In Spectacular Spider-Man #206, Tombstone thinks he's defeated Spider-Man but his moment of pride is cut short when the Black Cat attacks. They briefly fight but she ends up running away and diving into the river in search of Spidey. Tombstone and his men use that opportunity to flee the scene. The reader soon finds out that Spidey is not dead when he saves Black Cat from drowning. After advising her to stay away from Tombstone, he takes off. Tombstone goes to the council of gangs and shows them Spidey's mask. Nick Kaska refuses to believe Tombstone and accuses him of having a fake mask. Totally infuriated, Tombstone throws Kaska out the window. Black Cat is outside the window, spying on the whole thing, but she is unable to catch Kaska. Thankfully, Spidey arrives on the scene and saves him. Spidey drops Kaska off on the rooftop where Black Cat confronts him. Annoyed with her insistence to get revenge, he webs her up to a chimney and heads back down inside the boardroom to try and stop Tombstone. That's easier said than done. Tombstone tackles Spidey through the window and the two of them smash into the concrete pavement several floors down below. Spidey is shaken up whereas Tombstone just keeps on hitting him. Spidey manages to free himself and crawl on a nearby wall to catch his breath. Realizing that the only way to defeat Tombstone is to put everything into one punch, he wraps his hand with webbing and punches Tombstone with all his might. At first, Tombstone barely budges but once the signal reaches his brain, he loses consciousness. Seeing what Spidey did to Tombstone, the henchmen give themselves up. Black Cat once again confronts Spidey and tells her to be nice to his friends because someday, he'll realize that he doesn't have any friends at all.

This issue picks up a few days after.

REVIEW: Spider-Man is web-slinging over the Manhattan rooftops when his spider-sense suddenly kicks in as he passes by a building that appears to have been leveled by an explosion. He swings down to check it out and as he looks through the wreckage of the building, he realizes he is standing where Doctor Stephen Strange’s mansion used to be. He briefly looks through the rubble to try and find any clue as to why the mansion has been destroyed but since he cannot find anything and because he has places to go and people to see, he takes off. Down at street level, a lucky tourist manages to snap a picture of Spidey as he web-slings away. The man is thrilled and thinks he's going to be able to make some money off the picture by selling it to a newspaper. He starts walking away but runs into a wall of darkness. As he wonders what the heck is going on, the wall becomes alive and materializes into a shrouded man who reveals himself to be the Shroud (no pun intended back there); terrified, the tourist runs off. Shroud breathes a sigh of relief when he sees Spidey move on because, had Shroud been caught by him, his mission to infiltrate the underworld in the guise of a super-villain would have been compromised.

Marla and John Jameson are standing on the balcony of the Jameson apartment when Spidey swings by. For a second, Marla believes that perhaps Spidey had meant to stop by their apartment to deliver news about the whereabouts of her husband, J. Jonah Jameson, but she is crushed when she realizes that it is not the case. John comforts her and mentions that his father normally does exactly whatever he pleases without telling anybody about it. Marla replies that something is different this time and she thinks it has something to do with the Daily Bugle. She adds that if anything were to happen to the Bugle, Jonah would be devastated, as it is his anchor. John replies that she should be his anchor, not the Bugle and that, if the Bugle were to go under, it probably would be the best thing to ever happen to him, as it would put him a position where he'd have to face up to the people that love him, and maybe he'd have to start loving them back.

Spidey arrives at the hospital to visit Flash Thompson. After changing back to his civilian clothing and picking up some flowers, he enters Flash's room. In the room with Flash is Felicia Hardy, Flash's girlfriend and alter ego to the Black Cat, which Flash doesn't know about of course. Still angry with him for not letting her know that Flash had been sent to the hospital because of Tombstone, as seen in Spectacular Spider-Man #204-206, Felicia pretends to have to leave to run some errands and leaves the room without talking to Peter. Witnessing this, Flash asks Peter what is wrong between the two of them. Peter replies that Felicia has been acting strangely since he was hospitalized and adds that Mary Jane thinks it's because Felicia is in love with him (i.e. Flash). Uncharacteristically, Flash tells Peter that he wouldn't trust anything MJ says about Felicia, as he thinks MJ is jealous of Felicia. Peter is left speechless so he quickly changes the subject and asks Flash if he wants him to stay awhile and talk. Flash tells Peter to stay and starts telling him that ever since he's been stuck in the hospital, he's had a lot of time to think about his life. Having said that, he asks Peter if they are friends. Taken aback, Peter replies that they are and asks why he would ask such a question. Flash questions his honesty and asks Peter what he thought of him in high school. Before Peter answers, Flash answers his own question and says that Peter probably thought he was some crude brainless jock. Similarly, Flash explains that he thought Peter was some self-appointed brainiac who thought was better than anyone else because of his good grades. Flash asks Peter to tell him whether or not that’s how it was. Completely taken aback, Peter suggests to Flash that perhaps they should continue this conversation when he's off his medication but Flash interrupts him and tells Peter that they are not actually friends and goes on explaining that he was Harry Osborn's friend, not Peter's, and that he – Peter – was Harry’s friend too, but not his. Peter replies that if what they’ve been through doesn't make them friends, then what does. Flash retorts that it just makes them guys who know each other, which is what they've always been. Flash asks Peter to name the last time they went to a ball game together. Again completely taken aback, Peter replies that they could always go to one. Flash tells Peter that he doesn't think that it is a good idea and goes on explaining that he wants to change his life and that he cannot afford to waste his energy. Standing up from his seat, Peter starts to read between the lines and apologizes to Flash for not being a better friend. Flash tells Peter not to be sorry and that he will be in touch. Peter leaves the room, a look of sadness on his face.

A short time later, Peter returns to the Parker apartment and finds a note left there by Mary Jane. MJ is at the new place doing some decorating over there; just when Peter needs someone to talk to. Realizing that he's got nothing else to do, he dons his Spidey suit and takes off into the night.

In another part of the City, right in front of the wreckage of Doctor Strange's mansion and in broad daylight, weapon dealers are in the process of making a trade with an interested buyer when Shroud shows up on the scene to stop them. The leader of the weapon dealers, a man named Joey Gregson, recognizes him and orders his men to shoot him down. The buyer, a man named McHenry, does not want to have any part of this, so he takes off running like a chicken whose head was cut off. With ease, Shroud uses his powers of darkness and neutralizes Gregson and his henchmen before they are given any time to react. He lets McHenry get away because he wants him to spread the word that he is in town looking to do some business. He then starts looking inside the weapon dealers' van to see what kind of weapons they were carrying. Just then, Spider-Man shows up on the scene and, thinking that Shroud is up to no good, attacks him before asking any questions. Shroud dodges his attack and throws him towards the demolished mansion. As Spidey lands in the wreckage, these weird mystical masks (three in total), bearing two eyes and two mouths, emerge from the rubble, screeching noisily. As if guided by demonic forces, the masks attack Spidey and Shroud. Spidey punches one of them while Shroud uses his powers of darkness to drive back another. Seeing how well his darkness is working against them, Shroud decides to leave them up to Spidey. Spidey is not pleased and tries to stop Shroud from taking off. As the two of them battle it out, Spidey's spider-sense suddenly kicks in. Just then, the two of them come under attack. Both are able to evade the beams that are shot at them and prepare to return the favor but as they look up to see who or what is attacking them, the come face-to-face with Joey Gregson and his henchmen, who are wearing the three mystical masks.

To be continued.

WRITER: STEVEN GRANT
PENCILS: WALTER MCDANIEL
INKS: VINCE EVANS
COLORS: MICHAEL HIGGINS
LETTERS: DAVE SHARPE
EDITOR: MARK POWERS
GROUP EDITOR: DANNY FINGEROTH
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: TOM DEFALCO

PREVIOUSLY: J. Jonah Jameson takes Lance Bannon, Joy Mercado, Gloria Grant and Robbie Robertson out to lunch at a nearby burger joint. This proves to be a bad decision on Jonah's part because, once the whole restaurant finds out that the five of them are working for the Daily Bugle, the patrons start to scoff at the Daily Bugle and its anti-Spider-Man editorial. Furious, Jonah storms out of the restaurant. That night, Jonah never returns home so his wife, Marla, calls Robbie Robertson to seek his help. When Robbie explains to her what happened earlier at the restaurant, she realizes that Jonah might be doing something really stupid.

J. Jonah Jameson goes down to the docks to do some soul-searching. A man tries to rob him but when the man tells Jonah that he wouldn't even wipe the blood off his knife with the Daily Bugle (Jonah asked him what he thought of the Bugle), Jonah is so pissed off that he knocks the man out with a punch. Jonah then heads to a nearby tavern to drown his sorrows. He ends up talking with the bartender, who reveals that he studied journalism and that his old professor would surely disapprove of the Daily Bugle. Jonah leaves the tavern and returns to the docks, where he seems to contemplate throwing himself in the water; thus committing suicide.

This is where this issue picks up.

REVIEW: The whole thing can be resumed in one paragraph. J. Jonah Jameson asks his staff to join him in his office where he announces to them that he's decided to bring in a new executive editor to work under Robbie Robertson, someone with years of experience in the news business: himself. Jameson promises them that no one will laugh at the Daily Bugle while he's around.

The end...for now.