File:Marvel Team-Up Vol 1 52 001.jpg

Description
As the sun sets, Spider-Man web-swings above a New York street, ruminating about the battle against the Tarantula that he fought a short time before. Suddenly he sees a shimmering glow appear below him out of nowhere, and a hideous monster stops out of it and begins wreaking havoc. Cursing his luck for being stuck with having to battle this creature, Spider-Man web-swings down and rams into its back. Unfortunately, this maneuver only makes the creature angry, and it smashes Spider-Man into a fire hydrant, drenching him and the doorman of the adjacent building. As Spider-Man picks himself up, the creature continues down the street, tossing cars out of its way. A few seconds later, when Spider-Man looks at the glowing gateway—the "hole in space"—through which the creature emerged, he sees the Falcon and a young black woman come through. They in turn are followed by a man in cowboy clothing who calls himself Texas Jack. And Jack is followed by a crowd of misshapen, oddly clothed people. Finally Captain America himself emerges. He does not have time to answer Spider-Man's questions, but he does say that with the dimensional doorway—the portal—closed behind him, the monsters cannot follow him through, and Earth is safe. Then, saying that the Falcon is still suffering from the madness he contracted in the Dark Dimension, Captain America runs to where his partner is battling a group of bystanders and delivers a quick chop to the Falcon's neck that knocks him unconscious. Soon after, Captain America runs down the street with the Falcon over his shoulder. Only SHIELD has a psychiatric staff that might cure the Falcon, he says. With the Falcon's girlfriend and the crowd trailing behind, he promises Spider-Man to answer his questions after things settle down. After Captain America departs, the police start to round up some of the stragglers for questioning. They try to arrest Spider-Man, but Spider-Man pays little heed to the patrolman who orders him to stop and web-swings away. Meanwhile, Batroc the Leaper's butler, Caspar, fearfully delivers a tray of warm refreshments to his employer as he reclines on the terrace of his apartment. Caspar's wife asked him to come home early, but Batroc does not care. Even though Caspar comes highly recommended by a powerful New York crime boss, Batroc still does not trust him. Then Caspar, still trembling, accidentally drops the dishes and shatters them. Those dishes were priceless, shouts Batroc as he kicks the butler through the plate-glass door. Before he stole them, he continues, they belonged to the richest family in France. As Batroc prepares to dispense justice, a sound from the alley below distracts him, and when he looks down he sees the fearsome monster that Spider-Man battled a few minutes before. Delighted with this stroke of luck, Batroc strides through the shattered door, shoves the butler aside, and enters the service elevator. Ever since he battled iron Fist, he says, he has languished in his apartment in luxury, because there were no crimes great enough for him to perform. But now he need sit idle no longer. if he can make the monster his slave, he will be able to commit the greatest theft of all time. The monster, meanwhile, wanders through the alley knocking over crates and making a mess. it cannot comprehend this unfamiliar place, and it will never find its way back home, because that world no longer exists. (Captain America set a bomb to destroy the Dark Dimension just before he left.) As the monster's confusion builds to rage, Batroc calls out, "Pardon" from the entrance to the alley. Then he offers to become the monster's friend. An hour later, Spider-Man lands on the roof of the Daily Bugle building, changes into his street clothes in a darkened stairwell, and opens the door to the twentieth floor. Peter Parker is surprised to see Joe Robertson, who asks what brings him there at this time of night. Peter explains that he broke his camera this morning (while battling the Tarantula), but now it is fixed, and he is going to the photo department to pick it up. When Peter sees J. Jonah Jameson walk by, he says hello, but Jameson ignores him. Peter has noticed that Jameson has been acting strangely toward him lately, and he thinks it is just as well that Jameson did not see him. At just that instant, at a South Ferry pier that serves as a secret SHIELD docking area, a hovercraft transport comes in for a landing. The SHIELD agents are extremely cautious, because it is carrying a shipment of trans-uranium, worth $10 million, needed for experiments in SHIELD's New York lab. if even one ounce of the radioactive material gets into the air, it could destroy the entire city. Thus the agents are horrified when an automobile suddenly hurls like a cannonball right through the hovercraft. They flee as fast as they can when the hovercraft slams into the docking area. if the trans-uranium explodes, shouts one of them, they're finished. Batroc praises the monster effusively for his perfect shot. The car punched a hole right through the hovercraft's engine without touching the precious cargo. Then Batroc tells the creature to dispose of the agents, and it starts to fling them into the river one by one. The monster fights effectively, says Batroc, as he himself kicks a few agents into the water, but it lacks style. Style is most important, he continues. Suddenly, a spinning red, white, and blue SHIELD strikes the monster's chest, and Captain America leaps onto the dock. The SHIELD quickly returns, and he uses it to block Batroc's savate kick. As he faces Batroc and the monster, he explains that he was at SHIELD headquarters when the alarm came in. Captain America recognizes the creature as an inhabitant of the Dark Dimension, but he does not know how it managed to get through the dimensional gateway ahead of him. it is all he can do to ward off the creature's powerful blows with his SHIELD. As Captain America is thus distracted, Batroc prepares to deliver his coup de grace. But at just that instant, Spider-Man web-swings into Batroc's back and stuns him. Explaining that he heard about the fracas on television, he offers Captain America his help. Cap is most grateful, but a kick from the prone Batroc sends Spider-Man reeling. Then the battle begins in earnest, with Cap holding back the monster while Spider-Man keeps Batroc busy. Then Spider-Man and Captain America stand back to back as Batroc and the monster attack simultaneously. When Cap and Spider-Man leap out of the wey, Batroc and the monster collide. The impact knocks Batroc to the ground and stuns him, but the monster simply runs off. Spider-Man notices that the creature is glowing faintly, and he wonders whether it was glowing before or just started to glow. Then the two crimeflghters quickly shake down Batroc, who tells them that the creature most assuredly was not glowing when he discovered it. As the SHIELD agents take Batroc into custody, he asks whether the glowing is dangerous. it could destroy half the city, replies Captain America. Then he and Spider-Man follow the monster toward the Staten island Ferry. On the way, Spider-Man tells Captain America what he knows about the monster. Passengers flee in terror as pieces of the ferryboat • fly through the air at the dock. As the boat clears, the monster brandishes a heavy piling at the crowd. it is alone in a strange land, and its only desire is to go home. Thinking perhaps that the ferryboat will take it there, the monster uses the piling to push the boat from the dock, but Captain America and Spider-Man arrive just in time to leap aboard unseen. Cap says that its radioactive glow may be a reaction to its alien environment. They must destroy the monster before its radiation pollutes the city's atmosphere and makes New York unfit for human existence, he continues. Then he whispers to Spider-Man to keep the creature occupied while he goes to the engine room to make some adjustments. Spider-Man is dismayed that instead of helping the frightened creature find a way back to the Mad Dimension they have to attack it, but he realizes that that is their only choice. When Spider-Man punches the creature, it tries to strike him with the piling. Spider-Man then webs the creature to the deck. As the creature tears free of the webbing, Captain America rushes out of the engine room and tells Spider-Man they have ten seconds to get off the boat before the engine explodes. Unfortunately, the creature has Spider-Man in a bear hug, but the urgency of the moment fills Spider-Man's muscles with unusual strength, and he manages to break the hold. Then he and Captain America quickly swim to a safe vantage point, and the ferryboat explodes, taking the monster with it. SHIELD will pay for the boat, remarks Captain America. The next morning, Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson escort Peter's Aunt May from the City Hospital. By coincidence, Captain America passes by, looking somewhat dejected, and Peter wonders what he is doing there. Cap has an adoring public, a thousand friends, and no problems, thinks Peter. Peter wonders what it would be like to be a real hero like Captain America, instead of a crisis-laden Spider-Man.