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SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #214

BLOODY JUSTICE - PART TWO OF TWO

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WRITER: ANN NOCENTI
PENCILS: JAMES FRY
INKS: RODNEY RAMOS, KEVIN WILLIAMS AND MICHAEL HIGGINS
COLORS: CHI-CHIA WANG
LETTERS: CLEM ROBINS AND JOHN BABCOCK
COVER: JAMES FRY
EDITOR: MARK POWERS
GROUP EDITOR: DANNY FINGEROTH
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: TOM DEFALCO

PREVIOUSLY: A series of murder has plagued New York City over the last week (as seen in Spectacular Spider-Man #213). There murders all have one thing in common: the men who are killed used to abuse women. When Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man, goes to one of the crime scenes, he meets a young woman named Mary Walker who is the only unfortunate one to have witnessed the killing and taken a good look at the killer. Taken pity on her, he invites her over for dinner that night. What Peter doesn't know is that he's just invited Typhoid Mary over for supper and that can only spell one thing: trouble with a capital "T". You see, Typhoid Mary has a very big problem with men; in fact, she abhors men and likes to kill those that hurt women, which brings us back to this review.

Peter is running late so Mary Jane is stuck welcoming Mary Walker into their home. She gets quite a surprise however when the doorbell rings and Typhoid Mary enters the apartment in lieu of Mary Walker. Typhoid Mary tries to coerce MJ into claiming that Peter abuses her but MJ knows better than that. When Typhoid Mary realizes that she's got it all wrong, she goes on a rampage inside the apartment and takes her leave. Peter returns home a few minutes later and, after seeing what happened there, instructs MJ to hide at Aunt May's until he figures things out. Donning his Spider-Man costume, Peter goes out in search of Typhoid Mary. He doesn't have to web-sling for very long because he soon finds her and confronts her. A battle ensues and she once again manages to get away. Spidey follows her and witnesses something quite unexpected; Typhoid Mary assumes another identity: Bloody Mary. He couldn't care less and confronts her as she is about to kill another women abuser. Once again, a battle takes place and Bloody Mary manages to get away, though Spidey snags her with a spider-tracer before she takes off. At issue's end, only then does Spidey realize that Mary Walker is the same person as Typhoid Mary and Bloody Mary.
REVIEW: Bloody Mary has her rifle aimed at her latest victim. She decides however to wait because she wants to get close and personal to her victim for this particular murder. As she stands on the ledge of a rooftop, she discovers the spider-tracer that Spidey snagged her with. She takes it off and undergoes a change in personality; she is now back to being Typhoid Mary and she announces that Spidey is number two on her list.

After scouring the City in search of Typhoid Mary, Spidey thinks he's found her when he reaches the rooftop where she was last seen standing. As he goes to touch what appears to be her standing with her back to him, he is taken aback when the remains of her Bloody Mary costume fall to the ground. Realizing that she must have changed personalities once again and noticing that the spider-tracer he had snagged her with is now lying on the ground, he resolves into taking off into the night to try and find her, but first, he decides to check up on Mary Jane.

A short time later, Spidey returns to the Parker apartment where he finds MJ. She is stunned at his appearance; his costume is all torn up and his eyepieces are missing (which is in fact a continuity error because at the end of last issue, his eyepieces were just fine). He, on the other hand, is kind of ticked off that she did not listen to him and hide at Aunt May's. She holds her ground and tells him that she will not be chased out of her home by anybody. They then have a heated conversation, which resolves quickly, and, after fixing his costume up as best he can, Spidey goes back out in search of Mary Walker/Typhoid Mary/Bloody Mary.

While Spidey phones up Robbie Robertson at the Daily Bugle to get some information on a man named Jack Morray, whom Bloody Mary tried to kill in last issue, Mary Walker uses her normal woman persona to trick the same Jack Morray into taking her into his home when she pretends to faint while walking by his car and he comes to her rescue. As they enter his penthouse apartment, Morray tells Mary to turn the TV on while he fetches them drinks. She does as told and flips it on. The news is on and the anchor is discussing the most recent developments into the three murders described earlier. An artist's rendering shows a composite sketch of Bloody Mary. While she watches this, Mary undergoes a change in personality and she transforms into Typhoid Mary. Morray happens to turn around just then and really likes what he's seeing. He approaches her and starts to kiss her, while holding her tight against his body. He starts to put the moves on her, just as Spider-Man lands on the rooftop of the building and peeks through the skylight that looks down into Morray's apartment. Morray is starting to get a little too aggressive for Typhoid Mary so her eyes begin glowing and, using her telekinetic powers, pulls all these knives towards her to bind herself up in a metal costume, thus becoming Bloody Mary again. She prepares to deliver the deathblow when Spidey comes crashing through the skylight. After webbing up Morray – he'll deliver him to the cops later – he confronts her. A battle naturally ensues. The two of them are pretty evenly matched until Bloody Mary starts to accuse him of being responsible for Gwen Stacy's death (she read a library newspaper clip file about that event when researching Spidey). Realizing what she is trying to do – that is, preying on men's guilt, which he deems a cheap trick – he gets really angry and doesn't hold back with his attack. While they battle, he manages to convince her to change back into Typhoid Mary. Then, using psychobabble, he manages to convince her into transforming back into Mary Walker. As he promises to help her put all the splintered parts of her personality back together, a gunshot is heard. Mary inquires what it was. The answer comes in the form of Morray lying on the ground, blood pouring out of his head. Spidey explains that Morray tried to shoot himself but his webbing kept him from doing any more than a surface wound (Spidey must have webbed the gun earlier I guess). Mary realizes that Morray tried to kill himself because he wanted to get caught, and, as she comes to that realization, she somehow starts remembering what happened to her as a child that made herself become four different women (she was molested). She tells Spidey that she must be locked up and monitored and that she wants to turn herself in to the authorities. Feeling pity for her, Spidey agrees to help.

A short time later, Mary Walker gives herself up to the authorities, who, in turn, send her to the Ravencroft Institute to get help from Dr. Ashley Kafka, long-time friend of Spider-Man. As Mary is put into a patty wagon that will transport her to the institute, she wonders if Spidey is watching her. Up in the sky above, a shadowy figure swings by (Spider-Man of course!!).

The end...for now.

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