Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #18.1
Spiral Part Three
In Manhattan’s Third Precinct, a turf war between Hammerhead and Tombstone’s gang prepare to brawl over control of the region. The battle is interrupted by the Black Cat who plows through the two warring gangs. She offers both sides to join her growing gang, but they turn her down flat because they are loyal to their respective leads. As the two gangs depart, the Black Cat is approached by the new Crime-Master and his gang.[1] He introduces her to his colleagues, the Enforcers.[2]
Crime-Master gets down to business and says that he isn’t competition and actually wants to help her rise to power.[3] He suggests the best way to get Tombstone and Hammerhead’s gangs to follow her is by getting the loyalty of their bosses. When the Cat asks how she goes about doing that, Crime-Master suggests that she break them out of prison.
While at Parker Industries, Peter Parker is too distracted with his concerns over the Wraith that he stops listening to his colleague, Anna Maria Marconi. Noticing that she doesn’t have his attention she pleads with him to talk to her about what’s wrong. He tells her that he is concerned about a friend going bad and asks her for her opinion on the situation. She reminds Peter that she fell in love with Otto Octavius, the man who hijacked Peter’s body.[4] She points out that Otto made a lot of poor decisions, he still managed to do some good. She poses a question: Was Otto a good man who did bad things, or a bad guy who did good things. Peter isn’t sure what the answer is. That’s when Anna says that while he can’t ask Otto, he can still ask his friend.
That evening, Spider-Man decides to pay a visit to Yuri Watanabe at the Third Precinct. Thinking about what Anna Maria had said, he continues to draw parallels between Yuri and Otto Octavius. His biggest fear is that, like Otto before her, Yuri will become corrupted by self-justifcation. That’s when his spider-sense goes off and spots Yuri talking with Mister Negative. Negative has finished telling her what he wanted to say and suddenly disappears. When he asks her what Mister Negative had to say, Yuri tells him that she’ll tell him on the way as he and the Wraith are going to Ryker’s Island to stop a jailbreak.
When they arrive at the prison they find that the guards have been knocked out. Even though Mister Negative was right, Spider-Man warns the Wraith that they are being plaid. The Wraith doesn’t care as long as the information gets her results. They soon clash with the Crime-Master, the Black Cat, and the Enforcers. The Cat manages to slash Spider-Man with her claws and takes off to free Hammerhead from an approaching prisoner barge. Spider-Man reluctantly goes after her, hoping the Wraith will do the right thing. Meanwhile, the Wraith follows the Enforcers into the prison and uses her fear gas to help take them down. The fight takes them to the infirmary where the Wraith sees that Judge Howell is on life support. Asking what happened, the Wraith learns that Howell was seriously stabbed in an apparent contract killing.
Elsewhere, Spider-Man is trying to stop the Black Cat from freeing Hammerhead. That’s when the authorities arrive on the scene. With the situation becoming tenser, Spider-Man convinces the Black Cat to stop fighting and asks her to leave because he doesn’t want her to get shot by the authorities. The Cat is touched but tells Spider-Man that this doesn’t square things with them and leaves.[5] That’s when a gun goes off, prompting Spider-Man to race toward the sound fearing the worst. In the next cell block, he discovers that the Wraith has shot Tombstone and demands to know what she’s done.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Wraith, Anna Maria Marconi, Mister Negative, Black Cat, Crime-Master, Enforcers (Fancy Dan, Ox, Snake Marston, Hammer Harrison), Hammerhead, Tombstone
Continuity Notes
This Crime-Master states that he is the new one as his predecessor is dead. The last Crime-Master, Bennett Brant, died in Venom (vol. 2) #21.
Some facts about the Enforcers that are made here:
Ox and Fancy Dan are referred to as founding members of the Enforcers. They first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #10.
It is mentioned here that Hammer Harrison is one of the few men who landed consecutive blows on Spider-Man. He previously fought Spider-Man in Marvel Team-Up #138.
The Ox and Snake Marsten are stated as being former members of the Thunderbolts. The pair were short-lived members of Baron Zemo’s Thunderbolt army in Thunderbolts #104 and 107.
Crime-Master mentions that the Kingpin has been run out of town. That happened in Superior Spider-Man #14.
You remember when Doctor Octopus took over Spider-Man’s body, right? Well go back and re-read Amazing Spider-Man #698-700 and Superior Spider-Man #1-31.
The Black Cat hates Spider-Man because, when Doctor Octopus was controlling his body, he busted the Black Cat and sent her to prison. When she broke out of prison she vowed to get revenge on Spider-Man. See Superior Spider-Man #20 and Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #1.
