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Spectacular Spider-Man # 241 : Written by John Marc DeMatteis and Drawn by Luke Ross One month after Ben's death, Peter and Mary Jane begin a new era in their lives. The couple now live in aunt May's house in Forrest Hills with MJ's aunt Anna. Peter and Mary Jane have decided to go back to college; Peter trying to finally graduate and MJ trying to major in psychology. In college, the Parkers meet Paul and Jill Stacy, Gwen's cousins who has just returned from living in Japan for the past few years. Jill quickly begins to become a close friend to MJ and Paul is a rival to Peter. At Ravencroft, not only do we see a blooming romance between John Jameson and Ashley Kafka, but we find out that the Chameleon is going to be taken away by the goverment. Fearing that all her hard work on the villain would go away, she would "kidnap" him and hide him in the basement. The Chameleon attacks her and turns into her. "Ashley" tricks John and Spider-Man. He manages to contain the hero in a padded cell. The hero gets out and beats up the villain who made him believe that his parents were alive. When Spidey said that, the Chameleon finally puts two and two together and finds out that Peter and Spider-Man are the same. Blinded with rage, the Chameleon escapes and is face-to-face with Alyosha Kravinov who is the son of the original Kraven the Hunter. The new Kraven takes out the Chameleon. Fortunato takes his place as New York's newest crime boss, but he must look foward to a confrontation with Argentina's crimelord named the Black Tarantula. Along with his servant Chesboro, the Black Tarantula plans to rule all of New York. As he is on trial for his many crimes, the second Hobgoblin, Jason Phillip Macendale, blurts out toall of the world press that the first Hobgoblin was none other than Ned Leeds, Daily Bugle employee. As the media vultures prey over Betty, Spider-Man takes her to safety. At the Bugle, Betty confirms to JJJ, Robbie, Peter, Ben and everyone else that Ned was the Hobgoblin. JJJ tells everyone to be on this story. At the Parker house, Mary Jane makes a point to Peter that proves that Ned couldn't have been the villain by saying that how could the Hobgoblin be simply defeated by a couple of thugs is unthinkable. So with the help of Spider-Man, Mary Jane, Flash and Peter, Betty goes on the search to prove that Ned wasn't the Hobgoblin. They gather a list of suspects that includes Donald Menken, Senator Martin, Senator Vandergill, Roderick Kingsley, and even Jacob Conover. Meanwhile, Conover is hell-bent on getting notes that he swiped with Ned before he died. Roderick and his brother Daniel Kingsley are wondering if the revelation will affect their corporate takeover bid. Donald Menken (a corporate executive who works at Osborn Industries) wonders how it will affect the Bugle's stock. Both Senators remember Hobby's fight with Spidey at the Century Club a few years back. At jail where Macendale is being held, he is paid a visit by a unknown man. The man then preceeds to kill Macendale by burning him into ashes. That man claims he is the true original Hobgoblin. The next day at the Bugle, the whole gang watches the videotape of Hobgoblin killing Macendale. Peter, MJ, Betty and Flash tries to interview some of the suspects. MJ sets up a meeting with Roderick Kingsley. Then, the Hobgoblin has attacked one of Osborn Idustries' refineries. Betty then appears on TV and claims that she has found some old notes that had belonged to Ned, and she intends to finish his work. Conover, who wants the work back, goes to the TV station to tries to do so, but Conover isn't the only one who wants the notes; the Hobgoblin wants them too. The villain kidnaps Betty.After a battle, Betty and Spider-Man discover the truth and Roderick Kingsley is sent to prison.Betty is more than pleased to clean her husband's name once and for all. When the Vault is destroyed, Kaine escapes. On a boat in Greece, Alison Mongrain calls Norman Osborn and asks when her money is going to be deposited in her Swiss bank account. As she is doing so, we see a crib and baby toys. As this is happening, Mary Jane, who is not only blaming herself for the loss of the baby but, along with friend Shantal and one of her teachers (a female) are being followed by Chesboro. The rejuvinated Vulture to fight the Wall-Crawler, but when D.K. would come in contact with Adrian Toomes, the Vulture would revert to being his old self once again. The Rose attempts to ressurect the dead body of Otto Octavius with the aid of the Hand. When Lady Ock finds out about this, she plans to get him back. With the help of Stunner, they track down the Rose. The Rose captures Stunner, and used her as a sacrifice to bring Doc Ock back to life. Lady Ock "downloads" most of Otto's memories into his brain. With Ock back to life he believes tha tSpider-Man is responsible for Stunner being in a coma, and he weants revenge more than ever. Suddenly, there is a mysterious benefactor going around New York and leaving robotic toys to hospitals for sick children. Betty and Peter goes to those hospitals and finds out that the robots were made from, in fact, Mendel Stromm, the robot Master. Meanwhile, Arthur Stacy is looking for some information of the deaths of Gwen and George Stacy, so JJJ sets him up with Peter. Peter, who is reluctant to answer any questions, changes the subject to the mystery of the benefactor. With the help of the former cop, Peter finds out where the benefactor will "strike" next. He finds a Mendel Stromm who doesn't remember a thing about his past life. When he takes Spidey to his "base", Spider asks if he remembers Norman Osborn, Strom says no, but that makes something click in his mind, and he snaps. Arthur Stacy follows Spider-Man and finds the two fighting. A fire errupts and Stromm and Spidey's life is in danger. Stacy ponders if he should save Stromm's life or unmask Spider-Man. He chooses to save Stromm's life. Peter takes Stromm to Ravencroft where doctor Kafka tells Peter that Stromm doesn't remember anything that happened in the past 15 years. When SHIELD is investigating the dead body of the Jackal, a man gets infected with a Carrion virus and turns into the third Carrion. This new villain terrorizes New York and obviously catches the attention of Spider-Man. With the help of the Tinkerer, Spider-Man goes to see the only man who can help; the High Evolutionary. The villain was reluctant to help, but in the end he realized that he was partially responsible (he unknowingly helped Warren clones). Everyone returns to normal in the end. Meanwhile, as J. Jonah Jameson is spending some time with his wife Marla reading poems by Pierce, he is being stalked by a new Jack O'Lantern II (or Mad Jack). After a lunch with Peter and MJ, and Liz and Foggy, Flash feels really down on himself and starts drinking more and more alcohol. Flash, feeling that there is no one to talk to, decides to go meet with Betty. The two go out and talk, but when Flash makes a bad move, Betty leaves in a hurry. Flash begins drinking again as a result. When Flash apologizes to Betty and asks her to go out for coffee, Betty backs off much to Flash's dismay. The Bugle is introduced to new photographer Billy Walters who is assigned to follow Peter and learn from him. We see Robbie suddenly get his priorities mixed up; he chases after a story instead of going to help his wife who is in danger. Meanwhile, we have seen John Jamseon being confronted by Mad Jack (and his cat Maguire), where the villain has some sort of control on John's mind. Finally, once again, in Greece, Alison Mongrain wonders why Osborn hasen't paid her yet, so she decides to give Osborn more time to give her the money. If he doesn't, she'll sell the information she knows to the Parkers. While she is saying this she is talking to cat holding a baby rattle.The villainous Mad Jack decides to meet JJJ in a elevator. There, Mad Jack beats the living hell out of the publisher of the Bugle. JJJ is taken to a hospital. Later that night, Mad Jack decides to go to visit JJJ and wants the publisher to sell the Bugle to him for the safety of JJJ's family. JJJ relunctantly accepts. Later on, when Mad Jack speaks to his employer, he gives Jack 1 million dollars for his success, but Jack doesn't accept the money because he did it for his own reasons. As he is flying off we find out the identity of his employer ... Norman Osborn
That same night, while Betty is working by herself at the Bugle, she is met by Norman Osborn. Betty immediately calls the cops, but is shocked when she finds out that Norman Osborn is now the co-owner of the Daily Bugle. From there Norman pays a visit to his daughter-in-law Liz, the head of Osborn Industries, and he wants to take back his company and his grandson. Liz gives him the company, but not her grandson. Two weeks later at the re-opening of the Osborn Foundation, Norman serves as a speaker. His speech is full anti-Spider-Man propaganda. Osborn denies any connection to the Green Goblin, claiming that he was in Europe during the years following his "death" because people like Spider-Man were hunting him down for his life. As such, he condemns Ben Urich's book, "Dynasty of Evil" as being totaly false, he later goes on to say that he wants Urich to find the true Goblin. Meanwhile, Peter and Mary Jane return home from the Osborn gala to find that their house has been broken into. Leaving a shaken Aunt Anna with MJ, Peter rushes upstairs and finds a little Green Goblin doll in his trashed bedroom. Completely furious, he changes into his Spider-Man uniform and throws himself through the window of Norman Osborn's apartment, where he proceeds to brutally pound an unresisting Norman, demanding that he leave himself and everyone else alone. However, thetre are security cameras posted around the room that captured Spidey's attack for all the world to see. Chased by the security guards, Spider-Man swings off into the night, tormented by his inability to stop the "Osborn curse" from endangering everyone and everything he holds dear. Norman Osborn has followed through on his threat to release the tapes of Spider-Man beating him to the media. Norman puts up a five million dollar reward for the capture of Spider-Man, but even JJJ thinks that too much. Norman gives JJJ a long and evil stare, to which JJJ says that agrees with the deal. Robbie asks JJJ why he gave in so easily. JJJ responds that Spider-Man is a menace, moreso than ever before. Meanwhile, Norman Osborn is in conversation with one Doctor Mueller. Norman offers to fund Mueller's experiments on surviving by bringing hell to other people. In Bugle business, due to Osborn's financial backing the Bugle is no longer under water, so they rehire Jacob Conover. Also at the Bugle, Flash announces to Betty that he going through a treatment program to get over his alcohol problems after being caught drunk driving. Betty is relieved to hear this ... and so is and eavesdropping Norman Osborn. A special goverment agency "hires" Venom to kill J.Jonah Jameson, because JJJ has been snooping around on anti-mutant and Presidential candidate Greydon Creed and his friend, Bastion. When Venom is close to capturing him and Spidey makes the save. The hero fights Venom, until Spider-Man pulls a piece of concrete from the high-rise which falls then detonates smoldering dynamite behind Venom. Venom is knocked out; he now has amnesia. The goverment agency tries to stop the Lethal Protector, but they fail. Spidey manages to give Venom such a hard punch that it has now given Eddie Brock some memories of who he was before the symbiote arrived. Spidey knocks Venom out, but the agency imprisons him again. Venom is no long a threat ... for now. Due to budget cuts, the new head of Ravencroft decides to lower the power of Carnage's containment shield, thus making Carnage escape. He heads off to the Bugle and sends a message to Spider-Man; he attacks Robbie's wife Martha. After visitng the newly resurrected Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer sees Carnage. Thinking that the Surfer is still the herald of Galactus, the symbiote fless in terror. Spidey and the Surfer track down Carnage, but the symbiote merges with the Surfer, thus becoming Carnage Cosmic. The Surfer gets the monkey (the symbiote) off his back and the symbiote is reuinted with Kasady. But the reuinion is short lived as the Surfer contains them both in a shell of ethereal energy to prevent him from causing any harm to society. Back at the Bugle Martha convinces Robbie to quit his job. On a cold New York night, the cops find a present from what appears to be from Spider-Man. The present is a crook named Joey Z, wrapped in a big thick coat of webbing. When they take the crook down, they discover that the man isn't breathing anymore due to webbing up his nose and mouth. Later, at the scene of the crime, JJJ, Norman, Peter and Ben Urich are all there to take pictures and info on who killed the crook. Norman uses this platform to claim that Spider-Man should be arrested and be put away. As he walks, he sees the Green Goblin, standing atop a building. Peter runs up the stairs, changing into his webs on the way, only to find a single pumpkin-bomb. He throws it away, where it explodes in the air. The next morning, Peter then goes off to talk to Norman Osborn to settle it once and for all. He takes his enemy to the top of the building and Norman jumps off. Spidey, unsurprisngly, saves him. The cops arrive and Spider-Man flees, but notices the Green Goblin, which proves that Norman is not the Goblin he saw before. Spidey then swings by the precint where Joey Z was left and gives the detectives his webbing so they can compare the two types of webbing, which will prove that Spidey did not kill the crook. While all of New York wants to get the 5 million dollar reward for Spider-Man, Override and his wife Aura want to collect their money so they could retire. At the Bugle, Norman has hired Flash Thompson to become his personal assistant because not only does he admire Flash for overcoming his own demons, but because he wants to continue his minds games against Peter. As Spider-Man is doing a routine "check-up" on his city, he meets a bunch of regular guys with guns, but also Override and Aura. Tragedy strikes when Aura is caught between the crossfire and she is badly injured. Later that night, while Norman and Liz are arguing over Normie, the grandson is kidnapped by whom he believes is his "daddy". When Peter watches the news, he finds out that the Green Goblin has kidnapped Normie, and Norman Osborn said that he would pay any amount of money to get him back and that he hopes that this ends the rumors that he ever was the villain. But before Spider-Man is able to find the Goblin, the Black Tarantula might make sure that he never saves Normie. Fortunato tells the Black Tarantula to eliminate the man who is hurting his business more than everyone else, Spider-Man. Hoping to get on Fortunato's good side, the Black Tarantula agreed. So, as Spider-Man begins his search for Normie, but the new villain attacks him and beats the hero to a pulp. During their one-sided fight, Spidey mentions that he's going to find Normie, so BT lets him live only until he saves the child, but after that, he must leave the city. BT takes off Spidey's mask, thus forcing Spidey to web his face to hide his identity. Barely able to continue, Shotgun attacks hoping to get the reward. But at that same moment, Norman Osborn hires the Punsiher to not only rescue his grandson but get rid of Spidey. Osborn promises to give the amnesiac Punisher all the information he needs to know about himself and his family. Hiding from Shotgun, Spidey is saved by a regular man named Clarence Fielding. When Shotgun finally catches up to Spidey, but so does Punisher. Sensing Clarence's life is in danger, Spidey meets Jimmy Six who wants to help Spider-Man, because Spidey helped him out before. So Jimmy takes Clarence away, as Spidey is alone with the Punsiher. Frank Castle begins to remember his past, and all the times he fought alongside with Spidey, so he will help him out. But when the Goblin strikes, Spidey heads off by himself to go get him. Meanwhile, Override is at the hospital visitng his unconscious wife and he swears to get the money so she can get her life back. Also, Jimmy Six takes Clarence to safety. The Goblin then pays a visit to Osborn and tells him, in front of the Bugle staff, to bring 10 million dollars to the Brooklyn bridge and in exchange, he'll give Norman back his grandson. Everyone from Betty to Flash to Jacob now has sympathy for Norman, except for JJJ and Ben Urich. Later at the bridge, Spidey confronts the Goblin and follows him to a dump, where he is holding Normie hostage. There they have a fight where it would seem that the Goblin would win, but due to a shot from Jimmy Six (hoping to avenge Ben Reilly's death) Spidey gains the advantage. Also, Clarence manges to save Normie and Override also gets involved. The Goblin crashes into a bunch of piled up cars and there is an explosion in which Spidey believes that the Goblin perished. Later at a press conference, Norman praises Override and Clarence for their help in the return of his grandson. He also promises that Override's wife would be safe. But later that night, Osborn pays a visit to Mueller and the Goblin, and he says that everything went according to plan.As Peter is trying to find new ways to be a hero, yet not wear the Spidey suit, Peter goes to visit friend and ally Hobie Brown (a.k.a. the Prowler). With his help, Hobie is able to create a sort of suit that Spidey could use. Meanwhile, when villain Mister Hyde is hiding from the Hulk, he crashes Robbie's farewell party by accident. So Peter, using a hooded jacket, saves the day in front of all his friends. Also, we find out that Robbie and Martha are going on a honeymoon in Greece.
When a huge vortex on Yancy Street is suddenly opened, ruins a romantic dinner for Peter and MJ. Spidey springs into action, and he meets new hero SHOC. When kids get sucked into the vortex, it's up to Spidey to go save them. So SHOC gives him a part of his energy force, so that when Spidey finds the kids, SHOC will bring them back home. So Spidey is sent into the Negative Zone. Because of the Negative Zone, Spidey's costume is now black and white. Spidey runs into a middle of a huge battle between good and bad. He meets Dusk (a hero from the planet). When Dusk dies, his allies give up and run away. Spidey follows them. Hoping to give the good guys a boost in confidence, Spidey dons the Dusk costume and heads off to fight Blastaar. He manages to save the kids and to beat the bad guys. Spidey is taken back to Earth, but he has a new costume. After Peter's meeting with Hobie Brown, Hobie offers him the chance to wear a cybernetically-operated jetpack. When Peter sees an old newspaper, from the time that Spider-Ben fought Swarm, he decides to call himself The Hornet. The newly released Vulture begins his search for Spider-Man. The next day there is a ceremony hosted by Norman Osborn where he is going to give the Hornet a check for 20 000$ for his good deeds. The Hornet decides to give the money to charity, but the Vulture crashes the party and two fight. Recognizing the Hornet's speech, the Vulture puts two and two together and screams out "The Hornet is Spider-Man". Everyone at the conference didn't pay much attention to that, except Norman. He looked over to where Peter is supposed to be, and noticed that Peter wasn't there. Norman was infuriated and put two and two together. The new high-flying hero wins, but now that Norman knows, Peter must retire the Hornet. While shopping at an old clothing store, Peter and Mary Jane put together another identity; Ricochet. Ricochet, instead of trying to clear Spidey's name, forms an uneasy alliance with Deliah and the Rose's organization. They hope to take down the Black Tarantula. But the Tarantula hires Wolverine villains Bloodscream and Roughhouse to stop Deliah and Ricochet. Ricochet manages to defeat the duo by himself. Later, Spidey meets Arthur Stacy and detective Snipes and Snipes confirms to Spidey and Stacy that the webbing used to kill Joey Z did not come from Spidey. Spidey then comes to the conclusion that the Trapster franmed him for Osborn. So Spidey assumes the Dusk costume that he got at the Negative Zone a few weeks back in order to get a confession from the Trapster. So he finds the Trapster, and the two agree to try to take down Osborn. Later, Dusk (who is wired) meets up with the Trapster and they are both ready to confront Osborn. When Osborn says everything (which is tape recorded by Dusk), Trapster wants to kill Osborn, but Dusk stops him and the tapes are destroyed. Once Norman leaves, Dusk comes up with a way to get even with Norman; to turn himself in. The Trapster confesses that he killed Joey Z, thus framing Spider-Man. But Spidey is still being accused of attacking Norman Osborn, what will he do?/p> At Forrest Hill, Mary Jane unveils her costume to Peter. She calls it Prodigy. Peter then decides to use his Prodigy identity to solve that little problem. When Mad Jack attacks Ambassador Hazram Chaliz. Prodigy saves the day by stopsping the assault. At his hide-out, new villain Conundrum wants to acquire the Hand of Mumthazi (a ruby that is supposed to give you powers). As it happens, the attack on the Ambassador earlier was nothing more than a decoy for him to kidnap the Ambassador's daughter Tabriaz. Later that evening at the Sufindian Embassy, Ambassador Chaliz is talking with Norman Osborn and trying to figure a way to recover his daughter when Prodigy appears and offers to get her back. Prodidgy then procedes to capture Conumdrum and put him away in jail while saving the girl at the same time. At the same time, Mad Jack is quickly shot by one of Osborn's bodyguards (who followed the villain) and is supposedly dead. The next day, there is yet another conference held by Osborn. This time he salutes Prodigy for his efforts in helping the Sunfindian goverment. When Prodigy speaks he makes the surprising announcement that he has discovered a Spider-Man costume in Conundrum's apartment, along with sufficient evidence to suggest he or Jack O'Lantern framed Spidey for the assault on Norman Osborn several weeks ago. That, combined with the Trapster's confession, completely clears the wall-crawler of all charges. Osborn was obviously shocked and angered by this. So with Spidey's name cleared, Spider-Man returns to action once and for all. But we find out that Mad Jack is indeed not dead and that he worked with Osborn once again. As Peter is back as Spider-Man, he must meet the man who gave him quite a trouncing earlier. the Black Tarantula. We find out that the real reason that the Black Tarantula came to New York is not because of the crime scene, but to find his ex-wife and his son. His ex-wife is Mary Jane's teacher, so that's why he had Chesboro spy on MJ, Shantal and the teacher. When Peter finds out that the teacher is in danger, MJ warns her about it. The teacher, her son and MJ will follow her boyfriend, the son-in-law of Fortunato, to Fortunato's mansion where they would be safe. The powerful Black Tarantula destroys his way through the mansion along with Spider-Man who is trying to stop him. Fortunato unmasks the Rose and it turns out to be Bugle employer Jacob Conover. When the villain is near his targets, Spidey convinces the Tarantula to leave without his son. The Tarantula gives up and leaves his family alone. Ever since Spider-Hunt started, Peter has been haunted by Joey Z. So was Jill Stacy. Apparently, the Stacy family has been targeted by someone, because Jill has been trying to find some information on Joey Z. This is all the fault of one man who has returned to New York, Wilson Fisk. Ever since Daredevil took him down, the Kingpin has been out of the US, until now. Hoping to become the kingpin of crime once again, Wilson Fisk hopes to eliminate Spidey and Daredevil. Meanwhile, going from meeting the Thing, Silvermane to the Hellfire Club, Peter tracks Jill down. Just as they are about to call MJ and Arthur that they are alright, the Ox and his men kidnap Jill. Spidey, being the hero that he is, stops them all. Spidey, facing his fears, decides to talk to Jill about Gwen, something he has been trying to avoid for months. Thus the beginning of a new friendship. On a regular day at the Bugle in which Peter, Betty, Norman and Normie Osborn are waiting for the elevator, Nitro the Living Bomb attacks. Peter quickly shoves Betty inside the elevator as the villain "explodes", causing an explosion and seding the elevator plummeting down the shaft. Peter, Betty, Normie and Norman are trapped inside. Peter manages to save everyone, including Osborn, without giving out his secret ID. Peter then is knocked unconscious. When he wakes up at the hospital, Norman tells JJJ that Peter deserves the best doctors that money can buy. As Norman is leaving in his limo, he says that it almost ready for "the Gathering of Five". But Osborn wasn't the only crimelord who was attacked. Hammerhead and many others where all attacked simultaneously by Wilson Fisk. With Osborn's public image gaining more sympathy each day, he gets to go on national television to claim how he is not the Green Goblin. In jail, Roderick Kingsley watches that show and claims that he has proof of that. So Kingsley tells his lawyer that he has a journal with the proof. He's willing to turn it over to the D.A. for an immediate release. The lawyer tells people about this, but Clarence Fielding would hear their conversation and tell Osborn himself. Just as Kingsley is about to be released from prison and sent to another place so he can show get the proof. Osborn sends the Green Goblin to capture Kingsley, which he does despite the interference of Spider-Man. Osborn takes Kingsley to one of his Multivex buidling where he tells Kingsley that he wants the journals that he stole from him. Roderick tells him that his brother Daniel has the journals. In exchange for his freedom, Kingsley proposes to Osborn that he'd give him Kingsley Limited, but Osborn has already taken all of Kingsley's money and taken his industry (unknowingly to Kingsley). Daniel, who is in the police protection program, is kidnapped by the Goblin and the Hobgoblin But when Osborn catches on that Roderick really doean't have a journal, he is prepared to kill him, but Spidey finds his way to the building and naturally stops them. While Osborn is fighting Roderick, Spidey easily defeats the Green Goblin and he saves Daniel's life in the process. Osborn, trying to save his reputation, leaves the building that is on fire, so does Roderick. Osborn is very disappointed in the Goblin for being defeated so easily, and he decides to do things his way from now on. Elsewhere, Roderick Kingsley, using his Swiss bank account money, goes to an Caribbean island where he retires for the moment. Meanwhile, Robbie sends a postcard to the Bugle while he is visitng in Greece. When Norman finds out that he's in Greece, he leaves the meeting saying that he must make a phone call. In other Bugle news, Billy Walters has dug some information on Norman Osborn, and gave them to J. Jonah Jameson to help him expose Norman. The information is about Alison Mongrain. In the Aegean sea in Greece, Robbie calls an informant, who tells Robbie that the yacht near his hotel room belongs to Norman Osborn. Robbie decides to go check it out. On the yacht, Alison Mongrain meets the Scriers who want the "package". Mongrain is reluctant, but gives it to them. Mongrain is betrayed and nearly killed. The Scriers, with the "package", are then attacked by a mystery man. Later at the hospital, Robbie tries to search for Alison, but he finds out that she's been checked out of there. As he is wondering where she could be, a stretcher with a Scrier passes by him with the mark of Kaine!Norman Osborn talks to the head of the villain group called Technomancers into participating in the GoF, but he declines, so Osborn sends out Override to steal it for him. Spidey tries to stop him, but fails when Override breaks all these monsters free from captivity, to help him escape during all the confusion. When Override gives Norman the artifact, he asks is he can be a part of the GoF (Override wants the chance to bring back his wife from the dead). Norman agrees to it. The next piece comes from a man named Franklin. Osborn asked him to participate in the GoF, but when Franklin declines the offer, his daughter Martha "Mattie" Franklin flies to New York in his place. The next one comes from a pawn shop owner named Maxwell, who agrees to be a part of it. Maxwell tells us that each participant in the GoF has a chance to receive death, madness, power, immortality or knowledge.
Meanwhile, Norman Osborn is preparing a deathly DNA bomb that will kill everyone who comes in contact with it. Then, the Scriers deliver the "package" to Norman Osborn. They say that they ran into a problem; Kaine, but they took care of him. Robbie tracks down Alison somewhere in Paris, where it looks like she's on the run. He chases her all the way to the US, where they are attacked by a mind-controlled Molten Man who's mission is to kill both Mongrain and Robertson. He fails when Spidey intervenes. Mongrain is determined to reach the Parker household. At the same time, MJ considers going back to modeling when school becomes too tough for her. Madame Web having a vision where she is tempted by Norman Osborn to ask someone she knows to go steal another artifact for the GoF. Osborn tells her, that she has a chance to regain her youth. Madame Web says she doesn't know of anybody who could get the artifact, but then she suddenly remembers, for the first time in years, Spider-Man. She contacts him and she asks him to go get the artifact. When Spidey comes back with the piece, Web tells him that JJJ is gonna shoot Osborn soon. Jameson and Norman are having their own showdown. JJJ pulls a gun, but in the end he doesn't have the guts to shoot Norman, which Osborn takes a sign of weakness. Norman turns the gun back around on Jameson, but Spidey busts in, webbing up Osborn's hands in the process. Of course, Jameson doesn't appreciate the gesture. Later, Mme. Web gives her artifact to Osborn, and she receives a vision of Osborn killing Spider-Man and ruling the world. Override battles Spidey in attempt to make it up for his wife, who dies later on. Override manages to escape one more time. Back at home, Mary Jane tells Peter that she finds it hard to be happy as a student, rather than when she was a model. So Peter gives her his blessings only if it makes her happy. Later, MJ is offered a lucrative contract by a modeling agency and agrees to it. The Gathering of Five takes place as Molten Man is chasing after Robbie and Alison. We find out that Norman implanted some device in Molten Man which permits him to control the ex-villain. Norman sent Molten Man to kill Mongrain from getting to Peter. The GoF includes pawn shop owner Maxwell, Madame Web, teenage Spider-Man fan Martha Franklin, Override and Norman Osborn. According to Maxwell, Madame Web received Death, Override got immortality, Mattie got knowledge. Then, when Maxwell came, he fell to the floor and started to foam at the nouth, so assumably he got Madness. Then with Norman being the last one, he got Power. So now he can finally conclude with his plan. Meanwhile, Alison and Robbie went to the Parker's house. With Peter away, Alison told MJ that May was alive, then she died after delivering the message. When Peter came back, MJ told him about May being alive. Peter believed with all his heart that his baby was alive, and he went off to Osborn's mansion to go get her back home. Wearing his new Green Goblin costume, Norman becomes the feared villain one more time. Once Spidey finds Norman, Norman throws Peter the 'Osborn Journals', saying that he intended for Peter to find it months ago, but Spidey's sudden break-in to Osborn's office earlier disrupted all that. He had originally planned Spider-Man to find the journal, and turn it into the authorities, but instead of containing the thoughts of the Goblin, it would tell the police that Peter was Spider-Man, and he poisoned his Aunt May to conceal his secret identity. Peter, enraged, fights Norman in the trees. That fight lasts all the way to the house where Spidey goes running through the darkened hallways of the Osborn mansion, looking for his baby. He walks into a room that contains no light, and gets a vase shattered over his head. When he looks up to see who hit him, all he sees is Aunt May! The woman, is extremely confused about everything, but the Goblin silences her with a punch. The Goblin then hands her over to the hero. Spidey takes hero to Reed Richards, leader of the Fantastic Four. Reed then proves to Peter that May is indeed the real thing. It seems that there's some kind of object lodged in her brain that's slowly killing her. Spidey, serving for Peter, asks Reed to continue with the surgery. Spidey then heads out to fight the Goblin. Norman, who is awaiting him, shows the hero a DNA bomb. This bomb would reduces people to their component DNA that Norman can restructure in his own image. He tells Spidey that the May that died before was a genetically-altered actress hired by Norman to "perform" the role of May. Also, the thing that in May's head is the trigger that will release the DNA bomb to the entire world, so if Reed takes it out, everyone dies. If May keeps it, everyone lives but May doesn't. Spidey quickly ties up the Goblin, who was slowly going mad from really receiving Madness from the GoF. He was sent down to prison. But one of his bombs exploded and it forced the Bugle collapsed. With only Spider-Man who could save the hundreds of people there, he holds it up with all his strength. As he is trying to save everyone's life, JJJ rants about how much Spider-Man is such a menace to our society. Suddenly Peter gets a surge of energy and he is capable to stabalize the entire Bugle. When JJJ tells Spidey, face-to-face, that he thinks the hero should be gone, Spidey tells him not to worry anymore. Spidey the goes off to find Reed and warn him about the trigger in May's mind. After Peter tells him this, Reed succesfully de-activated the device, and extract it from Aunt May's skull. Peter and Mary Jane are overjoyed. Mary Jane tells Peter that once she becomes a full-time model again, she will be able to move into the city and Spider-Man will be able to help everyone out at any time, but Peter doesn't want to be him anymore, so yet again, Peter retires. Later, Peter burns his Spider-Man suit as he and MJ watch that part leave their life forever ... or so it would seem. At the prison in which the Goblin is being held, policemen take off his mask and are surprised at what they see, then the Scriers enter the room and take Norman away claiming that he belongs to them. Ends with : Peter Parker : Spider-Man # 98 : Written by Howard Mackie and Drawn John Romita Junior