At the time of this issue, Gerry Conway had been writing the book. He wanted to focus on the lesser-known characters in Spider-Man's supporting cast, as many of the main members of the cast, like Aunt May, Mary Jane Watson, and J. Jonah Jameson, got spotlight in Amazing. He also had a desire to give Spidey a ruthless gangster much like the old Spidey villain Hammerhead, but not Hammerhead himself. And thus, Tombstone was born. His storyline would go over quite well with readers, and the albino gangster would be a menace to New York since.
But how did Tombstone come to be in the Marvel Universe itself? What made him into the gangster he is today? Well, let's find out as we take a look at Spectacular Spider-Man #139!
The cover is really awesome. The stark white cover makes you focus directly on the man himself. The facial expression, the way he holds his hands, the bodies at his feet. It all gives the message that this is a man who is not to be messed with. The cover does a great job selling how scary Tombstone can be. I can imagine he killed on these men on the cover with his bare hands.
"Grave Memory"
Writer: Gerry Conway
Penciller: Sal Buscema
Letterer: Rick Parker
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco
The story begins with, well, a dark and stormy night. Peter Parker is swinging through the city, just on his way to Robbie Robertson's office, and he just dodged a sniper's bullet.
Thank everything for the Spider-Sense. Spidey spots the gunman and swings after him. The sniper tries to flee, but Spidey webs the door, and flashes the Spider-Signal at him. Spidey demands to know who hired him, but the sniper refuses to tell him, so he gets knocked out by a light tap from the Webhead. When the sniper wakes up, he finds himself hung from a flagpole.
Spidey warns him the rain might make the web melt, so he'd better start talking. The gunman quickly explains that it was a blind hire. All he was told was he was supposed to shoot Robbie Robertson. Spidey just was in the way. Typical Parker luck. Spidey swings away, telling the gunman that the cops will pick him up. As for the melting webbing...Spidey lied. Heh.
Spidey arrives, realizing that "blind hire" is an underworld term. Basically, someone anonymously hired the sniper to kill Robertson. That leaves Spidey with a big question: Who would want Robbie Robertson dead that badly? Peter finds Robbie's office deserted, except for a file folder and a cassette deck. Yeah, it was the 80s. The Wall-Crawler notices that the tape has his name on it. Curious, he plays it.
The tape is of Robbie speaking. He's got another commitment to fulfill tonight, so he made this tape to explain to Peter why he's not there to meet him. Robbie has a confession to make, one that could destroy his career. Since Peter works freelance, he has no vested interest in protecting either Robbie or the Daily Bugle itself. Well, Peter does care for Robbie and the Bugle seems to be the only paper that will hire him, so maybe he has something of a vested interest. But what is this confession Robbie has to make?
A figure known as "Tombstone" is back in town, and there are some deaths connected to him. Robertson clearly blames himself for those deaths, to the point where he considers himself an accessory to those murders. He hears Daily Bugle City Editor Kate Cushing calling for Robbie, and Spidey decides its time to make himself scarce. She and J. Jonah Jameson arrive at Robbie's office and find it deserted. They're worried about him. Thing about Jameson, he can be a loud skinflint with serious envy issues towards Spider-Man, but he is capable of caring about others.
The scene shifts to a building owned by Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin. A man named Roland Rayburn is getting himself slapped around the pale powerhouse known only as Tombstone. The Arranger, Kingpin's right-hand man, has followed Rayburn's career as a Wall Street trader for several months, and it's allowed him to make a discovery. You see, Rayburn is a mutant, with the power to persuade people to do what he asked them.
However, Rayburn thinks the Arranger is crazy. And Tombstone gives him another whack for it. Rayburn tries to convince the Arranger to release him. It starts to work, but Tombstone points out he's using his power. Realizing this, Arranger shakes it off, and Tombstone dislocates Rayburn's arm. He then gets a call from Robbie Robertson.
Tombstone leaves, as he has some personal business with Robbie in Battery Park in an hour. A nurse comes in and helps fix up Rayburn. The Arranger states that Rayburn's power will be used in the Kingpin's service, one way or another. Spider-Man swings through the city, listening to Robbie's cassette. Robbie has been keeping a secret for thirty years. Back in high school, Robbie Robertson was editor of the school's newspaper. He was over the moon, as he got a scholarship to the Columbia School of Journalism. His teen years did have a dark side, embodied in one Lonnie Thompson Lincoln.
Born an albino, Lincoln's pale appearance made him the object of mockery and torment by other kids. He would be given the nickname "Tombstone" because...well, he looked like a tall slab of rock. However, he was bigger and tougher than the other kids, and often would physically abuse others in response. However, he did consider Robbie Robertson a friend...in his own way. On a Friday night, Robbie was finishing up work on the school paper. When he left, the school was empty...expect for Tombstone.
The big albino found Robbie and dragged him outside. He's learned that Robbie is writing an article about him in the school paper. Tombstone at the time was very worried about his image. Robbie tells him he can find out by reading the school paper. Tombstone doesn't like what's being written about him, and he expresses his issue in the only way he knows how.
He decides that he considers Robbie a friend. Lincoln's idea of friendship is basically, "Do what I say, and I won't beat the tar out of you.", though. As such, he considers Robbie a friend. Tombstone's beating has an effect, and Robbie kills the story. From then, he vowed to never do that again. But in his own words, "Kids are so naïve."
Eight years later, Robbie was married and working for a paper in Philadelphia. He worked the night desk, so any tips he got usually were from wacky people. However, he got a serious call once. A tipster called, saying he saw who killed a local crime figure named Ozzy Montana. He wants Robbie to meet him, as he feels the phone is unsafe. Robbie arrives at the tipster's location, only to find...
Tombstone got to the tipster first, taunting Robbie by winking at him. The old nightmare of Robbie's past came roaring back into his life. Utterly terrified, Robbie fled. He managed to make it home, but Tombstone gives him a call, telling him he does good work. He knew how much of a monster the man was, and he was understandably afraid. Eventually, Robbie would go to New York and be hired by the Daily Bugle. He would spend the next twenty years following Tombstone's career as a Philly mob enforcer. He would get arrested, but never tried. Presumably due to the big pale powerhouse's talents for intimidation and murder.
Robertson then recalls when he saw Tombstone outside a pub near South Street. This happened in Web of Spider-Man #36 (March 1988). All of Robertson's old fears came roaring back. The monster that was Tombstone was haunting him again, and he lost his focus. He would encounter and speak with his old bully again in Spectacular Spider-Man #137 (April 1988). On this night, he was at a bar that Daily Bugle employees regularly frequented. He overheard Ben Urich discussing Tombstone, explaining that the man had been rumored to be hired by the Kingpin. Robertson snaps at Urich, saying that reporters deal with facts, not rumors.
He goes outside and spots a newspaper stand, showing a paper with a headline about Tombstone. He angrily punches the stand, and holds his bleeding, injured hand. He blames himself for all the deaths Tombstone caused. Robertson believes that if he had faced down the hitman twenty years earlier, when maybe those people would be alive. He can't change the past, but he's going to end this. He's going to make sure Tombstone never kills anyone else again.
Spider-Man bursts into the Arranger's office, demanding to know where Tombstone is. Arranger states that Tombstone is not under Fisk's employ. Spider-Man doubts this, but if that is the truth, then the Arranger is off the hook. Arranger warns Spider-Man that this is pure speculation on his part, but he suggests that the Webhead check Battery Park.
The Arranger's speculation is right on target, as Robertson meets Tombstone there. The two share some small talk, and Robbie pulls a gun on the gangster. Tombstone is amused by this, and lunges at the reporter. Robbie shoots him, but Tombstone was wearing a bulletproof vest under his suit. He decides to give Robertson a break, for old times' sake.
A break in his spine. Spider-Man swings into the park, where he hears Robbie's scream. He finds the man lying on the ground in pain, and Tombstone has seemingly vanished. He tries to help Robbie up, but Robertson's back injury makes that a problem. And that's how the story ends.
This issue was really good. I liked that we got a look back at the younger years of one of the Daily Bugle's regular cast members. The Tombstone storyline helped give the character of Robbie Robertson, in my opinion, much more prominence in the Spider-Mythos. Sal Buscema at this point had been an old veteran artist for Marvel, having drawn for the company for about two decades. His experience shines through in the issue. I especially like the way he draws facial expressions.
Tombstone himself would go on to be a further source of torment in Robbie Robertson's life, including making life for Robbie in prison miserable (Robertson was jailed by a crooked judge for suppression of evidence). He would also go on to have encounters with Daredevil and the Punisher, and even gain superpowers of his own. In Web of Spider-Man #66-68 (July-September 1990), Robertson shot Tombstone at the Osborn Chemical Plant, trapping him in a chamber filled with an experimental gas. The gas mutated Tombstone, giving him superhuman strength and durability. In gratitude for this, he ended his vendetta with the reporter.
He would also be part of a supervillain legacy. His daughter Janice would go on to be the second woman to wear the armor of the Beetle.
Tombstone himself is not one of the most famous of Spider-Man's rogues, but he isn't completely obscure either, as he has appeared in other media. He appeared in the 1990s cartoon Spider-Man: The Animated Series as a mob enforcer, voiced by Darian Harewood. His albinism in that series was a side effect of his gaining his powers. He would also appear in 2008's The Spectacular Spider-Man, voiced by Keith David and Kevin Michael Richardson. This version was portrayed as a Kingpin-esque mob boss who posed as a philanthropist in the public eye. Interestingly, he was amalgamated with another mob boss Spidey faced in the comics: The Big Man. If you want to read this yourself, I recommend picking up the trade paperback The Amazing Spider-Man: Tombstone. You won't regret it. It's some good late 80s Spidey.
Next time, we return to the DCU as the Crisis on Infinite Earths takes the fight to the beginning of time..."
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