Comics Corner: Spider-Man Versus Wolverine

     

Title: Spider-Man Versus Wolverine
Issue Number: 1
Release Date: February 1987

Highlights

  • Death of Ned Leeds
  • First appearance and death of Burt and Sophie
  • First appearance of the Germany locations Tiergarten, Kurfürstendamm, Friedrich Strasse, The Ganymed, and Treptow
  • Wolverine is in Germany, attempting to save his friend Charlie, but being attacked from all sides by waves of KGB and other Soviet agents
  • Wolverine goes into a berserker rage, and slaughters all the enemies, but while doing so, Charlie slips away
    • Wolverine is left Charlie's trademark heart shaped charm as a thank you
  • As Spider-Man prowls the city, he hears a woman scream, she directs him towards Sophie and Burt's, a local mom and pop shop
    • When Spider-Man arrives, he finds the couple dead
  • J. Jonah Jameson tells Peter he needs good photographers fro Now Magazine assignments, but since they're expensive, he's offering Parker a great opportunity
  • Ned Leeds finds Jonah, and tells him they need to talk in private, and that it can't wait
  • Peter and Mary Jane head to Time Square for a date night, and as they walk from the movie theater, his spider sense kicks in
  • Peter realizes that his warning systems are in high alert because there's a sniper, and said gunman opens fire
    • Despite trying to help, Spider-Man can't locate the gunman, and when S.W.A.T. arrives, he leaves the scene
  • Peter returns to Mary Jane's apartment, and the two end up kissing
    • Realizing he's crossing a line he doesn't want to, Peter quickly leaves
  • Back at Now Magazine, Ned Leeds tells Jameson that all the people being murdered as of late are all on his list as confirmed KGB agents
    • Ned tells him that at the scene of each murder is a heart shaped charm
  • Back at his apartment, Peter packs up his Spider-Man costume and web shooters, stating he's had enough, and he is really quitting this time
    • He then packs a bag, stating he's leaving New York
  • As Peter walks out the door, his phone rings
    • He wants it to be Mary Jane, it's instead J. Jonah Jameson with a job
  • Despite being told by Storm that he can't leave because the team needs him, Wolverine informs her that he has to help his friend Charlie
  • Wolverine heads to Berlin to find Charlie, and while there, he picks up a familiar scent
    • He see's Peter Parker, and despite never seeing him out of his costume, knows by his smell that he's the web slinger
  • Wolverine tracks Peter to his hotel room, and tells him that they need to talk
    • Peter tries to play dumb, but Wolverine hands him his web shooters, and tells him to get moving
  • Wolverine tells Peter that he needs to convince his friend Ned to pack up, and the two of them need to leave for their own good
  • Peter returns to the hotel, and decides to tell Ned he's going home, except he finds him dead, his throat slit in his hotel room
  • Peter finds himself surrounded by KGB agents in Ned's room, but Wolverine bursts in, saving his life
  • Peter buys a bus ticket to take him to the airport so that he can leave, but "with great power comes great responsibility," he reminds himself, and instead heads to a costume shop to find something to wear
    • The only skintight outfit the man has is a classic red and blue Spider-Man costume
      • Except for how it says Die Spinne on the back
  • Spider-Man follows the spider tracer he put on Wolverine over the Berlin wall, and into East Germany
    • He continues tracing it to a hotel room with a couple inside, and after scaring them, finds his tracer and a note from Wolverine telling him he's in over his head, and should go home
  • Wolverine finally tracks down Charlie, who turns out to be a woman
  • At Charlie's request the two head out to dinner, and quickly learn the whole place is full of KGB agents with guns, and that the food has been poisoned
    • Spider-Man bursts in, and the gunfire starts
      • As Wolverine and Spider-Man fight the enemies, Charlie slips out
  • Wolverine takes Spider-Man to the headquarters of the men who want Charlie dead
    • Spider-Man asks what the plan is, and Wolverine tells him he already knows
      • Another massive battle breaks out
  • As the two continue to track Charlie, they remain steps behind her, and find nothing but bodies in her wake
  • Wolverine tells Spider-Man this is all his fault, that if he would have gone home when he told him to, that Wolverine could have stopped Charlie from doing any of this
    • In anger, the two go their own separate ways
  • Wolverine meets Charlie in the cemetary
    • She explains that the KGB will never stop looking for her, eventually her luck will run out, and that now that she's killed everyone on her list, the only thing left is her last request for Wolverine to kill her, so that she can die in his arms, instead of some awful torturous way the KGB would come up with
      • Wolverine tries to oblige, but his claws don't deliver a final blow
        • Spider-Man arrives on scene, and not knowing all the context tells Wolverine he's crazy
  • As Wolverine tries to deliver the killing blow again, Spider-Man tackles him, and the two begin to fight
    • Wolverine tries to convince Spider-Man to get out of his way, that rather than her dying quick and painlessly, she's now lying there dying slowly, and suffering
  • Spider-Man grabs Wolverine by the neck, knowing that he has to break his neck and kill him to stop his berserker attack
    • Wolverine responds by clenching a fist under Spider-Man's chin, telling him that all he has to do is pop his claws, and it's over for the web spinner
  • A helicopter appears above, and in the confusion, Spider-Man is approached from behind, and responds with a quick fist
    • The face he makes impact with is Charlie's
  • Spider-Man and Wolverine are surrounded by agents from multiple factions, but when they see Charlie is dead, they depart
  • As Peter returns to New York, he can't stop unseeing his fist impacting with Charlie's face
  • Peter returns to his apartment, and pulling out his black Spider-Man suit finally realizes that there's no way he can turn his back on being Spider-Man because he and the hero are the same person
  • J. Jonah Jameson calls Peter, and tells him the photos he sent over are great, and asks where Ned is
    • Peter just hangs up the phone
  • Mary Jane arrives at his apartment, and asks if the two are still friends, to which Peter tells him he really needs one right now
Low Points
  • Ned was only killed as a result of internal struggles with Marvel's Editor-in-Chief Jim shooter, and writer Tom DeFalco
    • Essentially, he was only killed to derail DeFalco's story and frustrate the writer / editor, and additionally Shooter intended to fire him
      • DeFalco was ultimately rehired after Shooter himself was let go, and eventually took the roll as Editor-in-Chief
  • Spider-Man takes photos of Burt and Sophie's bodies, and sells them to the Bugle
    • Wouldn't that make Peter Parker prime suspect?
Oddities
  • None
Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)



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