ASM 284-289, TAC 123-130, WEB 25-30, FF 299, Spider-Man Vs. Wolverine one-shot. After 4+ years of running the mystery of who’s behind the mask of the Hobgoblin into the ground, the disappointing conclusion! On assignment with Peter Parker in Berlin in Spider-Man Vs. Wolverine, reporter Ned Leeds is found brutally murdered in his hotel room… and later, it turns out he was The Hobgoblin, and Jack O’Lantern hired The Foreigner to kill him so he could steal his gimmick. What began as the most exciting thing to happen to Spider-Man since the 60s ends with a shrug. Most of this set of books is the Gang War event in ASM, which was supposed to end the Hobgoblin story, but didn’t, and ended up unmasking and ruining The Rose instead while also reinstalling Wilson Fisk as Kingpin of Crime and making Daredevil and Falcon look like idiots (Punisher is also around). Most of the issues of the other Spider-Titles were literal filler and flashbacks during that story. Also, Black Cat debuts another terrible new costume while springing her long-simmering betrayal of Spider-Man with The Foreigner, which ends in a rushed mess like everything else because of the turmoil going on behind the scenes. Not… great stuff. Also Spider-Man hangs out with Human Torch and finds out he’s getting married, teams up with Spider-Woman against The Wrecking Crew, and encounters The Lizard and The Owl. Does this composition make any sense? I’m not so sure. But the only really noteworthy thing in here was Ned being unmasked, so I felt like it should take center stage, copied from a page by Alan Kupperberg, Jim Fern & George Roussos. Originally drawing #45.