Love Withdrawal

A man on the street witnesses as Powerhouse and Masterblaster begin robbing a bank. He falls in love with Powerhouse from the moment that he sees her and realizes that his father was right about love at first sight. When Powerhouse tells Blastermaster to hurry up, he tells her that it is a delicate job if they want to get the money intact.

That’s when Spider-Man arrives to stop the robbery. While Spider-Man battles the two thieves, the man who has fallen in love with Powerhouse helps other people get out of the way of the battle. Ultimately, Spider-Man ends up defeating the pair and web them to the wall. With the police arriving on the scene, Spider-Man makes a passing joke that this was such a routine robbery there was probably even an elderly bank guard. Sure enough, there is, and Spider-Man is embarrassed by how cliche this all was and takes off.

As the police take Powerhouse and Masterblaster away, the man thinks that she is being pulled out of his life but then decides he can’t just let her go. He decides to visit her at the Vault during regular visiting hours whether she likes it or not. Sure enough, when the man visits her for the first time, she wants to know who the hell he is.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Powerhouse, Masterblaster

The Old Ways

Out at the trailer that doubles as his doctor’s office, Doctor Joseph Walking Bear treats an infant for bronchitis, telling the boy’s mother that it was a good idea to bring him. When the father doesn’t have the money to pay Walking-Bear for his services, the doctor tells them that they can pay him back when they can. He is then visited by Thomas Mitford from Valley Presbyterian who has come to convince Walking-Bear to join their hospital. However, Joseph tells Mitford that he’s just not interested. When Thomas points out that the couple he just saw didn’t pay, he asks why. Joseph explains that they have allowed him to earn the gifts that he has been given, saying that it is the way of the Wakan-Tanka.

Mitford finds this all quite a change from the doctor who was considered one of New York’s most prominent internists, he finds it hard to believe he gave it all up to become a general practitioner on a Native American reservation. Walking-Bear takes some offense and says that his satisfaction comes from being able to see the beauty of the world, saying that anyone can see it if they take the time to see it. He points to a spider spinning a web on a nearby tree as an example. Not liking spiders, Thomas is about to smash him when Joseph warns him that it is bad luck to do so. To his people, the spider represents Iktomi, the trickster god, who wove the very first dreamcatcher. He say that per the belief of the Wakan-Tanka is that the dreamcatcher brings good dreams and ideas through it. He insists that Iktomi is real and that he saw him in New York City and that is why he came back to his native land.

He remembers he was consulting some wealthy clients about a surgical procedure for their child when a man in an insect costume came crashing through the window of his office. The man was one Alfonso Erdoes who, upon the advice of Walking-Bear, sold his body to the Brand Corporation who experimented upon him until they turned him into this creature. Despite the money he got from the experiments, his son died because he didn’t have the right kind of health insurance. Blaming Walking-Bear, Erdoes wants to kill him. That’s when Spider-Man arrives who easily defeats the attacker. After telling Spider-Man why Alfonso came after him, Joseph Walking-Bear began to realize the errors of his way, particularly when Spider-Man told him that with great power came great responsibility. This is why he gave up his New York practice and returned home.

That’s when Mitford realizes that Walking-Bear was talking about Spider-Man. However, Joseph points out that to the Lakota, Iktomi is both spider and man, and even though he acts like a clown he is also a cunning warrior. He then points out that tales of his adventures have entertained children for hundreds of years from the American Southeast all the way to Africa. He muses how stories can cross oceans and believes that they are all taught by the same God as the same teachings are universally practiced. Thomas may call him Spider-Man but to Joseph Walking-Bear he will always be Iktomi to him.

With that, their conversation is over and Thomas Mitford returns to his driver who can’t get their GPS device working properly. When she sees the spider she is freaked out. He tells her that it’s just Iktomi and when she suggests its dangerous, he tells her it only dangerous depending what he thinks about you.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man