Brooklyn Avengers, Part Two

Spider-Man was convinced to return to the Brooklyn Avengers to find out who has been killing off the team. Spider-Man dismissed it as nonsense until Psi, the team leader, was seemingly murdered in the street by their old foe, the Red Hook.

Everyone blames themselves for not taking Psi seriously, particularly Spider-Man. However, Fi reminds them that they still have a job to do. Paintball decides to stay behind to “fortify the base”, but in reality, her mother — Boilermaker — is too drunk to be useful and she needs to look after her.

Last they heard, the Red Hook aka Reggie Hoefstadter, had found religion in prison and now spends his time helping underprivileged children. They find him doing maintenance on a basketball court. When they sneak up behind him, Reggie acts on instinct and throws a bunch of red hooks at them. These are easily deflected. Hypst’r asks Reggie for permission to put him under hypnosis so they can confirm if he killed Psi or not. However, Reggie insists that he is innocent. Having hit a dead end, Spider-Man wonders if this could be the work of one of his old foes, like Mesmero. Fi also confirms that Reggie didn’t kill his brother, because his hooks are different than the one used to kill Psi. However, Fi thinks he knows who the killer really is.

Meanwhile, back at the Brooklyn Avengers brownstone headquarters, Paintball is trying to sober Boilermaker up. Boilermaker is busy fixing Fi’s computer and tells her daughter that she doesn’t want her fraternizing with Spider-Man. Suggesting that she “shovel her own walk”.* Suddenly, someone in a Red Hook costume comes storming out of the roof access. Paintball begins bombarding her foe with balls of paint but is quickly grabbed. The Red Hook explains that he doesn’t want to kill anyone, he ust wants them to leave. That’s when Spider-Man swings in and pulls Red Hook away. Unfortunately, he runs out of web-fluid, leaving him at a tactical disadvantage.

That’s when the rest of the Brooklyn Avengers arrive and Spider-Man is amazed when they all work together in unison to defeat Red Hook. With their foe defeated, Fi — now calling himself Psi-Fi — uses his telekinetic powers to remove Red Hook’s mask. They are shocked to discover that he is none other than their landlord. The landlord says that when Rotary and Mints died he hoped the rest of the Brooklyn Avengers would drift apart. When Psi rallied them to look for a killer that didn’t exist, he took on the Red Hook identity to try and scare them off. Unfortunately, things got out of control and he kill Psi by accident. He did all of this because he stood to make a ton of money selling the brownstone for redevelopment. Furious, Psi-Fi decides to administer some Brooklyn justice and pushes his landlord off the side of the building.

The fall didn’t kill the landlord but put him in traction for a while. Later, Spider-Man attends Psi’s funeral with the rest of the Brooklyn Avengers and gives a heartfelt eulogy. As it turns out, the Brooklyn Avengers are still going to be out of a home because the city of New York claimed the building under eminent domain. Still, Spider-Man was impressed with how the group conducted themselves and figures they have a future now. When Psi-Fi offers Spider-Man a position on the team again, he convinces them that he’d only be holding the group back. Soon, the Brooklyn Avengers are meeting across the street from the demolition site of their old home. They all agree that they need to find a new headquarters and start recruiting new members. They all agree that any potential recruit will need a car and has been in the movies. That’s when Howard the Duck pulls up and asks them how to get back to Manhattan. Since Howard fits their criteria, they ask him to come and talk.[1] Meanwhile, Spider-Man is getting in touch with his cell provider to change his number, just in case the Brooklyn Avengers try calling him again.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Brooklyn Avengers (Fi, the Hipst’r, Boilermaker, Paintball), Psi (corpse), Howard the Duck

Continuity Notes

This issue is part of the 50th anniversary of Spider-Man. Previously canceled Spider-Man titles were briefly brought back with new .1 issues that continue where the series left off. This issue takes its numbering from the first volume of Web of Spider-Man which ended after 129 issues in 1995. However, this story takes place in the era in which it was published. Per the Marvel Chronology Project, this story follows the events of Peter Parker: Spider-Man #156.1

1. This movie is of course the cult-classic Howard the Duck movie that was released in 1986.

* masturbate