Stipendium Pecarte Mors Est (The Wages of Sin is Death)

Spider-Woman is in a battle in the middle of a graveyard, cursing herself for getting involved in this situation as this was supposed to be a simple family vacation. Instead, she finds herself fighting for her life in a cemetery. Breaking a fall with her psychic spider-legs, Spider-Woman orders her attacker to come out of hiding. That’s when a werewolf comes barreling out of the bushes. As Spider-Woman braces for the creature’s attack, her mind drifts back to how she found herself in this situation…

… It all began a day earlier when J. Jonah Jameson came home to tell Mattie and his wife Marla that they are taking a trip to New Orleans for a publisher’s conference and has decided to make a family trip out of it. Mattie is excited because she always wanted to go to New Orleans. Hearing about this trip makes Mattie’s friend — Cheryl Lansing — decide to leave, bother Marla and Mattie invite her to join them. When Jonah tries to offer protest, Marla says that the trip could be fun for the girls….

… Snapping back to the present, Spider-Woman finds herself on the defensive as the werewolf savagely tries to attack her. Realizing she is out of her league, Spider-Woman keeps her distance, wondering what it will take to stop this monster. As she puts distance between herself and the werewolf she thinks back once more…

… After arriving in New Orleans, Mattie and the others are greeted by a representative of the conference who joins them on a limo ride to their hotel. Along the way, he tells them about how the area has been plagued by attacks by a werewolf, something that is being kept out of the papers to avoid a panic. He explains that he was authorized to tell Jameson and his family about it because of who he is and asks them not to leave the hotel until after nightfall. When Cheryl admits that this is all kind of scary to her, Mattie assures her that they can handle themselves if they get caught after dark.[1]

That evening when everyone else has gone to bed, Mattie changes into Spider-Woman and goes to the police station. Briefly taking off her costume, she learns that the detective on the werewolf case is not in his office. Breaking in, she looks over the evidence and finds nothing much to work with. This changes when she looks at a map that marks where all the attacks happened. She figures out the radius of the attacks and discovers they are all in close proximity to the cemetery and decides to investigate….

… Continuing to evade the attacks from the werewolf, Mattie realizes that she bit off more than she could chew. Avoiding blow after blow she thinks about how she couldn’t follow her hunch that evening….

…. The following morning, Mattie, Cherly, and Marla went out sightseeing. Mattie suggests that they check out the cemetery at the Saint Agnes Convent. As they walk the grounds, Cheryl reads from a guide to inform the others about the history of the place. She tells them that the cemetery is one of the first in the country and the convent was built next to it as some kind of penance and that the sisters who live here have traditionally felt that they have some great sin to make up for. That’s when they came across a door that is chained and locked on the outside, preventing people from going in. Mattie finds this suspicious and when Marla and Cheryl aren’t looking she uses her superhuman strength to break the looks and look around. When Marla and Cheryl notice that Mattie somehow got past the locked door they call after her. Mattie ignores the calls, hoping that it makes them reluctant to follow her so she can figure out what’s hiding in the tunnel.

The tunnel leads her to a room where a pair of nuns are arguing about a woman they have locked in a cell. Mother Superior explains that a blood sacrifice is required to end the horror that has been plaguing them and they leave. Putting on her Spider-Woman mask, Mattie goes to the cell and sees that the woman locked inside is another nun. She learns that the woman had been locked up for sacrifice and decides that this sort of archaic ritual has no place and frees the nun from her cell. By the time they get up to the surface, it is nightfall, prompting the nun to worry if the moon is full. Before Maddie can ask why she is concerned about the moon, the nun transforms into the werewolf.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Woman, J. Jonah Jameson, Marla Madison, Cheryl Lansing

Continuity Notes

1. Specifically, Mattie states that she has enough silver in her fillings allowing her to bite back if a werewolf attacks them. This should be considered a topical reference. When this story was written it was still common practice for dentists to create fillings using amalgam, a mixture of metals to fill in the holes in teeth made by drilling cavities. Silver was often used. However, with advances in modern dentistry and the health concerns of putting metals in your mouth, amalgam fillings are no longer used by dentists.