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| Publisher |
Marvel |
| Writer |
Evan Skolnick |
| Artist |
Tom Morgan |
| Letterer |
Janice Chiang |
| Published | January 1994 |
Blowing Smoke: Spider-Man stumbles upon a convience store fire and upon entering the fray, finds the destruction was started by a young man with destructive powers who seems to have targeted the store because it sold Puffin brand cigarettes (a parody of Camel Cigarettes, which used an often-animated mascot named Joe Camel at the time but was later dropped due to legislation outlawing the marketing of tobacco products to children through cartoon imagery). After a brief exchange of quips, the boy reveals he is seeking revenge for his mother, who died after becoming addicted to cigarettes.Spidey saves a few of the bystanders and regroups on a nearby rooftop, where he is joined by Iron-Man, The Human Torch and Firestar. The quartet of superheroes divided and conquer, sending Torch and Firestart to subdue the nearby flames, while Spider-Man and Iron-Man take on the young man together. The boy's anger grows he sends both heroes flying. In the end, the only thing to quell the boiling blood in the young man's veins is to hear Iron Man's tale of substance abuse and his recovery from alchoholism (assumably a reference to Iron-Man #128 "Demon in a Bottle"). The web-head adds his two cents, saying how Mary Jane's smoking habit affected him. Having been shown understanding, the boy turns himself in and the heroes ponder the complexity of the tobacco industry. The issue was also given away at Pizza Hut locations with a collector's card featuring all four heroes.
