ASM 426-433, TAC 252-256, SM 85-90, SSM 21-26, SMU 18-19, MTU Vol. 2 4-7, Hobgoblin Lives 1-3, Spider-Man/Kingpin: To The Death, Spider-Man: The Venom Agenda, Avengers, Vol. 3 1. I can’t believe… I cannot believe… it took me 49 of these things to figure out I should do this web gag. 49!! Really disappointing, I would’ve liked it to repeat down the series. Ah, well. Well, let’s see, the real Hobgoblin is finally revealed 15 years after he debuted, in a story that saw the 2nd Hobgoblin killed and gave Betty Brant closure for the death of Ned after she, MJ, Flash and Peter do some Scooby Doo gang-type stuff. Norman Osborn tricks Spider-Man into attacking him on camera, then frames him for a murder and puts a $5 million bounty on his head, making it nearly impossible for him to keep being a superhero. And THEN he has a mysterious new Green Goblin kidnap little Normie Osborn to force Spidey into the open, leading half of Marvel New York to try to kill him. The Hand brings Doc Ock back from the dead, reversing that terrible decision. Ex-mobster and Ben Reilly associate Jimmy 6 is on the run from the mob and takes refuge in The Parker home, and Jill Stacy ends up gutshot (Don’t worry, she’s fine). Her idiot brother almost kills himself, and is the subject of a hit by a hate group, assigned to Shocker & a radically redesigned Trapster. Carnage’s symbiote briefly possesses The Silver Surfer. The Lizard tries to turn people in to lizards, like always. Martha Robertson convinces Joe to quit The Daily Bugle, and JJJ, clearly being blackmailed by Osborn, can’t do anything. Aunt Anna meets The Parkers’ new neighbors, including a deaf girl who sees Spider-Man swing out of Peter’s window. Venom, working as a government agent, tries to kill JJJ because he’s dumb and misinterprets an order. Don Fortunato, The Rose and Black Tarantula’s mob business heats up. MJ gets an actual friend of her own for the first time in like 8 years in Shantal Milsk. Peter’s new reporting partner Billy Walters gets a lot more screen time. Team-Ups with Man-Thing, Blade, Daredevil (Twice!), Dr. Strange, Namor, Sandman & Silver Sable, and SHOC. Battles with Shotgun, The Wrecking Crew, Calypso & Kraven’s son, Override & Aura, Hydro-Man (Twice!), The Authority, Mr. Hyde, Kingpin, and Titania & Absorbing Man pretending to be superheroes to claim the bounty on Spider-Man. And did Spider-Man’s 4-page cameo in Avengers #1 mean I had to draw The Avengers? Not really. But I did it, anyway, because I’m insane! This time out, the style is trying for the cartoony-ness of the late 90s, with a special focus on Mike Weiringo, whose work I Frankensteined the Spider-Man together from. But I think I aped his style pretty well in some places, especially the one with MJ, Betty & Flash in it. As she has been throughout the series, the MJ is still based on Anne Hathaway, but via Ringo, referenced from a comic he did not draw. Threadin’ the needle.