Spider-Woman #19 The Beast Within

Issue Description

Weary from her battle with Nekra, Spider-Woman gets in her civvies as Jessica Drew, and heads to Sunnyview Mental Hospital. There, she visits Priscilla Dolly, her former landlady (and mother of the Brothers Grimm). Then, running late, she goes to her job at the Hatros Institute for Emotional Research. After her shift, she attends a group therapy session. When it's her turn to open up, she speaks in generalities, so as not to compromise her dual identity, and is harassed by the others for doing so. Her friend, Lindsay McCabe calls the rest on the carpet for their insensitivity, and they leave for Lindsay's apartment. They chat into the night till Jessica accepts Lindsay's offer to use her guest room.

Late that night, Jessica is woken by a howling, and when she investigates as Spider-Woman, she witnesses the Werewolf (Jack Russell) plunging from his apartment below. She then sees a costumed gunman follow to the balcony, and she grabs his wrist. He squirms free and falls to the ground, landing on his feet safely. He fires at her, missing, and she returns a venom blast which he shrugs off. She then swoops down to tackle him, but he paralyzes her with a tranquilizer dart. The Werewolf comes to and attacks but he too is immobilized with a dart shot into his mouth.

The gunman then injects "tinglers" (devices designed to combust if they betray him) into the backs of his foes' necks. Spider-Woman's metabolism finally neuralizes the substances injected into her and she strikes the gunman, stunning him with a close-range venom blast. As the police arrive, she carries the Werewolf up the wall to Russell's apartment. Jack comes to and reverts to human, then sends away an officer canvasing the building for the vanished superhumans.

Jack tells Spider-Woman the gunman called himself the Enforcer, but didn't know why he and his visiting friend Buck Cowan were targeted by him. He goes on to say he does suspect there's a connection to a recent disturbance at Buck's beach house, when an intruder turned out to be Buck's former employer, demanding his assistance. But before the man could say much more, he burst into flame, setting the house on fire. Buck has been investigating ever since.

Promising to follow up with him, Spider-Woman leaves Jack's apartment.

Spider-Woman (1978)

Publisher

Marvel

Volume Description

Spider-Woman Volume 1

After her debut in Marvel Spotlight issue 32, the mysterious and eerie Spider-Woman stars in her very own ongoing series. The first ongoing series of Spider-woman started in 1978 and lasted until 1983 with a total of 50 issues.

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Status: Not in Collection