Spectacular Spider-Man #182

Title: “The Child Within, part five: Reckonings”

Writer: J.M. DeMatteis

Penciller: Sal Buscema

Inker: Sal Buscema

Colors: Bob Sharen

Editor: Danny Fingeroth

In a session, Kafka asks a hypnotized Edward if he is comfortable. Vermin says that he isn’t Edward. Kafka says that he is. She says that Vermin is gone and that he is Edward now. She asks Edward how old he is now. Vermin says that he is eight. Kafka asks if he remembers what they were talking about the last time. Vermin says, “The bad thing?” Kafka says that Edward was telling her how he felt when it happened. Vermin says not to make him tell and that it always hurts so much to tell. Kafka says that it hurts when you don’t tell, and that telling makes you free and heals you. Vermin says that the judge comes into his bedroom. He says that he can’t even sleep anymore. He says that he just waits for him to come. Kafka asks if the judge is his father. Vermin says that it looks like his father, but that it can’t be. He says that his father wouldn’t do the bad thing. Kafka asks what he does. Vermin says that he touches him, and that he makes him touch him back. He says that it makes him feel so bad… sick and sorry at the same time. Vermin says that he can’t think about it, and that he has to push it away… push it down… into the sewers. Kafka puts her hand on Edward and tells him that it is all right. Vermin says that Edward is gone and that he is Vermin.

Vermin holds his mother by the hair and yells at his father. He says that there is no more hiding in the sewers. No more darkness and no more forgetting. Vermin shouts that he remembers now… he remembers it all. Vermin leaps onto his father as his father lies on the bed. Vermin says that he did such bad things to him when he was little. He says that when he was little that he told him that if you do a bad thing that you have to pay. A voice shouts out, “No! Don’t hurt him!” Vermin turns and sees the little African-American boy standing before him. He says, “Please”.

Peter Parker is alone and naked in a dark place. He says that they can’t be dead and not to let them be dead. He says that he will do anything, and asks if he made them go away. He says that he will be good, and asks if they went away because they didn’t love him. He says not to let them be dead. He says that they are dead and that it is his fault. Peter shrinks smaller and smaller in the darkness. A voice calls out to Spider-Man, but he tells it to go away. The voice says that he doesn’t have to be afraid anymore. She says that he has looked the monster straight in the eye, and that it can’t hurt him anymore. Peter says that he won’t come out. As a small red circle comes into view. The voice tells Spider-Man that he little boy is afraid, but that the man isn’t. Peter says, “Man?” The voice tells Spider-Man not to let the boy control the man. She says to honor, nurture, and love the boy, but not to let him rule his life. Peter asks if he is a man. The voice tells him that he is a good and strong man. Peter says that he feels like a bad little boy as he starts to crawl out of the hole. The voice tells Peter that the little boy didn’t do anything wrong. Peter says that he did. He says that he was bad and then mommy and daddy stopped loving him and went away and never came back. The voice says that the boy thinks that, but that the man knows better. The voice says that the man knows that it wasn’t his fault. The voice tells Peter that he can be a little boy and spend the rest of his life afraid and guilty for the rest of his life. Peter says that he is tired of hiding and being hurt by the past. He says that he can’t let himself be controlled anymore… can’t be chained by his childhood anymore. He says that he is a man.

Spider-Man wakes up out of his trance. Kafka sits next to him in chair having just guided him back. He tries to get off the couch, but falls over and hits his head on the wall. He says that he feels like he has been ripped in half. He gets up and staggers to the window. He says that he feels like his mind and heart are on fire. He leans against the open window and starts to breathe. He starts remembering what was happening. Kafka comes up behind Spider-Man and tells him that he has faced the monster and that he is going to be all right. Green Goblin’s silhouette comes into view on the horizon.

The little boy tells Vermin that he can’t hurt him. He says that he is his father and that it isn’t right. Vermin shouts and asks if what he did to him was right. Vermin grabs his father’s neck and pushes him toward the little boy. He tells his father to tell him what he did to him. He says to tell him about the bad thing. The old man asks Edward who he is talking about. He says that there is no one there. Vermin no longer sees the boy. He says that it is good that he is gone, and that now there is no one to protect him. Vermin holds his father into the air by his neck with one hand. Vermin says that if his father thinks that he did bad things to wait and see what he does to him. Edward’s mother shouts out that he is his father and not to hurt his father. Vermin growls, but then his face softens. He walks over and kneels before his mother. He hugs her and says that he is so scared. Edward’s mother is crying. She says that the government came and told them what Zemo had done to him, but they never dreamed it was like this. Vermin says that he hurt him. He asks why everyone hurts him. His mother holds him and says that no one is going to hurt him anymore… not anymore.

In another session, Kafka asks Edward how old he is now. Vermin says that he is thirty-one. She asks where he is. Vermin says that he is in Mexico. She asks what he is doing there. Vermin says that he is a genetics research scientist looking for Arnim Zola. He says that he doesn’t find him, but that he does find the other one… Baron Zemo. He says that Zemo has been building on Zola’s research… pushing the limits of genetic engineering. She says that his work is brilliant and that it makes him feel like a caveman trying to figure out fire. Edward says that he is using people and treating them like laboratory animals…. turning men and women into what he calls ‘mutates’. Kafka asks how that makes him feel. Edward says that he is horrified and repulsed. He tells Zemo, but Zemo just laughs and makes him his next experiment. He says that the process is as much psychological as it is physical. He says that the deepest part of the unconscious, the sense of self, dictates what the test subject will mutate into. He says that Zemo touched on something so deep that he didn’t even know it was there. Kafka asks if he means the bad thing. Vermin says that it is too much and that he doesn’t want to know. Kafka says to relax and that he is safe. She says to tell him how it felt. Vermin says that he felt responsible as if the bad thing was his fault. He says that there must have been some way for him to have stopped it. He asks why he didn’t stop it. He says that he felt so guilty… like a criminal… worse than a criminal… vile… beyond redemption… an animal… obscene… inhuman… vermin. A smile comes over Vermin’s face.

Peter says that he never realized how much he blamed himself. Goblin’s shadow disappears. Peter says that a part of him really believed that his mother and father dying was somehow his fault. He asks if all kids do that… take the guilt and the blame. Kafka says that it is a common way of dealing with trauma. She says that you are in a position where you are powerless, but that by assuming the guilt that you regain your power though distorted. She says that it actually helps… for a while. Peter asks how he could have all this inside and never know. Kafka says that repression and denial are the surest survival instincts they have. She says that unfortunately the more they push things down the more they force themselves back up. A nurse charges into the room. She says that it is all over the news. She says that Vermin is in Scarsdale and is holding some retired judge and his wife hostage. Kafka realizes who the judge is. She turns to Spider-Man, but he is already swinging away out the window.

Spider-Man goes along thinking what lousy timing this is. He thinks about how his reflexes are off and his mind is foggy. He says that he feels like he might start crying, but that he also feels free. He realizes that what Kafka said was true. He face the monster and it didn’t devour him. He says that all these years he was afraid of what would happen if he let the monster out, the repressed feelings about his mother and father, that it would eat him alive. He thinks that there is so much to think about, but that he doesn’t have time right now. He says that Vermin and the Green Goblin are out there, and that it is up to him to stop them.

Vermin sees the police and says that they always hurt him, hound him, and judge him. He asks why they won’t leave him alone. He says that he isn’t a criminal… he isn’t bad. His mother tells him not to worry and that she will protect him. Vermin grabs her by the throat. He says that she was never there to protect him. He says that all the times he was touching him… hurting him… making him ashamed… he asks where she was. His father tells him that will be enough. He is holding a gun. He says that he doesn’t know who he is, but that he isn’t his Edward. He says that he wants him to get out. Vermin says that the man is right. He says that he isn’t Edward anymore. He says that he is Vermin… now and forever. He asks his father if he doesn’t like what he has become. He says that he made him what he is. Vermin tells his rats to get his father and the rats swarm over him. Vermin stands over his father. He takes his gun and tells his father that he has been very bad, and that he is the judge now. He says that the judge finds him guilty, and that the sentence is death. Vermin puts the gun right up to his father’s face. He waits and waits, but can’t pull the trigger. He asks why he can’t do it. He asks why he can’t kill him. The old man has tears in his eyes. He says, “Edward…” Edward tells his father that he loves him. Vermin says that Edward loves him, but that Vermin hates him. He says that Vermin can kill him, and that Vermin will. Spider-Man says that he doesn’t think so. He says that there has been enough pain and hurting for all of them. He tells Edward to come with him and that they will go see Dr. Kafka. Vermin sees Spider-Man and says that at last there is someone there he can hate without feeling so confused. He says that now he has someone he can hate. Vermin leaps at Spider-Man and both of them fall out the window. The cops are about to move on Vermin, but the rats swarm over them. Spider-Man hits a web and swings around to the roof.

Spider-Man tells Vermin that it doesn’t have to be like this. Vermin rushes Spider-Man, but as Spider-man leaps over him Vermin back swipes and tears open Spider-Man’s side. Vermin stands over Spider-Man growling. Spider-Man dodges a swipe high, but he is hit into the air by the next swing. Spider-Man crashes into the chimney. Vermin tells Spider-Man that he is going to eat him alive. Suddenly Vermin is zapped. Green Goblin hovers over the both of them. He says that he is sorry, but that Spider-Man is his. He tells Peter that this time there will be no mind games or drugs. He says that this time Spider-Man dies.

Tangled Web rating: 9 out of 10

Review and pictures by The Leader

RETURN TO SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN

RETURN TO ISSUES PAGES

RETURN TO WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE...

RETURN TO LEADER'S LAIR