The Collected Spider-Man

Peter Parker is at the Daily Bugle to sell photos of Spider-Man battling the costumed criminal known as the Answer. Although Joe Robertson accepts the photos, he once more ask Peter to focus on other subjects other than Spider-Man. After the meeting, Peter goes up to the roof of the Daily Bugle Building to get some fresh air. Not only is he concerned about Joe Robertson's latest demands, but also the fact that Aunt May is upset with Peter for quitting grad school. As his street clothes undergoes a sudden transformation into his new black-and-white Spider-Man costume, the masked hero also thinks about even his costume is weird to him as well. He is also bothered that Joe Robertson is starting to like the quality of his photos, because of late he has had his girlfriend the Black Cat take the photos for him. However, his relationship has its problems as well, as the Black Cat is uninterested in his civilian identity of Peter Parker. That's when he is joined by the Black Cat herself, and the couple playfully leap across the rooftops of Manhattan.

Meanwhile, off the coast of North America, the Collector has returned to Earth after detecting the existence of a surviving Plodex on the planet. Seeking to find the Plodex, the Collector begins scanning for alien life forms. He is surprised to discover that there is a member of the Technarch on Earth and decides to get the Plodex and leave as soon as possible. He also detects a Cloud-Being and thinks about coming back to Earth to collect it, should the planet survive. He also discovers a number of Dire Wraith's on Earth, but is not interested in the vile reatures. Lastly, he happens upon Spider-Man, an unexpected discovery and he decides to utilize it. In order to capture Spider-Man, the Collector takes the magic lamp that he had traded from the legendary Ali Babba. He summons a djinn that lives inside and sends it to New York, where it knocks the Black Cat aside and captures Spider-Man.

Taken back to the Collector's ship, Spider-Man learns that he is to be added to the elder's collection. Before being imprisoned in the Pearl of Great Price, he learns that the Collector is also seeking to capture Marrina of Alpha Flight, a member of the Plodex race. Meanwhile, Marrina is swimming through the ocean, lamenting how her recent quest to learn her origins and romancing the Sub-Mariner prevented her from receiving a distress call from her fellow members of Alpha Flight, leading to the death of their leader Guardian. Suddenly, the djinn appears and grabs her and teleports her back to the Collector's ship. Before it can complete this task, Marrina manages to activate her Alpha Flight distress signal. Seeing that the Plodex woman is distressed, the Collector summons his Xanthian Boulder Crusher named Snake-Eyes to use its hypnotic powers to subdue her. With Marrina and his other exhibits in a hypnotic state, the Collector then begins planning his trip to Sirius 5. By this point, Spider-Man has broken free from the giant clam and intends to throw a spanner in the Collector's works.

Meanwhile, Aurora, Northstar, Puck and Sasquatch of Alpha Flight are tracking Marrina's distress call. They had to leave Snowbird behind as her powers are limited within the country of Canada, and Shaman has stayed behind with her. Northstar is upset that his sister, Aurora has brought Walter Langkowski along with them and wishes she would revert to her alternate personality of Jeanne-Marie. This argument concerns Puck, as the last time Northstar mentioned his twin-sister's split personality, it caused it to emerge in the middle of a deadly battle. While back aboard the Collector's ship, Spider-Man attempts to battle the Collector, but the Elder of the Universe is able to avoid him on a flying carpet. When the wall-crawler tries to escape with Marrina, he is incapacitated with Venusian shock-flies. As the members of Alpha Flight land on the Collector's ship, the Collector reveals to Marrina and Spider-Man the origins of the Plodex. They are a race of aggressive colonists who take over entire worlds by sending thousands of eggs to a given planet. When the Plodex hatchlings emerge from their eggs, they take on a genetic template of the dominant species in order to conquer it. He is surprised that Marrina is a combination of human and aquatic life. Still, he intends to make her part of his collection, showing her the various other Plodex he collected from other alien worlds.

As he prepares to cryogenically freeze Marrina to add to his collection, Spider-Man struggles to break free. That's when the other members of Alpha Flight come crashing into the ship. At first, they don't recognize Spider-Man in his new costume, but Sasquatch quickly recognizes the hero. As they try to free Spider-Man from the shock-bugs, they are ambushed by the Collctor's Boxers, interdimensional traps from the Vegan timeline. While the members of Alpha Flight battle the Boxers, the Collector uses the distraction to put on a suit of Etherion made armor. During the battle, Northstar uses his hatred of Sasquatch to his advantage, causing his teammate to get temporarily trapped in a Boxer. This brings out Sasquatch's animalistic rage and he breaks free and goes on a rampage. All part of a Northstar's plans to show his sister how much of a beast the Sasquatch is in the hopes of ending their relationship. That's when the Collector joins the battle, forcing Aurora to fly into one of the Boxers. This causes her Jeanne-Marie personality to emerge, and she panics.

Northstar blams Sasquatch for this happening, and the two start battling each other. During the ensuing chaos, Puck takes the opportunity to free Marrina. When Sasquatch begins throwing the crystals that power the Collector's ship, the Elder attempts to summon Snake-Eye's again to put them asleep. However, Spider-Man manages to grab the flute and smash it. However, Snake-Eyes is still loose, and out of control. In order to stop the giant reptile from using its hypnotic power, Spider-Man webs it's eyes shut. He then use his strength to break Aurora free from the Boxer, while Puck frees Marrina. However, by this time, Sasquatch's rampage has freed the other Plodex specimens in the Collector's collection. Marrina wonders if she can bring herself to destroy members of her race. Meanwhile, Spider-Man is struggling with Aurora who is still exhibiting her Jeanne-Marie identity. Northstar orders the wall-crawler to hand her over. As the Plodex and Sasquatch both rampage, Northstar tries to convince Jeanne-Marie to return to her Aurora identity. This makes Sasquatch furious because this who situation was Northstar's doing. With the ship tearing itself apart, Aurora reasserts herself and convinces Sasquatch not to harm her twin brother.

By this time, the Collector has decided to make his escape, but his transporter device is kicked out of his hand by Puck. Suddenly, the Collector's ship crashes in the ocean below and begins taking on water. Seeing her fellow Plodex trying to escape, Marrina uses her control of the water to create a giant whirlpool that knocks them out before they can cause havoc on her adopted world. The Collector is furious at the heroes for ruining his plans, he explains that he is building his collection because he has foreseen the destruction of the universe and wants to preserve specimens to survive this coming Armageddon. He mentions how he previously attempted to "collect" the Avengers, who resisted him. With the Plodex a threat to Earth, the members of Alpha Flight and Spider-Man agrees to help the Collector repair his ship so he can remove them from Earth. After the Collector leaves the planet, the members of Alpha Flight worry about the Plodex threatening the Earth again sometime in the future. Hearing her teammates referring to the Plodex as monsters upset Marrina who flees into the ocean.

With the danger over, Spider-Man is flown back to New York by Northstar where he goes to the Black Cat's apartment to assure her that he is okay. He tells her that he will explain what happened after he gets some rest and heads home for his own apartment. When Peter returns home, he wills off his costume and compares his troubles with those that plague the members of Alpha Flight. As he crawls into bed, Peter realizes that he forgot to take pictures of the entire battle, much to his chagrin.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Alpha Flight (Sasquatch , Aurora, Northstar, Marrina, Puck), Black Cat, Collector, Joe Robertson, Snake-Eyes, Cloud, Warlock

Continuity Notes

• The photos of Spider-Man battling the Answer were taken during the events of Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #92.

• Peter decided to quit grad school in Amazing Spider-Man #243. He told Aunt May this in Amazing Spider-Man #253, creating a temporary rift between the pair.

• Peter obtained this costume in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8.

• The Black Cat started taking photos of Spider-Man's battles for Peter in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #91.

• The Black Cat is attracted to Spider-Man but not Peter Parker. Something that Parker discovered in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #87 when he revealed his secret identity to her.

• A cache of Plodex eggs were sent to conquer the Earth over 40 thousand years ago. At the time of this story, it was believed that most were destroyed and the only surviving Plodex was the Alpha Flight member known as Marinna. This was all covered in Alpha Flight #3-4.

• The Collector incorrectly refers to the species as "Warlocks" in this story. He is viewing the Technarch named Warlock, who has been a member of the New Mutants since New Mutants #18. The Collector is unaware that Warlock is peaceful, unlike most members of his race.

• Here the Collector is referring to Cloud, a sentient nebula that has been on Earth since Defenders #123.

• The Dire Wraiths have been attempting to conquer the Earth since Rom #1.

• The reason why the Collector's computers pick up Spider-Man is because of his new costume, which is an alien symbiote as revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #258.

• Marrina left the team to explore her origins with the Sub-Mariner in Alpha Flight #4. Guardian, the leader of Alpha Flight, seemingly died in Alpha Flight #12. However, Guardian survived and was rebuilt into a cyborg by the Quwrlln, this wasn't revealed until Alpha Flight #90.

• Aurora suffers from a split personality, which was developed during her time growing up in an all-girls Catholic school, as detailed in Alpha Flight #9-10. Aurora's split personality caused friction with Alpha Flight during the events of Alpha Flight #3-4.

• Spider-Man mentions when he met Sasquatch during the Hulk's amnesty celebration. That happened in Incredible Hulk #279.

• The doomsday that the Collector sees is the rise of Surtur and the threat of Ragnarok. These events are chronicled in Thor #350-352.

• The Collector has been attempting to make the Avengers a part of his collection since Avengers #28.

No Place to Run

Arthur Berman returns to his home in Albany, New York. He is soon joined by his wife Jennifer and the two begin preparing dinner. However, Jennifer decides to catch a bit of the evening news before helping her husband in the kitchen. When she sees the news story on the television she calls Arthur back into the living room.

It is a report about an ongoing battle nearby involving the Crimson Dynamo, the Human Torch, and the Black Panther. Afraid that the battle might reach their home, the Berman's fear for their safety. During dinner, they continue to listen to the news of the ongoing battle and inform family that they are still okay, but they don't know what's going on.

By the end of the night, the news reports that the battle is over and the Crimson Dynamo is in the custody of the FBI. A cleanup crew has been dispatched to the scene, but Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four, in a press release, assures people that there is no threat of contamination. However, he can't elaborate further as it is a matter of national security of both the United States and Wakandan governments. This does little to set the Berman's minds at ease, as both lay awake in the evening, processing the potential danger that could have impacted their lives.

Recurring Characters

Black Panther, Human Torch, Crimson Dynamo

Continuity Notes

• The narrative of this story states that this story takes place in the year 1984. This should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616.