Nick Peron

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Spider-Woman #5

Nightmare

Credits

Spider-Woman has been taken to "safety" by the Hangman, who ties her to a chair and gags her in the dungeon of an old abandoned home he has taken up residence in. He tells her that he has brought her here to keep her safe from a society that craves violence and lawlessness, made popular in movies. When he then leaves Jessica alone, she easily frees herself and begins trying to find a way out of the Hangman's home.

Spider-Woman is startled when a mirror shows a reflection of a skeletal version of herself in her costume. This is the first of many hauntings which Spider-Woman experiences in this house. She is soon caught in a spider-web and is stalked by an evil spirit taking the form of Jerry Hunt that transforms into a spider. Meanwhile, at the boarding house that Jessica shares with Magnus, Magnus has a conversation with Priscilla Dolly about her late husband and what he did for a living.

Back at the haunted house, Jessica manages to escape from the Jerry Hunt apparition only to be haunted by apparitions of her father and Magnus. Although she escapes one, the other manages to pin her to the ground until she blacks out. When she revives, she finds herself in a strange dungeon. Traveling through it, she is attacked by animated suits of armor. Fighting off these suits, she soon finds the room flooded with water but manages to break free. In yet another room of the house, she sees what appears to be Magnus tied up to a chair. Confirming that it is the real Magnus, Jessica tries to revive him. Suddenly she is visited by the operation of Morgan le Fay, who appears with her Doomslayer warriors to have her revenge against them.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Woman, Magnus, Hangman, Morgan le Fay, Priscilla Dolly

Continuity Notes

  • Hangman cites violent movies that star Clint Eastwood and compares them to films that star John Wayne. Although Hangman is a fan of classic cinema, his comparison to the golden age of film to the early films of Clint Eastwood is a dated reference and therefore should be considered topical.

  • Spider-Woman mentions that she met Jerry Hunt in London. Her encounters with him occurred in Spider-Woman #1-2. She references how she was experimented on by the High Evolutionary here as well. See Marvel Spotlight #32 and Spider-Woman #1 for more details. A conflicting account of her origins was told in Spider-Woman: The Origin #1-5, my theory on how to reconcile these differing accounts can be found here.

  • The identity of Priscilla Dolly's late husband is revealed in Spider-Woman #12.