Looking more like a magazine cover than ever here. This one is inked by 3 classic inkers in Tom Palmer, Klaus Janson, and Joe Rubenstein. And I bet it’s really easy to tell who does each page. First, we see Spidey on a rampage, attacking criminals with almost no care for their victims, and “he is The Spider” at this point in SM, too. Then we switch scenes to…
Remember how the cover said it was introducing Coldheart? Sure doesn’t feel like the beginning of a story, does it? And she’s just what this comic needs, more crippling depression! Next, we have a splash page of Hobgoblin looking down from the roof of a building. This is the last page inked by Palmer. Next page begins Janson, as…
This one story has produced 2 previously unmentioned children of major supervillains, jeez. Not long after, Spider-Man arrives on the scene, as the cops have surrounded the building and are treating it like a hostage situation. One wonders why Hobby wouldn’t just pick up the kid and leave. Spidey drops down to go in, ignoring the cops’ call to brief him, and Coldheart is here, too, seemingly eager to get both Spidey and The Hobgoblin. Meanwhile, in Russia, Vladimir Kravinov is about to get juiced up, over the protests of Gregor. Back in the states, Spider-Man’s in the house. On the ceiling, face to face with Hobgoblin. Looks like he must’ve just walked in. Very weird. Hobby says his life is coming together, Spidey thinks his is falling apart and throws a little tantrum, punching a mirror, and then…
Now why would he say that? “I’m not a clone?” That’s a weird thing to say, guys. That’s also Klaus Janson’s last page, leaving the rest to Joe Rubenstein. Hobgoblin promptly picks up the kid and flies away, like he should have from the beginning. Coldheart says she’ll find him later, but for what Spider-Man did to her family, he must first pay with his life. Whaaaat? He tries to push her sword out of his face and finds out it freezes things on contact. He again tries to say he needs to go save that kid, but she’s not having it.
I think Joe Rubenstein wins this issue. He’s letting Lyle’s line through better than the other two did. On a nearby roof, Hobgoblin is threatening to beat his son for being afraid of him when Spider-Man comes crashing into him, ready to give him his own beating. Spidey is furious, lecturing Hobby on how people like him think they can do whatever they want, but now he’s not going to take it anymore. Hobby says he’s lived his whole life in a rage, so get used to it (I mean, not a lot of rage in any of Macendale’s appearances before this story, but ok?).
Spidey wails on him so hard he breaks his jaw. That’s enough for Hobby, who tosses some bombs and says the kid’s not worth all this and flees. Spider-Man barely saves the kid from being blown up. And then…
Then there’s another page of the mystery man…
And finally, Vladimir Kravinov emerges from the process strong and unharmed. He tells Gregor to prepare the servants for travel, because they’re going to reclaim the part of his father’s legacy that involves Spider-Man, and we’re out. Would you believe we’re never going to see Coldheart again? Isn’t that insane? Who was she? Why did she think Spider-Man did something to her children? We literally will never know. The internet says she was one of the villains killed in the beginning of the Civil War crossover in 2007, except she then turned up not-dead in 2 other places in 2011 and 2016. Was she even really meant to be a villain? It doesn’t seem like it. The internet says her real name wound up being “Kateri Deseronto,” which is… something. Wild.