Hate Crimes

Deducing that philanthropist Garrison Klum is also the heroin dealer calling himself Mister Brownstone, Spider-Man and the Black Cat decide to find out who hired Scorpia to attack Klum at a fundraising gala at Carnegie Hall earlier that evening. After harassing her enough, Scorpia tells them that it was the Ortega crime family so Spider-Man and the Black Cat will leave her in peace.

At that same moment, in Spanish Harlem, Klum and his brother Frances show up at the headquarters of the Ortega mob and asks to speak with their leader, Alberto Ortega. Ortega agrees to meet with Garrison, admitting that he has a pair of balls to show up here after the attempt on his life. After the gang frists the Klums and determine they’re not carrying any weapons, Alberto pulls a gun on Garrison and asks why he shouldn’t kill him right here and now. Garrison explains that, the earlier attack notwithstanding, he thinks that Alberto is a smart businessman and a good husband and father. Upon that comment, Alberto’s wife Pilar comes downstairs with their infant child to see what’s going on. Suddenly, Pilar and the baby fall sick. When Alberto asks what’s happening, Garrison says it is the same thing that’s happening to his men, who suddenly collapse to the ground as well. Garrison says that they are all overdosing on heroin. He then does the same thing to Angelo with but a look. As they Ortega crime family lays on the floor dying, Frances tells his brother that he doesn’t like any of this because it will draw too much attention to themselves.. Garrison thinks his brother is being cowardly but admits that he’s right and decides that they should do something about it, telling Frances to get him a knife from the kitchen. When Spider-Man and the Black Cat arrive later that evening they are horrified to discover a scene of horror as everyone in the room have been gored with knives. The only one alive is the Ortega’s now orphaned child who is sitting in the middle of the room crying.

Returning back to Felicia’s hotel room, she admits to Peter that this is one of the reasons why she gave up wearing the costume. She can handle super-villains that can shoot lasers, it’s the horrors that regular humans inflict on each other that really bothers her. Putting his mask back on, Peter looks on the bright side, pointing out that at least the baby was still alive. Hearing this is one of the reasons why Felicia still loves Peter because even in the face of utter horror he can still find a glimmer of hope.

The pair decide to pay a visit to Garrison Klum and, as the wealthy philanthropist looks out his penthouse window, the pair briefly appear in front of the window in between flashes of lightning in an effort to put some fear into him. As they leave, the Black Cat asks what the point of that was and Spider-Man explains that it was to let Klum know that they are onto him. He also insists that they need to get more evidence against Garrison before they shut him down. Felicia is growing impatient wanting to take him down immediately. However, Peter points out that they have no proof to explain how Klum is poisoning his victims with massive doses of heroin since there is no trace evidence to prove how the drugs are being administered. They also can’t tie him to the disappearance of Felicia’s friend, Tricia Lane, because they have yet to find out what happened to her. Still, Garrison is her only clue and Felicia refuses to keep doing things the Spider’s way. When Peter tries to stop her from going, Felicia knocks him to the ground and webs him up with his own web-shooters.[1] When Spider-Man tells her not to go because Garrison might be dangerous, the Black Cat quips that she’s a woman in her 30s with daddy issues crammed into a leather costume with a bad case of PMS, asking whose more dangerous than that and then swings away.[2]

Moments later, Black Cat breaks into Garrison Klum’s home and approaches his bed where it appears he is fast asleep. However, when Felicia pulls away the bed covers she is surprised to see that this is nothing more than a recording. Garrison appears behind and offers her a glass of brandy. The Cat refuses and then ask him what he knows about Alberto Ortega. At first, Garrison decides to play around and decides that it’s not going to work and decides to just come to move along. Pulling out a spoon and some heroin, he begins preparing the drug while telling her about his family history. He says that he was born in Germany but was raised in the United States. He never bothered to learn his mother tongue until the day he turned sixteen. He was getting ready for a date when he mother started yelling at him — in German as she always did when angry — he remember how he wished his mother would just shut up and let him learn his life. Suddenly, the mouth wash he was swishing in his mouth was gone and his mother was dead on the floor. By this point, he puts the cooked heroin in a shot glass and holds it up to the Black Cat. Suddenly, the heroin disappears in a flash of smoke. Growing tired of this exposition, the Black Cat begins making her move before suddenly she feels sick and collapses on Garrison’s bed. He continues, saying that during the autopsy his mother died because there was mouthwash in her heart, killing her instantly.

He then tells Felicia that she is now high on heroin and that it got into her body due to his abilities as a low-level teleporter. Pulling out a pocket knife, he explains that it is a latent mutant ability that allows him to teleport small amounts of liquid short distances. At first, it seemed like a pretty useless power until he found a way to use it in ways that could be profitable. He offered his services to the rich and famous, teleporting their drug fixes into their bodies directly so there were no physical signs that they were using. He then begins cutting open Felicia’s costume, intending to rape her right there. He pauses when he realizes that Felicia was looking for her friend Tricia Lane, and tells him that he caused her to have an overdose while attempting to do the same thing he’s about to do to Felicia. Since Spider-Man hasn’t arrived to save her, Garrison is confident that the web-slinger isn’t coming but admits that he has enough liquid heroin on hand to kill Spider-Man 20 times over. His final remark is how some people say heroin is better than sex and figures that she’ll be able to tell him for sure, soon enough.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Black Cat, Mister Brownstone, Frances Klum, Scorpia

Continuity Notes

1. Peter says his webbing is expensive on a teacher’s salary. This is a reference to the fact that, at the time of this story, Peter had just recently started working at Midtown High as a science teacher circa Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #31.

2. Felicia’s “daddy issues” are that it was her father’s career as a cat burglar that first influenced her decision to become the Black Cat as explained in Amazing Spider-Man #194-195.

Topical References

• Dated references: Garrison Klum using a CD player with a recording of him snoring to trap the Black Cat., Farris Bueller, Bloomberg Magazine