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Featuring the following heroine!
Calypso
AKA: The Hunter of Souls. The Witch.
First appearance: Amazing Spider-Man 209
Died in: Web of Spider-Man 109. She looked pretty dead at the end of Spectacular
Spider-Man 253, too. But death's no big deal for her...
Got better in: Peter Parker, Spider-Man '97
Favorite quote: "What's to understand? The Man-Spider is weak and you are strong."
(Spectacular Spider-Man 65, after her lover Kraven, not knowing that Calypso had slyly
poisoned Spider-Man, wonders why the Web-Crawler is not fighting up to par).
Powers: A Haitian national, Calypso is a powerful proponent of voodoo magic. She uses
bira bells, yoruba spirit drums and other magical accoutrements to "becloud the mind of an
enemy," or just to really mess up a super-hero's spider- or radar-sense. She can even
imprison souls to create living zombies and, when the need presents itself, orchestrate
her own return from the dead. The latter ability puts her in an exclusive class of mages
that includes the likes of Dr. Strange and Morgan Le Fey. In case magic doesn't work,
she's an accurate shot with a crossbow and, when it comes to hand-to-hand combat,
can pull hair with the best of 'em.
Team affiliation: Calypso considers herself to be the soul mate of Kraven the Hunter, and patterned her most recent costume after his. Spurned by him after she cheated during a fight with Spider-Man, she worked ceaselessly to resurrect Kraven after his death. She also allied herself with Dr. Curt Connors' alter-ego, the Lizard. After the Lizard ... well, killed her ... Calypso used Peter Parker's friend Glory Grant as one in a series of vessels to get back to her body's burial place at Cypress Hills Cemetery, where she orchestrated her own resurrection. Since then she's been seen controlling Kraven's son (who doesn't like her since Daddy spent more time with her than with him) and giving Spider-Man no end of grief.
Favorite Storyline: Calypso was at her eerie, creepy best in DareDevil 310-311, where she enslaved Matt Murdock, battled Daredevil's loa-sent doppelganger, and somehow managed to survive being dragged toward the underworld by her own zombies and having a building fall on her. Another worthy read, especially for Kraven fans, is the aforementioned Spectacular Spider-Man 65, where Calypso learns that love is cannot exist without honor. (Well, she should have learned that! But these bad guys never do learn anything, do they?)
Least favorite storyline: Calypso's death at the claws of the Lizard in Web of Spider-Man 109 was both lame and needless (which might explain her relatively rapid resurrection in the recent Spider-Man '97 annual).
