Homesick

Now[1]

Separated from its host, the alien symbiote looks up at the night sky and thinks about how it got where it is now. It thinks about its homeworld. It also recalls how it was freed from its prison by Spider-Man who has been wearing it as a costume and wonders if it is finally home.[2]

Earlier

Spider-Man is breaking up an illegal arms deal unaware that one of the dockworkers is the Sandman. At first, the Sandman isn’t sure it’s Spider-Man until one of his co-workers reminds him that the web-slinger changed his costume. This makes the Sandman uneasy. This feeling isn’t helped when his co-worker also make light of the fact that he is being paid under the table.[3] At that same moment, miles out at sea, a cargo ship is heading for port. Onboard, two of the ship’s crewmen are passing time by playing cards. One of them is sitting atop an ominious wooden crate that is labeled with a request to handle it with care.

By this time, Spider-Man has finished webbing up the crooks and makes his departure when suddenly, his new costume fires a web-line without his mental command. The costume continues resisting his attempts to return home, leading him into the East River.[4] Returning to his apartment, Peter wonders if the “technology” in his costume is flawed. Returning home, he wills his costume to change into street clothes when his landlord, Mamie Muggins, comes banging at his door asking for the rent. Peter assures her that he’ll have it to her by Thursday night.[5] After dealing with his landlord, Peter decides to call it a night, regretting that he isn’t able to see his girlfriend the Black Cat that evening.[6] Moments after Peter has retired to bed for the night, the symbiote prepares to bond with him to go out use his body while he sleeps. However, Peter can’t sleep and gets up. Luckily, the symbiote manages to return to the chair it has been hanging off of before Peter can see that it was moving on its own.

Moments later, Spider-Man is back out on the town and quickly catches a female jewel thief trying to elude the police on his motorcycle. After this is over, Peter begins considering going back home to bed otherwise he’s not going to get any sleep at all. The symbiote, however, still craves the adrenaline Peter’s body gives off and forms a tendril into a hammer and use sit to knock Peter out. With its host knocked out, the symbiote then takes control of his body and goes out looking for more criminals to bust. It swings past two crooks breaking into a store without stopping. On the rooftops, it runs into the Black Cat who tells Spider-Man that she is not happy that he has stood her up. The symbiote responds by hissing at her before pulling Peter’s body away, leaving the Black Cat confused.

The symbiote brings Spider-Man back to the shipyard where crews are offloading a freighter. When it attacks the crew, the Sandman decides to blow his cover to defend his friends. The Sandman easily overpowers Spider-Man’s unconscious body as the symbiote is not as adept at moving around with a human body on its own. After the Sandman buries the web-slinger under a number of shipping crates, the symbiote pulls free and battles the Sandman by itself. Seeing “Spider-Man” twist and re-shape his body in inhuman ways unnerves the Sandman who doesn’t understand what he is up against. Suddenly, the symbiote pushes itself into the Sandman’s body and then inflates itself causing him to explode into sand particles all over the pier. With the battle over, the symbiote goes to a crate that was busted open during the battle. It contains a meteor fragment that came from the symbiote’s homeworld.

Later

Peter Parker wakes up in the morning sore and stuff after his night out, but he doesn’t remember anything after he was knocked out and wonders what happened. He decides that it probably doesn’t matter as long as he’s home.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Black Cat, Sandman, Mamie Muggins

Continuity Notes

1. This story takes place when Spider-Man was still wearing the Venom symbiote as a costume. Per the Marvel Chronology Project, this story takes place between Marvel Team-Up Annual #7 and Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #99 or “year six” of the Modern Age

2. The symbiote’s homeworld is identified as the planet Klyntar in Venom: Space Knight #12. According to Venom Super Special #1, the Venom symbiote was imprisoned by its own people for being an aberration. Its prison became part of the Beyonder’s Battleworld where it was freed by Spider-Man in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8, thinking he was getting a new costume to replace the tattered outfit he was wearing. He brought it back to Earth with him Amazing Spider-Man #252. He won’t discover it is actually alive until Amazing Spider-Man #258

3. At the time of this story, the Sandman is trying to go straight following the events of Marvel Two-In-One #86. Despite this change of heart, he is still a wanted outlaw at the time of this story.

4. Since Amazing Spider-Man #252, he symbiote has been trying to permanently bond to Peter and had begun acting independently more and more frequently.

   1. This story takes place while Peter had an apartment in Chelsea owned by the gruff Mamie Muggins. He lived here from Amazing Spider-Man #139 until he and Mary Jane moved to Bedford Towers in Amazing Spider-Man #300.

5. This story also takes place during a period of time in which Spider-Man and the Black Cat were dating. Their relationship lasted from Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #75 to 100.

Catfight

Chicago, a While Ago[1]

The Black Cat breaks into the Chicago Museum of Natural History, unaware that she is being watched by Hellcat, the city’s resident superhero. She quickly takes out the guard and makes her way to the exhibit of Egyptian artifacts. Using her claws, the Black Cat cuts through a secure door where an ancient statue of the Egyptian cat goddess Bastet surrounded by infrared security beams. Placing mirrors on his wrists and ankles, she leaps through the field, deflecting the security beams briefly as she passes.

That’s when Hellcat leaps into action, ambushing the Black Cat. With the Black Cat disorientated, Hellcat wraps her up in her claw coils, Looking through the Black Cat’s bags she discovers that she broke in to leave a calling card showing how easy it was to break through the museum security. That’s when the guard wakes up and triggers the alarm. Realizing the Black Cat wasn’t actually trying to rob the museum, Hellcat frees her and carries her to safety. On the rooftops, Hellcat figures the Black Cat is new at this and tells her to stay out of Chicago because it is her turf. Felicia decides to take this advice and see what the situation is like in New York. She gets the last laugh on Hellcat by being able to steal her wallet and reading her ID to learn her true identity. As she leaves, the Black Cat remarks that Hellcat must be knew at this also since most superheroes don’t carry their wallets in their costume.

Recurring Characters

Black Cat, Hellcat

Continuity Notes

1. This story, according to the Chronology Project, takes place prior to the Black Cat’s first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #194 or “year five” of the Modern Age.