Seems like a meeting you don’t want to attend. It’s the day after last issue’s grim cliffhanger, and Robbie is in the hospital surrounded by his family, maybe paralyzed, maybe worse. Peter goes to check on him and sees everyone filing out of the room at the close of visiting hours. Ben Urich informs him that they say Robbie may never walk again.
That 4th panel sure is weird. Dutch tilt angle on nothing with no caption? Feels like it would be a “later that evening…” kind of panel. Which would also help with the idea that Tombstone has snuck into Robbie’s room to menace him. Which he certainly has.
Poor Robbie. What a nightmare. Elsewhere, Spider-Man’s doing the Daredevil bit, beating up dudes in a bar looking for information on who hired that guy to shoot Robbie at the top of last issue. While one of the guys tells Spidey that The Arranger hired Tombstone for “some big job,” one of the few still conscious goons is about to shoot our hero when someone else shoots him first. Spidey runs outside, but the assailant has already disappeared. He says this at least confirms for him that The Arranger hired Tombstone, but… he knew that last issue? What, did he take him at his word when he said Tombstone didn’t work there? At any rate, he goes to bother The Arranger again.
Wait, this is still meant to be the same night? It looked like daytime earlier, and Robbie met Tombstone at midnight. This timeline is very confusing. Some security goons come in and chase Spider-Man off. Then Arranger goes to see Rayburn, now strapped to a bed and barely conscious on drugs, as Tombstone comes in and says “he” was flushed out into the open by Tombstone coming to New York, just as they planned. “He” was spotted at the bar Spidey was roughing up earlier. Seems pretty obvious who that would be, but that’s for later. I really hope it’s finally the next day, because Peter & MJ come to visit Robbie in the hospital. Robbie asks to talk to Peter alone. In the hall, Martha worries to MJ that whatever happened to Robbie did more than just physical damage, while in the room….
Robbie says he doesn’t care what happens to him, but Tombstone could kill Martha or Randy, and he can’t let that happen. Peter leaves frustrated, and tells MJ all about the tape as they walk down the hall, and it surprisingly doesn’t set off his Spider Sense as a mysterious figure overhears them. Peter goes to The Bugle to try to get advice from Ben Urich, but someone left a number for Peter, and it’s the mystery man, wanting to meet at Liberty Island to discuss the tape in one hour. Well, naturally, Spider-Man hitches a ride on the bottom of a helicopter, dropping onto The Statue of Liberty’s torch just in time for someone in her crown to shoot a net at him. He races into the statue, but his assailant is fleeing down the stairs, shooting up behind him. Spidey’s pretty sure that’s the same gun from the bar, and wonders why the person tried to save him there and shoot him here. I mean… you know who it is, right? Spidey realizes these shots are just to keep him away, leaps out of the statue to reach the ground first and tackles the unsurprising mystery man.
Um. Punisher knows Peter and Spider-Man are “friends” from way back, so sure, he’s not surprised to see him. But why would Spidey have or bring the tape? Who’s he foolin’ with the threats? Maybe we’ll find out next time.