The story you've all been waiting for: the epic saga of AUNT MAY'S PINK HAT! It's a thread that traces through 4 issues and 3 different books all written by Louise Simonson.
It all starts with Sam 'Cannonball' Guthrie buying a hat for his mom while in NYC with the New Mutants in Marvel Team-Up #149.
He ends up helping Spider-Man with an attack from the "Incandescent Man".
Spidey notices Sam is being awful protective of this hat in the midst of the battle.
After the battle, Spidey gets the idea that he should buy a hat for Aunt May to smooth things over. Why does he need to smooth things over?
They haven't been on speaking terms since he dropped out of grad school. That's 3 months later in the first issue of the new Web of Spider-Man series. We've got Louise Simonson writing again and Aunt May is admiring a pink hat herself. She's just getting started.
In the next issue Pete buys a hat for Aunt May at Saks Fifth Avenue...
...and he shows it off at the Bugle...
...and he runs into the same problem Cannonball did where he has to defend it in the midst of battle with the Vulturions.
In this case The Kingpin is watching and he's just as confused as I am about how this became a hat based story.
Pete has to use darts to block the poison darts of his enemy, but loses the hat!
Turns out the Vulturions had also been causing trouble for the Kingpin so he replaces the hat as a thank you. Wild!
It's the 3rd issue of Web of Spider-Man and we're almost to the fireworks factory if the fireworks factory is Aunt May gets a new hat.
The Vulture and Vulturions fight in the sky and Pete basically gives up on making it to Aunt May's birthday party, but MJ won't let him. He's still too scared to face her, but he drops off the hat. It leads to a not-hat-based reconciliation in the main Amazing Spider-Man book but why talk about that?
Now, if that was all this was I wouldn't have written up this too long breakdown. We're moving 5 months later to Amazing Spider-Man Annual #19. Louise Simonson had left Web Of but she's back for the Annual and you know what that means.
Kingpin's hat based plot is revealed. He's used Alistaire Smyth, son of Spencer Smythe the creator of the Spider-Slayer robots, to insert a tracking device into the hat!
Too bad Aunt May lets MJ's Aunt Anna try it on right as Smythe attacks!
Smythe! You kidnapped everyone but the target!
Spidey arrives at the scene and identifies the hat-based technology, but Aunt May thinks he's just stolen her new hat!
Spidey confronts Kingpin who passes all the blame on Smythe. Anyway, Spider-Man defeats Smythe, saves MJ, and Aunt Anna, but totally forgets about the hat.
THUS ENDS THE SAGA OF AUNT MAY'S NEW PINK HAT
