Spider-Man's Tangled Web #8

Jun 6

Jun 6 Spider-Man's Tangled Web #8

Gentlemen’s Agreement Part 2

Then

As a police car chases a gang of crooks, it crashes into a taxi cab after both failed to stop in the rain-soaked streets. The accident pins Charlie Clemmens under his taxi cab as Spider-Man arrives on the scene and begins knocking the crooks out.

Now

Charlie is out driving his taxi cab, all he can think about his cancer diagnosis, how the surgery to remove the tumor from his brain will cost half a million dollars, and his moral struggle of selling his knowledge of Spider-Man’s secret identity. He suddenly stops when he sees a crowd gathered around a building. Getting out and asking what the commotion is, one of the bystanders points out that there is a man on the ledge of the building threatening to jump. Rushing into a nearby bar, Charlie discovers that the payphone is out of order and convinces the bartender to let him use the phone behind the bar. He quickly calls the Daily Bugle and Peter Parker’s extension to tell him about the jumper. Sure enough, Spider-Man arrives just in time to grab the man as he walks off the ledge.

After the crowd has disbursed, Charlie spots the jumper setting on the sidewalk and approaches him. The man explains that he got fired from his job the week before, blew his life savings in Las Vegas, and owes the IRS a two grand in back taxes and that his wife hates him. Charlie can relate and offers to drive the man home, free of charge.

That evening, Charlie sneaks into his son’s bedroom and wakes him up. He tells Benny that he has a surprise for him and gives the boy an autographed photo of Spider-Man. Benny is amazed and asks if his father is friends with Spider-Man. Charlie tells the boy that he and the wall-crawler go way back. When he asks if Benny needs anything, the boy reminds his father about what he wants to do on Friday. He tells the boy that he’ll have to think it over and when his ex-wife starts knocking on Benny’s door, Charlie tells him to keep his visit a secret and slips back out of the window. Benny then pretends to go back to sleep as Gladys enters the room to check on the boy.

The following morning, Seeds and his gang are waiting in a car debating on robbing the National Bank. However, Spider-Man has been waiting outside. One of his men decides to rob the bank anyway and goes inside by himself. However, he comes back out empty-handed a few moments later after losing his nerve.

Later, Charlie Clemmens goes to Jaffield Fine Jewelers to apply for a job as a security guard. Meeting with the manager, he tells him he has experience knowing when trouble is going down from his years being a taxi driver. To prove how good he is, he shows the manager a diamond-studded bracelet that he managed to swipe while the desk clerk was distracted. The manager is about to call the police when his boss stops him, deciding to hire Clemmens on the spot.

Charlie then pays a visit to his ex-wife to say goodbye, saying that once he does what he is planning to do he will be going away fro a long time. Gladys thinks that her ex-husband is attempting to run out on paying child support and tells him that the police can find him wherever he goes. That’s when Charlie is struck with another one of his headaches. Gladys is genuinely concerned, but once the headache subsides, Charlie dismisses her concern saying it was only a headache. Finishing what he wanted to say, he once more tells his wife he has come to say goodbye and to tell Benny that he is sorry and that he loves him. This causes Gladys to pause and when he apologizes to her as well, she says she knows he’s sorry. Unsure of what to say next, Charlie walks out the door as Gladys begins to cry.

That evening, Seeds and his men decide to rob an expensive-looking car that keeps parking in a secluded make-out spot. When his men complain about this, Seeds tells them that they have to stick to low-profile crimes while Spider-Man out looking for them. However, the driver is the son of a police officer who was borrowing his fathers car and only has twenty dollars. That’s when another car pulls up. Unable to get a good look due to the bright headlights, Seeds and his men are led to believe that it is a police officer catching them in the act and they allow their victims to go free. That’s when Charlie turns off the headlights on his cab to reveal that he is not an officer at all. He is disappointed to see Seed’s gang reduced to such petty crimes after their daring robbery of Boucher Bank. When they ask Charlie how he knows about that hold-up, he tells them that he knows about it because he was there. They don’t believe him at first, but when he offers them to get in on a jewelry store heist that could net them a million dollars they get interested. Charlie tells them how he got a job as a security guard that he has access to all of the details on the security systems in the store. When Charlie demands half of the take, he tells them he deserves it because he’s the man on the inside but also because he is going to hand them Spider-Man on a silver platter.