Spider-Man’s War on Crime!

Spider-Man is web-slinging across the city. He is unnerved by the eerie calm, as though this is the calm before the storm. Suddenly, someone starts shooting at the wall-crawler. Taking evasive action, Spider-Man dodges the bullets. Spotting the shooter’s vantage point, Spider-Man covers his chest in bulletproof webbing and lunges at the shooter. It turns out the shooter is none other than the Punisher. The Punisher explains that he wasn’t shooting to kill but to get Spider-Man’s attention. They are then joined by Daredevil, who explains that he had the Punisher do this because the wall-crawler has been ignoring their attempts to contact him through normal channels.

Spider-Man evades Daredevil’s concerns about Spider-Man’s current change in behavior and asks them to get to the point. As it turns out, one of the Punisher’s safe houses had been broken into and one of the items stolen was a Goblin Glider that the Punisher had in his possession. They have sought out Spider-Man because they want to make sure it was him who took it. They also feel a tenseness in the city.

Spider-Man takes them back to Spider-Island, although Daredevil and Punisher are welcomed in, Spider-Man tells them not to touch anything.[1] Spider-Man has beefed up security at the facility because he has been collecting a stockpile of super-villain tech. However, when they get inside, Spider-Man is shocked to discover that the entire room has been cleared out. Suddenly, someone tosses a pumpkin bomb into the room. Quickly, the Punisher whirls around and shoots it. Instead of an explosive, it turns out to be a smoke bomb. However, this does little to impede the three heroes due to Spider-Man’s spider-sense, Daredevil’s radar-sense, and the Punisher’s night-vision goggles.

They quickly rush into the next room which is full of Spider-Man’s Spiderlings. The wall-crawler orders them to stand on alert because there is an impostor among them. Having picked up the heart-beat of their attacker, Daredevil is able to single the impostor out. Since the jig is up, the impostor opens his jacket to reveal he has a number of pumpkin bombs strapped to his body that are rigged to explode. Surrounded, the impostor talks to his master through a com-link to determine what to do next.

This impsotor’s master turns out to be the Goblin King who cuts off communication with is minion. When the Goblin Knight protests this, the King explains that he did not want Daredevil’s enhanced hearing to overhear his commands as it would give away his identity and he doesn’t want Spider-Man to know what he is planning yet. However, the Goblin King assures his Knight that this isn’t the only one of his minions who have infiltrated Spider-Island.

Back at Spider-Island, the fake Spiderling threatens to detonate the bombs when the Punisher shoots off his thumb so he can’t trigger the detonator. The impostor then uses another smoke bomb and when the Punisher puts on his night-vision goggles to counteract this, a flash-bomb is dropped, blinding the vigilante. As Spider-Man and Daredevil rush to disarm their enemy, the Punisher has him call out so he can strike him with a combat knife. Spider-Man tries to question the impostor to know who is responsible for raiding his cache of weapons. Unfortunately, the impostor won’t reveal who hired him. Suddenly, they are surrounded by Spiderlings weilding the stolen super-villain weapons, all of them plants placed by the Goblin King.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Daredevil, Punisher, Goblin King, Goblin Knight, Menace

Continuity Notes

1. Spider-Man mentions how Sun Girl “traipsed” through his hideout. That happened in Superior Spider-Man Team-Up #6.