Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #17.1
Spiral Part Two
Hammerhead and the Goblin King are settling a dispute in a most efficient manner. Having set up a ring in the ballroom of a luxury hotel, they have two of their strongest minions fight to the death. Watching two men fight it out in the ring both men agree that this is a better way to settle their differences. The only thing the Goblin King wants to change is that future fights take place on neutral territory. Hammerhead agrees and since they are fighting over who takes control of Tombstone’s territory so he will look for a venue in the Third Precinct. That’s when Spider-Man comes crashing in to bust up the meeting. As Hammerhead and his men deal with the web-slinger, the Goblin King takes off on his Goblin Glider, telling Hammerhead that he’ll be in touch.
However, while Spider-Man is so busy webbing up Hammerhead’s goons, that the mobster manages to escape. However, Spider-Man managed to overhear the plans for the third precinct. This is the same precinct that Yuri Watanabe works in, which works out for Spider-Man since they are due for a heart-to-heart after the way she acted the other night as the Wraith.
Meanwhile, Yuri’s chief is not happy that Watanabe went ahead and arrested Judge Howell before CSI could thoroughly go through the evidence she obtained proving that Tombstone had him on the take. The chief is furious that Yuri didn’t do things by the book and was only motivated by revenge. After chewing Watanabe out, she tells her that Judge Howell has asked to see her at Ryker’s Island. On her way to see what the judge wants, Yuri is stopped by Spider-Man who fills her in on Hammerhead and the Goblin King’s plans to fight over control of the third precinct. When he tries to talk to her about how she treated Tombstone the day before he tries to get her to understand that you can’t take crime-fighting personal it falls on deaf ears. Yuri has decided the “system” is flawed and to prove this she throws all her evidence damning Judge Howell in Spider-Man’s face before taking off in her car.
At that moment in downtown Manhattan, Hammerhead and his men are building their fighting arena on the stage of an abandoned theater. However, Hammerhead’s men are worried about who will fight the Goblin King’s man since their strongest fighter is in jail, and their boss is being candid over who will take his place. Unknown to Hammerhead, one of his men is a mole and quickly reports back to his true employer as to when the fight is happening.
While at Ryker’s Island, Yuri keeps her meeting with Judge Howell. He admits to her that he received drugs from Tombstone. However, he reveals that they were for his wife who was in constant agony after having tumors removed from her spine. Although he admits to accepting drugs from Tombstone, he insists that his position on dismissing Teddy Rangel’s evidence was not a quid-pro-quo to Tombstone as repayment for the pain killers his wife needs. When he starts lecturing Yuri about following the rules of the system, she tells him to save it. She then gets up to leave and Howell pleads with her to drop the conspiracy charges because Tombstone is arriving at the prison and his life is in danger. This plea falls on deaf ears and Yuri tells her that she doesn’t see a problem with the situation. In the parking lot, Watanabe finds Mister Negative waiting by her car. He has another tip for her and tells her about the planned fight between Hammerhead and the Goblin King at the old Empire Royale theater. She thanks him for the information, much to his surprise. When he asks her if she thinks she is being played, Yuri reminds him that he’s called Mister Negative and that everyone plays everyone in this world.
That night., Spider-Man is back on patrol and his thoughts are focused on Yuri Watanabe. He can relate to her situation because he felt the same way when his Uncle Ben died and, later, Gwen Stacy.[1] He knows how a loss like this leads to guilt and blaming the outside world. That’s when he spots the Wraith heading to the theater where the Goblin King and Hammerhead are meeting up.
At the theater, the Goblin King has his champion, a brute named Painmaker waiting in the arena. The King had heard that Hammerhead’s man was recently nabbed by the cops and offers his condolences. To everyone’s surprise the person who steps into the ring is Hammerhead himself. Hammerhead reminds everyone watching that before he started his own gang he was an enforce with the Maggia. After headbutting Painmaker, Hammerhead quickly beat him into bloody submission. That’s when the Wraith and Spider-Man arrive to break things up. The Wraith in particularly doesn’t want her territory as the battleground for their turf war. Spider-Man is impressed with what the Wraith said, but reminds her that heroes don’t have turf. However, she is no longer seeing herself as on-par with the wall-crawler. That’s when Hammerhead grabs Spider-Man from behind and yanks him into the arena. Pummeling the wall-crawler, he rants and raves about how all of the masks - including Spider-Man - think they know him, but they don’t. Spider-Man agrees that you can’t really know someone and knocks Hammerhead out with a single punch.
In the aftermath of the battle, the Wraith informs Spider-Man that the Goblin King escaped in the confusion. Spider-Man takes this moment to remind Yuri that heroes don’t defend turf, but help people and make a difference. However, the Wraith dismisses this, telling Spider-Man that’s for him to worry about. The web-slinger then explains that, after examining the evidence, he has determined that the photos of Judge Howell could only have been taken by someone in Tombstone’s crew, meaning that someone set things up to intentionally land Tombstone in jail. Despite this obvious fact, the Wraith doesn’t care, still believing that the ends justify the means. She then takes off, leaving Spider-Man to realize that he actually doesn’t know where she is coming from. Neither are aware of the fact that Mister Negative has been watching this whole scene from the balcony.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Wraith, Mister Negative, Goblin King, Hammerhead
Continuity Notes
Uncle Ben was shot by a burglar in Amazing Fantasy #15. Years later, Gwen Stacy — Peter’s first true love — was murdered by the Green Goblin in Amazing Spider-Man #121.
Topical References
Real-world businesses: Hotel Knickerbocker
