The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1

[Spider-Man Beyond]

The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1
Concrete Jungle

Written and Edited by Daniel Dyer (Spider-Man Beyond)

Sergei Kravinoff comes from a family of wealth and privilege. When his parents were killed, the young man decided to make his own way. Giving away his inherited fortune to any who had need of it, the young Kravinoff moved from Mother Russia to the wilds of Africa. There, he learned to live off the land and to hunt.

Many years after he first came to Africa, he had become renowned, spoken almost as if legend, in Africa as Kraven the Hunter. Selling his many catches, the Hunter amassed his own fortune.

There was not a beast Kraven could not hunt and catch. Anything he sought, he acquired. Enter Dr. Mariah Crawford. She was a beautiful, young doctor, coming to Africa to treat disease and illness in a poverty stricken village.

It was a hot day in the jungle, and Crawford was on a house call. By housecall, I mean a drive into the jungle, searching for a young kid who had been injured. The search party had been searching for days with no luck, then, one day, the group heard a rustling of a wild animal in the bushes that surrounded them. There was a loud noise, growling, as if two animals were fighting over the prey. Then, a whimper and silence.

Mariah stepped forward to peer through the shrubs, but before she could a man stepped forward, parting the bushes, carrying a young boy. The man wore skins of long dead animals, his chest bare with a vest that looked like the face of a lion, with a main along the vest’s shoulders and down the back. Kraven the Hunter had saved the child.

In the passing months, Mariah learned what was fact and fiction of the legend of Kraven the Hunter. She learned of Sergei’s past and the two fell in love.

But, as what seems to always happen, tragedy struck. Sergei became ill, dying of an unknown sickness. After Mariah found she had no answers, the young doctor sought other means. She found a voodoo priestess. A woman known only as Calypso. It was risky, but the risk seemed to pay off. Calypso had given Mariah a potion, one that cured the disease that enveloped her lover.

At first things were normal again, but as what seem to always happen, tragedy struck...

*

[Spider-Man Beyond]

“Alright, lady, hand it over,” demanded a man, holding a gun.

“Please,” cried the woman, backing into the wall of the alley, and throws her purse to him. “Don’t hurt me!”

“Hurt you?” questions the hood with the gun. “You joking? I’m just gonna have some fun with you.”

“Joking, huh?” a voice says from above.

“Who...?”

“How about this one,” the voice starts, “what’s red and blue, with webs all over?”

The punk then sees a figure in red and blue swinging on a thin line swinging straight at him. “Spider-Man!”

“Right on the first try,” the webbed adventure says as he swings his foot in the mugger’s face. The hood involuntarily throws the purse in the air. Spidey snatches it in mid air and lands on a wall. Standing straight out from the side of the wall, Spider-Man bows and holds out the purse. “For you, milady.”

The woman just stairs, a bit in shock, but grudgingly takes back her purse. “Th-thank you,” she manages to get out finally.

“Eh, no worries, mate” the webbed hero says in an obviously fake English accent.

The woman giggles. “The Bugle says you’re a criminal.”

Spider-Man shoots out a web-line. “Here’s a tip, lady, don’t believe everything you read,” and he swings out of the alley. Hmm, gratitude? thinks Spider-Man. Better not get used to it.

*

[Spider-Man Beyond]

“PARKER!” Peter hears as soon as he enters the newsroom of the Daily Bugle. “Get in here!”

Wonda-ful, he thinks bleakly.

Peter enters the office of the Bugle’s publisher, J. Jonah Jameson. Jonah’s sitting behind his desk with Joe “Robbie” Robertson standing to the side.

“This is crap!” yells Jameson as he tosses some pictures on his desk. One picture showed Spidey swinging from a burning building, a kid over his shoulder. Another was Spider-Man stopping a hold up. The final one was of Spider-Man getting a cat out of a tree. “Crap!”

“Uh... Mr. Jameson...”

“Give the kid a break, Jonah,” Robbie chimes in.

“A break?!” shouts the publisher. “Who gave those poor bystanders a break?”

Robbie and Peter look at each other dumbfoundedly.

“Look at this,” Jonah says, picking up the photo of the hold up. “Spider-Man attacking this civilian.” He then picks up the one of the burning building. “And here, he starts a fire and just flees.”

“He was saving...”

As if Jonah didn’t hear his editor-in-chief, he picked up the last photo and continued, “And this audacity! Playing a game of keep away with this poor kid’s cat.”

Peter slaps his forehead in frustration.

“Get out until you can find me...!”

Peter cuts Jonah off, handing him a photo of Spider-Man fighting a Sentinel. (*See issue #9).

Jonah grins. “I can see the headlines now. Spider-Man: Mutant Menace!”

Why bother? wonders Peter.

Jonah looks from the picture to Peter. “You still here? You can collect your check on the way out.”

Peter starts to leave and Robbie follows. “Peter, I have an assignment for. One of our regular photographers is out sick and...”

*

[Spider-Man Beyond]

A modeling show, thinks the young photographer as he enters a dining hall. Sweet. Peter then sees a young, blonde (almost white) model walk by in a black, low cut, tight dress. “Wow.”

“Ya like?” asked a blonde man with a camera in hand. “That’s my lady.”

“Oh, sorry,” replies Peter.

“Don’t be. She knows she’s hot.”

Peter eyes the man oddly.

“If she wasn’t, I doubt she’d be headlining the show tonight.”

“That’s Felicia Hardy?” questions Peter.

“Yep,” states the man. “And I’m Eddie Brock. Now, you are?” he asks, extending his hand.

“Peter,” Peter answers, shaking Eddie’s hand. “Peter Parker.”

“Nice to meet you, Parker. What brings you here tonight?”

“Work.”

“Work?” inquires Eddie.

Peter holds up his camera. “Photographer for the Bugle.”

“Guess that makes us competitors, huh, kid?”

Kid? I’d be surprised if he’s out of his teens himself. “What do you mean, competitors?”

Brock waves his own camera. “The Globe. Nice to meet you, Parker, but duty calls,” he states and walks away.

The pleasure’s all yours, I’m sure. Dunno why, but I don’t like that g... Spider-sense. Where? Peter looks around the room, trying to spot the danger, but then, suddenly his spider-sense just fades. Nothing. Maybe my spider-sense is on the fritz. He looks to the rafters one last time and then sees what looks like a figure cloaked in shadows. Peter blinks and the figure’s gone. Nothing? So my eyes are on the fritz, too? Something’s not right here.

*

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Minutes later and Spider-Man is crawling along the rafters. Set my camera up below. Hopefully it catches the show. Now, where is my mystery date? He then finds a note at the exact place he had seen the figure at previously. “The roof,” he reads. This is so a trap. Oh well, and the wall-crawler scurries upward, through the skylight and to the roof. “Okay, I’m here. Show yourself!”

“The Spider,” comes a voice. “I’ve heard stories of you.”

“Aww, and here I am, having heard nothing of you.”

“You will come to know me, well,” the voice says.

“Uh-uh, not too well on a first date, Mister.”

“Turn around.”

And Spidey does, coming face to face (well, more like face to chest) with Kraven the Hunter, who is holding a spear. “Is the circus in town?”

“I am Kraven the Hunter,” states Kraven. “You are marked for the hunt.”

“And I’m the amazing Spider-Man,” Spidey says, shooting webbing in Kraven’s eyes,” and you’ve been marked, too.”

The Hunter does not advance, does not show aggression of any kind. Kraven simply brings his spear up and in one swift motion cuts the webbing from his eyes. “This is not the place for battle,” he states. “This is simply your warning.” With that Kraven leaps high into the air, backflipping into a dive over the side.

Spider-Man rushes to the ledge, looking over and sees nothing. He then looks up at the night sky. Yep, full moon. Brings out all the nuts.

*

[Spider-Man Beyond]

“Calypso,” Kraven called out, as he set (Indian style) beside a burning fire. “I call you forth.”

An image of the priestess then appears in the flame. “Yes, my Hunter?”

“I have made contact.”

“You did not capture him?” asks the vision of Calypso.

“Not yet,” Kraven replies. “I let him know I will be coming first.”

The fire then began to burn brighter. “Kraven,” Calypso began, “get it done! I have very little patience for games or your honor.”

“You talk to me like that, witch?!”

“I will talk to you any way I like. Unless...” the image of Calypso vanishes to be replaced by Mariah, “...you wish to lose any chance of having your lover back.” Calypso appears again. “Now, get it done!” and with that the fire dies out.

“Yes, Calypso,” Kraven utters in a low voice, his head held even lower.

*

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Elsewhere, at the Bugle, Peter searches for the name Kraven on the Bugle’s database.

Alright, Tarzan, let’s find out your story.

Then a news article pops about a jungle legend.

“Kraven the Hunter, African legend. The tribes all speak of a beast of a man. Kraven the Hunter. He is most feared and it has been said while he may use some weapons, this Hunter prefers to deliver the killing stroke with his bare hands,” Peter reads. That’s all good, but is this the Kraven I fought or is the Kraven I fought just using the legend. Peter reads more, “These facts are not proven or unproven. However, it is known that the Hunter is far more than a legend. He was born Sergie Kravinoff and began his new life after his parents died.” Hmmm... if Kraven is Sergie then why has he attacked me? “Kravinoff met love after many years, but one day, it was said that madness struck the Hunter and he ripped his lover in half. After that, both Sergie Kravinoff and Kraven the Hunter ceased to be.”

Peter looks away from the computer. If he loved her, why...?

Peter’s cut off as he notices a figure with bulging muscles standing on the ledge of the window, peering in.

Okay, jungle boy, let’s do this.

*

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Outside, the rain has began to pour, but Kraven does not move from the window. He stays ever vigilant, peering inside. He has only but to wait.

“Are you Tom?” Spider-Man asks as he hangs from a web-line, upside down. “First name Peeping?”

Kraven does not turn, does not flinch. He knew Spider-Man was there before the wall-crawler said anything. “It is time,” and in one swift motion the Hunter thrust back his spear, cutting the web-line.

Shocked at the Hunter’s speed, Spider-Man’s barely able to get out a web-line and swing to the side of the Daily Bugle building. “Am I to take it you’re not him?”

Kraven doesn’t respond. Well, not with words. The Hunter leaps down from the ledge, using anything on his way (fire escapes, flagpoles, etc) to swing and vault towards the web-swinger.

What to do? This guy’s fast, as fast as I am, and somehow he knows how to block my spider-sense. Okay, gotta time this just right. Spidey then shoots a web-line up, passed Kraven’s head, which the Hunter quickly cuts. Luckily it was a faint and Spidey swings under the somersaulting Hunter.

Kraven then reaches the spot where Spidey was clinging to the building’s side and pushes off with his feet. The Hunter then uses Spidey’s own web-lines to pursue.

Clever, thinks Spider-Man. Okay, the guy’s fast, smart, and can dull your spider-sense, how do you stop him? “Hey, Tarzan,”yells Spidey, “follow the leader,” and he drops to a rooftop below.

Kraven follows his prey with the grace of a jungle cat. “Surrender?”

“To a murderer?” questions Spider-Man.

For once, Kraven is taken back.

“I know about Dr. Crawford,” and then Spidey adds with emphasis, “Sergie.”

“You know nothing of her,” the Hunter screams and charges.

Spider-Man waits for Kraven to get close enough, then flips him onto his back. “I know you killed her!”

Kraven flips onto his hands and kness, a snear like a lion, ready to attack, on his face. “Do not speak of things you know nothing about! Do not speak of her!”

Got his blood boiling, thinks Spidey. Now what?

Kraven once more charges at the hero, but this time tackles him. “It wasn’t my fault!” Kraven punches him. “It was an accident!” He hits him again. “A side effect!” And again. “Not my fault!”

Good... plan. Always... worked... in... the... movies... and then only blackness.

*

[Spider-Man Beyond]

“Arrgh...” Spider-Man groans as he begins to wake. “Where?” Things then begin to come into focus. He sees tropical trees and plants. A jungle? Then he notices a glass ceiling overhead. Jungles don’t have ceilings. Must be a zoo. The hero tries to sit up, finding himself restrained and then notices he’s strapped to a table.

“Strain all you wish,” a voice states. “Your powers have been neutralized.”

“What do you want?!” exclaims Spider-Man, seeing Kraven approaching.

“What everyone wants,” comes another voice from higher up. “Love.”

“He would have had love,” Spidey says, still struggling, “if he didn’t kill her!”

Kraven starts towards the hero but Calypso steps forward, halting him. “He is needed, Hunter.”

Kraven turns away in a huff and jumps over a railing, landing on a patch of ground bellow.

“He’s a people person, huh?” jokes Spidey.

Calypso smacks Spidey in the face. “Speak when spoken to, insect!”

“Uh... technically...”

Calypso smacks him again. “Quiet!” Calypso then turns to another table and picks up a pouch. She begins to sprinkle dust from the pouch onto Spider-Man. “Do you know anything about the nature of your powers?”

“Can I talk now,” Spidey asks, “or was that rhetorical?”

She gives the hero a glare. “Your powers are not meant for you.”

“You want them?” asks the hero.

“Most certainly.”

Kraven then leaps straight up, back to where Calypso is. “What of Mariah?”

“You have served your purpose,” Calypso says and waves her hand at Kraven.

The Hunter then goes flying backward across the enclosure.

“Stay,” she says and turns back to Spider-Man. “Now, where were we?”

“You were about to release me?”

“Funny.”

“If you think that’s funny,” and Spidey fires webbing in Calypso’s eyes.

“How?” she screams.

“Webbing,” Spidey starts. “Not organic, biatch.”

Calypso rips the webbing from her eyes. “And your ‘not organic’ webbing saved you how?”

As if on cue, Kraven drops down behind the witch. “You betrayed me,” he states, grabbing Calypso’s head. “You used my affection.” The Hunter then snaps her neck. “Never again.”

As Calypso’s body drops, Spidey’s jaw follows suit.

Kraven then turns back to Spider-Man.

“Uh... I’m next, huh?”

Kraven then rips the bonds off of Spider-Man. “I apologize,” he said and turns to leave.

“That’s it?” Spider-Man says, hopping off the table. “I can’t let you go. You just...”

“...saved you,” Kraven finishes.

“Well, yeah, but...” Spider-Man starts.

Kraven stops the hero as he turns back. “I was a victim just as you were,” Kraven tells him. “The witch gave me powers, but in the process... drove me mad. My love... she got in the way.” Kraven looks deep into Spider-Man’s masked face, seeing his own reflection in the hero’s lenses. “Have you ever wished that you could take something back? One moment?”

Spider-Man lowers his head and says nothing, thinking only Uncle Ben. When the hero lifts his head again, the Hunter is gone, as is Calypso’s body.

*

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Later, Peter Parker walks home.

Wild night. I get attacked by a jungle hunter, a voodoo witch tries to steal my powers, and now, I have to walk home in the rain. My powers are seemingly returning but I’d rather not risk web-swinging home.

I wonder what’ll become of Kraven? I know, I should go after him but... my heart’s just not in it. He’s not evil. He obviously just wanted to bring back the woman he loved. Wouldn’t I do the same for Uncle Ben? Dr. Crawford died by Kraven’s hands. Uncle Ben by mine. It’ll be a burden we both bare. Now and forever...

End.