Spectacular Spider-Man #52
The Day of the Hero Killers!
The wounded body of the White Tiger is dumped in front of the Daily Bugle in front of Peter Parker with an ominous message pinned to him "This is the First". Peter tags the escaping a vehicle with a spider-tracer before checking on his friend and seeing that Hector is still alive in spite of his wounds.
Riding with Hector to the hospital, Peter learns that Hector's family was murdered by Gideon Mace as part of a war against New York's super-heroes, and when he tracked Mace down as the White Tiger, Mace mowed him down with an automatic weapon. At the hospital, Blackbyrd arrives just in time to prevent the paramedics from removing his tiger medallion. Peter slips away from the scene to change into Spider-Man and asks Blackbyrd what he knows about Gideon Mace before going after Mace himself.
Using his spider-tracer to track down those who dumped White Tiger's body, Spider-Man battles Gideon's soldiers. When Gideon learns that Spider-Man is tracking them, he allows Spider-Man to learn the location of his base so that he can eliminate Spider-Man earlier than he planned. When Spider-Man arrives, the two are locked in battle, and when Gideon's men burst in and cannot get a clear shot on Spider-Man, Mace orders them to fire anyway. With Gideon mowed down with bullets, Spider-Man makes short work of the shooters.
Spider-Man brings Mace to the hospital where he is rushed in as Hector comes out of a successful surgery. Hector then decides to relinquish his tiger medallion over to Blackbyrd, deciding that his life as a super-hero was over and leaves New York with Holly. Blackbyrd parts company with Spider-Man by commenting that at least Hector knew when it was time to quit while he's ahead.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, White Tiger, Gideon Mace, Blackbyrd, J. Jonah Jameson, Joe Robertson, Mike Mullaney, Holly Gillis
Continuity Notes
This story contains multiple references to the fact that Hector Ayala publicly revealed his secret identity to the public. That happened in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #20.
Peter recounts the last time he met Blackbyrd, that was in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #9-10.
Blackbyrd mentions that Gideon Mace fought Power Man a few times. Those battles took place in Hero for Hire #3, Power Man #23, 43-45. Blackbyrd thought that Mace was dead, as he was last seen falling down an elevator shaft circa Power Man #45.
Although the White Tiger retires here, he returns to crime fighting in Daredevil (vol. 2) #38.
