Avengers West Coast #86
Webs of Fear and Sorrow
After a pair of murders were tied to the Liberty Party’s presidential bid, the Avengers West Coast and Spider-Man went to investigate party leader Michael Galvan and his running mate Wilson Lambert. This led to a clash with the spider-themed assassins called Deathweb. In the ensuing clash, they kidnapped Rachel Carpenter, daughter of their teammate Spider-Woman, aka Julia Carpenter.
Rather than being sidelined, Spider-Woman went looking for her daughter alone. Seeking information from Mike Clemson — her former handler working for the Comission on Superhuman Activities — she and Spider-Man discovered that he is working with Deathweb. Upon making this revelation, Deathweb’s leader, the Manipulator, has threatened to have Rachel injected with a deadly spider venom unless Julia kills Spider-Man.
The web-slinger tries to reason with Spider-Woman, but Julia is willing to do anything to make sure her daughter isn’t harmed. In the ensuing brawl, the monitor screens showing Rachel are damaged, causing the abandoned factory to catch fire. Clemson and Deathweb flee outside where Mike expresses his displeasure with how things are being handled. When Mike threatens to go to the Conclave — the secret government cabal that they both work for — the Manipulator is hardly concerned. Hearing sirens in the distance, he tells Mike to flee the scene before he and the rest of Deathweb teleport away.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Avengers have returned to Avengers Compound to tend to their wounded and regroup. Joining them is Larry Carpenter, Julia’s ex-husband and the head of public relations for the Liberty Party. He demands to know what the Avengers will do to keep his bosses safe now that Hawkeye and US Agent are out of commission. In the next room, Iron Man is busy analyzing the acidic venom that was used on Hawkeye. When Wonder Man asks if there is any word from Spider-Man and Spider-Woman he gets snapped at. Wonder Man understands that Iron Man’s annoyed that Julia disobeyed his orders to search for Rachel on his own, but can also understand Spider-Woman wanting to do whatever it takes to rescue her daughter. That’s when Arachne, Andro, and Therak teleport into the compound and attack him. While Simon Williams is down, the trio plant what looks like a bomb before teleporting away.
When the rest of the Avengers arrive on the scene to find out what’s going on, Iron Man examines the “bomb” and determines it is not a threat. In fact, it is actually a holographic projection device. Activating it, they are greeted by a holographic projection of the Manipulator and Rachel. He tells the Avengers that both Spider-Man and Spider-Woman are dead and in order to assure Rachel’s safety, the Avengers must not attend Michael Galvan’s rally scheduled for that evening. Larry Carpenter has no idea why or how the Manipulator got his daughter but he pleads with the Avengers to stay away from the rally to ensure her continued safety.
Back at the ruined factory, the two heroic arachnids are actually still alive thanks to a cocoon created from their webbing. Spider-Woman apologizes to her male counterpart for attacking him saying that she had to in order to protect her daughter. Spider-Man understands but reminds her that Rachel is still in danger as long as they are trapped under all this rubble. Spider-Man then reveals that he actually planted a spider-tracer on Rachel just as she was being kidnapped. This encourages Julia to push her strength to the limit alongside Spider-Man to break free and head off to find Rachel.
Later, Michael Galvan’s rally is in full swing at the Hollywood Bowl, where he tells the gathered audience that he will bring law-and-order to America if elected President. Watching from back stage, Larry Carpenter wonders if Galvan can live up to his claims. That’s when Spider-Man and Spider-Woman arrive with Rachel safe and sound. As Larry tries to figure out how Deathweb captured her, Julia decides to finally reveal her secret identity to her ex-husband. Seeing that Spider-Woman is his ex-wife explains why Julia has been so absent with their daughter and vows that after this recent stunt, Julia will be lucky if he allows her to see Rachel at Christmas every year.
That’s when Deathweb teleport onto the stage and murder Michael Galvan faster than the Avengers — who were disguised as security guards — can stop them. Spider-Man and Spider-Woman join the battle and as the tide is turning against them, Deathweb tries to escape. However, this time, the Scarlet Witch is able to use her hex powers to prevent Antro from teleporting himself and his comrades away. This allows the Living Lightning and Iron Man to blast them into unconsciousness. As the police come to take the killers away, Spider-Woman heads out to make sure Larry and Rachel got away safe. That’s when Wilson Lambert takes the stage and vows to take over as the Liberty Party’s presidential candidate and continue on their law-and-order platform. The crowd eats up every word, but it doesn’t sit well with Iron Man who finds it more than a little suspicious.
Outside, Larry is trying to get Rachel to his car when the Manipulator arrives to try and kidnap the girl again. When Larry tries to stop him, the villain causes him to have a heart attack just by touching his chest. That’s when Spider-Man and Spider-Woman arrives on the scene and forces the Manipulator to retreat empty handed. Seeing that Larry was seriously wounded, Julia rushes to his side but there is nothing she can do. Dying, Larry realizes that they both were doing what they thought was best for Rachel and tells his ex-wife to look after her, he dies moments later.
Back inside, Wilson Lambert’s speech continues and he tells the audience that if elected he will make sure that Deathweb will get the death penalty for their crimes. This promise backfires on him spectacularly since Deathweb are still tied up on the stage. Hearing Lambert’s threat, Antro then reveals that Lambert was the one who hired Deathweb to kill his running mate to gain both leadership of the Liberty Party and gain public sympathy. With his scheme exposed, Lambert tries to distance himself from this revelation but the damage has already been done and people are leaving the Hollywood Bowl in disgust. Regardless if the accusations are true or not, his political career is ruined and despite all the tragedy that has been caused, Iron Man figures that this is the best they can do given the situation.
Recurring Characters
Avengers West Coast (Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, Living Lightning, Spider-Woman), Spider-Man, Manipulator (Thompson), Deathweb (Antro, Therak, Arachne (Yaqua), Mike Clemson, Larry Carpenter, Rachel Carpenter, Michael Galvan, Wilson Lambert
Topical References
When denied a confession of the truth, Iron Man quips “Killers only confess in public on Perry Mason reruns, Wanda.” Perry Mason was a fictional lawyer who has been featured in films, radio shows, and television broadcasts since 1933. Iron Man is specifically referring to the television series that ran from 1957 to 1966 and experienced a brief revival in 1973-1974. There had also been 30 (!!) made-for-TV movies about the character from 1985 to 1995. The show has been rebooted in 2020 on HBO. Since Iron Man is referring to reruns of an older iteration of the show, this would not necessarily be considered a topical reference.
