Descrizione
LO STUPEFACENTE UOMO RAGNO
THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN
EDITORIALE CORNO SECONDA SERIE
ALBO ORIGINALE TUTTO A COLORI DEL 1982
episodio speciale extended per celebrare il centesimo fatidico numero di Marvel Team-Up dove troviamo Spiderman affiancato all’ altra succulenta e prelibata specialità supereroistica di casa Marvel, ovvero i favolosi Fantastici 4
CONDIZIONI: ECCELLENTI
“…The Reason is Karma!” / KARMA
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Featured Characters:
- Spider-Man
- Karma (First appearance)
- Fantastic Four
Supporting Characters:
- Alicia Masters
- Leong Coy Manh (First appearance)
- Nga Coy Manh (First appearance)
- Father Bowen (First appearance)
Villains:
- Brentano(First appearance)
- Deruge(First appearance)
- Lawson(First appearance)
- Nguyen Ngoc Coy (First appearance)
- Tran Coy Manh (First appearance)
Other Characters:
Locations:
- New York City
- Manhattan
- Baxter Building
- Empire State University
- Freedom Tower (First appearance)
- Lower East Side
- Brooklyn
- Manhattan
- Westchester County
- Vietnam (Only in flashback)
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis
As Spider-Man
web-swings home from Empire State University one evening, his mind is
suddenly attacked by something that causes him to lose his grip and
plummet many stories toward the ground. Desperately fighting off the
mind-controller, by reflex alone he caroms from building to building,
grabs a cornice, and comes to a stop. His unseen antagonist, a young
woman standing in shadow on a nearby ledge, did not expect resistance
and wonders whether she should continue to try to dominate him. She
decides that there is too much at stake and renews her effort. Just then
the cornice crumbles, and Spider-Man once more starts to fall. His
fingers dig furrows into the wall as he strives to save himself. As the
woman concentrates, she realizes that he is much more difficult to
control than anyone she has attempted to possess before, but at last she
succeeds. Spider-Man stops falling just three stories above the
sidewalk. Mentally manipulating Spider-Man’s body as if it were her own,
the woman finds out that Spider•Man’s fingers can adhere to the wall,
and she climbs up to the roof. Reveling in her new-found agility, she
soon learns how to use Spider-Man’s web-shooters, and she tests them by
pulling over a chimney with webbing. Then she discovers Spider-Man’s
superhuman strength, as she effortlessly crushes the chimney into
powder. Web-swinging away, she can feel Spider-Man’s mind fighting her
own, and she realizes that if she remains in his body too long, she
might be unable to leave it. Already, she muses, she has begun taking on
some of Spider-Man’s surface mannerisms. At the Freedom Tower in New
York’s financial district, Reed and Sue Richards are attending a charity
party hosted by Nguyen Ngoc Coy, a former general in the South
Vietnamese Army who moved to the United States and in a short time
became a multi-millionaire. The general has purchased many of Alicia
Masters’ sculptures, which are on display. Alicia herself, accompanied
by Ben Grimm, is there, too. The general introduces Reed and Sue to his
nephew, Tran, and Tran’s younger brother and sister. The latter two
recently escaped from Vietnam and can speak no English. Then the general
snaps his fingers, and two of his servants, Lawson and Deruge, escort
the two children away. As they walk by Ben, he notices suspicious bulges
under the servants’ Jackets, and Alicia softly confesses that she does
not particularly like her patron. Ben promises her that they will soon
leave. As the children are led upstairs, they are watched by the
mysterious woman through Spider-Man’s eyes. She instantly recognizes
them as her two younger siblings Leong and Nga, and she leaps down to
free them, quickly knocking both guards unconscious—although not before
one of them fires his pistol. Trying to hurry before more guards arrive,
she explains to the children in Vietnamese that Spider-Man has been
“sent” by their sister. Suddenly she feels the unfamiliar tingle of her
spider-sense. Not knowing that it means danger, she does not leap to
safety when the door bursts open and Mr. Fantastic and the Thing rush
in. Reed wraps Spider-Man up in his arms, but she discovers that she can
stick to things with her feet as well as with her fingers, and she
gains enough leverage to snap backward into Reed’s face with both feet.
Ben starts swinging at her, wondering why Spider-Man has suddenly turned
criminal. Realizing from what Ben says that Spider-Man is not an
evil-doer, the woman comprehends that it was wrong of her to take over
his mind. Meanwhile, Reed notices that Spider-Man’s movements are not as
fluid as usual and that he seems to be acting as though he had never
met the Fantastic Four before. He warns Ben to be careful, but just then
Spider-Man hurls Ben at him, and the two teammates become tangled up.
Then Sue, the general, Tran, and more guards enter. The woman possessing
Spider-Man is surprised to recognize the general as her uncle Nguyen,
and as she stands undecided about what to do next. Tran whispers to his
uncle for permission to deal with the crime-fighter. The general says
that Tran’s “unique talent” should be conserved for equally unique
situations, so they let Sue attack Spider-Man with invisible-force
spheres. But because Spider-Man helped to save her son not long ago, she
holds back—and he knocks her out with a slap. Enraged, Reed attacks,
but he receives a face full of webbing, as does Ben. Tran comments to
General Coy that Spider-Man is making fools of the Fantastic Four, so
the general decides that the time has come after all for Tran to deal
with the problem. Exactly like the mysterious woman, Tran reaches out
with his mind to take over Spider-Man’s. But he does not know that
Spider-Man is already under the control of someone else. The woman
recognizes Tran at once—he is her twin brother—and tries to force him
out of Spider-Man’s mind. Tran, however, does not know that his sister
is involved, and ascribes the unexpected resistance to Spider-Man
himself. Although Tran’s power equals his sister’s, she is not in peak
condition, and, acutely aware that she has failed Nga and Leong, she
lets Spider-Man go. Spider-Man falls to the floor, but as his mind
returns to normal, the Thing knocks him unconscious. In the aftermath of
the battle, the general does not summon the police, and Reed easily
persuades him to release Spider-Man in the Fantastic Four’s custody.
Spider-Man acted quite out of character that evening, and Reed wants to
learn whether Spider-Man was an innocent victim of some unknown
criminal. Shortly afterward, at the Baxter Building, Spider-Man
recovers. As he drinks a cup of Sue’s hot chocolate, he says that the
last thing he remembers is web-swinging home on Manhattan’s West Side.
After Reed tells him of the evening’s events, Spider-Man agrees to be
probed by Reed’s encephaloscanner to find out what happened to him. A
few minutes under the machine discloses that Spider-Man’s brain had been
turned off—almost literally—for about an hour. Reed thinks to himself
that whoever took over Spider-Man’s mind could have left him mentally
crippled forever or even dead, and then he detects a familiar residual
energy pattern with the scanner. Stretching his arm out of the lab past
Johnny and Sue, Reed dials the telephone and gets in touch with Charles
Xavier in Westchester. Professor X is busy supervising a Danger Room
workout with Storm, Wolverine, and Colossus, but he informs Reed that
Cerebro, the X-Men’s computer, had registered an unusual amount of
mutant activity in lower Manhattan. Two distinct entities, possessing
similar abilities, were detected, and he was planning to investigate
later. Whoever the mutants are, he continues, their power is
considerable. As Xavier hangs up, he asks that Reed keep him posted on
his investigation. Soon the Fantasticar is flying toward Manhattan’s
lower East Side. Spider-Man is in the Torch’s seat, and the Torch is
flying alongside. Reed says that he modified one of his basic sensor
modules into a rough facsimile of the Cerebro computer. Using telemetry
data supplied by Xavier, the five companions trace the person who took
over Spider-Man’s mind to a church. As the Fantasticar passes over the
building, Spider-Man suddenly leaps out, intending to punish his foe.
Reed quickly tells Johnny to stop Spider-Man, because they have no idea
what they might be up against, but before Johnny can catch him,
Spider-Man crashes through the church window. There are only two people
inside—a priest and a slender young Oriental woman. Spider-Man attacks
the priest, but he realizes his mistake when the woman takes over the
Torch’s mind and attacks him with firebolts. Speaking through the Torch,
the woman, Xi’an, declares that she will not let Spider-Man take her.
Spider-Man knows that the reactions of a possessed person are slightly
slower than normal, and he uses this against the Torch, but it soon
becomes apparent that he will have to knock the woman out in order to
win. Speaking through Johnny, she says that she made the wrong choice
when she possessed Spider-Man, and now she is about to lose everything
that she holds dear. But the Torch’s attack is stopped by an invisible
barrier, and his three teammates enter. Sue encloses Spider-Man and the
Torch in force-spheres, and Xi’an relinquishes her hold on Johnny.
Then the priest, Father Bowen, angrily demands that the fighting cease.
They are in a house of God, he declares, not on a battlefield. Xi’an
contritely begs Bowen’s forgiveness, saying tearfully that she has
betrayed everyone who loved and trusted her. Sensing the pain in her
voice, Reed asks Bowen for a quiet place where they can talk. A few
minutes later, in the rectory, the priest introduces himself as a former
infantryman who served in Vietnam before joining the priesthood. The
woman says she is Xi’an Coy Manh, a Vietnamese who has lived her entire
young life under the shadow of war and suffering. Then she tells her
story. Xi’an’s father was a colonel in the South Vietnamese Army who was
always given dangerous assignments because of his steadfast honesty in
the face of rampant corruption. His family—Xi’an’s mother and three
siblings—were always at his side. One day, the Viet Cong attacked their
village, and Xi’an saw a soldier about to kill her brother Tran. Without
thinking, she reached into the soldier’s mind and forced him to stop.
She was surprised by what she had done, and her brother quickly learned
that he too had the same ability. Then he took over the soldier’s mind,
but instead of simply stopping him, he made him kill himself. Xi’an
became frightened of her brother then, because he clearly enjoyed what
he had done. Later Tran demonstrated his ability to his uncle Nguyen,
whom Xi’an’s father held in contempt. Tran also revealed that Xi’an had a
similar power but feared to use it, and Nguyen was pleased that Tran
confided in him. When South Vietnam fell, Nguyen arranged for the
family’s evacuation, but in the confusion only Tran was successfully
rescued. (Tran mentally forced the American soldiers to keep his family
from being taken to safety.) Xi’an, her younger brother Leong, her
younger sister Nga, and her parents fell into the hands of the
Communists. After many difficult months, during which Xi’an used her
power several times to keep the family from being killed, they managed
to escape in a small, nearly un-seaworthy boat. After days of
starvation, they were attacked by Thai pirates, who slew all the men
aboard—including Xi’an’s father—and dealt “even worse” with the women.
Xi’an was too weak from hunger to use her power against the raiders.
Xi’an’s mother died the day they were rescued, and Xi’an and the
children were sent to the United States, where they were reunited with
General Coy and Tran. The general had prospered greatly since leaving
Vietnam, and Tran, who worked for him, had turned cold and cruel. Her
uncle suggested that Xi’an work for him as well, but she refused, and
after the ensuing argument, she and her younger siblings went to Father
Bowen’s church. The Navy had given her his name, saying that he had
established a self-help relief agency for Vietnamese boat people. She
had known him from Vietnam, and with his aid, she rented an apartment
for herself and the children. But earlier today she came home to find
her place ransacked and the children gone. The telephone rang, and her
uncle told her that if she wanted to see the children again she would
have to work for him. She had until midnight to decide. When she saw an
issue of the Daily Bugle on the Spider-Man menace, she decided to use
Spider-Man to defeat her uncle. As Xi’an finishes her tale, the
Fantastic Four and Spider-Man immediately agree to help. At midnight, on
Pier 32 of the Brooklyn side of the East River, General Coy and his
henchmen bring Leong and Nga to a ship that will take them away to be
tested for paranormal abilities. He ensures their cooperation by saying
that Xi’an will soon join them. If, he says to one of his henchmen, they
turn out to lack any talents, then his organization will put them to
other “profitable uses.” Suddenly a pair of web-nets snatches the
children from the ship’s gangplank, and Spider-Man quickly defeats Coy’s
henchmen. The Fantastic Four and Xi’an descend in the Fantasticar to
assist, but it seems as if the situation is well in hand. Then Xi’an
overhears her uncle tell Tran in Vietnamese to use his power. She just
manages to warn her companions before Tran slams her with a bolt of
mind-force and renders her unconscious. Then Tran takes over the minds
of all of the Fantastic Four at once. As Spider-Man tries desperately to
awaken Xi’an, the four teammates advance toward him and attack. He uses
his agility to the utmost to keep out of reach, tricking them into
turning their powers against one another whenever he can. General Coy,
awed by Tran’s display, slinks away, but Tran says that he will speak
with him later about the new role he intends to play in his
organization. Spider-Man’s battle against the mentally controlled
Fantastic Four continues unabated. He manages to knock Ben off the pier,
but when the Human Torch sets fire to the ship, he realizes that the
children are in danger. Then Tran, speaking through the Torch, informs
him that Leong and Nga will not come to harm. He will seize control of
his uncle’s criminal empire, he continues, but first he will send
Spider-Man to an early grave. A fire blast from the Torch forces
Spider-Man to dive into the river, from where he hurls a piling at the
Torch. Tran gloats—speaking through the Torch—that his mutant power will
allow him to tap into the Fantastic Four’s memories and experiences. He
will make the four bodies act as one, a nearly unbeatable fighting
force. He ducks the piling, but this leads him into Spider-Man’s punch,
which knocks him into a nearby freighter loaded with munitions.
Meanwhile, Xi’an regains consciousness and pleads with her brother to
stop “this madness,” but Tran refuses. Then the freighter explodes, and
out of the flames climbs the Thing. He stuns Spider-Man with a powerful
punch and then picks up a huge piling with which to crush him. But
before he can do so, Xi’an strikes Tran with a bolt of mind-force. Ben
drops the piling as Tran loses control, and Spider-Man urges him to
fight free. Enraged, Xi’an relentlessly pummels her brother with psychic
energy, and much to his surprise his defenses crumble —even though his
sister is supposedly less experienced than he. He pleads with her to
spare him, but she refuses, and suddenly his body vanishes utterly,
leaving only his clothing to fall onto the dock. Xi’an gathers her
brother’s life-force and makes his soul a part of herself forever. Xi’an
explains to Spider-Man and the Thing that although her brother’s body
was stronger than hers, her strength flowed from her innermost being,
and he could not stand against it. Then a force bubble containing Sue,
Reed, Johnny, Leong, and Nga rises from the river, and Xi’an is joyfully
reunited with her siblings. With tears of gratitude flowing from her
eyes, she thanks Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. If they ever need
her help, she says, they have but to ask for Karma. Then, with the five
crimefighters watching her thoughtfully, she takes Leong and Nga by the
hand and walks away.