Death Has Eight Legs

After the murders of a lawyer and reporter who had dirt on Liberty Party leader Michael Galvan and his running mate Wilson Lambert, the Avengers West Coast have gone the pair’s political rally to check things out. When the power suddenly went off the team went to go look back stage. There they ran into Spider-Man who has also come to LA to investigate the killings. After a brief misunderstanding the heroes are confronted by the real killers. They are a trio of spider-themed villains — Antro, Therak, and Arachne — who call themselves Deathweb.

Other than enhanced strength and agility, the members of Deathweb have more than a couple of extra powers. Antro, for example, can teleport as well as spray a caustic acid from his helmet. When Therak clashes with Wonder Man, the hero notices the man-monsters eyes are red and concludes that Therak was powered by ionic energy just like he is.[1]

Out in the main hall, the Living Lightning turns into his energy form in order to light the room. By this time, security have surrounded Galvan and Lambert, with Spider-Woman playing back up. Unaware that she is his ex-wife, Larry Carpenter — the PR man for the Liberty Party — demands to know what the Avengers are doing to keep his bosses safe. Disguising her voice, Julia tells her husband that they’re doing everything they can. She hopes that Larry won’t recognize him as he wouldn’t be happy that he has their daughter Rachel stashed away in a back room. As the battle rages on back stage, someone manages to get the power going again. With the situation getting back under control, Spider-Woman notices that Rachel is missing from the chair she was sitting in. Julia then charges off to look for her daughter, telling the Lightning to look after Galvan and and Lambert by himself as Rachel is her primary concern.

Spider-Woman stumbles into the battle between the Avengers and Deathweb and, seeing that the Scarlet Witch is about to be pricked by Arachne’s venom filled stinger, comes to her aid. With Spider-Woman present the tide of battle begins turning. Unfortunately, that’s when Rachel — who has been looking for her mother since the lights went out — stumbles into the room. Antro then grabs the girl and when Hawkeye tries to get her back has his arm doused in acid. Antro then teleports himself and Deathweb away with Rachel as their prisoner. Julia then has to tramp down her panic over her daughter when Larry and the Liberty Party leaders come barging in to demand what’s going on. After giving explanations, Larry leaves the room unaware that his daughter has been kidnapped. Iron Man then orders Spider-Woman to return to the compound as he believes she will be too concerned with Rachel’s safety to act rationally. Julia refuses to do any such thing and storms off to look for Rachel on her own. Before Iron Man and the others can stop her, Michael Galvan returns with the media to thank the Avengers for their good work protecting him and uses it as a publicity stunt to boost his law and order platform.

Meanwhile, at an abandoned factory, Mike Clemson has just received an update on Deathweb’s operation. He is furious about how they turned out and goes to complain to Deathweb’s leader, the Manipulator. Clemson already doesn’t know why his employers — a secret government cabal called the Conclave — put up with the Manipulator or his proclivities and expresses his annoyance that Deathweb kidnapped a child to make their retreat. That’s when the members of the Conclave appear on the bank of TV monitors. They are pleased with the Manipulator’s work and his assurances that everything is going to plan. Annoyed by how the masked man speaks to his Conclave masters with little respect, Mike tries to tackle the Manipulator from behind. However, it turns out that the mastermind wasn’t actually physically in the room but was appearing as a life-like holographic projection.

That’s when Spider-Woman comes crashing in through the wall, prompting the Conclave to kill communications. Julia has come to Clemson to get him to give her all the information he has on Deathweb. Clemson almost blows the fact that he is working with them and refuses to do anything of the sort. When Spider-Woman threatens to go to Val Cooper about this, Mike pulls a gun on her. Luckily, Spider-Man had followed Julia and quickly yanks the gun away with a web-line. That’s when the Manipulator appears in the flesh with Antro and Therak and reveals everything that Clemson almost let slip. When Mike tries to protest, the Manipulator manages to cut off his vocal chords with a wave of the hand. The Manipulator then turns on the monitors again. This time they show an image of Rachel who is being held prisoner by Arachne at some undisclosed location. The Manipulator tells Spider-Woman that Arachne will inject Rachel with a deadly poison if she doesn’t comply with his orders. He then tells Julia to kill Spider-Man.

Recurring Characters

Avengers West Coast (Iron Man, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, US Agent, Living Lightning, Spider-Woman), Spider-Man, Manipulator, Deathweb (Antro, Therak, Arachne), Mike Clemson, Larry Carpenter, Rachel Carpenter, Michael Galvan, Wilson Lambert

Continuity Notes

1. Wonder Man’s powers were derived from ionic energy as seen in Avengers #9. His assessment of Therak is correct and confirmed when Count Nefaria uses him for a snack a few years later in Iron Man Annual 1999.

Topical References

• When Threak tosses Iron Man in the opening battle Hawkeye is almost crushed by his teammate. He then quips “I’d have been squashed flatter than yesterday’s Dr. Pepper!” This should be considered a topical reference as Dr. Pepper (my favorite soda) is a real world beverage.