Axis: Hobgoblin #1 Recap

The standard ‘616’ Marvel Universe has become inverted with heroes becoming villains and villains becoming heroes. We’ve got Superior Iron Man, Evil X-Men and a newly heroic Hobgoblin as a result. As a Spider-Man fan there’s absolutely no resisting an entire miniseries based on the premise of Roderick Kingsley using his maniacal powers for good. So here’s Axis: Hobgoblin #1’s recap.

More from Spider-Man

The issue starts with Roderick delivering an internal monologue about business and how the fashion trends reflect the state of the economy. He references his business of selling underused super-villain identities as franchises. At the same time a young man named John Myers attends one of Roderick’s ‘Reinvent Yourself’ seminars where he discovers that Roderick has ‘turned good’ and is now leasing out superhero identities. Myers gets beaten up for being a super-villain but a screen with Roderick on calls a halt to the attack and says he will help Myers.

He takes a quick break and chats to his publicist about his business idea, stating that it’s better than the super-villain idea because everyone wants to be a superhero and it is less of a risk. Kingsley then says that being a hero and doing good for mankind opened his eyes to something he hadn’t seen in a while – an untapped market before he goes back to making some money.

Roderick once again addresses the crowd from the television screen explaining that he can’t be there because he’s still a wanted criminal despite his recent bout of heroism. He tells the crowd that they too can be heroes if they purchase his book ‘Hobnobbin’ with Roderick Kingsley’. He then explains that the book is phase one and that phase two and three will be available for a nominal price as well. The crowd cheers and Kingsley says reps will sign them up.

Roderick then ends his televised meeting and puts on a microphone walking out onto a massive stage in a stadium full of people dressed like superheroes in the same manner that a popular self-help guru would. We quickly learn that this is phase three of his plan before he starts talking about brands referencing how he often gets people to pretend to the Hobgoblin in his place. Kingsley then pushes a DVD to help wannabe superheroes franchise their own brand and creating the moniker “Got a problem? Call Hobgoblin”

Meanwhile Phil Ulrich the Goblin Knight is questioning someone in a Hobgoblin outfit. He mentions that he has a problem finding the real Hobgoblin before he swiftly murders the one in front of him with his flaming sword. Ulrich gives us a typical super-villain rant about how Roderick will pay, calling himself the New Goblin King. He then talks about Lily Hollister and how he ‘came to her aid’ when she got caught.

We see that Lily survived the explosion that Phil Ulrich caused to help her escape and that she’s aimlessly wondering around the streets. Phil thinks that she’ll eventually finds him but the issue closes with Lily grasping a newspaper advert for Roderick Kingsley’s seminar trying to get into a building. The security guard gets a text from Roderick telling him to let Ms. Hollister in.

More from Bam Smack Pow

If you enjoy what you’ve read here at Whatever a Spider Can, we’ve got some exciting news for you — you can be part of the team here too! We’re looking for enthusiastic Spider-Fans to write for us on anything Spider-Man related. just fill in the form you’ll find here and tell us why you want to write for Whatever a Spider Can. We look forward to hearing from you!

Home/Spider-Man