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| Life After Death | |
| Comic Book series: | Scarlet Spider (Volume 2) |
| Issue Number: | 1 |
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Release Date: |
March, 2012 |
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Executive Editor: |
{{{executive editor}}} |
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Cover Artist: |
Ryan Stegman Michael Babinski Marte Gracia |
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Writer(s): |
Chris Yost |
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Penciler(s): |
Ryan Stegman |
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Inker(s): |
Michael Babinski |
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Colourist(s): |
{{{colourists}}} |
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Letterer(s): |
{{{letterers}}} |
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Editor(s): |
Stephen Wacker |
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Previous issue: |
{{{previous}}} |
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Next issue: |
Scarlet Spider (Volume 2) 2 |
Scarlet Spider (Volume 2) #1 is the 1st issue of Scarlet Spider (Volume 2).
Plot[]
"Life After Death"[]
The issue starts with 3 newspapers and a map of Houston, Texas. One is of a "Mysterious Manhandles the Amazing Spider-Man", another one is of "A Spider-Man Saves The City - But Which One Was He?" which is Kaine using the Scarlet Spider suit. the third has a picture of the Jackal with the headline, "Who Was Doctor Miles Warren, And How Did His Warped Theories On Cloning Affect The Amazing Spider-Man?"
The issue actually starts in the port of Houston, Texas at 1:00 A.M. Kaine is narrating that he did not know that Houston had a port, and still does not care now that he knows. He continues about a man with a snakeskin jacket talking very loudly about sealing a deal and money. Kaine says "That was a mistake" and notes that he says that he and his friends are untouchable. He noted that saying that was a mistake too.
After talking more about the deal, until they hear something, and a man gets sucked into a dark space where spiders are popping out. After continuing to point, a man in a hat tell the man to show themselves and that they can work something out. After a short silence, Kaine tells them to "Run away. Before I kill you all." Kaine states his name narrating and that he has no intention of negotiating, while he uses his power of control and speaking to spider.
As Kaine gets shot at, he dodges every bullet, saying that he knows about bad people, "Because I'm one of them." He leaps and uses his organic webs which he says he is still getting used to. He says "They're useful." He claims "So's being able to see in the dark. That's new, too." He questions how many lives these men have destroyed with the "crap" they're transporting.
He continues to say that something in the back of his head stops him killing the men. "Barely" as he uses the Mark of Kaine power on a mans face. All the men except the leader with a hat are down and says that he was just delivering the payment. After Kaine tells him to shut up, he tells him to run. He continues to narrate calling him a "smart man" and that he stumbled on the money and crooks by "dumb luck" he web zips the two bags filled with money, and claims that he "...Got what I came for." and that he has to get out of the country.
Just after, he smells something that is not drugs that the men were transporting. He opens a crate filled with dead bodies, stating that they must have cooked alive due to the heat. Kaine sees one alive hand and rushed to save a woman that is barely alive.
He rushes her to the Park Plaza Hospital Houston Medical Center at 1:45 A.M. while a doctor a cop are talking to one another. Kaine barges in yelling at everyone to help the women he saved. A cop attempts to shoot him and tells him to put the girl down, but Kaine webs the gun in a time and grabs the cop by his neck, holding him up, using his super strength. He sees what he is doing, and runs telling the cop that there are bodies in the port and tells him to bring backup.
The scene switches to Kaine sticking to the side of a truck, on Route 59 South, 3:10 A.M. He says that the after everything he has done, the FBI, police and Avengers are probably after him, so he has to run. He continues saying that his life has changed and that it has been weeks since, "Spider-Island" and that he needs to lay low for at least one night, and not draw attention to himself.
The scene switches to the The Four Seasons hotel in downtown Houston, Texas where Kaine has check into a fancy hotel at 4:25 A.M. stating that he "I could have probably made better choices in laying low.". He states that paying for a two thousand dollar night suite calls for attention, and bribing the staff and order everything off the menu is inconspicuous. After he finishes taking a shower, he sees himself in the mirror which stops him stating that his scars are gone and for the first time in my life, he feels alive.
He then flashes back to that the villain Kaine still lives within him, and recalls a battle with Peter Parker as Spider-Man and Ben Reilly as the Scarlet Spider of then.
Kaine starts to recall his past saying that he had no mother and his father was a madman that tried to clone him from Peter Parker as a pawn to get revenge on Spider-Man. He recalls that he was a failure and imperfect. He said that the cellular degeneration would kill him in months, not years. He also recalls Ben Reilly threatened to destroy Peter Parker's life, or so Kaine's clouded mind believed. He says in the end, Ben Reilly died at the hands of a different monster and saved Peter Parker by dying for him, saying that there would be no peace for him. He then goes on to say that the Jackal revived him in the "Spider-Island" event to give him a monster, with a body to match his soul. And states that Parker saved him, "In every way you can be saved."
The scene turns from flashback and back to Kaine looking into the mirror saying that even though Peter helped him heal his body and mind, but can not forget the killer he used to be, and that it will always be with him. He goes on to say that the scars are gone and for the first time in his life, he is not dying as he shaves his head and beard.
The scene cuts to morning time where Kaine has shaved his beard and most hair on his head. He says that for the first time in his life, he is alive as he jumps off a building. He says he thinks and sees clearly as he uses his organic webs to swing about the city saying "I can see why Spider-Man does this."
The scene cuts to the port where Kaine was in the start of the comic, with many police talking about the dead bodies and the "man at the hospital". Another hooded man is scene telling them to "Burn.".
The scene cuts back to Kaine landing on a building stating how hot it is, even though the sun is barely up. Kaine is then scared by a crow that surprised him, stating that he remembers that he does not have the spider-sense ability anymore. He goes on saying that the future is wide open, and he is going to Mexico to relax. His narration is stopped when he hears a noise in the street down below. He sees that a SUV is going to kill an old lady that there is nothing he can do about it. Kaine comes out of nowhere, and pounces on the SUV, barely saving the old woman. The old lady thanks him, without any hint of fear. Kaine yells and curses out the old woman for wandering in the street alone, as a bystander tells everyone to look over at the SUV accident where a man is seen bleeding to death from the glass from the crush SUV inside him.
Kaine is not only shocked that the man is dying but that instead of the people attacking him, they just want to help. Kaine runs and escapes as the scene cuts to a local bar where a pink haired bartender serves him a drink before noon. She tries to figure out where Kaine is from as he states he from "all over" as he continue to evade her question giving her nonsense answers. He tells her to turn the television up where the news talks about the hooded man who burned the bodied at the port and all the police are either dead, or injured and a lone person was brought to a hospital.
Kaine says that it is not his problem and that he was "stupid to get involved in the first place". He says that he has a new chance at life, and does not want to blow it, and that he is "not Parker". As he stares his Scarlet Spider costume, he says "I'm not going to waste my life trying to be a hero." and says again out loud that this is, "not my problem."
The scene cuts to a women waking up in a hospital bed being transported somewhere by two men in scrubs. Then, a explosion happens where a man addresses the woman as "Aracely" as asks her if she is ready to burn and join the others, and that there is no one to save her, as the scene finally cuts to Kaine leaving Houston as the comic ends with Kaine walking away with his bag.
Notes[]
- Kaine reveals that he can see in the dark, and he does not have the spider-sense ability anymore.
- Kaine reveals that this comic takes place a few weeks after the events of "Spider-Island" where he was revived by the Jackal.