Polite Dissent

This is the third in the series of Canadian public service comics that were later republished in America. Remember how in the first issue Peter Parker came to Canada to track down Electro’s drug supplier? And remember in the second issue how Spider-Man stopped the Chameleon from stealing a young girl’s science fair project? You don’t remember? That’s okay because none of it matters to the plot in this issue at all. All you need to know is that Peter Parker is in Toronto to cover the Toronto Blue Jays/New York Yankees game.

The action starts as young Phil Danton is riding his bike to the stadium. He’s excited because that night he and the other members of his bicycle team (the “Right Riders”) are going to demonstrate bicycle safety before the game and then get to watch the game free. He’s also hoping he can get some autographs from the ballplayer. Phil’s running late so he cuts through an alley. Unfortunately, a drunk driver also picks that moment to use the alley as a shortcut and hits Phil head-on before fleeing the scene.

Luckily, Phil’s American cousin happens to be in town — a cousin named Danny Ketch. For those of you who remember the ’90s, you’ll recall that Danny Ketch was the alter ego of the second Ghost Rider, a ubiquitous character who appeared in almost as many comics as Wolverine. Danny gets Phil to the hospital and then hunts down the drunk driver as Ghost Rider. The driver escapes and manages to convince Spider-Man that it was Ghost Rider who hit Phil, not him.

Spidey hunts down Ghost Rider and because this is a team-up comic book, they fight. Meanwhile, the drunk driver hires some goons to kill Phil because he thinks Phil is Ghost Rider. Spidey and Ghost Rider manage to patch up their differences (the issue being mainly that Spider-Man believed the word of a two-bit thug over someone he’d worked alongside before) and make it back to the hospital in time to rescue Phil. The goons are caught, the drunk driver confesses, and Phil gets an autographed baseball and visit from BJ Birdy, the Blue Jay’s mascot.

Compared to the strong anti-drug and anti-cigarette stance of the previous issues, this comic is really not much of a PSA comic. It reminds us that drunk driving is a bad thing, and it teaches a little about bicycle safety. Speaking of bicycle safety, I think I’ll let Ghost Rider have the last word:

This is the only PSA comic I know of that resorts to a direct threat.

Part One: The Amazing Spider-Man — Skating on Thin Ice!
Part Two: The Amazing Spider-Man — Double Trouble!