Marvel Team-Up #83, July 1979 issue. "Slaughter on 10th Avenue!" Written by Chris Claremont, pencilled by Sal Buscema, inked by Steve Leialoha, lettered by Joe Rosen, colored by Ben Sean, edited by Allen Milgrom, cover by Rick Buckler and Leialoha.

Spider-Man lies on a snow-covered rooftop on the west side of Manhattan, apparently dead from a gunshot. Suddenly, he stirs and awakens, and remembers (from last issue) saving Nancy Rushman, a teacher, from some muggers. Spidey mistook her for the Black Widow, understandable enough as she appeared to be Natasha Romanov's twin. Spidey discovered she had partial amnesia, but before he could ask her many questions, they were attacked by a S.H.I.E.L.D. strikeforce, and Nick Fury himself shot Nancy, and then Spidey.

Webhead realizes it must've been an anesthetic bullet Fury used, and goes off in search of Nancy. Meanwhile, at S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ, Fury wants "Nancy" awakened, as we get it confirmed "Nancy" is the Widow. Fury has questions about the Widow's loyalty he needs answered.

Meanwhile, at the Daily Bugle morgue, Peter goes to the Bugle's chief librarian hoping she'd know how to find SHIELD HQ. She tosses him a phonebook, where Pete finds a phone number. Pete calls, but the address he's given doesn't match the exchange, which does apply to only one building in Manhattan. Pete goes there, and, disguised, rushes to the elevator, cathcing the express for the executive floors, thn changes to Spidey and leaves the elevator car via the trapdoor.

Meanwhile, 700 feet below Spidey, the doctor trying to bring Natasha out of it is siddenly compelled to kill the Widow with a scalpel. Fortunately, 'Tasha awakens in time to fight off the doctor instinctively, and then gets dressed in her costume, still thinking she's Nancy. She tries to leave, but is spotted by an agent who fails in his attempt to recapture her thanks to Spidey. The Wall-Crawler realizes that Nancy/The Widow is in no condition to fight SHIELD agents or be of much help in their scape, so he knocks her out, slinging her over his shoulder as they escape. The Heli-Carrier is alerted, but it's already been taken over by a mysterious woman in the shadows... a woman wearing green (any guesses?), who commands the Silver Samurai and Boomerang. She sends Boomerang to kill Spidey and the Widow, but wants the Samurai to remain with her. She then catches the news, which is reporting on President Carter's upcoming speech to a joint session of Congress... after that speech is done, the woman says, the world will never be the same again!

Meanwhile, in lower Manhattan, Fury calls a contact who may help him discover who, if anyone, is taking over SHIELD. Fury also recalls that "Nancy Rushman" was the cover identity the Black Widow used when she first came to the States. He gets in his car and follows the tracer he planted in the Widow's costume earlier... but he is pursued by Boomerang.

Shortly, the Widow awakens to see Peter Parker, who tries to feed her some soup, but the Widow starts remembering some of her live as the Widow, particularlly the agony of when she was helpless while another woman (the same woman as took over the Heli-Carrier, still in shadows) demands answers the Widow could not give. As Peter tries to confort her (what is it with Pete and redheads anyway?), Fury bursts into Peter's apartment with a gun, demanding they go with him. They're just about to get into Fury's car when it explodes, and Boomerang makes his appearance, attacking Fury and the Widow while Pete runs to "safety." Of course, Pete's just looking for a good place to change to Spidey, who makes the fight a tad uneven... but he knocks Boomerang into a rooftop to fight him alone.

Fury tells the Widow to find cover while he goes to help Webhead, but the Widow wants to help, too. Suddenly, Boomerang knocks Spidey off the roof, and Natasha breaks his fall. She tells him to get back and help Fury, sounding more like her old self, and he goes back up to try to finish off Boomerang. The odds get evened out when the Silver Samari teleports in (using the teleport ring he stole from John Belushi in MTU #74). Fury, Spidey and the just-arrived Widow are off-balance, and Boomerang wants to finish them, but their leader wants them to leave, and he teleports them both away, leaving the three heroes... one of which is still slightly hazy about who or what she is.

Okay, here's an ad you'll probably never see in this decade (or ever again, no doubt)... Pete Rose pitching a batting practice game. Maybe if he had spent more time with batting practice and less time on betting on baseball games, he'd be more fondly remembered today, hmmm? Anyway, since Boomerang used to be a baseball player, I figured this was an appropriate choice fora feature ad.

Talk about an ad you won't see in comics (or any other medium for children) these days... good lord...

Maybe it's ads like these that explain the survivalist groups, or some of the more vocal NRA members? 20 years ago, they were encouraged as kids to buy and use BB guns and pellet guns... and nowadays, it's not PC!

Who knows... There's no warnings in this ad about safety, interestingly enough... but there is in tiny print at the bottom a notice that some states regulate the sale of BB guns to persons under a specified age...

Anyway, this was just too unusual not to feature!

Now for the pitch... do you have one of these BB guns from back then? How about the Pete Rose Batting Practice Game? Nah, I didn't think so either... but if somehow you do have one of 'em, get a picture of you with the thing, and send me a scan and anything you want to say about it, willya? I promise I'll add it to the site.