Amazing Spider-Man #634
The Grim Hunt Chapter One
Months Ago
Aloysha Kravinoff visits the grave of his half-brother, Vladimir whose tombstone reads “Prince. Huntsman. Son” and wonders what he will writte on his own tombstone.[1] That’s when he is joined by his step-mother and sister Sasha and Ana Kravinoff. Sasha has called him because they she is embarking on a quest to make it so the Kravinoff family — both the living and dead — need never fear the grave ever again. She wants to engage in a special hunt which Ana tells Aloysha it is something special for their father.
Now
As a pair of zoo keepers feed the lions in the Bronx Zoo, Madame Web reflects on her life. She recalls how she is always asked if her clairvoyance also allows her to see her death. They do, and she doesn’t mince words over her eventual demise. What shames her more are other visions that show her when she is being tested and she fails not only herself, but those she cares for the most. Days like today, when she breaks the web.
Peter Parker wakes up screaming in his room. He has just come down with a particularly nasty strain of the flu which is just another bit of misery added to everything else he’s endured recently. On top of a number of his deadliest enemies coming back to run him through the wringer, he is still coping with the fact that his friend Curt Connors — as the Lizard — murdered his own son, Billy Connors.[2] Even though it is laundry day, Peter decides to forget it and go back to bed. He doesn’t rest for very long when there is a knock at his door. Peter gets out of bed due to the urgency of the knocks and his is shocked to see that the person knocking is Kaine. He is bloody and badly beaten and they only thing he can tell Peter is that spiders are being hunted before passing out.[3] Peter drags his evil clone inside and tries his best to treat his wounds. When he asks what Kaine is talking about he doesn’t get any answers. That’s when Peter hears an explosion that has gone off a few blocks away and decides to go out and see what he can do as Spider-Man. As he gets changed, Peter can’t help but thing about what Kaine said before he passed out: That someone is hunting spiders and how there are others.
At that same moment, Madame Web is witnessing as the Kravinoff family attacks Julia Carpenter, aka Arachne.[4] We considers the fact that Carpenter has been targeted first since she is the most far removed from the other spiders, defenders of the web, that the Kravinoff family are targeting. Evading the shots fired by Aloysha Kravinoff’s grenade launcher, Arachne eventually misses her mark and ends up falling. Luckily she is rescued by Spider-Man who has just arrived on the scene and he carries her to cover. Unfortunately, Arachne has no idea why Aloysha and Ana Kravinoff are after her, and the two spiders agree to take them down before getting some answers. With Arachne tangles with Ana, Spider-Man clashes with Aloysha.
During the battle, Aloysha fires a shotgun close to Spider-Man’s ears, striking him deaf. Oddly, instead of the ringing it should have cause, all Spider-Man can hear is the sound of drums beating. Seeing Spider-Man in trouble, Arachne wraps Ana up in psi-webs and rescues him. Both agree that they should retreat while they can and flee the scene. Once they get to safety, Spider-Man and Arachne compare notes.[5] All Spider-Man knows is that the Kravinoff family is hunting spiders, but doesn’t know much more than that.[6] He then suggests they get back to Kaine, prompting Spider-Man to explain his past history with clones.[7] Before heading off, Spider-Man asks Julia if she hears drums. Before she can answer, they are attacked by Aloysha and Ana again.
Arachne is hit with a drugged dart, prompting Spider-Man to kick Aloysha over the edge of a building in order to help Julia with Ana. Spider-Man webs Ana to a wall before going back to Aloysha, whose shoulder is impaled on a metal post and demands to know why the Kravinoff’s are hunting spiders. However, Aloysha refuses to answer as the sound of drums become so loud that they make Spider-Man black out and fall over the edge of the building.[8]
Meanwhile, Kaine wakes up in Peter Parker’s bathroom and thinks back to how he was ambushed by Ana and Aloysha Kravinoff earlier. As he was fleeing for his life, Kaine was mocked for being a clone of Spider-Man. Although he was seriously injured by the pair, Ana decided to spare him because she thought he was only a mockery of a spider, deciding to leave him as the only one left. He angrily slams his fist on the sink, cracking it.
Elsewhere, Spider-Man wakes up to discover that Arachne has brought him to the apartment of Mattie Franklin, the third Spider-Woman. The place is covered with strange ritualistic drawings and reeks with the smell of blood.[9] Arachne demands answers at to what’s going on, but Spider-Man has no idea or why everyone else with spider powers are being sucked into all of this. That’s when they are joined by what appears to be the rotten corpse of Ezekiel Sims.[10] He tells Spider-Man that he this a war between tribes: the spiders and the hunter. It is a conflict that Spider-Man has been fighting for a while now, even thought he wasn’t aware and it is a fight he is losing.
While at the Kravinoff estate, Madame Web comforts Mattie Franklin who knows she is about to die. She doesn’t really understand why. She also thinks that her entire career as Spider-Woman was a total waste, but Madame Web reminds her that she saved lives and that’s what matters. When Mattie asks who will save her life, all Cassandra Web can do is cry. She assures Mattie that she will be avenged and there will be balance. As Aloysha and Ana Kravinoff come for Mattie, she tells Madame Web to tell Spider-Man not to blame himself for her death and that she didn’t cry. In the graveyard outside a storm rages. Sasha Kravinoff is with Electro and the alchemist known as Diablo. She tells them that the time is drawing near.
Mattie Franklin has been strapped to a stone slab. Electro admits that he doesn’t like this as he is a religious man but still agrees to do what is asked because he is getting paid. Diablo then gives Sasha the formula he has made for her, telling her to only use three drops each time and that she has three weeks to use all of it. Sasha assures him that she’ll only need three days. With that, as Mattie makes a peace with a prayer to Mary, Sasha Kravinoff pours some of Diablo’s formula on a knife and drives it into Franklin’s chest. At the same time, Electro unleashes a powerful jolt of electricity at the blade. This kills Mattie Franklin, and as her blood drips onto the earth it causes something beneath the ground to come to life. Suddenly, out of the grave of Vladimir Kravinoff emerges the Grim Hunter. However, he emerges transformed into a humanoid lion. This only proves to Sasha that in order to resurrect her beloved Sergei that they’ll need the pure blood of the one true spider, Spider-Man.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Sasha Kravinoff, Aloysha Kravinoff, Ana Kravinoff, Kaine, Arachne, Spider-Woman, Madame Web, Electro, Diablo, Grim Hunter, Chameleon
Continuity Notes
Vladimir Kravinoff, aka the Grim Hunter, was killed by Kaine in Spider-Man #50.
This is a recap of the past 22 issues of Amazing Spider-Man. In his mind’s eye Peter see all the foes which are:
Electro who he fought in Amazing Spider-Man #612-614.
Mysterio who he fought in Amazing Spider-Man #618-620.
The Vulture faced Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #623-624.
The Rhino whom Spider-Man encountered in Amazing Spider-Man #617 and 625.
Lastly, there is the Lizard whom Spider-Man faced, with tragic results, in Amazing Spider-Man #630-633.
Omitted from this flashback are the Sandman (Amazing Spider-Man #615-616), Mister Negative (Amazing Spider-Man #621), Mobrius (Amazing Spider-Man #622), the Scorpion (Amazing Spider-Man #626), and the Juggernaut (Amazing Spider-Man #627-629)
Kaine was attacked by Ana Kravinoff in Amazing Spider-Man #631.
Web glosses over some of Arachne’s history:
She mentions how Julia Carpenter originally went by the name Spider-Woman. Carpenter was the second woman to take on that mantle in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #6. She only recently started going under the name Arachne in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #6.
It is also mentioned how Julia was once a member of the Avengers. Julia became a member of the West Coast Avengers in Avengers West Coast #74. She remained with that team until it dissolved in issue #101 of that series. She remained on the team when it reorganized as Force Works from Force Works #1 to 22. She has remained a reserve member of the Avengers since although she seldom interacted with the group.
Mention is made of her being involved with “outsiders” recently. This is a reference to how she was forced to be a member of Omega Flight in Omega Flight #1-5.
Arachne accuses Spider-Man of stealing her costume design. This is reference to the fact that when Spider-Man first bonded with the Venom symbiote in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8 it took on a similar appearance to Julia’s original Spider-Woman costume.
Reference is made to the fact that Ana and Aloysha’s father, Sergei Kravinoff (the original Kraven the Hunter) committed suicide. That happened during the Kraven’s Last Hunt story arc. See Web of Spider-Man #31-32, Amazing Spider-Man #293-294, and Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #131-132.
Spider-Man briefly glosses over the Clone Saga which ran from Web of Spider-Man #117 to Spider-Man #75. This is when he met Kaine and learned that he was the first and imperfect clone made by Mile Warren.
The drumming noise (DOOM! DOOM! DOOM!) is a homage to the Torment storyline from Spider-Man #1-5. In it, the voodoo priests known as Calypso used drums to force Spider-Man and the Lizard to battle each other. A former lover of the original Kraven the Hunter, sought to avenge his death at the time.
Mattie Franklin was the third Spider-Woman since getting her powers during the Gathering of Five story arc (Sensational Spider-Man #32-33, Amazing Spider-Man #440, Spider-Man #96, Spectacular Spider-Man #262) She was captured by the Kravinoff family in Amazing Spider-Man #611.
This is not actually Ezekiel Sims, who was killed in Amazing Spider-Man #508. This is actually the Chameleon in disguise, as we’ll learn next issue. Since Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #30 until his death, Ezekiel attempted to teach Spider-Man about the mystical aspects of his powers, telling him that he was a spider totem.
Topical References
In this story Peter Parker states that he is suffering from swine flu (aka the H1N1 Virus) This illness was the cause of a global pandemic that lasted from August 2009 until August 2010. This should be considered topical as this pandemic has long since been over. It’s also quaint in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic that is still active as I write this in September 2020.
Adrift
Many Years Ago[1]
Kraven the Hunter has been hired to hunt down a man named Paulie Rizzo. The hunt has taken him to the city, which Sergei Kravinoff finds distasteful. When he catches Rizzo, he pleads for his life, disgusting Kravinoff even more. He tells Paulie that a lion never surrenders even when he is cornered, he fights to his very last breath. This lesson doesn’t get through to a blubbering coward like Paulie Rizzo. However, instead of killing Paulie, he spares his life. Although he finds Rizzo a disgusting coward, Kraven the Hunter thinks even less of himself since he has lost his stomach for the pride of the hunt and now does it only for money.
Kraven then returns to his employer, a mobster named Denton, and returns the money he was paid to eliminate Rizzo. He tells Denton that Paulie was not worthy of his time, and neither was Denton. After kicking the money back into the mobsters face he becomes furious and asks Kraven if he knows who he is dealing with. To answer that he orders his men to kill Kraven, but he quickly and easily incapacitates them and then asks Denton if he knows who he is dealing with.
Kraven returns to his Chicago hotel room where he sleeps with two women. He thinks about how his family were part of the Russian aristocracy until the revolution forced them to flee to America. He understands fully why he cast off his old life to hunt in the jungles and become the world’s greatest hunter.[2] He gets out of bed to get a drink before going back to it with the women, but suddenly is struck by another pang of disgust in himself and orders the women to leave. Going out onto the balcony to reflect on his life, Kraven considers putting a rifle in his mouth and committing suicide. That’s when a spider crawls across his hand, giving him a brief moment of pause in his suicidal thought.
Meanwhile, Denton has hired Kaine to deal with Kraven the Hunter. After Denton explains how he wants Kraven to pay for what he has done, Kaine tells him he fully understands.
Recurring Characters
Kraven the Hunter, Kaine
Continuity Notes
According to the Marvel Chronology Project, this story takes place between Kraven’s appearances in Secret Wars II #7 and Web of Spider-Man #31, placing it as happening during “year seven” of the Modern Age. Putting as happening six years prior to the first story in this issue.
Kraven the Hunter’s life is connected to the Russian aristocracy which was abolished following the October Revolution of 1917. Unlike other characters who exist in the Modern Age, Kraven’s life has been extended by unexplained means. The closest reference to his prolonged life is made in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #6. One could make the assumption that Kravne’s lifespan has been extended by the various potions and serums he uses to enhance his physical abilities.
Spidey Sundays Part 1
Two crooks name Brain and Bull are hiding out from the law. Brain has been working on an invention called a Digitized Algorithmic Nano-Collider. As the cops come banging on their door, Brain turns on his device that opens a portal between the real world and the one of fiction. Telling Bull to grab a Spider-Man comic book, the pair leap into the portal that will put them a world away from the authorities that seek to incarcerate them.
Recurring Characters
Brain, Bull
Continuity Notes
Although unclear here, the universe that Bull and Brain travel to is not the Earth-616 universe which becomes clear when you see how fast and loose writer Stan Lee is with continuity, the silly plot, and not to mention how Spider-Man is self-aware of the fact that he is a comic book character. As I write this (September 2020) the reality Bull and Brain come from and the one they visit have yet to be designated a reality number.