Appearing in "Las Piratas del Aire"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Piratas del Aire
- Mayra
- Henry Ryvoli
- other four (or five) male pirates
Other Characters:
- La Policía
- Fuerza Aérea
- FBI
- Roger, the first pilot
- another pilot
- airplane crew and passengers
- el sabio Brohoober
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Earth-TRN911
- New York City
- pirates' lair
- Russia (Mentioned)
- New York City
Synopsis for "Las Piratas del Aire"
A passenger plane explodes in flight, killing everyone on board. The police have no leads. Days later, Peter Parker takes photos of an aerial circus exhibit near New York. Another plane explodes shortly afterward, encouraging the Air Force to coordinate with the FBI and other agencies because both planes were government-owned and carried secret information. They suspect that a spy planted a bomb before takeoff, but they don't know how the information is stolen. They put plainclothes officers among the passengers, but there are still disasters.
At the Clarín, Jameson demands a real and emotional article. Peter proposes that the journalists accompany the wise Brohoober, who plans to travel soon, to be witnesses if something happens and thus prepare a report. Only Peter volunteers.
During the journey, air pirates with gas weapons land on the wings of the plane and attack. Peter fights in plainclothes and knocks out a pirate, but the gas knocks him out. The other pirates abandon their fallen companion, but take Brohoober to a seaplane. Peter and the pilot wake up on time, and the pilot manages to land on the sea. The pirates see the plane land and, to prevent them from being pursued, they shoot and kill the pilot. Peter dresses up as el Hombre Araña, swims to the seaplane and fights the pirates one by one, but is knocked out by the pirate leader Mayra; Peter underestimated her for being a woman. The pirates take el Hombre Araña.
Authorities, including police, go to rescue the plane and notice that two passengers, Brohoober and Parker, are missing and that a disguised assailant was left behind. When questioning him, they discover that he is Henry Ryvoli, a European pilot and ex-spy, who confesses and reveals the pirates' base, where they prepare their aerial circus exhibitions.
Meanwhile, the pirates want Brohoober to give them information to sell to the Russians. El Hombre Araña is tied up, but struggles and stops Brohoober from being injected with the truth serum. However, the pirates in a group beat up el Hombre Araña. The pirates get Brohoober to tell them the information, which they record on tape. The pirates then pretend to shoot their two prisoners, but el Hombre Araña breaks his bonds and fights. He manages to capture four pirates, but their leader and another pirate escape. They try to flee by plane, but el Hombre Araña perches on a wing. The pirates parachute to make the plane crash. El Hombre Araña jumps after Mayra to take the recording from her, but the other pirate shoots and kills Mayra, apparently on purpose. Upon landing, however, the authorities are waiting for them and arrest the pirate, thanking el Hombre Araña.
Peter Parker delivers the report and photos of him to Jameson. Jameson agrees to pay half of what the photos are worth, because he invested money in Peter's tickets.
Notes
- The Spanish title is "Las piratas del aire", which refers to at least two unambiguously female pirates. However, the story features only one female pirate, Mayra, with all the other pirates being males. The neutral title in Spanish would have been "Los piratas del aire".
- On page 3, the air acrobat team is unambiguously described as made up by five men and one woman (and depicted as such in an image). One of these men is apprehended by the authorities on page 15. El Hombre Araña then fights the remaining pirates and, on page 22, he captures four pirates at once, while the woman and another man pirate escape. That would mean that there are one woman and six men (The man captured by the authorities + the four men captured by el Hombre Araña + the man escaping with the woman). This can be justified because the acrobats may have one replacement or "cover" person.