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After the classic Burglar Returns storyline, many would expect that the Spider-Man titles go into a somewhat of a "down" period...Well, it basically did!...The next 3 years saw very little important, dramatic, and major events occur in the life of Peter Parker...This is not to say that the stories weren't well written and entertaining as there WERE very memorable storylines to come out of this period, but all these stories were all leading up to something special...An introduction of a major villain that will have a major effect on the life of Spider-Man for a very long time!

It has been  LONG time since the introduction of a major Spider-Man villain...He needed a "fresh" new face to add to his already legendary Rogues Gallery of Villains...Well, The Hobgoblin isn't exactly a new idea, as he is based on the Spider-Man nemesis, The Green Goblin, but he had an aura around him that made him different...Add to that probably the greatest Spider-Man mystery in who exactly is the Hobgoblin, and a fan favorite is born!

The Hobgoblin was introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #238, rather innocently, but he basically "took over" the Amazing title till issue #289 with the "up and down" mystery and the "tease's" to giving away just who he really is...1st it was Lefty Donovan, than it was Flash Thompson, then for the longest time, everyone was led to believe the Original Hobgoblin was the late Ned Leeds whom was later cleared from this case of mistaken identity years later...Even Jack O' Lantern  (Jason Macendale) got into the picture, assuming the Hobgoblin identity after learning of the false Ned Leeds Hobgoblin's demise and he became the second Hobgoblin II for a long time until his own death at the hands of the Original Hobgoblin...It was a well thought out "playing" of an idea that was much shorter in the mystery of who the Original Green Goblin was...THAT only took a couple of appearances, but this mystery took forever, not by milking stories but by lengthening out the mystery with well written interesting stories...Hobgoblin Lives! written years later by the Hobgoblin creators, Roger Stern is MUST reading for any fan of this integral Spider-Man villain!

Like stated above, there were memorable Spider-Man stories...The best examples of this is little backup story in Amazing Spider-Man #248...In my opinion is one of the greatest Spider-Man stories ever...It epitomizes just who exactly Peter Parker is and as touching a Spider-Man story as there ever was...The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man starts off rather confusingly to the readers as Spidey enters the room of a child who is a HUGE fan of Spider-Man...Timmy, has a long talk with Spider-Man as Spidey tells him his long much troubled past and the boy gets more inquisitive as the stories go on...The boy finally asks a question which would endanger Spider-Man the most: "Who are you?"...At first, Spidey is reluctant to giving up this information, even to an innocent child, but seconds later Peter slowly takes off the mask to reveal who he is: A Normal person with normal (& abnormal!) problems...The panels after this slowly focus on a sign outside the child's room as Spider-Man swings away...It becomes readable as it states that it is The Slocum Brewer Cancer Clinic...It turned out Timmy has Leukemia and the doctors only gave him weeks to live...Spider-Man read this in the paper...THIS is who Spider-man really is and what he is REALLY about!

In other stories, readers got the introduction of Madam Web, Hydro-Man, Speed Demon, a great 2 part Juggernaut story, more appearances by the Black Cat, and battles with The Vulture, Sandman, Mister Hyde, Tarantula, Will O' The Wisp...The other titles, Spectacular Spider-Man and Web of Spider-Man were also going strong but with much less important stories as was the case here as Amazing was always THE title in the Spider-Man family of comics.

The next era we look at is what I refer to as the "Venom" era in that the introduction of a major character in the mythos of Spider-Man was brought along slowly...Plus, as a "tie-in", Amazing Spider-Man  #252 (Plus Secret Wars #8) was center stage for one of the 1st "Appearances" of Venom in a time where Spider-Man didn't quite look the same again!

Lesson 4