CRIMEWAVE

Real Name: Carl Wilkinson

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Gang Lord

Group Membership: His gang

Affiliations: Carmela, various other gang lords

Enemies: Kingpin, Sleepwalker, Spider-Man

Known Relatives: None revealed

Aliases: C. W.

Base of Operations: Manhattan, unnamed textile factory in New Jersey

First Appearance: Sleepwalker#5 (October, 1991)

Powers/Abilities: Crimewave has no superhuman powers, but he is skilled at business, finance, and crime. (Just not as skilled as he'd like to think!) Also, his New Jersey textile factory is rigged so he can control everything by remote control, enabling him to attack enemies with looms and other machinery.  He had a heavily armored vehicle with remote control weaponry including metallic tentacles and machine guns.

History: (Sleepwalker#5) - The man known as Crimewave was a new gang lord on the Manhattan crime scene.  Following a hot tip from Daily Bugle crime reporter Ben Urich, Spider-Man tracked Crimewave  down to a dingy warehouse in a low-rent district.  Alongside his partner Carmela, Crimewave, was discussing plans to meet on the George Washington Bridge the following evening at midnight.  The mobster let slip that he had a meeting with some of New York's most eminent crime lords, including the Kingpin himself.  Spider-Man was trying to find out the location of the meeting when he was interrupted by Sleepwalker, the alien protector.  Sleepwalker was intrigued by Spider-Man's seemingly "odd" behavior, while Spidey was unimpressed by Sleepwalker.  Spotting that Crimewave was about to leave, Spider-Man attempted to get rid of Sleepwalker by webbing him to a nearby building.  The webbing reminded Sleepwalker of his enemy Cobweb, and, deciding that Spider-Man must be evil too, he burst free and brought a wall down on Spider-Man with his warp beams.

Meanwhile, as the two fought it out, Crimewave was making his exit.  Spider-Man tried to reason with Sleepwalker and pointed out the fleeing car.  The alien decided to follow and investigate.  As he did so, Spider-Man shot a Spider-Tracer at the car.  The tracer landed, unseen, on Sleepwalker. Crimewave's driver noticed the flying alien and alerted him to the potential danger.  Raising himself up though the sunroof, Crimewave threw a grenade at Sleepwalker and managed to slip away.  Sleepwalker returned to the apartment of his host, Rick Sheridan, leaving him a picture of Spider-Man, querying whether he was good or evil.  As he disappeared into Sheridan's mind, the Spider-Tracer fell to the floor, where Rick's dog, Rambo, promptly swallowed it.  That evening, as Rick was walking Rambo, Spider-Man swung down and started questioning him about Crimewave.  Spider-Man quickly realized that Rick had nothing to do with the gang lord when he sensed the tracer inside Rambo!  Rick realized his alien companion must have run into Spider-Man and left a message for him, confirming that Spider-Man was indeed "good."

Midnight came and on the Hudson River, there was a Homeless Benefit Charity function being held.  Many of New York's wealthiest citizens were attending the fund-raiser, which was taking place on a cruise boat.  However, high up on the George Washington Bridge, several of Crimewave's minions were waiting.  They jumped down and raided the boat, leaving the passengers drifting in life rafts.  Spider-Man arrived on the scene too late, but the victims assured him that the authorities had been notified and that they were unharmed.  Sleepwalker flew Spider-Man to the boat, where they proceeded to fight Crimewave's men.  Carmela reported to Crimewave that they were under attack, but he assured her that he had a "surprise" for them.  She looked toward the shore and saw Crimewave leveling a missile launcher at the boat and promptly yelled a warning to her crew to abandon ship before diving into the murky waters herself. Dragging herself up out of the water, she confronted Crimewave, saying, "I bet it wouldn't have made a bit of difference to you if I were still on board!"  He reassured her that this was not the case and ordered her to fish Spider-Man's body out of the water;  Spidey's Spider-Sense had warned him too late.

Shortly after at a nearby textile factory, Crimewave held a meeting with the heads of what he claimed to be the most powerful criminal organizations on the eastern sea-board.  Kingpin and his men arrived last of all, and Crimewave made nice with him, offering him a share of the take from the heist.  Kingpin raged, scattering the money.  The charity function had been sponsored by Fisk all along, and he accused Crimewave of arranging the meeting to embarrass him in front of the other crime lords.  Crimewave then revealed the body of Spider-Man, chained and soaking wet, boasting that he would kill him in front of the crime lords to humiliate Fisk further.

(Sleepwalker#6) - Crimewave went on to reveal his plan to broadcast Spider-Man's death on the 6 O'clock news and expose his secret identity, but Kingpin was unimpressed and stormed out of the factory. Crimewave then left Spider-Man in a nearby fabric storage area while he made some arrangements for cameras.  While Spider-Man was unattended, Sleepwalker snuck in and the two formulated their plan.  When Crimewave returned with the film crew, he proceeded to unmask the costumed hero, only to find a bug-eyed, green skinned face staring back at him--the face of Sleepwalker.  The real Spider-Man swung onto the scene.  Crimewave set his minions upon the two heroes while attempting to make a break for it.  As Spider-Man caught up to him, he activated remote control looms to attack him.  Crimewave made his getaway.  However, all was not lost, as Sleepwalker revealed that he knew where Crimewave would strike next.

Later that evening in an office building somewhere in New York's Garment District, there was a high profile fashion event set to take place.  It was to be the debut of a new line of women's clothing by one Mister Hugo, but Crimewave kidnapped his fashion models.  Knowing that the fashion designer would lose millions in sales if the show didn't go ahead, Crimewave ordered Hugo to transfer a million dollars into his Swiss bank account.

As the models were driven off in an armored car, Sleepwalker and Spider-Man attacked. Crimewave activated the weapons systems, but Sleepwalker tore through the roof and they dropped down inside.  Meanwhile, Crimewave had snuck out and reverted to his original plan to kill Spider-Man on camera.  He detonated the vehicle by remote control, turning it into a flaming wreck, but Sleepwalker had created an escape route with his warp-beam.  With the models safely rescued, it was only a matter of restraining Crimewave and his crew before waiting for the authorities to arrive.

Comments: Created by Bob Budiansky and Bret Blevins

At the end of the story it was revealed how Sleepwalker had known the location of Crimewave's heist at the fashion show; Kingpin had forced Carmela to reveal the information and persuaded her to join him!  I suppose Crimewave could make a comeback, but I imagine the Fat-Man would be keeping an eye on him.  I just hope those deadly automated looms didn't fall into the wrong hands!  Yes, automated looms, surely the most ridiculous weapon in comics since the enormous rotating flowers of Doctor Claw!

And as for that armored vehicle, which looks like it was bought second hand from Doctor Octopus:

"It's amazing what comes standard on vans these days!" - Spider-Man

If any of you have a copy of Sleepwalker#5, did you notice the hidden message "I give up" on the cover?  I didn't until flicking back through my collection and spotting a reference to it on the letters page of issue#20!  It's written in webbing across the letters K and E of the logo.

Profile by Changeling

Profile updated/edited by Kyle Sims

CLARIFICATIONS:
Crimewave shouldn't be confused with

Appearances:
Sleepwalker#5 (October, 1991) - Bob Budiansky (writer), Bret Blevins (pencils), Michael Bair (inks), Don Daley (editor)
Sleepwalker#6 (November, 1991) - Bob Budiansky (writer), Bret Blevins (artist), Don Daley (editor)

Last updated: 05/27/03

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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