Shadows & Light

Spider-Woman decides to take a literal leap of faith to see if her psychic spider-legs will save her at a moment’s notice. To test this, she intentionally leaps off the roof of a high building. As expected, the legs pop out of her back and break her fall before she can hit the ground. She is impressed by this ability, Spider-Woman returns to the rooftops. Thinking the spider legs are ugly she wonders if she can change the way these legs appear and after focusing her will, she turns the large hairy spider legs into thin metallic-looking appendages. Meanwhile, inside a lone farmhouse. at the far end of Long Island, a man who calls himself the Shadowcaster boils with anger. Getting up from his chair, the Shadowcaster stands in front of his roaring fireplace so he casts a large shadow on the wall. Suddenly, this mystery man merges with his shadow and it walks out the door.

The following morning, Mattie Franklin arrives for her first day of private school. She is instantly singled out by a group of popular girls who try to bully her. Mattie stands up to them and when one of the girls dumps dirt down the back of her shirt, she wills her spider legs to come out the back of her uniform coat and trip all the bullies to the ground, confident that nobody will see. Her gamble is correct and the girls think she is a witch and run off. This whole display is seen by another student named Cheryl Lansing who is instantly impressed. Soon, the class goes on a field trip to the Manhattan Museum of Antiquities. Cheryl is very excited to be on such a trip and Mattie suggests she tone down her excitement a bit. Seeing how Lansing is so infatuated with the new student, the girls who bullied Mattie earlier think she might have seen their earlier insult and begin plotting to get even.

Inside, they enter an exhibit about the eighth dynasty of Egypt, the teacher asks Mattie to tell the class what she knows since she had good marks in history at her previous school. This is when the bullies try to lure Cheryl away, but they are quickly caught by their teacher. That’s when the girls notice a strange man-shaped shadow that appears to be moving on its own. Finding this weird as well, Mattie slips away so she can change into Spider-Woman. When she confronts the Shadowcaster, she is caught off guard when the shadow being punches her shadow and she feels it like she was hit by a real person. The Shadowcaster then sends Spider-Woman crashing into a number of display cases until she is too dazed to stop him from getting what he came for. Smashing open another display containing a golden statue of a bird with a crook and flail holding a scroll. When Spider-Woman flies after him, she loses track of Shadowcaster once she gets outside.

Deciding she needs help, Spider-Woman pays a visit to Jessica Drew, the first Spider-Woman, and they are joined by the astral projection of Madame Web. Unfortunately, neither woman have ever heard of Shadowcaster before. Because of how easily Mattie was defeated in battle, Madame Web asks if she feels any weaker than usual. Mattie assures them that despite being defeated all the time she hasn’t noticed any loss in power. When she asks why Madam Web is concerned about any power loss, Jessica explains that she seems to be getting her old spider-powers back. Still, Madam Web thinks that although Mattie might not be losing the power she gained from the Gathering of Five she could be losing the powers that she drained from Charlotte Witter — the evil Spider-Woman — as her powers were stolen from Jessica Drew and Julia Carpenter, former Spider-Women themselves.[1] That’s when Mattie notices that Julia isn’t around and is told that Carpenter went back to California because she has a daughter to look after. Although Madame Web is uncertain that they can rely on Julia contacting them if she notices her powers coming back, reminding Jessica and Mattie that Julia was a reluctant super-hero at her best and might not want to get sucked back into the life. Still, she suggests that they put aside this mystery for a moment so they can focus on the issue of Shadowcaster.

At that moment, at his Long Island hideout, the Shadowcaster is delighted to see the scroll that he stole from the museum has all the information he hoped to find and believes that ultimate power is now in his grasp. He begins adding ingredients to a bowl in order to cast a spell that will allow him to usher what he calls the last dynasty before all civilization is wiped out by a leveling wind.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Woman, Shadowcaster, Madame Web, Jessica Drew, Cheryl Lansing

Continuity Notes

1. There is a lot to unpack here so let’s get it all out of the way:

   • Jessica Drew was the original Spider-Woman who used this identity from Marvel Spotlight #32 until Avengers #241. Since then she had been operating out of costume as a private eye.

   • Julia Carpenter was the second Spider-Woman from Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #6 until Avengers (vol. 3) #14.

   • Mattie got her powers and Madam Web her immortality from a mystical ceremony called the Gathering of Five. See Sensational Spider-Man #32-33, Amazing Spider-Man #440, Spider-Man #96, and Spectacular Spider-Man #262.

   • Charlotte Witter, the fourth and evil Spider-Woman drained the powers of the first two Spider-Women only to have those powers drained by Mattie as seen in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #5-6 and Spider-Woman (vol. 3) #1-2.