I’ve had this since it came out, and yet… why? Just a general fascination with Hobgoblin? I didn’t even have the other parts of this storyline. No idea. Howard Mackie, Alex Saviuk, Bob McLeod, and Bob Sharen are our guides this month. Mackie sure had Hobgoblin get “reborn” a lot. He got his life back in the previous arc, separated from Demogoblin. Now he’s being built back up on his own terms. And yet that’s also exactly what he was doing in our first Mackie comic, 1994’s Spider-Man 47. I couldn’t tell you a thing about this issue til I opened it, and then it all came flooding back. We open on Jason Macendale running a sort of obstacle course, where he’s attacked by goons and has to kill them. I remember immediately that the mysterious voice speaking to him is Foreigner. Macendale kills his first goon and is told to get his prize off the body.
I had no idea what a Malomar was reading this, but it seemed it they must be pretty awesome. Turns out: not a fan. Later, after MJ has eaten all the Malomars, Peter tells her he thinks Betty’s really going to be ok now, and that in a way, he’s never felt closer to her. MJ gives him some joking trouble for that, but after her randomly coming onto him in one of the all-time bizarre plot twists back in ASM 184, anything’s possible. Back at his thingie, having secured his cape, Macendale recaps his whole deal as he goes, from CIA operative to Jack O’Lantern to Hobgoblin to demon and back. He takes out 4 more guys at once while recapping.
Meanwhile, Spider-Man sneaks out to do his thing, brooding about his not-so-dead parents and Betty and such, when someone shines a Spider-Signal in the clouds like they’re in Gotham City. and it’s being shown by Foreigner, who casually tells Spider-Man Hobgoblin is going to try to kill Moon Knight and Nick Katzenberg. Asked why, he simply says he’s considering putting hobby on payroll and needs to test him. Then he disappears down a trapdoor. Spidey’s left wondering who to try to save first. He figures Moon Knight can take care of himself, but we cut to him flying his goofy plane around as Hobgoblin lines up a shot.
Wonder how that meet-up went. Spider-Man webs Hobby’s gun out of line so his kill shot misses. Hobgoblin is very upset to be interrupted in his work, but happy to add another body to the pile. As Hobgoblin flies around shooting at Spider-Man, Moon Knight pops out of the wreckage and cuts Hobby’s gun in half with one of his moon-a-rang things.
Did he just think Spider-Man would wait while he fought Moon Knight or something? Lucky for him, Spider-Man’s true archnemesis is gas. Unlucky for him, that distraction gave Moon Knight the advantage, and he clocks Hobby from behind with his staff. Moon Knight lets slip that he knows Macendale, presumably from his own past as a mercenary, and they get down to fightin’ as Spidey tries to shake off the gas. But he seems to be too late as Hobby produces another gun and blasts Moony point blank in the chest, sending him plunging into the water.
And we’re off. On an adventure I did not continue as a kid. I wonder why. Well, I get to see what happens now, at least.