Peter appears to be pushing Betty away at this point, but he might just be obtuse. The first appearance of Mysterio is decent, but not anything special. Lee spends a lot of time on Mysterio’s origin and the nature of his outfit–Lee’s pacing is great here, the amount of story he fits into the issue, but it’s barely about Spider-Man.
The Spider-Man story this issue is Peter worrying about developing a multiple personality or a Jekyll and Hyde type problem. Well, for a couple pages anyway. Then he’s worried about Aunt May’s mortgage payment (something he paid in full the first or second issue, for a year, so either Lee forgot or it’s been a while… and Peter missed out on Midtown’s summer vacation).
There’s just way too little Peter Parker and when there is Peter Parker, it’s usually as Spider-Man… so it’s not as compelling.
CREDITS
The Menace of… Mysterio!; writer and editor, Stan Lee; artist, Steve Ditko; colorist, Stan Goldberg; letterer, Art Simek; publisher, Marvel Comics.
The Stop Button 
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