Nighthawk returns home late one night, brooding about his
close escape from death. Entering, he discovers someone in his study. A flash
of memory strikes him and the villain knocks him across the room with a punch,
picks up a meteorite and departs via balloon. Kyle checks out the news files
and confirms that his robber was the Looter. His interest in the case at the
time led him to purchase the meteor sample. Knowing that Spider-Man once fought
him, Nighthawk flies out, seeking the Web-Slinger for information….
Meanwhile, Spider-Man is in a nasty mood because of the
return of Gwen Stacy, whom he deduces is an impostor. His mood is so bitter
that he mistakes Nighthawk’s approach for an attack and clobbers him, sending
him plunging unconscious toward the ground. Spidey swoops down and rescues him
then they have an awkward conversation. Eventually, Nighthawk explains about
the Looter and Spidey agrees they need to catch him together. Nighthawk offers
to go to the prison while Spidey decides to check out the bad guy’s old lab….
So Nighthawk goes to the prison where he meets with Warden
Ivan Carmichael. The warden tells him that Norton “the Looter” Fester was a
model prisoner until they put him in with a convict named Bill Gordon, hoping
some of Fester’s “niceness” would rub off. Instead, Gordon bullied and harassed
Fester until the guy exploded and he broke a metal bunk with his bare hands.
Realizing he still had all of his powers, he punched his way through the wall
and took off. Nighthawk asks why Fester didn’t get psychiatric help; the Warden
hems and haws and an angry Nighthawk flies off through the window….
Spidey checks out Fester’s old lab and discovers it is now
the headquarters of a religious group called the Innocents of God.” Then the
bad guy drops on Spidey and begins punching him in the head, announcing he is
no longer the Looter but the Meteor Man, which he claims has more style.
Spidey, stunned, is falling to the street below but he manages to focus in time
to shoot a web out to save himself. He ricochets back and hits Meteor Man in
the back, which only pushes the balloon-borne baddie out of his range. Spidey
falls again but this time Nighthawk is there to catch him. They have an
argument: Spidey wans to pursue and capture the dangerous criminal while
Nighthawk considers the man sick and more in need of a psychiatrist than
prison. Spidey calls him a coward so Nighthawk punches him, accusing him of
wanting to take out his personal problems on the bad guy. Nighthawk leaves,
Spidey ponders the accusation. As he swings off, Jeremiah the Prophet and
leader of the Innocents of God informs his flock that Spider-Man is a symbol of
modern-day evil who must be captured and subjected to their rite of
purification….