Amazing Spider-Man #41 (October 1966) – “The Horns of the Rhino” – Stan Lee/John Romita/Mike Esposito
This one starts with Anna Watson asking Aunt May if she wants to move in with her, but naturally Aunt May is worried about Peter being all alone (which Anna thinks is stupid, like most of us do). Peter is out buying a motorcycle and gets Jonah Jameson to vouch for him for the loan payments. We see Jonah’s son John (who Spidey saved way back in issue #1) is visiting
and find out he came into contact with some weird spores on his last trip to space. He was kept isolated to make sure the spores didn’t have an adverse effect and he’s still being escorted by government agents just in case. Elsewhere, we see a new villain (the Rhino) busting through a border crossing and heading for New York. Hmmm, I wonder who he’s looking for? Peter runs into Betty and takes her out for coffee but whatever spark they had before is gone, so Peter is relieved when Ned Leeds comes by and Betty goes off 
with him. When the Rhino hits New York, he kidnaps John Jameson and we find out he was hired by another country (probably the USSR) to bring John back because of the space spores. Peter hears about the abduction on the radio and heads out as Spider-Man to tackle the Rhino. Rhino is pretty strong and his hide is basically indestructible, but Spidey finally takes him down. The next day, Peter shows off his new motorbike at school and is later informed by Aunt May that they’re going to Anna’s house for dinner on Sunday and he’s going to meet Mary Jane.
This is a really good issue that introduces another long-lasting villain with
the Rhino. The fight with Rhino was good, but most of the really interesting stuff involves Peter Parker not Spider-Man (which seems to be the case for a lot of Spidey tales). Betty returns but she and Peter have no chemistry anymore, paving the way for Peter and Gwen to get together (something both of them seem interested in). Of course, Peter has to meet Mary Jane just to get Aunt May off his back and he’s dreading it, but we all know how that’ll turn out. It’s interesting to see Peter wishing he could get a place of his own right 
when May is contemplating moving in with Anna, although she hasn’t mentioned Anna’s offer to Peter yet. Peter motorbike is cool (though the colour is shitty), but I’m wondering if he has a licence. Did you need a licence for a motorbike back then? We know he doesn’t have a driver’s licence later, when he builds the Spider-Mobile, but maybe he has one now and lets it lapse? Or maybe motorbikes take a different licence than cars.
Amazing Spider-Man #42 (November 1966) – “The Birth of a Super-Hero” – Stan Lee/John Romita
This one starts with Spider-Man robbing a bank. Despite Stan’s assurances that this isn’t an imaginary story or someone disguised as Spider-Man, there will turn out to be an innocent explanation eventually. (Spidey detected a bomb in a money bag with his spider-sense, so he stole the bag and tossed it in the river. I’m not sure why he didn’t just go back and explain that … it would’ve saved a lot of trouble.) Word gets around fast and people like Betty, Ned, and Frederick Foswell have trouble believing Spider-Man has suddenly gone bad. Jameson on the other hand, has no
trouble believing it. But he has other things on his mind, as those space spores from last issue have finally kicked in, making his son John grow into a powerhouse. John has to put on a special suit to contain his new super powers and Jameson has to come to terms with having a super-powered son. When he mentions Spider-Man’s recent robbery, John gets all worked up (suggesting the spores have affected his mind as well as his body) and vows to bring Spider-Man to justice, something Jonah encourages. Elsewhere, we see Rhino trying to bust out of prison and the guards using gas to subdue him, but they’re worried he might eventually develop an immunity to the gas and escape anyway. At university, Gwen invites Peter to a party on 
Sunday, but he has to decline because he’s already promised Aunt May he’ll meet Mary Jane that night. Later, Spidey runs into John Jameson and has a hell of a fight with him, barely managing to get away. We learn the circumstances of Spidey’s “robbery” and he goes to see Jonah and tell him to call the bank to get the full story. The bank confirms no money is missing and Jonah tries to talk John out of going after Spider-Man again, but the spores have twisted John into a real bastard and he goes out looking for Spidey again just to smash him. They run into each other and fight again, but this time Spidey manages to knock John into an electrical generator that zaps the spores right out of his system and turns him back to normal. The next day, Peter goes to Anna’s house with Aunt May for Sunday dinner and finally meets Mary Jane … who turns out to be a total babe.
This is a pretty good issue, but John Jameson isn’t exactly a classic Spidey
villain. Between these spores and the later moon rock that turns him into Man-Wolf, maybe John should just stay out of space entirely. The fake bank robbery was a little weird, mainly just a way to get John on Spidey’s ass initially. Spidey should’ve gone back to tell the bank about the bomb, but I guess he assumed they’d figure out no actual money was missing on their own. More could’ve been done with Jonah’s conflict about having a superhero son, since his hatred of superheroes is so well known, but they just kinda touched on it. It was nice to see Jonah trying to discourage 
John from going after Spidey once he realized he didn’t steal any money from the bank. We get a cameo from Foggy Nelson, who’s been appointed to defend the Rhino (with Matt Murdock/Daredevil trapped on Owl’s island, I think). The big thing this issue is that we finally see what Mary Jane looks like in that classic intro scene by Jazzy Johnny. I always preferred MJ to Gwen and you can see why right from the first moment.