Fear Eats the Soul

While fighting over an illegal arms deal in front of the ruins of Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, Spider-Man and the Shroud are suddenly ambushed by the Familiars of Cyttorak.[1] This trio of demonic entities that have possessed the bodies of arm's dealer Joey Gregson and his men. The pair is unprepared for their mystical abilities. While Spider-Man struggles with two of them, while the third battles the Shroud. The vigilante tosses his attacker into the back of the van containing the weapons and tosses in a live grenade. Spider-Man caries out for Shrout to talk when suddenly the grenade goes off, obliterating the van. The blast appears to kill both the Shroud and the familiar. Suddenly, the Shroud comes out of the shadows having using his knowledge of the occult to separate the familiar from the gangster. He then envelopes the other two in his darkness.

With the immediate threat over, Spider-Man decides to turn his attention to the Shroud himself. The apparent criminal warns the web-slinger that he is the only thing keeping the Familiars of Cyttorak under control. Suddenly, the two possessed crooks break free from Shroud's darkness and renew their attack. The two specters drain them of their life forces, sloughing off their withered corpses. While the Shroud traps one in the darkness again, he fails to capture the last one as it takes possession of Spider-Man. Meanwhile, at the home of J. Jonah Jameson, his wife Marla calls Jonah at the Daily Bugle to see when he is coming home. He tells her that he is working late and cancels their plan. This has been the third week in a row that Jameson has been neglecting his wife and she has had enough. Hanging up on her husband, Marla picks the phone back up and calls someone she can talk to. At the Daily Bugle, Jonah brushes off Marla's upset as nothing and continues finalizing the redesign for the Daily Bugle. Satisfied, they then begin looking at the content for the next edition. When Joe Robertson suggests a story about Spider-Man, Jonah refuses. Regardless of how good the story is, writing about Spider-Man is what the old Bugle did and he rips up a photo of the wall-crawler. He vows to Joe that the next time he wants Spider-Man talked about in his newspaper is when they finally publish his obituary.

Back in Greenwich Village, the possessed Spider-Man attempts to attack the Shroud but is contained in a mass of darkness. Inside his mind, Peter Parker is haunted by the images of all those he has let down by the familiar of Cytorrak.[2] It explains that it was set free when Spider-Man disturbed the mystical sheild that protected Doctor Strange's home. Fighting this bombardment of fearful feelings, Spider-Man thinks about those who love and care about him: his Aunt May, his wife Mary Jane,[3], and his parents.[4] In the real world, the Shroud envelopes Spider-Man in his darkness with the other two familiars. As Spider-Man breaks free from the creature possessing him, he accidentally knocks out the Shroud.

With one of the familiars incapacitated, Spider-Man flees with it in his arms, prompting its compatriots to follow the web-head. Spider-Man then leads them to a construction site where he tricks them into flying into the path of pouring cement. With the creatures trapped in the muck, the area is surrounded in darkness briefly, signaling the arrival of the Shroud. When the darkness clears up, there is no sign of the vigilante, but the three familiars have been turned into a small statue. With the danger over, Spider-Man swings off to find a safe place to place the statue until he gets an opportunity to turn it over to Doctor Strange. Meanwhile, in Queens, a pair of thieves break into a meat packing plant thinking there are is something worth stealing. However, once they go inside they are horrified to find a number of dead bodies suspended off the floor by meat hooks.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Shroud, J. Jonah Jameson, Marla Madison, Joe Robertson

Continuity Notes

1. Doctor Strange's mansion was destroyed in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #60 during the Siege of Darkness event.

2. Peter is haunted over the apparent death of Harry Osborn. At the time of this story, everyone thinks that Harry Osborn is dead following the events of The Spectacular Spider-Man #200. However, unknown to everyone at the time, Harry survived as explained in Amazing Spider-Man #581. He will resurface again in Amazing Spider-Man #545.

3. Peter and Mary Jane are referred to as husband and wife here. However, years later, their marriage is erased from existence by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. As such they should be considered a common-law couple here.

4. The couple claiming to be Peter Parker's parents appeared in his life in Amazing Spider-Man #365. They are later exposed as traitors in Amazing Spider-Man #388. The real Richard and Mary Parker died on a government mission two decades earlier, as explained in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #5.

Moving Day

A moving truck has pulled up in front of the Parker's new home.[1] As Mary Jane, Aunt May, and Mary Parker begin carrying boxes in, Richard Parker struggles with a heavy piece of furniture in the truck. He is suddenly helped by his son, Peter, who has just arrived. Soon everything is moved into the house. While everyone relaxes in the kitchen, Richard suggests that they all go out for dinner to celebrate until Mary suggests that they let their son and his wife have some time alone to settle into their new place.

With Peter's relatives gone, Mary Jane begins showing Peter around their new home. Upstairs, she shows him an attick that they can convert into a workplace for him, and a place for Peter to store his Spider-Man costume and gear. Seeing the size of the attic space, the fact that it has electricity and has a skylight for him to come and go Spider-Man, Peter instantly falls in love with their new place. He promises Mary Jane that he will spend their time here making sure she is happy no matter what.

Recurring Characters

Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, Aunt May, “Richard and Mary Parker”

Continuity Notes

1. Peter and Mary Jane were forced to move out of their old apartment by Liz Osborn in The Spectacular Spider-Man #205.