Dead of Winter

In the middle of the biggest blizzard in history, Spider-Man finds a group of mathematicians who were allegedly sacrificed by a bunch of Mayan extremists who sought to stop them from cracking an ancient Mayan equation.[1] However, when he finds a lone survivor, he learns that Benjamin Rabin — the head of the group — was actually the one responsible. The woman says that she would have been sacrificed as well had the Mayans not attacked their van. That’s when the creature known as Wayep cleaves the roof off of the truck with his massive spear. Thinking Spider-Man is his priest, he thanks the wall-crawler for bringing him to his sacrifice. However, when Spider-Man tries to stop him the Mayan god considers this a sacrilege and flips the entire van. As Spider-Man gets the lone survivor to safety, Wayep suddenly is struck by a bolt of energy as its bond to this reality becomes stronger thanks to the work of the true priest. Hearing this, Spider-Man is horrified as he remembers that he left Benjamin Rabin at the 5th Precinct.

There, Rabin has Carlie Cooper cornered in the police station. She asks why Benjamin murdered one of the Mayan prisoners. He explains that he is attempting to summon Wayep, the Mayan god of mischief and that his sacrifices will allow him to merge and become a god-king. His scheme was interrupted by the Mayans, and later by Spider-Man. When he attempted to continue the sacrifices at the police station, he only managed to kill one of the Mayans before the others committed suicide in order to prevent him from completing the spell. However, the last thing that Rabin needs is a female sacrifice and he has decided that Carlie will make a suitable replacement for his original victim. When Carlie tries to flee the area, Rabin easily catches her and begins drawing an ancient Mayan symbol on her forehead.

At that same moment, Spider-Man tries to fight Wayep, but the Mayan god is far too fast and far too powerful and so the wall-crawler retreats. While back at the police station, Vin Gonzalez and Alan O’Neil are lost track of Benjamin Rabin and Carlie and wonder where they may have gone when suddenly they hear someone starting up one of the treaded truck in the motor pool. They get to the garage just in time to witness Rabin — who has now shaved his face and head — flee the scene in the stolen vehicle. Vin and O’Neil being shooting at the truck until they notice that Carlie is tied up in the back and stop for fear of hitting her.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man is racing to make his way back to the 5th Precinct, a task made harder by the snow and the fact that his web-fluid is frozen. As he leaps from lamp-post to lamp-post, he discovers a payphone and tries to call ahead, but unfortunately, 911 is so swamped with calls that he can’t get through. Thinking about who he can call, Spider-Man calls his friend Harry Osborn. Unable to tell Harry who is calling him, the wall-crawler tries to convince Harry that it is important that he keeps trying to get through to 911 and tell them to send help to the 5th Precinct. When Harry’s girlfriend, Lily Hollister, asks who called, Harry dismisses it as a crank call. As they are brushing off the seriousness of Spider-Man’s call, the wall-crawler is ambushed by Wayep who easily overpowers the hero. That’s when Rabin arrives with Carlie and revels at his impending victory. Spider-Man mocks Wayep, asking why he would want to bond with such a loser. This prompts Benjamin to gloat over his genius in unlocking the Mayan equation. However, before he can kill Carlie Cooper, Vern — the homeless man that Spider-Man met earlier that evening — arrives with a bunch of the cities homeless to back Spider-Man up. They toss Molotov cocktails at Wayep, engulfing him in flames. Spider-Man then tosses all his web-cartridges at the monster. The flames cause the cartridges to burst, covering the Mayan god with webbing.

This allows Spider-Man to catch up to Rabin and prevent him from murdering Carlie. While Spider-Man is busy beating up Rabin, Wayep manages to free itself from the webbing. However, the time of the merging has passed and Wayep returns to his own dimension. Furious at being denied his ascension into god-hood, Rabin is knocked out by Spider-Man as he rants and raves, ending his threat.

In the aftermath of the battle, it takes a few days for the city to dig themselves out from the blizzard. When Peter Parker checks on Carlie Cooper, he learns that other than a stack of paperwork she is okay after her ordeal. while at the DB, Dexter Bennett is furious with Peter for not getting any photos during the blizzard. Later, when he spots Vern out on the street panhandling, Parker is touched that Vern is telling people he helped Spider-Man save the city and gives him twenty dollars.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Wayep, Benjamin Rabin, Carlie Cooper, Vin Gonzalez, Alan O’Neil, Harry Osborn, Lily Hollister, Dexter Bennett

Continuity Notes

1. This was all covered in Amazing Spider-Man #555-556, where the hell were you?