Wolfpack #7 (February 1989)

It's that time again! It's time to rejoin the Wolfpack in their greatest battle against the Nine! Last time, the Pack dealt with a bunch of robbers in a haunted house. What misadventures will they get up to next? Let's find out in Wolfpack #7!

The cover is a Ron Wilson and Chris Ivy piece. I think it's pretty cool. The big man of the Pack, Mr. "Slag" Slagley (seriously, what is his first name) swinging down to help Rafael Vega fight some gun-toting thugs. It has a really nice action-movie poster vibe. I don't like the blurb, as it spoils something. You'll see what I mean. 

"Blast from the Past"
Writer John Figueroa
Penciler: Ron Wilson
Inker: Chris Ivy
Colorist: Max Scheele
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Editor: Terry Kavanaugh
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The story begins with a young lady named Maria on her way home. Her mother worries about her walking around late at night. After all, who knows what is running around late at night in the South Bronx. And considering this is the Marvel Universe, she could encounter monsters, vampires, a bad-tempered alien...or one of the X-Men on a bender.

A group of men spot the young lady and offer to walk her home. 

"We also charge a walking tax!"

However, Maria is no fool. She knows these men do not have friendly intentions towards her. The men crowd towards her, but she would get some saviors this night: Our heroes, the Wolfpack. The Pack, being trained martial artists (and in the case of Sharon, has superpowers), easily toss them around. One punk pulls a knife on Rafael, which enrages the Puerto Rican fighter.

"This was Billy's knife!"

You see, Rafael recognizes this particular switchblade. But the punks run away before he can get any answers. Wheels rolls up and thinks the Pack need some further refinement. After all, these patrols are meant to be deterrents. Slag walks Maria home. Sharon thinks that the patrols are not working. She asks Rafael what he thinks, but he's more distracted by the switchblade. He knows what it is. It's a calling card. And he runs.

Unknown to the group, they are being watched.

No, they aren't being watched by Robert DeNiro. This guy is watching them.

"Besides, I know Crenshaw stole my ottoman."

The man is only known as Apollo Cora, and he is returning to the South Bronx after a long time. The Nine have brought him in to deal with the Wolfpack. Apollo is understandably disbelieving of this. A bunch of teenagers? It's not like they're the New Mutants or the future New Warriors. They're just a bunch of street kids. A group of street kids couldn't cause that many problems for the Nine, right?

Indeed. As we've seen in previous issues, the Wolfpack have been quite the thorn in the ancient evil organization's side. They want Apollo to deal with the Pack, and he had better not fail. 

That night, the Wolfpack hold a rooftop meeting, where Rafael explains the switchblade. You see, the handle of the weapon has an engraving of the sun on it. Which makes sense, as in Greco-Roman mythology, Apollo was a sun god.

Apollo was the head of the organized crime syndicate that ran the South Bronx, Thing was, the man was also a wife-beater. He beat his wife so hard that she pressed charges, and he fled town. You'd think a man like Apollo with all the power he had, would have been able to quash this. I can imagine he could likely afford some high-priced lawyers, after all.

That was ten years ago. Presumably, his fleeing caused his syndicate to collapse and allowed the Nine to take over. These sun-engraved switchblades were standard issue to his soldiers. Thing is, Rafael assumes seeing this switchblade means he's back. But it's been ten years. As far as he knows, this could have been found by some random hoodlum and they kept it because they thought it looked cool. There are likely a lot of these switchblades still around. Either way, Apollo has to be stopped. So, where is he? Well, the man has decided to check out an arcade. 

"I told you not to get rid of that Galaga machine!"

As you can see, the man wasn't there to play some video games. A real shame, as they just got that Space Harrier cabinet, and I think he'd have a blast playing it. Apollo is trying to extort some protection money from the owner. The owner mocks him by pointing out Apollo is toxic to everyone around him, including his family. This infuriates the criminal, who decides to make an example out of him...by blowing him and his business sky-high.

Yup, Apollo blew up Tony's Arcade. The Wolfpack are especially shocked by this as even the local gangs leave that place unbothered. My guess is they consider it neutral territory. Slippery Sam sneaks behind the police cordon and finds something disturbing.

"He messed up the shading."

Apollo's symbol is combined with that of the Nine's, indicating their alliance. A messenger walks up to the pack, having a note for Rafael. The note basically is an invitation from Apollo to try and stop him. Your classic supervillain taunting. Apollo wants to meet the Pack at the Phoenix Social Club at midnight on Brook Street. The note also asks for Rafael to give his regards to his family. Rafael tells Slippery to send a response to him. Slag wants to know what's going on and why Rafael is being so secretive.

Rafael says they'll just have to trust him. The scene then shifts to the Phoenix Social Club. It's Apollo's headquarters. Kind of appropriate as a phoenix is a bird of fire, and as I said earlier, Apollo's namesake is a sun god. Apollo is noting that his initial assessment of the Wolfpack was...mistaken. They're tougher than he suspected. Slippery Sam appears and proposes an alternate meeting place: the old Bronx Opera House on 149th Street and 3rd Avenue. It's on neutral ground. And it will be a one-on-one fight: Rafael versus the best fighter Apollo's got. Apollo agrees to this.

At his home, Rafael asks his mother one question: Who is his dad? His mother tells him it's Hector Vega, and he was killed in a hold-up. Rafael remembers someone else, though. Someone who hurt him. He wants the truth. His mother admits to him that Apollo is his biological father. Later, he trains himself, thinking about how he can't control some aspects of his life. His circumstances of his birth, the place he lives in, his familial relations. But this? This he can control. He will take Apollo down and end this once and for all. 

That night, at the Bronx Opera House, Rafael faces off against Apollo.

Rafael puts up a good effort, being faster than the elder Apollo. However, the crime boss is a more experienced, seasoned fighter. Not to mention more ruthless. He's able to knock the teenager to the ground, taunting him about how powerful the Nine are. Rafael thinks back to when he was a boy, how Apollo beat him and his mother. This energizes the young Puerto Rican, and he beats Apollo down. Apollo taunts Rafael, saying Rafael doesn't have the guts to kill him. Thing is, Rafael won't, but not for the reasons that Apollo thinks. Rafael won't kill him because he's not worth it. The cops are coming, and Apollo is done. Thing is, the man has brought backup.

"We're gonna make sure you go out with a bang! Get it?"

Rafael (likely figuring the man would pull this) brought the Pack with him, and they manage to make short work of Apollo's gun-toting goons. Which also leads to this funny moment.

Rafael learned that Sharon is fond of strawberry lip balm.

Heh. Slippery Sam works to disarm the goons, but Apollo manages to catch him. 

"You Packers ain't gonna knifey-spoony me!"

To save Sam's life. Rafael is forced to toss a knife into his biological father's back. The knife fatally wounds Apollo, and he drops dead. Yeah, more on that later. 

The next morning, Rafael is on a rooftop, where his mother finds him. She laments that the Pack seemingly has to suffer simply because of her mistakes. Rafael tells her not to talk like that. There's no point on dwelling in the past. You learn from it and move on. Rafael's mother wants him to forgive her. He doesn't...because there's nothing to forgive. She fell for a bad man, but that wasn't her fault. She was a good mom, and she did get a good son out of it. 

The rest of the Pack come up with some news. Evidently, Apollo left a will, and there was one beneficiary: Rafael Vega. Vega now owns some property in Puerto Rico, has quite a bit of money...and stock in the Bedlam Corporation, which is a front for the Nine. So, yeah. Rafael is now part of the Nine.

If there is any comic here that shows that Rafael Vega is the main character of the Wolfpack, it is this one. His family life is explored the most, he gets a lot of the character development, etc. I do wish there was a bit more conflict over Sam and Rafael over the leadership of the Pack, especially since early issues seemed to set Sam up as the leader. And speaking of Sam, I do wish we got more exploration of his family life. The most exploration we got of Sam's was all the way back in the Graphic Novel.