Marvel Database
Marvel Database
Marvel Database
255,712
pages
in: Locations, Earth-616/Locations, Milky Way,
and 9 more

1 Yarbro Court

Sign in to edit

History

1 Yarbro Court was an apartment building[1] in the Corona Heights neighborhood of[2] San Francisco. The building was described as a classic 1878 Queen Anne tower house. It was a fine building in a nice neighborhood.[1] The block was said to be haunted,[1][3] and it is true that many people bought homes, moved in, and never stayed long but always left in a hurry.[4] The building was owned by David Ishima[5] (possibly through his family). Ishima also served as landlord of the building and worked as a construction worker and crew boss on high steel;[1] Ishima had never seen any ghosts, but he did observe the peculiarities of the inhabitants.[4] Ishima lived in the ground-floor flat,[1] complete with a fireplace,[6] and personally tended to the building's garden, as he enjoyed working with his hands.[1] Ishima was often working around the house, mowing the lawn or engaged in other such tasks,[7] when he was not doing double shifts at his other work.[8]

Actress Lindsay McCabe, then based in Los Angeles, found it necessary to move to San Francisco when she was accepted into the San Francisco Repertory Theater. She found a good deal[9] to rent the top floor and attic of 1 Yarbro Court[1][2] (although she didn't know at the time that the house was supposedly haunted),[1] a place with a kitchen[10] and a phone line, and it was pet-friendly (which was good for McCabe because she had a cat, Casey).[11] Since the place was too big for McCabe and Casey alone, and she didn't know anyone else in San Francisco yet, McCabe convinced her supposedly unemployed best friend Jessica Drew (secretly the bounty-hunting superheroine Spider-Woman) to be her flatmate, with the idea that she might find work in another city. Drew agreed, carrying much less luggage than McCabe,{S35} and when they arrived in San Francisco, they spent several weeks getting the apartment in order before Spider-Woman made her first appearance in San Francisco.[1] McCabe filled her room with furniture, pictures and other mementos, while Drew was much more spartan.[11] McCabe eventually had a housewarming party attended by several of her coworkers, including Tom Duvall and lead director Ben Disraeli (who flirted with McCabe at the time). David Ishima introduced himself to Drew, giving her a bonsai tree that happened to have a spider on it, which she thought was cute, and he later took Drew around the garden during the party. While they were immediately attracted to each other, Ishima massaged Drew's sore shoulder and they kissed; but she left abruptly to investigate an alarm as Spider-Woman, disappearing when Ishima left for a moment. Spider-Woman faced several enemies of the X-Men (Black Tom Cassidy and Juggernaut, with his new ally Siryn)[1] and federal authorities attempted to arrest her, but she escaped and returned home. The X-Men meanwhile tracked Spider-Woman to the building, and recognized it. One of the X-Men, Angel (Warren Worthington III), was in his civilian identity a member of the board of directors of the San Francisco Repertory Theater, and used his influence with Disraeli to crash the party with his friends, secretly the X-Men. The X-Men approached Drew for friendly questioning; they discovered their enemies' activity, and after that Jessica Drew left the party with the X-Men to collaborate with them against the same threat. Watching them leave in a hurry, Ishima found Drew's attitude unusual; but McCabe convinced Ishima that Drew was a free spirit and should take her risks, because she could take care of herself. McCabe also appreciated Ishima's concern for Drew.[3]

Some time later, when the situation was resolved, the X-Men sent a letter to Drew at 1 Yarbro Court telling her how the X-Men had resolved the Siryn situation, and inviting Drew to visit the X-Men when she settled down[3] (which she did);[12] Drew meanwhile took up a job as a private investigator working out of the Hunter-Dulin Building,[3] and shortly after, sleeping at home, she had a precognitive dream in which Drew was in the time of Camelot, was accused of being a demoness, and her friend McCabe was burned alive (This was due to the intervention of the Camelot-linked sorceress Morgan Le Fay, a former enemy of Drew's). Awakening in shock at four in the morning, Drew saw that Ishima had her light on and went to visit, looking for some friendly company. Ishima was delighted to welcome Drew, and selflessly lit a fire and accompanied Drew. Shortly before dawn, with Drew still at Ishima's home, Ishima was visited by SFPD Homicide Lieutenant Sabrina Morrel and another officer, who asked Ishima to accompany them to identify the body of Tim Walsh, a co-worker with whom Ishima had publicly argued. Morrel suspected Ishima of involvement in the death (which he was not); Drew wanted to accompany Ishima to help him. Faced with the accusation, Drew insisted that Ishima get a lawyer, and they hired John DeLuca; but Ishima did not want to implicate Drew or anyone else, suspecting the kind of foul play he was up against, and insisted on operating alone. Although he claimed he was returning home, he actually left San Francisco to contact Walsh's widow. Later, Ishima was exonerated and kissed Drew.[6]

Later, private investigator Jessica Drew was hired by Pamela Kramer, a law student who wanted to find her missing father Michael. Pamela was being targeted by agents of the supercriminal Viper, also interested in finding Michael. To protect Pamela, Drew decided to hide her in her private residence at 1 Yarbro Court from that very night (although Viper's agent Silver Samurai soon discovered this move). When McCabe woke up the next day, Drew convinced McCabe to stay home to keep an eye on Pamela (and use her to practice for her role). Drew and McCabe arranged a prearranged signal for the phone to be called, so that McCabe and Pamela were not to pick up the phone lightly so as not to alert their pursuers;[2] they also arranged a plan in case of attack: McCabe was to visibly run to the roof as a decoy, making noise to attract attackers, while Pamela was to go downstairs and take shelter in Ishima's unlocked flat, from where she could use the phone to call the police.[11] Drew then took off into the streets. Unfamiliar with detective precautions, Pamela accidentally picked up the phone on one occasion, possibly alerting Viper. Spider-Woman asked Detective Morrell to come to 1 Yarbro Court to assist, though she had no chance to inform McCabe or Pamela; Morrell knocked on the door, much to McCabe's concern,[2] and after identifying herself was welcomed. Viper arrived to try to capture Pamela: she opened the window and let Casey in to distract the occupants. Morrel fell for it: Viper had a chance to disarm Morrel using her superior physical strength and the element of surprise, though Morrel managed to retrieve her gun and wound Viper's left shoulder before being defeated. Alerted, McCabe and Pamela went along with their plan, which worked to throw Viper off the scent. Viper followed McCabe to the roof and assaulted her in an attempt to get McCabe to tell her where Pamela was. Instead, McCabe jumped off the roof, grabbing Viper to pull them both down, attempting to take advantage of stuntman tricks. McCabe managed to knock Viper off, but McCabe herself was left unconscious and severely injured, while Viper was still able to walk. By then, the police arrived, alerted by Pamela, and Viper fled. The police took McCabe to Franklin Hospital. When Drew later arrived with Michael Kramer (and having spoiled Viper's plan concerning the Kramers), Drew found her house in disarray from Viper's attack, with furniture broken; but the phone was still working. Drew discovered that McCabe was in the hospital, and met with her emotionally, revealing his secret identity. Drew was very angry with Viper[11] and also with Morrel for not adequately protecting McCabe. After tracking Viper, Drew visited Ishima, kissed him, confirmed that McCabe would recover, had tea with him, and then asked for his motorcycle to track Viper. Ishima worried about her because it was dangerous, even crying when she left, but agreed, even giving her protective leather clothing and asking her to go with her (but she feared that Ishima himself would be hurt, so Ishima stayed at her house).[8]

Around this same time, Drew was hired by an insurance company to investigate a rash of industrial robberies of technology. Although she was unable to prevent the next heist in San Francisco, she overheard the robbers talking about taking the merchandise to Los Angeles. Returning to her home on Yarbro Court that evening, she decided to take the morning commuter flight to Los Angeles, and noticed that McCabe, now recovered, was not there, so Drew decided that McCabe was possibly out on a date.[13]

Since McCabe now knew Drew's secret identity, they could openly discuss Spider-Woman's cases. When Spider-Woman defeated the Digger as part of an investigation and returned home, McCabe was waiting for her and they discussed the details of the case. After that they went to Los Angeles as part of another investigation; and during the trip Drew considered the possibility of sharing her identity with Ishima as well.[14] Returning from Los Angeles, Drew and McCabe found Ishima mowing the lawn, and he didn't like Drew's new haircut, but neither that nor knowing she had secrets stopped him from kissing her a few hours later. Drew had to leave soon after to investigate a case, the disappearance of teenager Mickey Silk, and during a break from that investigation, Drew visited Ishima in the building and revealed her secret identity, appearing before him in the Spider-Woman costume. At first Ishima was skeptical and believed that Drew had only bought a costume; when she told him that she was really Spider-Woman, he was disoriented. After that, Drew returned to his investigation, but the fugitive disappeared.[7]

Shortly after, Drew awoke from a nightmare sent by Le Fay at her house, and while McCabe was preparing her breakfast, Drew mysteriously disappeared while taking a shower, captured by the villain Locksmith (who had also captured other acquaintances of Spider-Woman, such as Mickey Silk). The Locksmith, a master escape artist and illusionist, captured his targets using his tricks in such a way that he left no apparent clues and it seemed as if his targets had disappeared. Spider-Woman defeated the Locksmith and freed many of the other prisoners, whom she invited to an impromptu party at her house: Daddy Long Legs, the Gypsy Moth, Mickey Silk, Tigra, the Shroud, and the Werewolf by Night (in human form) regrouped there, with McCabe and a very surprised Ishima in tow. Drew then had a sudden vision while going to the bathroom to clean up, and Ishima joked that if there was a ghost in the bathroom, Drew could certainly fraternize with him like she had with the other weird people at home.[10] Ishima had Drew accompany him to the garden to break up with her.[10][15] He told her he needed a woman who was more normal than Drew, and that her guests and friends were too scary for him. Then Ishima was possessed by the ghost of the magician Magnus, Drew's former mentor. Controlling Ishima's body, Magnus prompted Drew to travel to Le Fey's castle in the 6th century and confront Le Fey there, lest Le Fey may destroy Drew for good. During that confrontation, Le Fey captured the souls of the Gypsy Moth, Ishima, McCabe, Silk, and the Werewolf, who were at the party in 1 Yarbro Court, in an attempt to defeat Drew, but she failed and the souls returned to their respective bodies, not remembering the event. After apparently destroying Le Fay, Magnus and Drew's spirits returned to 1 Yarbro Court but, when Drew attempted to return to her own body, she discovered that Le Fay had killed it. Drew's spirit left the world of the living with Magnus and he, at her request, cast a spell so that everyone who had ever met her, including Ishima, would forget her.[10]

Ishima, no longer possessed by Magnus, re-entered the house and met with McCabe, who asked him about Drew. Ishima had trouble remembering what had happened: He remembered talking to Drew, but from the moment he had been possessed, everything had become blurry, and he could not remember anything else. Then Magnus's spell affected them, and none of the rescued superhumans even remembered how they had gotten to that building. Confused at being in an unfamiliar place that they did not even remember going to, Daddy Long Legs and Gypsy Moth left. The Shroud, Drew's former ally, went out into the yard, found Drew's body, and remembered her; his screams attracted McCabe, Silk, and Tigra, and then Ishima, who upon seeing her, also remembered her: Magnus's magic had failed. Tigra and the Shroud attempted to keep Drew's body alive while Ishima and the others called for an ambulance. Drew was sent to St. Anthony's Hospital, in a coma; Ishima blamed himself for what had happened, although Tigra and the Shroud told him that Drew had clearly been attacked. Silk bumped on McCabe's couch and saw a spectral vision of Drew's ghost, but was unharmed and believed to have just had a nightmare; however, later the Shroud and Tigra also had similar visions.[15] Tigra, having contact with the superheroes Avengers, asked them for help.[15] Drew was resurrected from the dead, although she had lost some of her superpowers, so she decided to give up her secret identity and remain just a private investigator,[16] still living at 1 Yarbro Court.[4]

Some time later, the X-Men visited San Francisco, considering the idea of staying, and dumped Drew at 1 Yarbro Court. Ishima even arranged a date with the X-Men's Kitty Pryde to go to Lila Cheney's concert at the Chi Chi Club (especially since Drew was busy with a case, as was often the case). On their way back from the date, 1 Yarbro Court was attacked by the Freedom Force, a group of ex-mutant criminals working for the federal government who were attempting to arrest the X-Men and caused damage to the building and the surrounding streets. Drew jumped out to confront Freedom Force's Spider-Woman, angry that he was using her old alias, and almost too late remembered that she had lost many of her powers. McCabe, hanging from a window, would have been injured in her fall had she not been rescued by Pryde. Although the Freedom Force seemed to have the upper hand, they encountered an unexpected obstacle in SFPD Detective Morrel, who used his official jurisdiction against the Force: Morrel, an ally of the X-Men, made it clear that they had not committed crimes in the city but were civic heroes, while the Force were posted felons, and demanded that they bring her proof of their forgiveness and official clearance. To avoid further trouble, the X-Men quickly abandoned 1 Yarbro Court, and Drew demanded a check to pay for repairs.[4]

After a work in Madripoor, eventually Drew and McCabe relocated there,[17] with only the occasional visit to San Francisco.[18]

At some point during the next few years, Ishima sold the 1 Yarbro Court apartment building to pursue other activities in the city.[5] It is unknown what became of the building under its new owners.

Residents

Trivia

  • On several occasions, Spider-Woman entered her home at 1 Yarbro Court through the window.[13][14]

See Also

Links and References

References

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
More Fandoms