Spider-Man Annual 1998
The Night They Killed Big Bear…
At the Museum of Natural History, Sam “Big Bear” Lincoln is mopping the floor in the observatory thinks about his glory days and the mistakes he made. When a gang of thugs try to ambush him, the former boxer detects them and fights back. However, the fight quickly ends when one of the gang members gets a gun on him. Wanting to know the location of some hidden loot, they try to beat the answers out of him, but Sam refuses to talk. Everyone pauses when they sense the entry of the mystery man they call the Silencer. Speaking in Italian, the Silencer begins questioning Sam, trying to ply his will with his hypnotic gaze. When this doesn’t work, he injects Lincoln with a truth telling serum, but Sam only spits in the Silencer’s face. In response, the Silencer snaps Sam’s neck, killing him instantly and leave his dead body behind.[1]
At that moment, Max Igoe, sports columnist at the Daily Bugle, drinks by himself. Even though he has won a lot of awards, was given a raise, and is in talks for a television talk show, he is deeply depressed and climbs up to the roof of the Bugle building. He has been working on a screenplay about Sam “Big Bear” Lincoln, sure to be an award winner. He steps off and falls from the roof, only to be snatched by Spider-Man who was on his way to the Bugle to pick up film for his alter-ego, Peter Parker. Altough the catch broke some of his ribs, Igoe realized that he wanted to live and is grateful that Spider-Man was there to save his life.
Recognizing Sam, Spider-Man asks him why he would contemplate suicide. Max expalns that he feels responsible for the death of Sam Lincoln. He explains that Lincoln was a prominent boxer 35 years ago but eventually got blacklisted from the sport due to his shady dealings with the mob. His mob ties were a huge story, but despite the efforts of many journalists to learn what he was involved with, Sam Lincoln never talked. Everyone gave up except for Max, who tries to convince Lincoln to join him on a book deal, saying that it could earn money he could send to his granddaughter. Sam told Max everything, including where a stash of hidden evidence that could link the city’s most notorious crime bosses to the courthouse killings that happened 25 years ago. Although Max promised not to say anyting until the book was published, he got drunk in a bar one night and blabbed to a friend. Someone must have overheard what he was talking about, because 36 hours later Sam was found murdered. Spider-Man learns that the killer was Alphonse Scarpetti, an old time mob boss. Spider-Man then webs Max to a tree, so he doesn’t try to jump again and asks for the location of this evidence, but Max doesn’t know. Still, this is enough for Spider-Man to start looking into the case and swings off, leaving Max to figure out how to explain to the penthouse owners how he got onto their balcony.
Elsewere in the city, MacKinley Stewart sits in his wheelchair assessing the damage recently done to his dojo by the Hand and how his life was saved by Elektra. [2] It’s then that he discovers that he received a package from his old friend, Sam Lincoln. He quickly hides the package just as some men force their way inside to get the package. When MacKinley refuses to reveal where he hid it, they try strangling him with piano wire. However, before they can kill him. Eletkra arrives and rescues him. While Elektra deals with the thugs, one of them manages to slip away to a telephone and call his boss to warn him that Elektra is interfering with their job. Scarpetti tells his man not to worry as he as sent someone who will handle Elektra. They all feel the presence of the Silencer before this mysterious mob enforcer enters the room. Ignoring the disorientation cause by the Silencer’s appearance, Elektra tries to attack him but her blows harmlessly passes through him. While Elektra is busy, one of the thugs manages to find the package that was sent to Stewart and finds a small box inside. When he announces his find, the mobster is ambushed from behind by MacKinley. Grabbing the box, MacKinley tries to run up a nearby staircase but the Silencer smashes it with a single blow, causing Mac to fall to the ground. Elektra tries to attack the Silencer again, but it still has no effect. While Elektra is getting beat down by the SIlencer, MacKinley pulls the fire alarm. In the confusion, the Silencer and his men flee with the package. Elektra checks on Mac and makes sure that he is still alive, but cannot bring herself to stay because she has to avenge this defeat as her reputation demands it.
While at the Parker residence, Mary Jane checks on her husband and finds that Peter is looking up past Bugle reports about Sam Lincoln.[3] Peter reads Mary Jane the biography he was able to find on Lincoln. Lincoln came from a bad section of St. Louis and his regular run ins with the law saw him sent to prison.[4] There he befriended another inmate Franky “Bongo” Palmetto. Bongo got Sam interested in boxing and within six months no other prisoner would face him in the ring. When they both got out of prison, Sam got into professional boxing with Bongo acting as his manager. Sam quickly won the championship by defeating the defending champion, Lloyd Peterson. However, Bongo’s mob ties eventually intersected with Lincolns’ boxing career and once he reached the top of his game, Sam was asked to take a dive during his next match. Although Sam agreed to do so, his performance was so bad that the boxing commission was able to see through this and withheld half of his winnings and then blacklisted him from the sport. Peter then goes to look up the files on Alphonse Scarpetti, the man responsible for Lincoln’s downfall and the courthouse murders. After this, Mary Jane tells Peter to be careful, even though Scarpetti is not like his typical foe, he shouldn’t underestimate him. As he changes into Spider-Man, Peter has a good laugh, because they both know that being Spider-Man has nothing to do with being careful.
Later, at Lennox Hospital, Elektra has stolen a nurses uniform to sneak into MacKinley’s room to see how he is doing and learn what the attack on him was all about.[5] He tells her how he befriended Sam Lincoln a few years ago when the disgraced boxer came to hang out at his training camp. Sam taught Mac everything he knows about boxing. The two became fast friends and Lincoln confided in Stewart about his troubled past. After he was blacklisted from professional boxing, Sam went to do jobs for Alphonse Scarpetti and ended up doing things he wasn’t proud of. Ultimately, he ended up faking being punch drunk to get out of working for the mobster. Unfortunately, Mac doesn’t know what Sam might have sent him, but suspects that it might have something to do with Scarpetti.
Soon, Spider-Man arrives outside the Puck Building where Alphonse Scapetti lives. Looking through the window he notices that Scarpetti is interest in contents of a box. That’s when Elektra comes smashing through the window. However, before she can run the mobster through with a sword, Spider-Man comes crasing in. Diverting the sword with his webbing, it only ends up pinning Alphonse’s ear to the back of his chair. As Spider-Man scolds Elektra for attempting to kill the mobster, the Silencer suddenly appears the room and attacks Elektra with an ax. Spider-Man tries to swing into the killer, but the wall-crawler ends up phasing into the Silencer’s body. The killer then pulls Spider-Man out of his body and tosses the web-slinger into Elektra. The force of the throw sends both Spider-Man and Elektra smashing out a nearby window. Spider-Man manages to snare the box in his webbing, but the Silencer grabs hold of it and shoots the wall-crawler. Elektra orders Spider-Man to keep holding to his strand of webbing and throws her sai at the box, knocking it open. The evidence falls out and Spider-Man manages to catch it and they quickly escape.[6] The evidence is a recording which contains a message for MacKinley Stewart, prompting them to go back to Lenox Hospital. After Elektra saves Stuart from an assassin they play the recording for him. However, it is Spider-Man who is able to figure out the clues in the coded message realizing that he is referencing different constelations and, remembering that Sam worked at the museum, deduces that the evidence has been stashed in the Hall of Constellations. As they depart, Elektra pauses long enough to kiss MacKinley and admit that she loves him.
At the musem, Spider-Man climbs up to a projector that displays the constellations and inside they find a key to a locker located at Gleason’s Gym. Before they can leave, they sense the presence of the Silencer. The ensuing battle draws the security guard, but Elektra knocks him out before he can be harmed by Silencer. By this time, Spider-Man wraps Silencer in a cocoon of webbing, but when the pair lay into it, they discover that Silencer somehow vanished from inside. That’s when the Silencer reappears with two guns. However, the killer materializes near a meteor sample that was knocked from its display during the fight. The meteor causes the Silencer pain and the two realize that by some stroke of luck they stumbled upon the Siilencer’s weakness. While Elektra disarms the Silencer, Spider-Man picks up the meteor and plunges it into his intangible body. To their surprise, the Silencer is suddenly sealed inside the metero, ending his threat.
Thanks to the evidence they manage to get, Alphonse Scarpetti is sent to prison. Later, Spider-Man and Elektra meet up with Max Igoe to fill him in on everything. Although the Daily Bugle was able to enroll Sam’s daughter in their scholarship program, the story doesn’t have a totally happy ending as MacKinley Stuart died in the hospital due to his injuries. This has hit Elektra hard and blames herself for his death, and promptly leaves when the two men try to convince her that Mac died a hero. At Sing Sing prison, Alphonse Scarpetti is hardly bothered by his imprisonment, and meets with one of his men to send a message to his minions outside. As far as Scarpetti is concerned, his imprisonment is only a change of address. While at Ravencroft Institute, the meteor containig the Silencer is being held in a cell. Suddenly, the meteor begins to glow and mathematical equations begin appearing on its surface.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Elektra, Mary Jane Watson, MacKinley Stewart
Continuity Notes
The splash page features a mock-up of a boxing match between Sam Lincoln and another boxer. The year listed on the poster is 1962. This should be considered a topical reference. Modern readers sould infer that Sam Lincoln was a boxer roughly 35 years prior to this story.
Elektra saved Stewart’s life in Elektra #19.
Peter and Mary Jane are referred to as husband and wife here. Years later, their marriage was erased by Mepisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. As such they should be considered a common-law couple here.
This story states that Lincoln did his time in Joliet Correctional Center. This should be considered a topical reference as Joliet was shut down in 2002.
Elektra mentions how the whole city is after her. Following a public battle in Elektra #18, Elektra’s presence in New York City became known to the authorities and she had become a wanted fellon since Elektra #19.
The evidence is depicted as a cassette tape. This should be considered a topicla reference as this is considered an obselete technology.
