Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do #3

Background

Part 2 of the Spider-Man / Black Cat team-up had a lot of interaction between Spidey and the Cat. Will issue 3 continue on that course or will we get back to the real action? Just wait and see...

Story 'Hate Crimes'

In jail, Scorpia is reading a magazine, as she got busted last issue. Spidey is hanging upside down, outside the window and tries to scare her. He wants to know who hired her to go after Klum. When she refuses to talk, Spidey threatens to torture her. So, Black Cat starts to sing Memories from Cats. It wil come to no surprise that Scorpia immediately talks. It was the Ortegas.

Meanwhile, the Ortegas are paid a visit by Klum. He wants to talk before this turf war gets out of control. The Ortegas pull their guns when the wife of one of them enters the room. She's holding a baby in her arms. Klum then does something which makes the people in the room die of an overdose of drugs. Because so many overdoses will look suspicious, he orders his men to create a massacre.

Later, when Spider-Man and the Black Cat arrive at the scene, all they find is the little baby, sitting on the floor, crying. Everybody else is dead. It looks like they've been slaughtered. They go back to Felicia's apartment. There, they talk about the situation - that many people dead, the sheer horror of it. At least the baby was still alive, mentions Peter. Felicia then remembers what she loves about him, he can still find hope. They decide to pay Klum a little visit.

Over at Klum Tower, Klum is drinking a glass of wine while looking at the lightning outside. A flash... and the Black Cat and Spider-Man are suddenly in front of him. He's startled. Another flash and they're gone.

Felicia is upset. She's disappointed in Peter, for she expected to do more than just scare the guy. Spider-Man argues that they need more evidence before they can actually do something. But being a vigilante means operating outside the law, there's no time to build a case. They argue some more and the discussion turns into a fight when Spider-Man tries to stop the Black Cat. She tricks him and the result is that Spider-Man gets webbed by his own weblines. He can't do a thing but see Felicia leave for Klum.

Over at the bedroom suite of Garrison Klum. A soft snoring sound is heard. Felicia sneaks into the room. She crawls over to the bed and pulls away the sheets. She finds a CD player that is making the snoring sounds. Klum is behind her, offering her a glas of brandy. She passes and asks him about Alberto Ortega. Klum realises it's no use trying to fool Felicia. So, he tells her about his operation.

Turns out, Klum can teleport small amounts of liquid. He's a low-level teleport and found out he could do that when he kinda wished his mother dead. By accident, he teleported mouthwash right into her heart. Since then he refined this trick and started distributing drugs. The rich and famous want to indulge but do not want the track marks on their arms. While telling this to Felicia, he cooks up some heroin and then teleports it into her veins.

As Felicia is going down, Klum is revealed to be Mister Brownstone. And should Spider-Man arrive, he has lots of vats of heroin on the premises to stop his heart twenty times over. Outside, lightning strikes again...

General Comments

I thought it was a nice touch to start the story with Scorpia. Last issue made her look like just a villain to fill the pages and to create some action while being there. This issue she turns out to have some valuable information. Oh, by the way, I was wrong last time. She's not a new character. Her first appearance was in Spider-Man: Power Of Terror #2. Thanks to Henrique for pointing this out ot me.

Then there's Garrison Klum, aka Mister Brownstone. Over the course of 3 issues, his character has become more and more sinister. In issue 1, I thought him to be just your regular killer with a twist. Now I've revised my opinion, he's one mean... eh... how to put this nicely without offending my editor... eh.... bad guy. He's a stone cold killer and seems to kill just for the fun of it. I can't wait to see issue 4. Which'll probably be late too...

Overall Rating

A great issue. There's lots of action and lots of suspense. The artwork is better than the previous issue. They're still big (you know what I mean) but not as humongous like in issue 2. So, why not a full 5 webs? Because that would make it as good as the first installment of this series and that's not the case here.

Footnote

Update October 2004 Will Kevin Smith ever finish this story ???! October 16th will be the 2 year anniversary since #3 shipped!