Spider-Man’s Tangled Web #4

[cyberghostface]

"Severance Package" is easily the most critically acclaimed issue of this anthology, even being nominated for an Eisner Award for "Best Single Issue of a Comic Book" in 2002. 

One of Kingpin's top lieutenants discovers that an arms deal worth millions of dollars has been foiled by a certain webslinger. Fisk calls him up and tells him that someone will be there to pick him up within the hour.





His driver, Richie, is another one of Fisk's men who botched one of his own operations but he tells Tom that Fisk has given him a second chance because he's young.

Comments

[tripodeca113]

A moments silence, for all the low to mid-level henchmen and goons who die both implicitly and explicitly in media.

[tinygaylaura]

"Now I don't like to see anyone die

but if someone has to die

it might as well be a henchman

Another one comes along

It's the same outfit

Same gadgets

Their memories are with us

Not

too well

But I said goodbye to everone who worked for this villainous organisation. With a tear in my eye. And a song in my heart"

[dan_ingram]

Nice little story, but when you step back, it makes me wonder if Fisk is all that smart with running his business.

Spider-Man isn't much of an investigator, he doesn't work with the cops, can't be bribed and probably doesn't even have a set pattern of patrol. If he messed up an operation by this guy, it was likely because of pure luck and stupidity on the part of the people at the bottom ("Look, Spidey! Lets shoot!")

He's basically killing a guy in upper management for having bad luck.

[starwolf_oakley]

Various Daredevil stories have Fisk killing an underling for a minor or imagined slight. So it is "in character" for him.

[janegray]

Man, no wonder Fisk keeps getting his ass kicked by superheroes...

You wanna win, you need decent help. But you can't have any decent help if you get rid of competent and experienced highly qualified personnel when they make a mistake even once. Even the very best professionals are human and are bond to err sometimes. So you create a situation of massive turnover, and are always stuck working with rookies.

The definition of Lawful Stupid.

[armycat23]

Definitely a blast from the past. If nothing else, you have to note this man's loyalty. The guy had a perfect opportunity to escape with his life. As tough as Fisk is....he's not surviving a couple shots to the head. A seasoned leader with 20 years should have been able to do it easily if he wanted to....but he had his own brand of loyalty and code to make the scene like Fisk wanted him to.

[janegray]

He really didn't, though. Fisk had already sent an assassin to the guy's home, ready to kill the guy's wife and children, and waiting for Fisk to tell him if he should back off or not.

Presumably, if the guy had shot Fisk in the head, the assassin would have not received the call to tell him to back off, and would have proceeded automatically.

[armycat23]

Touche

[lego_joker]

Also, Fisk survived exactly that in David Mack's "Parts of a Hole" with nothing more than some temporary blindness, sooo...

[blueprintstyles]

This is why Fisk can never expand beyond New York. Killing your workers for something like this is either stupidity or sadism. Probably both.

[beyondthefringe]

On the surface, a really well done story.

But when you live in a city TEEMING with superheroes who SPECIALIZE in street-level crime, having your people killed every time some random hero foils a plan or whatever should lead to a lot of employee attrition. Double when you kill your most experienced, talented, and loyal employees. The guy here was clearly employee of the month, if not the year, and killing him was a waste.

Sure, he pays well, but is it worth risking death if Daredevil stumbles across your chop shop one night?

[deh_tommy]

Wasn't that how Peter ended up taking down Kingpin the first time in Ultimate Spider-Man? Getting video tapes of him killing one of his goons?

[cyberghostface]

Yeah although in that case the guy was insulting Fisk to his face in front of the rest of his men.

[phantomfo]

Marvel NYC is weird, though. Between the villains and vigilantes like the Punisher, they probably see around 500 homicides per week. That's not even counting fatalities from whatever planet or dimension is invading them this week. Heck, Kang personally nuked DC a few years ago.

And yet, it's still safer than Gotham.

[zachbeacon]

Wesley is a relatively new character, right? It strikes me as so strange that the guy in stories like this would have an underling that he confided in and seems to be off-limits RE murder. I mean this is a guy whose primary means of hiring assassins is the go with the person who killed his last one. Sure he'd had right hand men like the Arranger before but I was always under the impression that the only reason Fisk didn't eventually kill him is the Knight and Fogg beat him to it.

On a related note Boris and Dr Doom's relationship bugs the heck out of me too ... even before Victor wore his granddaughter as a skinsuit.

[cyberghostface]

Wesley was actually introduced back in the Miller days although he was only brought back to prominence recently due to Netflix synergy. But I guess there are people who Fisk cares about (like the 616 Miles Morales) and people who are just means to an end.

[zachbeacon]

I'd forgotten he was in the Miller run... probably because he was one of the elements that didn't stick.

616 Miles strikes me as the kind of friend a lot of guys have when they get older. They barely interact anymore but they were close when they were younger so they still consider themselves friends.

I don't buy present day Kingpin as being close to anyone but his wife. Heck, he and his own son were trying to kill each other on and off for decades (before Vanessa finished the job)