The blog has sat gravely quiet lately whilst my personal,
professional and academic life has absorbed the majority of my attention. But Marvel
Studios’ and Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man: Brand New Day film is
just around the corner, so I felt now might be the best time to cover one of
the film’s antagonists Tombstone
who will be portrayed by Marvin Jones III, having previously voiced the
character in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Obviously, as this is an
MC2 blog, we’ll be focusing on Tombstone in the MC2.
But first, let’s cover the basics of the granite-skinned
gangster. Lonnie Thompson Lincoln aka Tombstone first appeared
via a cameo in Web of Spider-Man #36. Created by the late great Gerry
Conway and unsung artistic achiever Alex Saviuk, before making his
first full appearance in Spectacular Spider-Man #137 with beloved artist
and MC2 alumni Sal
Buscema providing his definitive depiction.
An albino African
American, Lonnie Thompson Lincoln gained the nickname ‘Tombstone’
while still attending Harlem High School with Joseph
‘Robbie’ Robertson. After assaulting and threatening Robertson
into squashing his article about Lonnie’s own criminal behaviour, the
spectre of Tombstone would continue to loom large over the junior
journalist. Eight years later while Robbie was working for a Philadelphia
newspaper, he received a tip from a witness to the murder of Ozzy Montana.
At their meet up location, Robbie instead found the informant dead at
the hands of Lincoln and was again intimidated into silence. Robbie
and his wife Martha moved to New York soon after, where for the
next 20 years he followed the mob enforcer career of Tombstone. While Tombstone
was arrested a dozen times, he never saw trial due to witnesses recanting their
testimony or disappearing (Spectacular Spider-Man #139).
Having returned to New York in the employ of the Wilson
Fisk aka the Kingpin
of Crime, Tombstone’s sudden reappearance led Robbie to
confront the hardman with a gun, only for Tombstone to leave Robertson
hospitalized, severely injured and immobilised with a nearly broken back (Spectacular
Spider-Man #139).
Spider-Man goes after Tombstone with the
uneasy assistance of Frank Castle aka The Punisher. After game
planning in his boat called the ‘Golden Girl’, Frank is
ambushed and lured into a trap, while Tombstone threatens and injures Mary
Jane Parker to ensure her husband Peter Parker handed him Robertson’s
incriminating testimony (Spectacular Spider-Man #140-#141).
Angered, Peter goes to confront Tombstone as Spider-Man
and beats him handedly, meanwhile Robbie finds the strength to overcome
his fear and gives his statement to the Justice Department and the Daily
Bugle, knowing he may may face criminal charges himself as an accessory to
murder (Spectacular Spider-Man #142).
Things take a turn for the worse for Robbie during
the trial when he is found guilty of misprision of a felony and sentenced to
thirty-six months in the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary. It
becomes immediately clear that the choice of prison was arranged by Tombstone
himself, to ensure Robbie was within his reach (Spectacular
Spider-Man #150).
During his incarceration, Robbie is targeted by Tombstone
only to be protected by fellow inmate Lemuel ‘Bruiser’ McPhee. Bruiser’s
defence doesn’t last long, and he is murdered by Tombstone. Using
Robertson to lure Spider-Man into a trap, the webslinger is drugged
and beaten by Tombstone before the mobster makes his prison break via
helicopter, with the unwilling Robbie in tow. In a rush of courage, Robbie
pushes Tombstone and himself from the helicopter to the ground below (Spectacular
Spider-Man #151-#153, #155).
Despite days of searching, the two men are not found and are
presumed dead. Unbeknownst to everyone, including the probing Peter Parker
aka Spider-Man, Joe Robertson has survived but is badly injured
from the fall into the river. Washing up far south on the bank, Tombstone
flags down an Amish man to help his ‘friend’ (Spectacular Spider-Man
#156). Robbie spends weeks recuperating on the Amish farm in Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania, remaining silent about their situation due to threats
upon their kindly hosts from Lincoln. Determined to end things, Robbie
stands up to Tombstone in a fight which ends with Lincoln stabbed
by a pitchfork and slinking away bleeding (Spectacular Spider-Man #157).
Thanks to the intervention of ‘Bruiser’s’ brother Stuart
McPhee, a White House advisor, Robbie is granted a Presidential
pardon (Spectacular Spider-Man #158-#159, #161).
Now let’s jump ahead a little to Web of Spider-Man #66,
where Tombstone threatens to frame Mark Raxton
aka The Molten Man in order to gain a supply of Osborn
Chemical’s new chemical preservative named Diox-3. The
now-reformed Raxton enlists Spider-Man to help foil the theft,
and Tombstone is confronted by Robbie Robertson. Unfortunately, Tombstone
had anticipated Raxton’s double-cross and intentionally tipped off Robertson
in order to kill him. During their scuffle, Robbie shoots Tombstone
who falls back into the experimental pressure capsule chamber as it activates,
exposing him to the Diox-3. The preservative, which was intended for prevent
decomposition in plant matter, bonds to Tombstone’s cells. By the time Spider-Man,
Molten Man and the Green Goblin (Harry Osorn) manage to open the pressure
chamber, Tombstone is gone.
Having punched his way out of the chamber, Tombstone
staggers into a confrontation wherein he easily shrugs of gun fire and
discovers he now has indestructible skin and enhanced strength to match (Web
of Spider-Man #67). Lincoln returns to his current crime boss Hammerhead
and immediately attempts to take control of his operation, thanking Joe
Robertson for his new abilities as the intrepid newsman arrives on the
scene accompanied by Spider-Man. A disgruntled Hammerhead interrupts
the super-slugfest with a hail of bullets which ignite nearby explosives,
leaving Tombstone’s whereabouts unknown in fallout (Web of Spider-Man
#68).
Now let’s skip to Tombstone’s appearances in the MC2.
With a crime war a-brewing, Don Silvio Barraca aka Silverback engages
Tombstone’s services in Amazing Spider-Man Family #6 (published
digitally first as Spectacular Spider-Girl Vol. 1 #2). Targeting Spider-Girl
first, Tombstone batters the unprepared web-head, breaking her web-shooters
in the process and nearly kills her before seeing news reports of another Spider-Girl
(Spectacular Spider-Girl Vol. 1 #3 / Amazing Spider-Man Family #7).
Doubling his fee, Silverback sends Tombstone to
eliminate the second Spider-Girl (‘April Parker’) while his men
dispose of the first. Tombstone attacks the new Spider-Girl, this
time being the one unprepared, with this Spider-Girl’s symbiote
hybrid abilities taking him by surprise. Assuming he will be caught and left
for the police, Tombstone is instead smothered to death by April (Spectacular
Spider-Girl Vol. 1 #4 /Amazing Spider-Man Family #8).
And thus, the story of the career criminal enforcer Tombstone
in the MC2 comes to its inevitable end. With Tombstone showing up in
so much media outside the comics lately, this post was also inevitable. Rest in
Peace Gerry Conway and Sal Buscema and thank you for all your
contributions to the world.
Until I manage to turn a teasing nickname into a lucrative
career, I remain
frogoat