Amazing Spider-Man #244
Ordeals!
Spider-Man pays a visit to Felicia Hardy, who is still recovering in the hospital. Their kissing is interrupted when a nurse comes to check on Felicia, prompting Spider-Man to depart. He tells Felicia that he has some business to take care of so they can have a life together. As the wall-crawler makes his departure, Hardy thinks about Spider-Man's recent battles with the Punisher, Doctor Octopus, and the Hobgoblin and feels useless that she is not in well enough shape to help him against these menaces. Spider-Man goes to the campus of Empire State University to fill out the necessary paperwork to take a leave of absence from his studies. When he arrives at the administrator's office he is dismayed to discover a massive line up. After a few hours of waiting, Peter is given the paperwork he needs to fill out and get the proper authorizations. When he passes the Dead of Admissions office he finds that he is away for the next 15 minutes. Having to get other signatures, Peter decides to get those while he waits. His first stop is the office of Professor Morris Sloan. Morris is disappointed to hear that Peter is quitting school, however, Peter explains that he has personal and financial reasons for taking a leave of absence and that he needs a break from schooling. Accepting this with great reluctance, Morris Sloan signs the papers.
When Peter heads back to Dean Krenshaw's office, he catches him as he is leaving for a meeting and he tells Peter to come back later. Peter waits in another long line to get a leave of absence form, only to discover that he is on the wrong floor. When he finally gets the form he catches Dean Krenshaw on his lunch. Peter convinces him to sign the paperwork but slams the dean's office door when he answers a phone call and tells the caller that he isn't busy. Peter suddenly gets a fiendish idea and uses his webbing to seal the dean's door shut. When Krenshaw finishes his lunch and tries to leave his office he finds himself trapped, allowing other students to take advantage of the situation to get their paperwork signed. Meanwhile, Mary Jane Watson is having lunch with her old friends Harry and Liz Osborn. The couple tell her how great their marriage is going. They then suggest they all go out over the weekend with Peter Parker. However, Mary Jane is cold to this idea and leaves. Harry and Liz realize that playing matchmaker with Mary Jane is going to be harder than they thought. When they go to the corporate offices of Osborn Industries for a stockholders meeting they are shocked to find all the other members bound and gagged and office in shambles.
When the this latest break-in at an Osborn building hits the newspapers, Spider-Man learns about it when he web-slings past some men commenting on it on the streets. Suspecting that this might be the work of the Hobgoblin, Spider-Man decides to investigate. He pays a visit to the office of Police Captain Jean DeWolff, but finds that she isn't there. Breaking in, Spider-Man goes looking through her files and learns that the only thing stolen from the office were records of chemicals purchased by the company over the past six years. As he puzzles out why someone would steal such information, he overhears some officers talking about a break-in on the pier where an Osborn chemical warehouse is located. When Spider-Man arrives at the scene, he discovers the police have the area surrounded and are having a stand-off with the men inside. Spider-Man goes inside the warehouse and attacks the gunmen. In a transport truck, a man tosses some of the Hobgoblin's razor bats at the wall-crawler, setting off a chemical fire, and tries to make a break for it. Although he manages to escape, Spider-Man tags the back of the truck with a spider-tracer. Once he has gotten far enough away, the driver dumps the truck, escaping in a van that was hidden inside the trailer. When Spider-Man catches up to the truck, he discovers that it is being remotely piloted and bails out before it crashes into a wall.
Going back to the scene of the crime, Spider-Man overhears the captured thieves telling the officers that they were hired by a crook named Lefty Donovan. Meanwhile, Left Donovan arrives at the Hobgoblin's hideout where he reports to his employer what went down. The Hobgoblin is still recovering from his injuries sustained during his last clash with Spider-Man and with the chemicals stolen he hopes to recreate the formula that gave the Green Goblin the strength to be a match against the wall-crawler. Meanwhile, Mary Jane Watson is leaving a theater show with her date. As they pass by a newsstand she is disturbed by the front page news regarding the recent attacks on Osborn Manufacturing and worries for Harry and Liz. When her date notices that she looks grim, Mary Jane brushes it off and goes back to pretending to be her happy-go-lucky-self.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Hobgoblin, Lefty Donovan, Felicia Hardy, Harry Osborn, Liz Osborn, Mary Jane Watson, Morris Sloan
Continuity Notes
Felicia Hardy recounts Spider-Man's recent battles with Doctor Octopus (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #78-79), the Punisher (Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #81-83), and the Hobgoblin (Amazing Spider-Man #239).
This story makes reference to the fact that Norman Osborn, the original Green Goblin, is dead. He apparently perished in Amazing Spider-Man #122. However, he survived as explained in Spider-Man: The Osborn Journal #1. He will resurface in Amazing Spider-Man #412.
The identity of the Hobgoblin is not revealed until Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives #3. He is secretly Roderick Kingsley.
