Welcome, Spidey fans! I hope this month of February finds you all doing well. With Valentine’s Day coming up, I thought it would be the perfect time to look into a love interest of the past, but not one of Spider-Man’s former flames… No, I thought we’d look into the seemingly forgotten love of… Kraven the Hunter!
In “The Amazing Spider-Man” #209, readers were introduced to the mysterious Calypso.
At the time of her first appearance, Kraven’s desire to hunt the elusive Spider-Man had greatly diminished. Kraven had felt that he had become far too obsessed with Spider-Man and didn’t like the man he became in this deeply driven desire to take the Wall-Crawler down. Calypso was not satisfied with this, and fueled a fire deep within Kraven to resume his pursuit of Spider-Man.
Of course, this was several years in real time before Kraven’s suicide, and he failed on this outing. However, looking back, it could be said that without Calypso, Kraven very well might not have gone back after Spider-Man, thus avoiding “Kraven’s Last Hunt”.
By the time Sergei Kravinoff and the Haitian Calypso reappeared in “Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man” #65, Kraven’s interest in hunting Spider-Man was back in full swing; he was eager to regain what he saw as his lost honor and dignity. Calypso decided to assist Kraven, first by drugging Spider-Man with a hallucinogen, and then by throwing a spear at him. Each time, Kraven saved Spider-Man’s life, finding no honor in drugging him or by allowing Calypso’s spear to kill him. The villainous couple soon found themselves under arrest.
Calypso wouldn’t appear again for quite a while; not until adjectiveless “Spider-Man” #1-5 (the collective story was entitled “Torment”). Kraven was, of course, dead by this time. She was fully engaged in mystical voodoo by this point, having used her newly acquired knowledge to take control of the Lizard in a revenge scheme against Spider-Man.
To gain these extraordinary powers, Calypso had sacrificed her younger sister, marking a descent into madness with no turning back. By the story’s conclusion, the vile voodoo priestess had seemingly been slain in battle.
Calypso returned later, this time to plague Daredevil, the man without fear, in “Daredevil” #s 310-311. Calypso was kidnapping Haitian refugees; some she kept and turned into zombie slaves, while the rest were sold back to their government for a profit. Shemanaged to use her voodoo powers to mentally ensnare Daredevil, though he eventually did break free. The spirits of Calypso’s zombies retaliated and seemingly ended her life.
Much like a cockroach, Calypso simply would not die, and returned to take control of Simon Garth, the Zombie, in “Daredevil Annual” #9. Garth, in his zombified form, could not be controlled, and Calypso again met with failure. Surprisingly, she did so without appearing to die.
Calypso then attempted to control the Lizard again by breaking into the Vault, a maximum security prison for supervillains. However, the reptilian monster resisted this time, and nearly killed her in “Web of Spider-Man” #109.
Thanks to the power of possession, Calypso was able to use Glory Grant to assist in her body’s complete recuperation in an adjectiveless 1997 Spider-Man Annual (for a time, Marvel didn’t number the annual issues that came out).
Beginning in “Spectacular Spider-Man” #249, Calypso came back to avenge herself on Spider-Man in a plot involving Alyosha Kravinoff, Sergei’s son. With her magic and a tribe of followers to back her up, Calypso used her powers to force Alyosha and Spider-Man to engage in battle. Spider-Man was able to eventually overcome her spell and turn the tables on Calypso. Alyosha took her into his custody under the pretense of wanting to learn more about his father. Aloysha instead murdered her, seemingly ending her menace once and for all in issue #253.
With her ability to come back from even the most grisly of ends, it’s surely inevitable that she’ll return some day.
It’s worth noting that it was revealed years later that Kraven had a wife, Sasha. Since the comics have never really come out and addressed this, my best guess is that Calypso was Kraven’s mistress. Perhaps Sergei and Sasha had separated for a time? And this, too, is just a guess, but perhaps after their second defeat, Kraven broke things off with her to go back with Sasha. If anyone knows otherwise or has any other theories, I’d love to hear them.
And with that, I’d love to hear your thoughts on Calypso; do you have a favorite story with her? Or do you prefer Kraven’s late wife as his true love? Let me know in the comments below!
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While I’m definitely not defending her relationship with Alyosha, I can understand it. Her entire character was based on being Kraven’s girlfriend (or mistress, as we’ve called her here). She didn’t really have an identity outside of that. So when Kraven died, she didn’t know what to do. So it makes sense that she would latch onto his son, someone who looked and (at the time) acted just like him.
Plus her actions with Kraven lend credence to how she quickly replaces him with his son. She doesn’t seem to really love him, she just loves the idea of being the woman of a jungle warrior.
The thing that really made me look at Calypso and go “wait, what?” was the affair with Alyosha. I mean you don’t jump your lover’s son… that’s kind of gross.
She was never developed as a character, which is a shame. She had tons of potential. Seeing her meet (and fight) Gambit, with his Louisiana background would have been cool. Also I think she would have fit really well in Norman plots during the clone saga, bringing back “dead” enemies to either harass Peter or Keep Ben busy. Would have also tie in really well with the whole “what is a soul/resurrection” theme of the clone saga.
@Bill
As far as “DOOM! DOOM! DOOM!” goes, don’t forget “and rise above it all!”
“And heck, how many times has there been a body, and they still weren’t dead?” I’ve heard this referred to often as one of the “Agatha Christie” rules – if someone is missing and everyone thinks they’ve been killed, they’re not dead. Also, if a body is found but is unidentifiable by looking at them (i.e. they were shot in the face) but is identified by their clothes and ID, then the body is not who everyone thinks it is.
@Aqu
It had to be better than *DOOM* being repeated umpteen times per page! Haha! Oh man, that got on my nerves so badly by the end of issue one, and there were four more issues to go!
And heck, how many times has there been a body, and they still weren’t dead? Haha!
@Hornacek
I always look forward to your joining in the discussion, sir; I like your take on the whole Kraven/Sasha/Calypso relationship.
Al was definitely very inconsistent over the years, both in terms of how he looked and how he was characterized. I remember when he looked and acted like Kraven so much so towards the beginning of Mackie’s run that there was no telling them apart. As a kid at the time, I was so confused.
And yes, DOOM was her thing even after “Torment” it seemed, though it might be up for grabs since she’s been out of the picture for so long. She also got to join the club of joining Daredevil’s and Spider-Man’s villains, however briefly. If she really wanted to screw with Daredevil again, assuming she would come back, the thing to do would be to have her bring someone like Karen Page to mess with Daredevil.
Glad you caught the bear skin rug bit, too. Haha!
“Her name is Calypso — and she bears watching …” And he’s standing on a bear rug! Oh Denny O’Neill, you scamp!
I had no idea Calypso appeared in a non-Spider-Man story, let alone *two* Daredevil stories.
Wait, the “DOOM! DOOM! DOOM!” wasn’t just in Torment? It carried over into her Daredevil appearance? I always associate it with the Torment story, I had no idea “DOOM!” had become Calypso’s own catchphrase.
So Calypso not only slept with Kraven, but also with his son, Alyosha. I guess you could say she had a type, and once the father was gone, she moved onto the best replacement. Also, it’s hard to remember that story and think “This is the same guy from the Get Kraven mini-series who was buddies with Spidey and wanted to be a Hollywood insider.”
As far as Calypso being Kraven’s mistress, I always got the impression that Kraven’s marriage to Sasha wasn’t one of love (or even lust, which better describes his relationship with Calypso). It felt like Sasha was an arranged marriage, or that Sasha was in high society and Kraven married her to join that group. Even if you ignore Sasha not being mentioned for so many years, even when they were shown together I never got the impression that he would prefer to be with her over Calypso.
Actually, it’s hinted at the end of Torment that Calypso survived, for the dear old rule of “if there’s no body…”
@Bill Slattery III
I’ve just read McFarlane cycle on Spider-man up until the X-crossover and I wouldn’t say he was getting better in writing. I mean, the last story arc is that of cannibalistic hoboes who inhabit NY sewers and are monstrous thanks to years of incest! And he makes Morbius look alternatively completely mad and evil or just plain dumb.
@Brad Douglas
Good point; oddly, the best-selling Spidey book didn’t have a goblin or symbiote in it, but Calypso and the Lizard. Of course, as you said, Todd drawing Spidey was the real selling point. She could easily come back, too; it’s kind of her thing (perhaps even more so than Norman!). I’d love to see her raise a Spider-Man villain army to go after Spidey. There’s a looooot of untapped potential there. I could see other villains and characters hiring her to bring old characters back, too.
@Andrew C
Oh man, I was so thankful for the art on “Torment” because it definitely didn’t grab me, story-wise. As I recall it seemed like Todd was getting better with the writing before he left the book, though.
I agree it didn’t sell because of her, it was McFarlane and Spidey that sold the book. However, my argument is that more people saw that character than ever before. Granted it was 30 years ago.
@Brad
It didn’t sell well because of Calypso though. She was incidental, not instrumental to its success. Also, imho, “Torment” is torment to read. :-p
She was in the biggest selling Spider-Comic of all time. You would think they would of brought her back by now. I always liked her.
@ Anrew C
She could certainly use an update. I feel like she would have been a much better way to revive fallen characters as they did in “The Clone Conspiracy”.
Am I the only person who hated Calypso? She was such an offensive stereotype of Haitian culture, for one. But I just found her incredibly dull on her own too.