Carrion, My Wayward Son!

The heads of the Maggia, including their leader the Masked Marauder, meet with a new superpowered being calling itself Carrion. Carrion has offered to eliminate Spider-Man due to the wall-crawler's recent interference in their activities. However, the Masked Marauder views Carrion's offer and knowledge of Maggia operations as a threat and orders his minions to eliminate the visitor. Carrion is able to incapacitate most of the thugs that come out to stop him with his dust of the red death. However, when one of the minions tries to shoot him, the bullet passes harmlessly through Carrion. With his minions easily defeated, the Masked Marauder still finds Carrion and unpredictable threat and tries to be rid of him by activating a trap door beneath the intruder's feet. However, Carrion manages to defy gravity and then suddenly disappears in a puff of brimstone.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man is swinging across the city lost in thought, going over the recent events in his life. He's worried about Aunt May's recovery from her heart attack, and his relationship woes with both Mary Jane Watson and Betty Brant. Stopping for a moment, Peter removes his mask and ponders his further career in super-heroics. He wonders if he should retire, considering that he is a loner whose career could end in an instant and that there are a plethora of new heroes who can handle crime in the city. While in South Brooklyn, the White Tiger spots members of the Savage Skull gang attempting to break into a parked car and leaps in to stop them. The White Tiger sends most of the gang packing but grabs one of their members. He learns that they were trying to break into this car in order to scare off its own, a local drug pusher who has been causing trouble in the neighborhood. No sooner does White Tiger learn this does the car's owner return and thanks to the hero for protecting his property. Disgusted by the drug dealer, the White Tiger knocks down the drug dealer with a single blow and then departs.

While back in Manhattan, the Masked Marauder and his men knock out the security guards standing at the Citicorp Center and unleash his Birdroid to help them break into the facility. As the Birdroid smashes through the walls of the building in order to reach the vaults, the destruction is detected by Spider-Man who swings in to see what is going on. There he begins to attack the Marauder's minions until the Birdroid blows up the bank safe. The force of the blast sends Spider-Man and his attackers bowling over. Spider-Man easily defeats the armed thieves, and tries to stop the Birdroid, which is trying to clean out the safety deposit boxes. When Spider-Man attacks the android, it suddenly transforms into the form of the Tri-Man. Spider-Man is too busy fighting this new threat that he doesn't detect the Masked Marauder coming up behind him until it's too late. With an energy blaster built into his goggles, the Masked Marauder manages to hit Spider-Man, striking him blind instantly.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, White Tiger, Maggia (Masked Marauder), Carrion

Continuity Notes

• Carrion mentions Spider-Man's recent activities that interfered with Maggia operations. He is referring to the events of Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #22-23, and Marvel Team-Up #72.

• Spider-Man goes over some of his troubles these are:

  • The fact the Aunt May has been recovering in the hospital since suffering a heart attack in Amazing Spider-Man #176.

  • His romantic troubles being that Mary Jane turned down his wedding proposal and Betty Brant, a married woman is pursuing him again. Both of these events happened in Amazing Spider-Man #183-184.

  • Peter recounts how Betty is in love with Peter Parker but hates Spider-Man. The pair dated between Amazing Spider-Man #7-18. Part of the reason was due to the fact that Betty blamed Spider-Man for the apparent death of her brother Bennett in Amazing Spider-Man #11. Although everyone believes that Bennett died that day, Venom (vol 2) #1-21 reveals that he is still very much alive.

• References to the bi-centennial and to the fact that the Citibank Center is a new building should be considered topical references per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616.