Spectacular Spider-Man #2. The Goblin Lives

(Cover from November 1968.)

"The Goblin Lives!"

Written by Stan Lee.
Drawn by John Romita/Jim Mooney.
Inked by Frank Giacoia.
Lettering by Sam Rosen.

OK, so the big news I’ve been trumpeting about the site isn’t that big at all but it does mean the one glaring omission from its pages is finally filled as I’ve managed to get my hands on the one comic I hadn’t reviewed but always knew I needed to.

Long before the launch of 1976’s Spectacular Spider-Man, there was another comic of that title. Launched in 1968, it was one of Stan Lee’s early forays into larger format comics aimed at a slightly older (and wealthier) age group.

As it only lasted two issues, we have to conclude the world wasn’t yet ready for larger format comics aimed at a slightly older and wealthier age group. Still, no good deed is wasted. The story from issue #1 was recycled to create Amazing Spider-Man #116-118, and the second at least gave us the return of Spider-Man’s deadliest foe.

Spectacular Spider-Man #2 gives us a mammoth fifty-eight page epic as the Green Goblin makes his first comeback since his memory loss.

Attending a George Stacy slide show about the Green Goblin, Norman Osborn starts to get distinctly uncomfortable.

Then he gets sweaty.

Then he gets unconscious.

Next thing you know, his memories stirred, he’s back in full-on psycho mode and out to get his revenge on everyone’s favourite web-slinger.

For me, the tale has three highlights. The first being the scene where Norman Osborn’s tormented by his own half-memories, in hospital, before suddenly realising he’s the Goblin. You can practically hear thunder and lightning crashing around you as he suddenly sits bolt upright in bed, the Goblin's image looming maniacally behind him.

Second highlight’s the dinner party Osborn then throws, at which he taunts and teases Peter Parker in front of his closest friends. I seem to remember the scene being recycled in the original Spider-Man movie but this does it better, as Osborn seethes, scowls and leers his way through it. His insanity virtually a physical force thrusting itself out of the pages at you.

The third highlight’s the one that lets us know the strip’s well and truly arrived in the late 1960s, by having the Goblin use a psychedelic pumpkin on our hero. This sequence is terrific as Spider-Man’s tormented by visions of the Goblin, monsters, his own friends and finally gigantic versions of his main enemies. The double-page spread Romita and Mooney gives us here’s a wonder to behold and reminds us of Romita's mastery of the art of visual story-telling.

But what can be a threat can be a salvation as it gives Spider-Man a solution to the problem of how to get rid of the Goblin without killing Norman Osborn.

Turning the tables, Spidey uses a psychedelic pumpkin on its creator, reasoning that inflicting such a device on a mind with an already weakened grip on the cliff-face of sanity will send it plummeting and force Osborn to return to normal. It’s strong stuff, both visually and spiritually. Had any super-hero ever before set out to defeat a foe by snapping his mind?

This story’s fab. Unlike the Richard Raleigh tale, which was pretty routine, it’s like a pure distillation of all that made Spider-Man tales of this era great, with Peter Parker’s personal and heroic lives so hopelessly entangled on every level. I don’t know if it’s the best Spider-Man tale of its era but it’s certainly one of them and, perhaps as much as any other tale, it captures the very essence of what Spider-Man was about in those days. It’s also something of a tour de force by Romita and Mooney who, given the larger format, really do seem to have been inspired to give their all.

Great Thought Balloons Of Our Time: "How can I subject this gorgeous creature to the Green Goblin?" (Peter Parker, of Gwen Stacy.)

Amazing Spider-Man #40. The Green Goblin's origin

(Not that they want to give away the ending or anything. Cover from September 1966.)

"Spidey Saves The Day!"

Written by Stan Lee.

Drawn by John Romita.

Inked by Mickey Demeo.

Lettered by Sam Rosen

Parenthood, it can be a tricky art to master. On the one hand you can be too lenient with your children, leaving them spoiled and complacent. On the other, you can become a crazed, homicidal maniac, out to kill Spider-Man and to become boss of all New York's criminal underworld. Happily for comic readers, Norman Osborn chose the latter.

In fairness it wasn't all his own fault. he'd been driven mad by the explosion of a mysterious green chemical whose formula he'd found lying around. Then again, he came across the formula by framing his business partner Professor Stromm. So, on the side of the angels he never was.

But this is the big one, the final and decisive showdown between the Green Goblin and the Amazing Spider-Man.

In fact, as the above summary suggests, we have to wait quite a while for it as the Goblin, unmasked, gives the captive Peter Parker the rundown on his entire history.

Actually, this really impresses me. Stan Lee's notorious for his poor memory and, so, to get a potted history of all of Spider-Man's meetings with the Goblin's quite a feat. I suspect he may have dug out the old back-issues for this one. Then again, given the nature of the Marvel Method, maybe it was John Romita who did the digging out.

John Romita always reckons that, when he first started drawing the strip, for the first few issues he was trying to ape Steve Ditko's style. I have to say I can't see any great signs of it here. The difference between his and Ditko's approach leaps out at you, with Romita's style being far more dynamic, dramatic and urgent. For the first time since he was introduced, the Goblin comes across as being genuinely dangerous and genuinely psychotic, as Norman Osborn sweats his way through his delusional self-justifications and tells of a sequence of events that he sees as having been a release for his true potential although it's clear to the rest of us that it was merely a descent into madness.

Needless, to say, despite this "potential" Spider-Man comes out on top as, kicked across the room by our hero, Osborn finds himself crashing into a mixture of chemicals and electricity that robs him of all memory of his notorious alter-ego. On one hand, the sudden amnesia's clearly a cop-out way of dealing with the problem that Spider-Man's arch enemy knows his secret identity. On the other, it leaves the way open for the future return of the Goblin and would later enable the strip's artists and writers to add to the sense of him as a menace that never quite goes away.

And so, the threat of the Green Goblin gone for now, the tale concludes with Peter Parker back at home, being mollycoddled by Aunt May, and Harry and Norman Osborn getting the chance to start all over again with each other. Who says the Amazing Spider-Man always has to have an unhappy ending?

Amazing Spider-Man #39. The Green Goblin unmasks Spidey

(Cover from August 1966.)

"How Green Was My Goblin!"

Written by Stan Lee.

Drawn by John Romita.

Inked by Mickey Demeo.

Lettered by Artie Simek.

I feel like Alexander the Great getting back to Babylon after trekking through the desert.

I know I shouldn't feel like that, Steve Ditko was, after all, the artist who did most to define what Spider-Man was about and there's no denying the elegance and beauty of much of his work but, somehow, I've always been grabbed more by John Romita's more dynamic, simpler and more conventional story-telling, and he makes a bang and a half in his debut tale, with the unmasking of Spider-Man and the revelation of the Green Goblin's true identity.

And, when it arrives, in that last panel, what a shock it is.

Well, alright, I admit, it's not much of a shock, There are only two people in this issue who he could realistically be; either Dr Bromwell or Norman Osborn. As The Goblin doesn't recognise Peter Parker when he sees him without his mask, it clearly can't be Bromwell, therefore, unless Lee and Romita really were going to pull something from out on our blind-side, it has to be Norman Osborn - you know, the man who's spent the last few issues trying to get rid of Spider-Man? In hindsight, the decision could never have been much of a surprise to readers but, given how things developed over the next few years, it was clearly the right one.

As for the tale itself, it's great. Following the long established pattern of mixing Peter Parker's domestic life with his super-hero one, we get a trip to ESU, a trip to the Daily Bugle, a trip to Peter Parker's house, complete with brief appearance from Aunt May who we're told earlier in the tale is a sick woman and must have no sudden shocks in her life. It's almost as though, fearing there might be resistance to the arrival of a new artist from out of the blue, John Romita and Stan Lee had decided to pack as many familiar elements in as they could, to reassure readers that it'd continue to still be the same old comic they'd always loved.

That's not to say there're no changes at all though. Clearly, with Ditko no longer on plotting duties, Lee was happy to start to make things the way he thought they should be and so, leaving aside that fact that everyone's suddenly better looking than they used to be, the major change is a distinct thawing in the relationship between Peter Parker and his classmates Flash Thompson and Harry Osborn.

It's no bad thing. Frankly, the, "Peter Parker's unfairly ostracized by his classmates," routine had grown tired long ago and should have been ditched when he first started going to university.

So, all in all, it's the start of a new era and it kicks off in style.

Amazing Spider-Man #27. The Green Goblin and the Crime-Master

(Cover from August 1965.)

"Bring Back My Goblin To Me!"

Scripted by Stan Lee.

Plotted, drawn and inked by Steve Ditko.

Lettered by Artie Simek.

And the prize for the worst story title of all time goes to...

Meanwhile, it's another issue gone, the Green Goblin's still being a bit of a no-mark and the Crime-Master's still just a man in a hat.

You can't get away from the fact the strip's repeating itself here, with the Goblin's attempt to take over the city's mobs having been done before, the Crime-Master being a slightly more interesting rehash of the Big Man, and Spider-Man's battle with just about every gangster in town being a rerun of Amazing Spider-Man #10. Oh well, at least the Enforcers didn't show up. They finally (I hope) seem to have been consigned to the dustbin of history.

In fact, the main point of interest in this tale, and its one new development, is the revelation that the Daily Bugle's only known reporter Fred Foswell - who we've all been suspecting of being the Crime-Master and then the Goblin - is in fact Patch the stool pigeon. I never really understood the Patch character, as it seemed like everyone in New York knew he was a stool pigeon, making you wonder why anyone ever told him anything.

I can't think of anything much more to say about this issue, other than that it's nicely drawn but what I've been reading lately isn't really doing anything to dissuade me from the notion that the second half of Ditko's run on the strip wasn't as good as the first and that the title didn't regain its momentum until early in John Romita's run.

Amazing Spider-Man #26. The Green Goblin and the Crime-Master

(Cover from July 1965.)

"The Man In The Crime-Master's Mask!"

Written by Stan Lee.

Plotted, drawn and inked by Steve Ditko.

Lettered by Sam Rosen.

Not that the Green Goblins's stupid but, for some reason known only to himself, he's revealed his secret identity to the Crime-Master, reasoning that if they know each other's identities they'll have to work together to take over the city's gangs.

Why the Goblin wants to work with the Crime-Master - who we've never seen or heard of before and is basically just a man with a gun, and a hat that never falls off - is anyone's guess but the story still suffers from the depiction of the Goblin as a character motivated purely by a desire to take over New York's gangland. This, plus his stupidity and whingeing in his dealings with the Crime-Master, is actually quite irritating here. He comes across more like a whining child than classic villain. The Goblin of the Romita or Kane era would never have tried to work with the Crime-Master, would never have revealed his true identity to him and would have simply let him have it had he tried to get cheeky with him.

Cutting a more impressive figure is Flash Thompson because Peter Parker's feud with Spider-Man's biggest fan finally boils over into violence as, fed up of his taunting, Peter launches an attack on Flash and his gang. Unfortunately for him, the principal sees the incident and calls Peter to the office, at which point, feeling guilty, Flash goes to see the principal to tell him whose fault the fight really was. Showing the normally loud-mouthed Flash has having a moral compass and a code of ethics is a nice twist and this sort of depth of characterisation is one of the reasons the strip stands out from the vast majority of what had gone before in the history of comic books.

Amazing Spider-Man #23. More from the Green Goblin

(Cover from April 1965.)

"The Goblin And The Gangsters"

Written Stan Lee.

Drawn by Steve Ditko.

Inked by Steve Ditko.

Lettered by Artie Simek.

Lucky Lobo has to be the worst-named villain ever. If he's lucky I'd hate to see a villain who isn't. From the moment we see him, everything goes wrong for him, as the Goblin declares he's going to take over his gang, the police mark his cards and then one of his men hands "Lucky's" financial records over to the Goblin. That's not to mention Spider-Man turning up and sorting out his entire gang.

Meanwhile it pains me to say it but, on his third appearance, the Goblin's still an oddly dull villain. We tend to think of him as one of the great Spider-Man villains - possibly the great Spider-Man villain - but how much of that's really down to the Steve Ditko era and how much to the John Romita era and beyond?

I mean, in this tale, he looks good but, in all honesty, as with his previous two appearances, he's more an annoyance to Spidey than a genuine threat. Here, he's just a bizarrely dressed character trying, and failing, to take over a criminal gang, presumably so he can commit some run-of-the mill crimes. There's none of the madness or menace the Goblin would later come to possess.

There's a strong hint being dropped in this tale that the newly returned Fred Fosswell's the Green Goblin, although his recent time in jail would seem to preclude that.

Meanwhile, is that Norman Osborn in the last panel of page 6? It doesn't look entirely like him but that hairstyle looks familiar and he's hanging out in the same executives' club as J Jonah Jameson - as Norman Osborn would do in later issues. Could Ditko have snuck the character in on the sly long before anyone thought he did? And, if so, does that hole the theory that Ditko quite the strip in protest at Stan Lee's supposed plans to have Norman Osborn be revealed as the Goblin?

Officially Norman Osborn made his debut in Amazing Spider-Man #37 but, if Ditko introduced Osborn on the quiet in a story featuring speculation about the true identity of the Goblin, then maybe, despite the rumours, Ditko intended Osborn to be the Goblin all along.

According to Wikipedia, this is what Steve Ditko had to say on the Green Goblin's true identity:

So I had to have some definite ideas: who he was, his profession and how he fit into the Spider-Man story world. I was even going to use an earlier, planted character associated with J. Jonah Jameson: he [was to] be [revealed as] the Green Goblin. It was like a subplot working its way until it was ready to play an active role.

Well, this issue, the character who looks like Norman Osborn is stood there right next to J Jonah Jameson. Could it be....?

Amazing Spider-Man #17. The Green Goblin and the Human Torch

(Cover from October 1964.)

"The Return of the Green Goblin!"

Written by Stan Lee.
Drawn by Steve Ditko.
Inked by Steve Ditko.
Lettered by Sam Rosen.

If a rose is a rose by any other name, Liz Allan must be a very relieved flower to hear it, as Stan Lee still doesn't seem able to make up his mind whether she's Liz Allan or Liz Allen. To make matters even worse, we're then introduced to her father who gets referred to as, "Mr Brant," implying that Smiling Stan now thinks she's called Liz Brant! I can only assume the Mr Brant reference was a mistake and Stan Lee wasn't implying the two rivals for Peter Parker's heart, Liz Allan and Betty Brant, are in fact secretly sisters.

Meanwhile, the world may view Spider-Man with distrust and suspicion but not Flash Thompson - he merely views Peter Parker with distrust and suspicion - and so he forms the Spider-Man Fan Club, as Liz Allan/Allen/Brant gets her rich father to lend the kids his night club for a venue.

Needless to say, nothing goes any more right for Flash Thompson than it always does for Peter Parker as, first, Spider-Man, and then the Green Goblin, and then the Human Torch, crash the meeting. Stan Lee really was keen to play up the rivalry/grudging friendship between Spider-Man and the Torch in the strip's early days. It's only issue #17 and I've already lost count of the number of time's Johnny Storm's turned up. He's here again and, for once, he doesn't get to fight Spider-Man, instead, spotting that the Green Goblin's the real enemy, he rushes to Spider-Man's aid.

Not that Spider-Man seems to need it because it's an odd little outing for the Goblin. Despite being armed to the teeth with new gadgets - and a new "glider" - he seems so much less dangerous than he did last time out, in a tale mostly played for laughs. Even the Goblin's fight with Spider-Man and then the Torch and then Spider-Man has an oddly frivolous feel to it, like they're all fighting mostly for the fun of it.

But fun can't last forever and, as the fight's about to reach its climax, our hero overhears a phone conversation that tells him his Aunt May's in hospital, prompting Spider-Man to flee the scene to rush off to see her. Now all the world thinks Spider-Man's a coward, and the Green Goblin's still on the loose. Shakespeare might have been right and a name might not matter but, right now, Spider-Man's name is mud and he's not at all happy about it.

Amazing Spider-Man #14. The Green Goblin, Enforcers and the Hulk

(Cover from July 1964.)

The Green Goblin"

Written by Stan Lee.
Drawn by Steve Ditko.
Inked by Steve Ditko.
Lettered by Art Simek.


Value for money. Sometimes you have to check what's behind it.

Seeing how much is crammed into this issue, I assumed the price must have gone up and Marvel Comics were making an effort to cram as much in as they could to justify it.

But not at all. A quick look at the cover tells us the price is still 12 cents. But, even if it had gone up, we can hardly be accused of being short changed this month. Not only do we get the debut of the Green Goblin. we get the return of the Enforcers and Spider-Man's first meeting with the Incredible Hulk.

It's the debut of the Green Goblin that is of course the main event in this tale - although, at the time, it must have seemed to readers that the Hulk's guest slot was the bigger deal. We, however, have the benefit of hindsight and the readers of 1964 didn't.

It's an odd plan the Goblin concocts, tricking Spider-Man into agreeing to appear in a movie so he and the Enforcers, posing as fellow cast members, can attack him. There's really no need for any of this charade, they could have attacked him easily enough anywhere and at any time and it's a plan that does rely on Spider-Man being unbelievably stupid. He's stood in a room with the Enforcers and doesn't recognise them as the real thing, convinced they're just actors pretending. It's a scenario worthy of the old Adam West Batman series in its unlikelihood.

But you suspect that Steve Ditko's clear love of having battles take place in not previously seen locations, like sculptor's studios and film sets, was coming into play here. It gives him an excuse to stick Spider-Man in a desert and then in cave, neither of which he was likely to encounter in Manhattan. It was also a convenient way to bring the Hulk into the story.

So, how does the Goblin fare on his debut?

He comes out of it pretty well. This being his first appearance, he's not yet developed the out-and-out psychotic nature of later years. Here he's merely an ambitious novice criminal out to get himself some power by defeating Spider-Man. But the fact that Spider-Man fails to defeat him and that, at the end of the tale, the Goblin still has his secret identity intact marks him out, even at this point, as a major villain of the future.

Sadly, not major villains of the future are the Enforcers, as out of their depth against Spider-Man as Spider-Man is against the Hulk. Despite their boast that they take orders from no one, they're never going to be anything more than lackeys for more important criminals. It has to be said that even if you hired the Enforcers for nothing, value for money is one thing you would never claim to be getting.

Amazing Spider-Man #137. Harry Osborn's Green Goblin

(Cover from October 1974.)

"The Green Goblin Strikes!"

Words by Gerry Conway.

Pencils by Ross Andru.

Inks by Giacoia and Hunt

Lettering by Artie Simek.

Colours by P Goldberg.

Elementary, my dear Miss Watson? Not when you're the Amazing Spider-Man. We're told, at the tale's start, that Spidey's been out searching for Harry for two nights in a row and come up with nothing. Then, later in the issue, our hero finally thinks of where to search for him.

His house.

Somehow I don't think Sherlock Holmes needs to fear the competition just yet. Happily Harry's secret hideout is indeed his house and, there, the ensuing mayhem breaks out.

I'm still not sure how Spidey works out that it's Aunt May who's the target of Harry's bomb. He says it's because Harry referred to his planned victim as Pete's, "Most dear." But how was Harry to know our hero regarded May, and not MJ, as his most dear? Plus, given that Petey stole his girlfriend (MJ) from him - and his father's involvement in the death of Pete's previous squeeze - I'd've thought Mary Jane was a nailed-on cert for assassination.

But, whatever the ins and outs of it all, the real strength of this issue is Ross Andru. His use of "camera" angles and character poses is remarkable, especially when Spider-Man and the Goblin fight each other. Their moves are practically a demented form of ballet. And I love the splash page of Gobby closing in on the truck. Like Gil Kane before him, freed from the constraints of gravity that affect real people, Andru seemed to be revelling in the freedom the characters gave him.

Speaking of lacking gravity, MJ's so much cooler in this issue than Gwen ever was. If it'd been Gwen in the hospital bed, she'd have spent all her time simpering and whining and demanding to know just where Pete had disappeared to while she was laid up, then have started drivelling on about how she wished she could believe everyone else was wrong to think him a coward. Come to think of it, if I'd been his girlfriend, I'd have been simpering and whining and demanding to know where he'd been.

But not our MJ. She's made of stronger stuff. Despite having been blown up in the previous issue, we find her full of humour - even when Pete runs out on her. And what's best is she's clearly got a chemistry with Aunt May that Gwen completely lacked.

Good to see Harry reveal Peter Parker's secret identity to the world and have no one believe him; although the reason no one believes him - he's too young to be a villain who's been around for so long - makes no real sense bearing in mind that, in Marvel continuity, Spidey and the Goblin can't have been around for more than two or three years.

Amazing Spider-Man #136. The Green Goblin Mark 2

(Cover from September 1974.)

"The Green Goblin Lives Again!"

Words by Gerry Conway.

Pencils by Ross Andru.

Inks by Giacoia and Hunt.

Lettering by Artie Simek.

Colours by L Lessmann.

Cakes. You can have them and eat them. This issue proves that, in every way possible. How do you bring back the Green Goblin while not devaluing his death?

Easy. Have someone else adopt the guise.

But that isn't as simple as it might sound. We all, I'm sure, remember Blackie Drago, the second Vulture who was never a patch on the original?

Then again, maybe we don't. He wasn't around for long before the creators saw the error of their ways and brought back the inimitable Mr Toomes. And, as for the third Vulture. Can anyone, off the top of their head, even remember what he was called?

So, the Goblin. How do you replace Spider-Man's greatest ever foe with one who isn't going to feel similarly ersatz?

Easy. You replace him with Harry Osborn. Of course, you have to send him mad first - for no normal man can be the Goblin - and Messrs Conway and Andru have more than done that. The Harry we're confronted with is a raving lunatic. Logically, Harry can't work as the Goblin. He's not had the years of practice and experience the original had and he doesn't have the super-strength his father seemed to possess. The original had been showered in experimental chemicals that, presumably, enabled him to slug it out, toe to toe, with Spidey. How Harry can take a punch from Spidey without his head being knocked off is anyone's guess. But somehow, it doesn't seem to matter. The sheer vengeful madness of Harry Osborn somehow makes you willing to turn a blind eye to such blatant logic holes.

On the art front, the thing that leaps out at me this issue is Ross Andru's ability to capture the mood of his characters. Even when Spidey's in his mask, you're never left in any doubt what he's feeling.

Oddity of the tale has to be its ending. I'm not quite sure what it has to do with anything. It comes across like the story lacked a neat resolution and so Andru had to add an extra scene to make it feel like the issue had wrapped up properly.

Amazing Spider-Man #122. The Green Goblin dies

(Cover from July 1973.)

"The Goblin's Last Stand!"

Words by Gerry Conway.

Art by Gil Kane/John Romita/Tony Mortellaro.

Lettering by Artie Simek.

Colours by Andy Yanchus.

"And so do the proud men die. Crucified not on a cross of gold but on a stake of humble tin." Issue #121 may be the attention grabber; the one in which Gwen Stacy actually dies but this is the issue that redefines the strip and redefines comics in general. Never before had a super-hero title dealt in raw emotion the way this one does. Not content with killing off one major character, we now have two bodies on our hands. First Peter Parker's greatest love and now his greatest enemy. Gerry Conway may have taken command many moons ago - and done it quietly - but this is the moment in which he positively shouts his arrival.

But Gwen and the Goblin aren't the only ones to have died this night. Steve Ditko's Spider-Man dies too, the wise-cracking one who fought villains out of a sense of responsibility. Now his co-creation's on a mission for vengeance and doesn't care who gets hurt along the way. The Goblin's cluelessness in this story's astonishing. He clearly doesn't get that this isn't the old Spider-Man he's up against. The rules have changed. This is Spider-Man as avenging angel. This is a foe even more murderous than he.

Spider-Man of course stops at murder. Marvel would never, and should never, let one of its heroes go that far - not, at least, without suffering the ultimate retribution themselves - but it means the Goblin never had a chance.

Dead too is the Mary Jane of old, the care-free, careless, callous party girl with the teflon persona to which nothing, not even being held at gunpoint in issue #59, sticks. In comes a new Mary Jane; perhaps not more complex but willing at least to show those complexities. When the Goblin calls Gwen a simpering, pointless girl who never did more than occupy space, was he merely voicing the thoughts of Conway? And is this why the tale ends with Mary Jane so prominent? Glad to be rid of her, Conway simply couldn't wait to fill the vacuum that he saw in Gwen?

But, in all this turmoil, there's one other strand. Just who is that figure lurking in the dark and what part can he have to play in all this?

Amazing Spider-Man #121. The Death of Gwen Stacy

(Cover from June 1973.)

"The Night Gwen Stacy Died"

Words by Gerry Conway.

Art by Gil Kane/John Romita/Tony Mortellaro.

Lettering by Artie Simek.

Colours by Andy Yanchus.

Just as lives change, so do times. Had this issue been produced in a more recent era, it would have been marketed as an, "event," with eight different variant covers, five million copies shipped and a media blitz. As it is, there's none of that.

Granted, the men behind it were shrewd enough to know they had a big deal on their hands. The cover lets you know that, as does the decision to hide the story's title until the very last panel. But they had the sense to not give the game away. We're told someone's going to die but not who. It means the comic gets by purely on surprise and power.

And of course the death of Gwen Stacy is more than a surprise. It's an outright shock. Never before had a comic done anything so dramatic or daring. Lois Lane might have got kidnapped on a virtually daily basis but you were never left in any doubt that, thanks to Superman, she'd escape without a scratch on her.

But this isn't Superman. This is Spider-Man; and Spider-Man does things differently.

But exactly how does she die? To me it's pretty unambiguous. As Spider-Man fires his webbing to save her, he hears a, "Swik."

We see a, "Snap."

Clearly the sudden halt to her descent has broken her neck, killing her instantly.

The Goblin has other ideas, claiming that a fall from that height would kill anyone long before they hit the ground. Oh yeah? Try telling that to all the zillions of parachutists out there. No no no, in his attempts to save her, Spider-Man - not the Green Goblin - killed Gwen Stacy, and that makes her death all the more shocking.

But, shock ending aside, does the story actually stand up?

Well, yeah, in its own way. It has to be said that, up to the climax, it's not an exceptional tale. Harry's on the drugs - been done before. Norman Osborn, a man under pressure, snaps and rushes to a secret hideout to become the Green Goblin - been done before. Peter Parker goes into battle feeling under the weather - been done before. We even get the obligatory scene at the Daily Bugle where J Jonah Jameson has a rant at Peter before discovering he's got sensational pictures of Spider-Man. So, all in all, just another Spider-Tale from the production line that's been churning them out for a decade now.

But, in a way, that's the story's strength. It means you're not prepared for it to become so epoch-making. Yes, we know someone's going to die but the front cover hints at one of a whole bunch of people. Events early on suggest it's either Harry or Norman Osborn. The cover implies it might even be Randy Robertson, a dispensable character if ever there was one. And, had this story been done now, you know it would've been a double-length issue, with the last few pages each containing less frames than the one before until it climaxed with one big frame (And mustn't forget the internal monologue that'd accompany each picture. Mustn't forget to let us know just what Peter Parker's thinking as his beloved plummets to her death. The word, "no" would have featured at some point, as well as, "can't.").

OK, so this does end with one big frame - but the build up to it involves no gimmicks, just the style of story-telling we'd expect to see in any issue. And the normality of the tale, the fact that it's executed just like any other up until that fateful scene, that's why the climax hits so hard when it arrives.

Amazing Spider-Man #98. Green Goblin drug issue

"THE GOBLIN'S LAST GASP!"

(But where's the spider on our hero's back? From July 1971.)

Written by Stan Lee
Drawn by Gil Kane
Inked by Frank Giacoia
Lettered by Artie Simek

What happens:
Peter gets Harry to hospital but later accidentally encounters the dealer who sold him the drugs that put him there. When the dealer threatens him, he beats him up, down a back alley, and warns him never to let Pete catch them dealing again.

Now to find the Goblin.

But the Goblin finds him. The villain has a new secret weapon, one that robs Spidey of his power to stick to walls. Regardless, the hero conceives a plan. He hijacks the Goblin's glider and takes him to the hospital where Harry lies critically ill. The sight of his own son in a coma shocks the villain into reverting to his Norman Osborn persona and the threat of the Goblin is over once more. Meanwhile, on his way back home, Peter has even better news to celebrate when he encounters Gwen Stacy.

The Verdict:
I know I keep harping on about it but Gil Kane's handling of the fight scenes in this strip really are remarkable. He's clearly determined to exploit every possible angle and make full use of our hero's ability to navigate the rooftops in a way that no other character can.

On the down side, Kane really needed to do more research on life in England. That bus stop on page 5 bears no resemblance to any ever seen in any part of London at any point in history ever.

On the story front, its great to see the drug dealer and his cronies get the hiding they're asking for, and good to see JJ standing by his principles and refusing to kill the Harry drug story just because his father's one of the paper's main advertisers. Jonah has to be one of the most unpredictable characters in the history of comicdom.

Peter Parker's personal life:
Gwen Stacy's back.

Amazing Spider-Man #97. Green Goblin drug issue

"IN THE GRIP OF THE GOBLIN!"

(Cover from June 1971.)

Written by Stan Lee
Drawn by Gil Kane
Inked by Frank Giacoia
Lettering by Sam Rosen
Artist Emeritus John Romita

What happens:
The Goblin's back - and as hell-bent on Spider-Man's destruction as ever. But Peter has even more to worry about. The Goblin's son Harry has become dangerously dependent on pills, a situation made all the worse when his girlfriend Mary Jane keeps coming onto Peter right in front of him. Now, at the climax, Harry's taken a potentially fatal overdose and, just as Peter's about to call for an ambulance, the Goblin reappears.

The Verdict:
There's no way anyone could complain of being short-changed by the strip during this era. This issue's got it all, the first half being a fizzing scrap between Spidey and the Goblin (Gil Kane making every possible use of angles to get across the sheer dynamism of a battle fought across all three dimensions), the second dealing with Harry and his sudden addiction to tablets of every possible type.

But, is it sudden? It seems so to the reader but Peter tells us Harry's always had a lot of pills in his cabinet and perhaps this at last explains Mary Jane's behaviour.

My first assumption was that it's her recent behaviour, constantly coming onto Peter in Gwen's absence, that caused Harry's drug dependency but then someone pointed out to me it's more likely her behaviour's a reaction to Harry's drug dependence. On page 11, when, fed up of her flirting, Peter says, "You know how Harry feels about you! So what's the bit?" She replies, "It's a long story. Wanna hear it?" In fact, he never does. He simply walks away. Reading between the lines, it seems she's laid down an ultimatum to Harry, "Get off the drugs or I walk," and her behaviour with Peter is her attempt to drive that message home. It casts a whole new light on Mary Jane and is therefore arguably the first time in the strip that a more serious side to her comes through.

On other matters, is it just me or does the drug dealer in this tale bear more than a passing resemblance to Stan Lee?

I've always been fascinated by the splash page to this issue because, although the tale's credited to Gil Kane, that one page does look remarkably like the work of Ross Andru.

Amazing Spider-man #96. Green Goblin drug issue

(With not a Comics Code Approval notice in sight. Cover from May 1971.)

"...AND NOW, THE GOBLIN!"

Written by Stan Lee
Art by Gil Kane and John Romita
Lettering by Artie Simek

What happens:
Peter Parker's back in New York and it's Mary Jane's big break, her first starring role in an off-Broadway musical.

But, before that, Spider-Man has to deal with a youth who's so high he leaps off a roof, thinking he can fly.

That dealt with, he joins the gang and they, along with Norman Osborn, go along to see the show. Mary Jane wows the audience but, as the group are leaving, Osborn seems fascinated by a locked door in the theatre. Fearing the worst, Spider-Man later returns to the building - only to find those fears confirmed. The locked door led to one of the Green Goblin's old bolt-holes, and now, his memory restored by the reminder, the Goblin's back.

The Verdict:
Wow! Everything but the kitchen sink thrown into this one. First, we get the anti-drugs message that forced Marvel to publish the issue without the Comics Code seal of approval, then we get to see MJ finally get something to do and, at the climax, we get the return of the Green Goblin. I couldn't claim to know enough about drugs to comment on the accuracy of the story's dealing with the issue, and Lee does seem to be laying it on with a trowel when it comes to Randy Robertson's argument with Norman Osborn but there's no denying the courage it would've taken to do it. Nor would it be right to fail to credit Lee with sticking to his recent policy of letting real-life issues intrude on the previously cosy world of the super-hero.

Mary Jane really does start to become a total cow with this issue, treating Harry like something she's just stepped in. At least that's what I thought when I first read these stories then someone pointed out to me that I'd completely missed the point of her behaviour - as has Pete - and I'll be going into my thoughts on that in a later review.

It is a bit startling to discover the Goblin stored his spare costume and equipment in a theatre - especially one he didn't even own - which you would have thought would've made the task of maintaining his secret identity somewhat more difficult. Still, he is a madman, so I suppose anything's possible.

Peter Parker's personal life.
Joe Robertson seems to be onto Peter. Surely he knows by now that Peter Parker and Spider-Man are one and the same. It certainly seems to be the case.

Aunt May goes to see Hair.

Taking advantage of Gwen Stacy's absence, Mary Jane keeps coming onto Peter, right in front of her boyfriend Harry. Is she trying to make Harry jealous? Or is there something else behind it all?