Spider-Woman (vol. 3) #9
Break of Hearts
This story continues from Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #14
In Manhattan, Skin’s current host body has just died requiring her to obtain a new body. From her hiding place in an alley, she spots a traffic cop writing a ticket and throws a can at them. When the officer goes in to arrest the person who threw it, she discovers the dead body of the woman Skin was using as a host. While the cop is distracted, Skin then ambushes her, swallowing her body.[1]
Elsewhere in the city, Spider-Man meets with Madame Web and is surprised to see that she is no longer young, particularly considering how she was supposedly given immortality. She explains that the sudden change has everything to do with Cassandra’s granddaughter, Charlotte Web, the evil Spider-Woman.[2] To explain what is going on, Madame Web explains to Spider-Man how both she and Mattie Franklin got their new abilities from the Gathering f Five, a ceremony organized by Norman Osborn. She reveals to Spider-Man that while Mattie got great power and herself immortality, the others in the ceremony — Norman Osborn, Morris Maxwell, and Overdrive — were given madness, knowledge, and death respectively.[3] Mattie’s spider-powers then made her a target of Charlotte who had been turned into a Spider-Woman by Doctor Octopus. Although Witter stole Franklin’s power, Mattie was able to recover them.[4] This is where Madame Web suspects there is a problem, explaining that all of the recipients of the Gathering share a unique link and when Charlotte attempted to steal Mattie’s powers, it linked her to everyone else as well, disrupting the balance, thus Web’s suddenly becoming old again.
In order to find a solution for this problem, they all pay a visit to Morris Maxwell at his pawnshop.[5] Madam Web asks Morris if he has experienced any loss of his powers. He isn’t certain, so Spider-Man asks him how they can defeat Charlotte, causing Morris to go into seizures as his mind comes up with an answer. They are shocked when Morris tells them that the answer to Spider-Man’s question is nothing. They take this to mean that Charlotte is unstoppable. However, Spider-Man and Spider-Woman refuse to accept this and go back out looking for Charlotte. As they search the city, Mattie takes the opportunity to apologize for kissing him earlier, especially after his wife was just killed.[6] Spider-Man tells her not to worry about it, reminding her that she wasn’t in her right mind after getting trounced by Witter. That’s when they spot Witter who appears skittering by on her psychic spider-legs.
The pair attack them, but Witters warns them that they cannot defeat her as she is gaining more power with each moment. When Spider-Woman tries to throw a water tower at Witter, Charlotte swats it aside, prompting Spider-Man to break away from the fight to prevent the water tower from landing on people on the street below. As Spider-Woman and Charlette continue to fight Madame Web grows weaker while Jessica Drew begins to feel stronger. Realizing what’s going on, Madame Web realizes what Morris Maxwell meant when he told them to do nothing. At the scene of the battle, Spider-Man has gotten the same idea, but after webbing up Charlotte he grabs Spider-Woman and retreats. When they return to Madame Web’s to compare notes, both Spider-Man and Web agree on what to do next, despite protests from both Jessica Drew and Spider-Woman. Later, Spider-Man and Spider-Woman ambush Witter but instead of fighting her they stand completely still and keep their minds blank. At first, Witter easily overpowers them but she soon begins to grow weak. That’s when Madame Web appears in a mental projection before her granddaughter. She explains that Witter’s powers were actually drawing strength from the mental energy of others and by doing nothing and thinking of nothing Charlotte’s foes have found a weakness to exploit. Sure enough, Charlotte passes out as she loses her powers.
By the time Spider-Man and Spider-Woman have brought Charlotte back to Madame Web’s home, Cassandra has regained her newfound youth. There she assures Spider-Man she will try to prevent Charlotte from becoming a menace again by performing psychic surgery to sever her link to all of them. She also promises to erase Charlotte’s memories of the last twenty-four hours in order to preserve Spider-Man’s secret identity. When Spider-Man raises his concerns about Madame Web knowing his identity, Cassandra assures him that while she could recognize him out of costume she has intentionally blocked out all knowledge of his true identity from her mind. He then asks that Madame Web do the same to Mattie since she might to blurt out his identity by accident. Franklin proves his point when she almost stays the name of his wife. She pleads with Spider-Man not to do this but tells her that it’s for the best telling her that his friends tend to die on him. When she laments that he will be alone, the web-slinger figures that’s the way it’s supposed to be and leaves.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Woman (Franklin), Spider-Woman (Witter), Madame Webb, Jessica Drew, Spider-Man, Morris Maxwell, Flesh
Continuity Notes
Skin has been bereft of a host body a job that was typically carried out by her sister Bones. However, when the pair were separated during their battle with Spider-Woman in Spider-Woman (vol. 3) #4, Bones seemingly perished. She is still alive and will resurface again in Spider-Woman (vol. 3) #16.
Spider-Man mentions how Charlotte said she will no longer call herself Spider-Woman during their last encounter. That happened in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #14.
Nine issues in and we’re still taking time to explain the Gathering of Five. sigh Sensational Spider-Man #32-33, Amazing Spider-Man #440, Spider-Man #96, and Spectacular Spider-Man #262.
Charlotte Witter’s battle with Mattie Franklin spanned from Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #5-6 and Spider-Woman (vol. 3) #1-2.
The women warn Spider-Man to be careful when asking Maxwell a question as it can lead to big trouble, as Spider-Woman and Jessica Drew learned in Spider-Woman (vol. 3) #7-8.
There is a lot to Mattie kissing Spider-Man here are the details:
Mattie states here that Peter’s wife is dead. Mary Jane was seemingly killed in a plane crash in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #13. However, she is still alive as we’ll learn in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #29.
Mary Jane is referred to as Peter’s wife however, years after this story, her marriage to Peter Parker is erased from history by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. In the new reality, Mattie would be referring to Mary Jane as Peter’s fiancee instead of his wife.
Mattie learned that Spider-Man is Peter Parker and kissed him in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #14.
