In 2005, David briefly returned to "The Incredible Hulk", though he left after only 11 issues because of his workload. He started a new series, "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man", beginning with a twelve-part crossover storyline called "", which, along with J. Michael Straczynski's run on "The Amazing Spider-Man", and Reginald Hudlin's run on "Marvel Knights Spider-Man," depicted the webslinger as he discovered he was dying, lost an eye during a traumatic fight with Morlun, underwent a metamorphosis and emerged with new abilities and insights into his powers. As tends to be the case when fundamental changes are introduced to long-standing classic comics characters, the storyline caused some controversy among readers for its introduction of retractable stingers in Spider-Man's arms, and the establishment of a "totem" from which his powers are derived. David's final issue of that title was #23.