off the building. He lands on a roof many stories below, but when Spidey goes down to inspect the wreckage he sees no sign of Draco but a small, ordinary iguana slithering into a crack in the walls.

NOTE:
I’m guess Draco’s transformation caused a mental deterioration, since there are other heroes that could stop him. No explanation is given for how he was able to create or steal his Dragon Men, or where he got the ships from. It’s also unclear if Draco escaped, or turned into the small iguana.

Once again, I would appreciate placement suggestions for this story. Jonah’s blonde secretary isn’t named, so that might give some wiggle room for placement. The same goes for MJ’s appearance, since it’s never said that she and Pete are dating (it doesn’t say they aren’t, either).

This is an original comic story published in the Power Records line. It's been referenced as 616 by the handbooks.


Chronologies:

DRACO/DEMOSTHENES Q. DRAKE
ASMPR 24

JAMESON, JOHN JONAH JR.
See above note

JIMMY
ASMPR 24

SPIDER-MAN/PETER BENJAMIN PARKER
See above note

SUE
ASMPR 24

WATSON-PARKER, MARY JANE
See above note

[ShadZ]

The cover can be seen here: https://d1466nnw0ex81e.cloudfront.net/n ... 855277.jpg