Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #260

 Posted: 2004
 Staff: Jeanne Burch

Story 'The Challenge Of Hobgoblin!'

Sitting in his corporate office, Harry Osborn peruses papers. The Hobgoblin crashes through the picture window, demanding the Osborn journals. When Harry claims to have no idea what he's talking about, the Hobgoblin offers a trade. He is interrupted, however, when Spider-Man swings in. The Hobgoblin is not interested in a fight: "Get out of my way, Spider-Man! There's no profit in continuing this foolish battle!" Spider-Man's reply is to kick him into a nearby chandelier. Angered, the Hobgoblin vows to destroy Spider-Man.

At the Daily Bugle, Betty Leeds tries to call her husband Ned at home. She wonders where he could be. Robbie Robertson notes he is not the only one missing: the Bugle's photographers, Peter Parker and Lance Bannon, are nowhere to be found, either.

The struggle between Spider-Man and the Hobgoblin takes them through the boardroom and the ladies room before the Hobgoblin calls it quits. "You will die at a time and place of my choosing! I'm going to leave you now! I've already wasted too much of my valuable time here!" Determined not to let him get away again, Spider-Man attaches a web line to the goblin glider and hangs on for dear life. Swinging in front of an oncoming commuter train, the Hobgoblin hears a satisfying "spwatt!" and assumes his enemy has been crushed.

On a street corner below, a car screeches to a halt in front of Mary Jane Watson and the very pregnant Liz Osborn. The two are grabbed and hustled into the car as a helpless Harry watches. He thinks: "All right, Hobgoblin! We'll play things your way...for now! But...you'll live to regret the day you ever heard of Harry Osborn--the son of the Green Goblin!"

And, on a train rapidly taking him away from the action, Peter Parker prematurely congratulates himself on getting the Hobgoblin away from his best friend.

 Posted: 2004
 Staff: Jeanne Burch