Spider-Man '94 # 3

 By Mark Rodriguez

Spider-Man succeeded in rescuing Mary Jane from the portal dimension after the end of the 90's animated series. However new villains loom over the horizon, namely Morlun, a long-lived man that feasts on 'spider totems' and is after Spider-Man in particular. As Morlun defeats the wall crawler in a fight, Kraven the Hunter is watching from the rooftops. How is he involved and how does he know Morlun? 

 

"Chapter Three- Totems" opens with a lion roaming around the rooftop of the Sims Foundation late at night. The lion, named Gulyadkin, growls loudly but is hushed by Kraven, as they don't want to reveal themselves just yet.

Meanwhile Morlun monologues about how long before humans came to be and time was recorded there were countless other races and civilizations. Several have risen and fell over the course of hundreds of thousands of years. One of them was Morlun's home, the kingdom called Lokka. Morlun was a prince, son of a king that died too young and raised by a stronger and wiser mother. 

While his mother wanted him to take his place on the throne and restore Lokka to its former glory, Morlun wanted to seek adventure and exploration. His journeys lasted several years but when he returned, he found that his kingdom was invaded by hybrid creatures. He called these half human/half beast creatures 'Totems'. As he fought them he discovered he had a strange connection to them and he able to take their life force and add it to his own. This gave him new abilities and also extended his life span across millennia. 

 

Morlun defeated the invaders but time marched on. Eventually Lokka fell to make way for new civilizations but he lived on. He would continue to seek Totems as he would feed on them and add to his power. Time and again he had to retreat to renew himself. He would enter stasis within a cocoon, leaving him to emerge within weeks... or sometimes decades. He would live on, needing to assume new names and identities. He eventually grew weary and asked immortality was thrust upon him. He soon had a vision that fused the greatest achievements from his youth with the modern age. He created what would become the Sims Foundation 200 years ago in London England under the name Gabriel Sims. He hid the truth of his immortality by posing as Gabriel's sons, grandsons and eventually great grandsons, leading up to the current day where he runs the company as an empire as Ezekiel Sims.

However the countless centuries of feeding, retreating and regenerating has finally taken their toll. Morlun is finally dying and he is burning through the energy of his victims at an accelerated rate. This is where Spider-Man comes in, as feasting on him will earn him another hundred years. Morlun is convinced he can save the world and Spider-Man's life would be worth sacrificing. He says the Spider is important but Peter Parker doesn't matter.

Spider-Man says everyone matters, including the thousands of totems he's murdered. He asks what makes Morlun think he deserves to live above everybody else. Morlun says he was born to redeem mankind, and Spider-Man says he doesn't recall mankind asking him to do so. Morlun says he was hoping Spider-Man would go along with this, but he will take him by force. Morlun unleashes some sort of webbing that wraps Spider-Man up in a cocoon. The immortal villain has Sims Foundation to tend to, but he will return to take his power. Spider-Man feels that being trapped in the cocoon is paralyzing his muscles and he's losing focus on his thoughts. 

Kaine arrives and ponders on how helpless Spider-Man is in this state. He wonders what his father would do if he killed his precious Spider-Totem. Kaine questions what makes Spider-Man so important. He says he should stop asking questions and should follow his father's will. He is confused as to how Spider-Man seems to affect him in a way he can't explain. He feels that somehow Spider-Man holds the gaps in his memory.

Kain suddenly gets hit by a strong feeling, the same sensation that happened when he first attacked the Parker household. The feeling hits harder this time, the sensation that everything Spider-Man has ever done and lived through is now within him. The strongest feeling seems to revolve around Mary Jane. Kaine walks off wondering who Spider-Man is, but mostly, he wonders more about himself.

 

Speaking of the Parker home, Mary Jane is surprised to discover that Aunt May knows Peter is Spider-Man. Aunt May says they lived side by side under the same roof for years, she's no fool. It took a while to admit it to herself. MJ asks if she ever considered telling him. Aunt May says it would add more to his burden. MJ says it's an incredible burden for one man to take. Aunt May says he's the type to take the whole world on his shoulders and ask for more. 

Aunt May understands how rough it would be for MJ, knowing she could lose him at any moment. MJ says she loves him and thinks his life and Spider-Man's life would be even more difficult without the two of them. Spider-Man might watch out for the world but he needs Aunt May and Mary Jane to watch out for him.

Back to the cocoon, Spider-Man thinks about all the hardship he went through to get Mary Jane back again. He breaks out of the cocoon, saying he can't let Morlun win. He says it's more than him and ponders of all the lives that Morlun is willing to sacrifice for his vision. 

 

Spider-Man tries to get his head together and push through the pain as he tries to find a way out. Since Morlun mentioned having 'foundation business' he figures he might be in the Sims Foundation Building. As he opens a huge door he finds a huge chimera that's chained up. Spider-Man wonders why Morlun is making creatures out of combined animal parts, and figures he must be creating fake totems to prolong his life.

The monster suddenly breaks free and lunges towards Spider-Man. Spidey tries to calm him down but the monster smacks him across the face. He grabs the wallcrawler by the ankle and slams him into the floor. He apologizes to MJ, saying he can't fight anymore.

Elsewhere MJ is sleeping when suddenly Kaine crawls in through her bedroom window. Kaine asks MJ why this is happening to him and why he is feeling these things. He takes off his mask and asks MJ why he loves her.

 

Spider-Man is pinned down by the monster and he can't give up. He's faced Doctor Octopus, Venom, Hydro-Man and Carnage and lived to tell the tale. He tells himself that if he can find the strength to get back up, he can defeat this monster too. Suddenly a man leaps in and impales the monster with a spear, something you'd definitely never see on Saturday Morning. 

Spider-Man is surprised to see Kraven the Hunter. Kraven says the time has come and his final hunt ends tonight. With Spider-Man in too much pain to move... Kraven raises his spear and lunges it forward.

 

My Thoughts-

So we get Morlun's back story though surprisingly, Kraven wasn't part of it. Kraven is lurking around the story, but we still don't know exactly how he ties with Morlun.

The bigger mystery involved Kaine. Last issue we find out that Kaine is supposed to be a clone of Morlun's younger self. He is doomed to die rather quickly, and then Morlun consumes him to extend his life. Whenever the next clone is made, Kaine has some broken memories of his last mission, but no memory of his repeated deaths at the hands of his own 'father'. 

So the question is why does Peter affect him in such a way? I know this is a reference to how in the 616 comics Kaine is a clone of Peter Parker, but how does this affect the version in this story? When Kaine takes his mask off, I'm not sure if that's supposed to be Peter's face or a younger Merlun? Why would he have Parker's face though since the story started with Morlun being in a cocoon with Kaine already lurking around. Hopefully we get some of this version of Kaine's backstory since we still have a lot of questions.

It looks like we have more issues of this story and the next issue promises to post as many fan emails as possible (cause I assume nobody sends in actual paper letters anymore). I hope mine makes the cut. It's nice to see Spider-Man reference some of his older foes, but I hope we actually get to see some of them (other than Kraven) after this story is over. I have to say, instead of re-using the panel from the first issue when Kaine broke into the Parker house, they could have used a montage of some of the cartoon episodes when Kaine was having all those memories rush in. 

One thing I'd like to point out was this art flub where the spider on Spider-Man's back was just a red circle. The red dot is so blatant, I almost second-guessed myself as if that's how they simplified his design for the Saturday Morning show.

But sure enough, he did have the spider on his back on the old show. Again, mistakes or lack of details happen, but I'd expect to see that whenever Spider-Man is drawn off in the background or something. But his back is front and center. What happened here?? It also stands out because after Kraven's appearance and Morlun's flashback, this is the first panel in which we actually get to see Spider-Man and they flub the spider on his back.

I am curious how Aunt May knowing Peter's secret will affect things going forward. I hope we get to find out. I also hope Spidey gets some rest. He is still pretty much recovering from the beat-down Morlun gave him last issue. Poor guy is really running the gauntlet in this one.