Spectacular Spider-Man #152
A Wolf's Tale
Stalked by two werewolves, Spider-Man carries a wounded J. Jonah Jameson to safety. However, Jonah doesn't have any strength to keep going, allowing the werewolves to catch up. After slaying Spider-Man, the duo pounce on Jameson. With their prey dead, one of the werewolves changes into Eduardo Lobo and asks the other how their first kill felt. The second wolf is afraid and reverts into Glory Grant. She begs to know what happened to her. Eduardo embraces Glory and tells her that she has killed and nothing will keep them apart ever again. With this, Glory turns into a werewolf again and howls at the moon. Suddenly, Glory wakes up screaming in her bed, soon realizing that it was all a nightmare. She remembers that Eduardo had come to her and turned into a wolf and was apparently about to kill her. Horrified, she notices that Eduardo -- in his wolf form -- is sitting at the foot of her bed. She is afraid and wants to scream but looking into the werewolf's eyes she can't bring herself to do it. Outside of the apartment building stand Joy Mercado, who feels horrible spying on a friend in order to learn more about the Lobo Brothers. Suddenly, she spots Spider-Man swinging by and wonders where the wall-crawler is going in such a hurry.
Spider-Man can't believe what he is doing, thinking about how the Arranger had come to him asking for help stopping the Lobo Brothers and preventing a gang war. It was then that Spider-Man learned that the Lobos had a grudge against the Kingpin. As he web-slings towards a warehouse, he thinks about how he has no choice since a lot of innocent people will get hurt in the crossfire. On the roof of the building, the wall-crawler sets up his camera to take photos for the Daily Bugle. Inside, he watches as Lobo's men removing guns from crates. Spider-Man then comes down and begins fighting the gangsters. Suddenly, he is ambushed by one of the Lobos in his werewolf form. Attempting to dodge the attack, Spider-Man ends up breaking through the wall and falling into the water outside the warehouse. By the time the wall-crawler pulls himself out of the water, the gangsters and their weapons are all gone. Despite this, Spider-Man figures that he finally has photos that J. Jonah Jameson will buy. Unfortunately, the next day, Jameson refuses them because they make Spider-Man look too vulnerable.
He meets up for lunch with Flash Thompson and Harry Osborn to talk about how the Daily Bugle has been being incredibly harsh toward Spider-Man recently. All three men consider their options as they all owe a debt to the masked hero. As Peter looks over the newspaper, he notices an article about reforms being made to federal prisons, and that gets him thinking about Joe Robertson, who had recently been arrested.
Meanwhile, at Lewisburg Federal Prison, Joe Robertson is out on the exercise yard with his new friend, Bruiser. Bruiser hears about how Joe ended up in prison and he promises to show him the ropes so he can survive in prison. Not far away is Tombstone, who is still seeking to get revenge against Joe for landing him in prison. When Tombstone sets a gang of prisoners on the pair, Bruiser easily fights them off. However, this lands him a week in solitary confinement. However, as he is being taken away, he tells Joe not to worry as per the code of honor among prisoners, Tombstone won't make another attempt against Joe's life until after Bruiser is out of solitary. That evening, back in Manhattan, Spider-Man pays a visit to the Arranger at the Kingpin's tower. He confirms that the Lobo Brothers are preparing for war and suggests that they get the Kingpin involved in suing for peace. The Arranger refuses to do so, telling Spider-Man to do whatever it takes to stop a shipment of arms or there will be blood on their hands as well. As Spider-Man swings off, both he and the Arranger can't be to be rid of each other once this is done.
Later that evening at the apartment owned by Glory Grant, Glory asks Eduardo spared her life when he said that he was finished with her. After a moments silence, he begins telling Glory about his past. Eduardo and his brother Carlos never knew their father, and their mother died giving birth to her children. The orphans had to fend for themselves, often stealing what they needed to survive in their native Puebla de Zaragoza. They were never caught as they could see in the dark, but they also discovered they had a thirst for violence. However, as an adolescent, he fell in love with a young woman named Esmelda Valdez, the daughter of a wealthy rancher. He thought her out of his reach, until the day she came to her aid when she was thrown from her horse. This led to a secret romance that was soon discovered by Esmelda's father one night. When he and his men tried to kill Eduardo, something happened. On this night in particular, the full moon caused a strange reaction in Eduardo. Suddenly, he turned into a werewolf for the first time. When he awoke the next morning he discovered that he slaughtered the men, but, much to his horror, he also killed Esmelda as well. Eduardo learned that he and his brother were actually mutants who could change into werewolves under the full moon. With these powers, they established a criminal organization and ultimately moved their operations into Texas. It was here that the Arranger sent the Punisher to eliminate them. After this failed attempt on the life of Eduardo and his brother, they came to New York City to get revenge against the Kingpin. He explains that he only pursued a romance with Glory in order to get access to the Daily Bugle's file on the Kingpin. An unfortunately set back to this was that he genuinely fell in love with her. As the two lovers embrace, they are being photographed from outside by Joy Mercado. Mercado has been investigating the Lobo Brothers, but feels horrible for spying on Glory, but can't help it as Joy thinks Glory is destroying herself.
By this time, Spider-Man returns to Aunt May's house, where he has been staying with his wife, Mary Jane. There he tells his wife about the moral implications of working with the Arranger and the danger to his life. Mary Jane tells him that he needs to make his own decisions sometimes, and is confident he will do his best. Unknown to the couple, Mary Jane's cousin Kristy has been listening in to part of their conversation. Having fallen in love with Peter, Kristy fears for his safety. She runs back to her room, unaware that one of her own secrets may claim her life.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Glory Grant, Flash Thompson, Harry Osborn, Joe Robertson, Bruiser, Mary Jane Watson, Tombstone, Arranger, Eduardo Lobo, Carlos Lobo, Joy Mercado, Kristy Watson
Continuity Notes
The Arranger asked Spider-Man for his help in Web of Spider-Man #51.
This is not really J. Jonah Jameson, but the Chameleon who took Jonah's place in Web of Spider-Man #50. Peter eventually learns the truth in Web of Spider-Man #54.
Harry mentions how Spider-Man helped him during the Inferno crisis as seen in Amazing Spider-Man #311-313 and Spectacular Spider-Man #146-148. Flash also mentions how he once had a Spider-Man fan-club. He did so in Amazing Spider-Man #17.
Joe Robertson was sent to prison in Spectacular Spider-Man #150 for failing to report a murder over 20 years earlier. That was detailed in Spectacular Spider-Man #139.
It was thanks to Joe's confession that Tombstone ended up in jail after being defeated by Spider-Man in Spectacular Spider-Man #142.
The Punisher was sent to try and eliminate the Lobo Brothers in Spectacular Spider-Man #143.
Peter and Mary Jane are referred to as husband and wife here. However, years later, the demon Mephisto erased their marrage from existence in Amazing Spider-Man #545. As such, they should be considered a common-law couple as opposed to husband and wife. They have been living with Aunt May since they were evicted from their condo in Amazing Spider-Man #314.
This would be Kristy's eating disorder, which is revealed in Web of Spider-Man #53.
