Hobgoblin rides again - but with both Ned Leeds and Roderick Kingsley around, which one is Hobby this time? Also: crossovers galore and the prelude to Dark Web!
Amazing Spider-Man, Volume 3: Hobgoblin is half a good book. You can tell the good parts because they’re drawn by John Romita Jr - not just because of the quality of JRJR’s art but because these issues read like a proper story rather than snippets of a larger one, and because the Hobgoblin story is actually interesting too.
The opening chapter is an X-Men crossover. MJ’s been taken hostage by Moira MacTaggert for some reason so Spidey goes to the Hellfire Gala, whatever that is, and fights Moira with Wolverine in a Parisian cathedral. Then there’s a tie-in to AXE: Judgement Day (their worst fragrance yet) where a Celestial is judging everyone on Earth - or else! - so everyone’s pretending to be nicey-nice. All these crossovers did was remind me why I’m not reading most of the garbage Marvel is putting out at the moment.
I’ve never been a huge Hobgoblin fan but Zeb Wells writes a solid mystery around the character which feels, like everything else he’s done in the series so far, exciting and tense to read. It’s compelling, dark, and satisfying in itself but also hints at a larger storyline not just in Dark Web but with Norman Osborn later on. Great stuff - loved it.
The book closes out with a Dark Web prelude that’s segmented into the four seasons for no reason, each drawn by a different artist - Michael Dowling (meh), Kyle Hotz (grand), Terry Dodson (usually good but really rushed-looking here), Ryan Stegman (meh) - and featuring Ben Reilly and Some Girl as they flit between Limbo and Earth somehow.
It’s a really muddled issue where I had no idea what was happening or why - I’m guessing Ben’s got his own series and Wells is referencing things that character’s been up to in that? And Madelyne Pryor too as well - the name rings a faint bell but I can’t remember what she did before or why she’s in Limbo now. If all of this was meant to whet my appetite for Dark Web, it didn’t - all I got was puzzlement, but I trust Wells to pull off the main event successfully.
It’s a shame Wells, like every other writer at Marvel/DC when they hit upon a good run, is forced to include arbitrary crossovers to pointlessly interrupt the flow of their series - such is the tedious cost of doing business at these places. Still, when he’s allowed to actually write his Spider-Man story, he delivers, and the Hobgoblin episode was bonzer fun and worth reading the book for that alone. Into the Dark Web we go next and hopefully it’s more accessible/understandable than the glimpse of it we got here!
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