THE ROSE
Real Name: Detective Sergeant Blume
Identity/Class: Normal human
Occupation: Cop, vigilante
Affiliations: His men, Mary Jane Watson Parker,
May Parker, Spider-Man (Peter Parker);
formerly "Richard Fisk" (actually Alfredo, see comments),
Enemies: Hobgoblin (Macendale), Kingpin
(Wilson Fisk), Peter Parker (while he was the Rose), Praetorian Guard,
"Richard Fisk" (actually Alfredo, see comments);
formerly Spider-Man
Known Relatives: Billy (brother, deceased)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Manhattan, New York
First Appearance: (In shadows) Spectacular Spider-Man II#173 (February, 1991); (full) Web of Spider-Man I#84 (January, 1992)
Powers/Abilities: No real powers, but was a good hand to hand combatant, good with a gun, commanded many loyal men, and a good strategist.
History:
(Web of Spider-Man I#88 (fb) ) - Blume's
brother, Billy was a good cop who was killed by the Kingpin after he refused
to take a bribe. Blume swore revenge.
At some point, he adopted the guise of the Rose, apparently after he formed an alliance with "Richard Fisk." This Richard Fisk was actually Alfredo Morelli, a friend of the real Richard Fisk, who had undergone extensive plastic surgery to look like Richard.
(Spectacular Spider-Man II#173) - "Richard Fisk" and the Rose met on a snowy Manhattan balcony, where they were secretly photographed by Nick Katzenberg.
(Web of Spider-Man I#84) - Blume, under the guise of the Rose, expressed concern that a picture of him with Alfredo had gotten out in the paper, and threatened to compromise their mission of bringing down the Kingpin. Blume promised to contain the situation. He intended to capture Peter Parker (Spider-Man), who had allegedly taken the photo, and get information out of him of how he knew anything about Rose and Alfredo. He sent some of his men to capture Peter Parker at his Aunt May's house, but his men failed due to the intervention of Parker's alter-ego Spider-Man. Blume however, was not discouraged.
(Web of Spider-Man I#85) - Alfredo discussed the issue
of Peter Parker and the photo with Blume, who was not concerned at Parker,
or that Kingpin wanted him dead, and simply said his men would handle it.
Under his civilian guise as a cop, Blume led the investigation after some
mercenaries destroyed the Parker's loft. He took the Parkers down to the
police station and had them answer some questions. Later, Alfredo talked
with Blume about what they should do about Spider-Man, who had continuously
thwarted their attempts at capturing Peter Parker. Blume was shocked when
Alfredo said his solution was the death of Spider-man.
(Web of Spider-Man I#86) - Blume was discussing Peter Parker and the Kingpin with Alfredo when the Hobgoblin busted in on them and killed their men. Alfredo tricked Hobgoblin into going after Peter Parker and trying to kill him. Blume was upset at this, and was even more upset when he figured out that it was Alfredo who had put a open contract on Peter Parker's life, and had been ordering Blume's own men behind his back. Blume expressed that he thought things were going too far.
(Web of Spider-Man I#87) - Blume, as a cop, went into Peter Parker's apartment to ask him some follow up questions, but found nobody was home. However, he did learn from Peter's answering machine that Mary Jane and May Parker were in the Catskill mountains. Later, as the Rose, Blume tried to convince Alfredo to call off the hit on Peter Parker because he didn't think it was necessary anymore. The two of them almost came to blows, but instead, Alfredo invited Blume to watch as the Praetorian Guard captured Spider-Man, just as he intended for them to kill Parker and take down the Kingpin. It became clear to Blume that Alfredo had been driven mad by his cause, and expressed his discontent after quietly taking out Alfredo's men. Alfredo proceeded to escape with the aid of the Hobgoblin, and canceled his partnership with Blume.
(Web of Spider-Man I#88) - As a cop, Blume went to the Daily Bugle and asked about Peter Parker. He was informed that it was actually Nick Katzenberg who took the photo that Peter was charged with taking.
Blume sent some of his men, along with a gunship, to kill Alfredo and bring Spider-Man to him. They succeeded in capturing Spider-Man and brought him to the Rose (Blume). Rose informed Spider-Man that they had a common enemy and they both wanted to take down Alfredo, who was taking over as the new Kingpin. He also revealed that Alfredo knew where Parker's wife and aunt were. He accompanied Spider-Man as they went to the Catskill mountains and rescued Mary Jane and May Parker, and then asked Spider-Man to join him against Alfredo. Before Spider-Man could accept or deny the offer, Alfredo and the Praetorian Guard busted in, and they knocked out Spider-Man. Alfredo then approached Blume. Blume told Alfredo that they were friends and that none of this was necessary. Alfredo responded, "Friends? I value my friends. I take care of them. But I also take care of my enemies." He then proceeded to shoot and kill Blume.
Comments: Created by Howard Mackie and Alex Saviuk
During this entire story, everyone thought that Alfredo was actually Richard Fisk. Alfredo had undergone extensive plastic surgery to look like Richard in an attempt to infiltrate Kingpin's operations in Richard's place because Alfredo had real combat experience. Richard never became the new Kingpin, it was Alfredo who became the new Kingpin very briefly and was pretty much driven mad with power. The people from Spider-Fan, or at least the ones I've heard from, hated this story, and I have to agree that Howard Mackie wasn't very true to the characters. I think (and I may be wrong) that the Richard Fisk in the story was originally intended to be the real Richard Fisk, and people just didn't buy it so they changed him into Alfredo.
Blume had no grudge against May and Mary Jane, but did consciously go to their rescue once, so they are not listed under enemies and are listed under affiliations. He did however, want to kidnap Peter, so Peter is listed under enemies.
Blume was supposed to be a good guy, but he really did
commit a lot of crimes to attain his goals. I suppose he thought the ends
justified the means.
Thanks to Michael Fischer for pointing out Blume's appearance in Spectacular Spider-Man II#173
Profile by Stunner
CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with:
Images: (without ads)
Web of Spider-Man I#84, p22, pan3 (main)
Web of Spider-Man I#85, p5, pan1 (Sgt. Blume)
Appearances:
Spectacular Spider-Man II#173 (February, 1991) - Gerry Conway (plot), David Michelinie (script), Sal Buscema (artist), Jim Salicrup (editor)
Web of Spider-Man I#84-85 (January-February, 1992) - Howard Mackie
(writer), Alex Saviuk (pencils), Keith Williams (inks), Danny Fingeroth
(editor)
Web of Spider-Man I#86-88 (March-May, 1992) - Howard Mackie (writer),
Alex Saviuk (pencils), Sam Delarosa (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
First Posted: 12/28/2003
Last updated: 10/07/2019
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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