Goblin Season

Spider-Man has just hijacked every video feed in the city to out Phil Urich as the new Hobgoblin. Phil is at the Daily Bugle when the news gets out and Joe Robertson quickly takes control of the situation, ordering his staff not to post anything online or they will be fired.

Phil’s uncle Ben can’t believe that his nephew is the Hobgoblin and Joe offers to provide the Bugle’s lawyers to defend him. That’s when Norah Winters demands that Phil admit that he’s not the Hobgoblin, however Phil can’t bring himself to say it. That’s when Spider-Man stars trying to appeal to the public, relating to the time he failed to stop a burglar during his early career as Spider-Man.[1]

This causes the situation at the Bugle to intensify and eventually someone contacts the police, much to Joe’s aggravation. Norah then begins questioning Phil, asking him how he was able to get so many exclusive videos of the Hobgoblin in action. Phil decides it’s time to show them how and begins to laugh.

Spider-Man has also just learned of Phil’s location and is ordering his nearest Spiderlings to converge on that location. As a team on 23rd and Broadway begin to mobilize nobody notices the Wraith snatch one of the Spiderlings who is straggling behind. When Spider-Man arrives at the Bugle, Joe Robertson refuses to let the web-slinger take Phil without proof that Urich is the Hobgoblin. Spider-Man then explains how he raked the Hobgoblin with his nano-spider-tracres. Realizing the jig is up, Phil then pulls out his flaming sword and takes Norah Winters as a hostage.[2]

As the news about the Hobgoblin’s identity spread, people all over the city react. Tiberius Stone is pleased to finally get back at the Goblin for all the time he threatened him. Stone then begins working on the next item on his revenge list, getting back at Horizon Labs.[3] The media then begins having a frenzy, discussing the ethics of exposing the secret identity of costumed individuals.[4]

Meanwhile, in a Midtown side street, the Wraith uses her fear gas to force one of the Spiderlings to reveal how he was employed by Spider-Man. Unfortunately, the Wraith cannot find any incriminating evidence because the Spiderling is a legitimate hired gun with no criminal priors. Relaying this back to Carlie Cooper, she asks the Wraith to get the henchman’s bank account number so she can trace the money he gets paid from helping Spider-Man back to its source. Although this doesn’t reveal the source of the money, Carlie discovers that it has come from a large off-shore bank account. She knows Spider-Man well enough to know that he wouldn’t have access to this kind of money and asks the Wraith to pack a bag because they’re going to the Cayman Islands.[5]

Back at the Daily Bugle, Norah Winters refuses to allow herself to be a hostage and fights free from Phil’s grasp. Before Spider-Man can apprehend him, Phil begins unleashing his sonic laugh upon everyone in the room. However, Phil instantly stops after he sees that he is also hurting his uncle Ben in the process. That’s when Spider-Man detonates his nano-spider-tracers stunning Phil long enough for Spider-Man to push him outside. There, Phil realizes — to his horror — that his outing is all over the news. Reports keep coming in with the news media interviewing his former teammate, Turbo, as well as detailing Phil’s past history as the heroic Green Goblin.[6]

Watching this from his underground hideout, the Goblin King can’t understand why Spider-Man is acting so cavalier about exposing the secret identity of an enemy.[7] Still, he is impressed with how Urich managed to get under Spider-Man’s skin and orders Menace to go to the surface and collect the youth and bring him into the Goblin Nation.

By this point, Phil Urich is surrounded by police and he wisely surrenders. Spider-Man is debating what to do about Phil’s sonic laugh when he suddenly gets a call from Captain America. Although he and Iron Man are busy fighting Lava Men in Borneo, the news of the web-slinger’s current activities have already reached them. Cap reminds the wall-crawler that he is on probation and that they need to have another talk soon.[8] With that, Spider-Man orders his Spiderlings to stand down, telling them that they are done for the day. That’s when the press start bombarding Spider-Man with questions. Instead of answering, he thanks everyone for their assistance in helping him take down the Hobgoblin.

Back inside the Daily Bugle, the clean up efforts have begun. However, the news media is critical of the Bugle for producing yet another super-villain.[9] Joe Robertson has to quickly start doing damage control and makes some hard decisions. One of them is to sideline Ben Urich, since Phil was his nephew. He then has the difficult task of firing Norah Winters since she was working based on footage that Phil recorded of himself as the Hobgoblin.

Later that day, Phil Urich is being taken to the Holland Tunnel to a prison in New Jersey when his transport is attacked by the Menace. He helps free Phil and takes him to the Goblin Underground. When he asks if he their leader is Norman Osborn, she chooses not to answer. She makes him wait in a room where the news coverage about Phil’s outing is still part of the news cycle. Mayor J. Jonah Jameson is interviewed, but refuses to answer questions. While Spider-Man makes another public address to criticise police for allowing the Hobgoblin to escape custody. That’s when Phil is told that the Goblin King will see him. However, they will not let Phil enter the room until he puts on a special Goblin costume they have mad just for him.

There, kneeling before the Goblin King, Phil Urich pledges his allegiance and vows to destroy Spider-Man. Accepting Urich into his ranks, the Goblin King then christens him his new Goblin Knight.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Hobgoblin/Goblin Knight, Goblin King, Menace, Carlie Cooper, Wraith, Joe Robertson, Ben Urich, Norah Winters, Sally Floyd, Captain America, Iron Man, Tiberius Stone, Tubo, J. Jonah Jameson

Continuity Notes

1. Otto’s pulling out the old “great power, great responsibility” speech that Peter Parker gives since his inaction got his Uncle Ben shot back in Amazing Fantasy #15.

2. Phil goes on about how he was living the dream, making money and scoring a hot girlfriend. Phil usurped the Hobgoblin identity in Amazing Spider-Man #649 and used that identity to get exclusives for the Bugle. He also used this position to put a wedge between Norah Winters and her then boyfriend, Randy Robertson who she had been dating since Amazing Spider-Man #691. Norah eventually broke up with Robertson and and began seeing Phil in Spider-Island: Deadly Foes #1.

3. Tiberius Stone was a scientist working for the Kingpin around the same time Phil became the Hobgoblin. He ultimately got fired by the Kingpin in Amazing Spider-Man #697. Tiberius was also working for Horizon Labs, as a plant for the Kingpin, he was outted and fired from Horizon at the same time.

4. The talking heads on the news mention a number of incidents where costumed individuals were publicly outted.

   • Mention is made of the Super-Human Registration Act and how it forced people to unmask. This law was imposed during Civil War #1-7 and was later abolished following Siege #1-4.

   • Also mentioned is how Peter Parker used photographic evidence to out Norman Osborn as the Green Goblin. This is not accurate at all, see below.

   • Also mentioned is that Peter’s used to work for the Daily Bugle. Parker has worked for the Bugle on-and-off over the years since Amazing Spider-Man #2. At the time of this story, Peter has been blacklisted from photo journalism after he doctored a photo of J. Jonah Jameson battling the Vulture in Amazing Spider-Man #623-624. That said, Parker had actually quit working at the Bugle over then-owner Dexter Bennett forcing him to be a paparazzi in Amazing Spider-Man #561.

   • Lastly, mention is made of how the Wraith had recently revealed that Martin Li was actually Mister Negative. See Amazing Spider-Man #663-664.

5. Carlie states that she knows Spider-Man enough to know that he can’t balance his chequebook. This is because Carlie has known Spider-Man is really Peter Parker since Amazing Spider-Man #673. The pair had dated for a while prior to that, starting in Amazing Spider-Man #647.

6. There is some history about Phil’s past costumed heroics here. They are:

   • Turbo speaks of when they worked together as a support group for former teen heroes. This was in The Loners #1-6.

   • Prior to this, Phil had a brief career as a heroic version of the Green Goblin which lasted from Web of Spider-Man #125 until Green Goblin #13.

7. The Goblin King is referring to the fact that Spider-Man has known Norman Osborn’s double-identity for years, dating back to Amazing Spider-Man #39-40. As I previously explained above and below, despite knowing the truth, Peter Parker never publicly exposed Osborn’s identity, leaving this to others — such as Ben Urich of the Daily Bugle.

8. Spider-Man has been on probation with the Avengers since Superior Spider-Man #8 after he brutalized a number of criminals and killed Massacre. See Superior Spider-Man #1 and 3-6 for all the gory details.

9. One of the reporters refers to the Daily Bugle as a “super-villain factory” and lists off a number of villains who used to work there. He’s not wrong when you think about it. The villains he mentions are:

   • The Big Man, aka Frederick Foswell. Foswell was also a reporter for the Daily Bugle until he was exposed by Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #10. After serving time Foswell was invited back to the Bugle by J. Jonah Jameson in Amazing Spider-Man #23 until he died protected Jameson from the Kingpin in Amazing Spider-Man #52.

   • The Rose they are referring to is Jacob Conover the third man to assume this identity. Conover was a reporter for the Bugle starting back in Daredevil #131. He began operating as the Rose in Amazing Spider-Man #414 after getting fired from his job. He was later unmasked by Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #436.

   • He also mentions that this is the second Hobgoblin in the Bugle’s employ. The first would be Ned Leeds who was active as the Hobgoblin from Amazing Spider-Man #257 until his murder in Spider-Man Versus Wolverine #1. It was later revealed that Leeds was brainwashed by the real Hobgoblin, Roderick Kingsley. See Spider-Man: Hobgoblin Lives #1-3.

Topical References

• Dated pop-clture references: Expendables 2

Continuity Errors

Two reporters stated that Peter Parker once exposed Norman Osborn’s criminal past. This is not accurate at all. Norman Osborn’s criminal past was exposed on two different occasions, both by Ben Urich as seen in Spider-Man: Legacy of Evil #1 and The Pulse #1-5. In both instances, Osborn manipulated the Bugle into retracting these statements in Spectacular Spider-Man #250 and Amazing Spider-Man #568 respectively. More recently, Osborn was imprisoned Siege #4. Parker has known Osborn’s identity for years but he never publicly exposed it through the media. One could assume that the newscasters are misattributing this to Parker, likely because Parker would have taken the most photos of the Green Goblin during his career as photographer for the Daily Bugle.