After apparently killing and burying Spider-Man (in WoSM #31, ’87), Kraven stands, wearing the wall-crawler’s costume, over a tombstone reading, “Here Lies Spider-Man, Slain by the Hunter.” In Midtown, Vermin pulls a woman into the sewer. Kraven, as Spidey, heads to his lair, where he laps up a liquid intended to burn off the “Kraven” and leave behind the Spider. He hallucinates thousands of spiders merging into a single giant that attacks him. Vermin kills and devours the woman. A photo of Spider-Man in a newspaper haunts him. With Peter missing, MJ walks the streets looking for him and antagonizes two street punks. The giant spider engulfs Kraven who realizes he must surrender to Spidey’s essence to become him. The two punks chase and corner MJ, but “Spider-Man” arrives and beats them so mercilessly that MJ realizes this Spider-Man isn’t Peter. Vermin emerges from the sewer, out in the world again, and hungry.