Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light

Chapter 101: Theater Of The Absurd

Gwen Stacy worked diligently at her sewing machine, preparing another one of the red and gold costumes she wore as the spectacular Spider-Woman. Her last spandex costume was becoming too tattered to continue patching up, so she had to make a new one. Fortunately, Gwen's background in fashion made her skilled at designing and making clothes.

As she added a new spool of thread onto the machine, Gwen thought about how many of the skills she used in her civilian life helped her as a superhero. Her acting skills helped her disguise her voice when she was out as Spider-Woman, and also helped her keep up a brave face whenever she was shaken by the horrible things she often saw. Her martial arts training helped her quickly learn how to use her spider-powers and fight against the dozens of costumed villains she'd battled. Her experience as a model helped her quickly change in and out of costume.

Gwen frowned bitterly as she realized how some of the skills she'd learned growing up in a broken home also helped her as a superhero. She'd used her makeup skills to discreetly cover up the injuries her late unlamented father George Stacy inflicted on her and her mother Helen Lieber-Stacy. The first aid skills she'd learned to treat her and Helen's injuries also helped her treat the wounds she suffered as Spider-Woman.

Nearly an hour later, Gwen finished sewing her costume. As she began pressing it with her iron, she thought about the latest complication in her life. After she'd defeated her old enemy, the electrically powered killer Supercharger, she'd been targeted by a stalker. The stalker, whoever they were, did everything from throw threatening notes through her window to seemingly follow her around in public. Gwen reported that to the police, but then the stalker revealed that they somehow knew she was Spider-Woman.

Gwen managed to keep herself from screaming in public when she saw the note telling her that.

Her acting skills were good enough that she was able to hold her scream until she was alone in the privacy of her own home.

SPIDER-WOMAN #101

THEATRE OF THE ABSURD

Gwen wasn't sure who she could talk to about the stalker knowing her secret identity. She obviously couldn't tell the police about it, and she wasn't sure if telling Helen, her boyfriend Randy Robertson or her close friend Liz Allan about it would do any good either. All it would do was upset them, and Gwen doubted they could really help her.

Then she realized who actually could help her.

"How did this guy figure out your secret identity?" Peter Parker, also known as the amazing Spider-Man, asked Gwen over the phone once she'd explained the problem to him.

"I honestly don't know," Gwen said, anxiously twirling a lock of her hair in her free hand. "I've tried a dozen times to think about when I could have let it slip, and I simply can't think of when it might have happened. It's just like with Jack O' Lantern-I don't know what happened!"

"Maybe it was Jack O' Lantern?" Peter said.

Gwen blanched at that thought, and for a moment she began shaking with anxiety.

"It might be," Gwen said, "but he always made sure I knew it was him. Whoever's doing this doesn't want me to know who they are."

"Did you ever consider why this person hasn't made your identity public?" Peter said. "What do they have to gain from it?"

"...I don't know," Gwen said. "I wondered about Jack O' Lantern doing that, and I eventually realized that he probably didn't want any of my other enemies targeting me the way he could."

"It sounds like this person is trying to torment you," Peter said. "Does that sound like something any of your enemies might do?"

"Some of them would, but I'm pretty sure they're all still in jail, including Jack O'Lantern," Gwen said. "Maybe it's someone else entirely new?"