Reviewer: Jesse Baker
Story Title: “And Now the Goblin!” (ASM #96), “In the Grip of the Goblin” (ASM #97), “The Goblin’s Last Gasp” (ASM #98), The Night Gwen Stacy Died” (ASM #121), “The Goblin’s Last Stand” (ASM #122), “The Kiss” (Webspinners #1)
Written by: Stan Lee (ASM #96-98), Gerry Conway (ASM #121-122), and JD DeMatteis (Webspinners #1)
Penciled by: Gil Kane and John Romita Sr (“The Kiss”)
Inked by: NA
Colored by: NA
Lettered by: NA
Editor: NA
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover by John Van Fleet
Note: This is a review of the first printing of “Spiderman: Death of Gwen Stacy”. As a result it is printed on regular comic paper, features a gritty painted cover of Spiderman kneeling over Gwen’s dead boy, and has the “Marvel’s Finest” label at the top of the cover of the trade paperback. All later printings are printed on glossy paper and have an alternate cover in the style of Gil Kane’s artwork of Spiderman cradling Gwen’s dead body.
If there was a moment that signified the end of the age of innocence that was the “Silver Age” of comics, the death of Gwen Stacy more than ever fits this moment. It was the story that permanently shattered the idealistic belief that the good guys never lose, that the hero’s girlfriend never died at the hands of the villains who kidnap them, and that the status quo is never permanently changed. The murder of Gwen Stacy changed everything, as everything that was sacred in comic was broken.
For those who are only familiar with Gwen through her “After-School Special Quoting Bad Girl” Ultimate Marvel Universe counterpart, I’ll give a brief recap as to who Gwen Stacy was:
Gwen Stacy was a girl introduced in Amazing Spiderman #31 who Peter Parker met on his first day at college. She was your typical All-American, blonde-haired, blue eyed, and extremely non-threatening good girl who Peter Parker quickly fell in love with. After a brief fling with another new girl, the red-headed Mary Jane Watson, Peter and Gwen began dating and became a couple. Fan response towards Gwen was pretty intense and divided, as Stan Lee would reveal years after her death that fan mail was split down the middle between those who loved the coupling of Gwen and Peter and those who wanted to see Peter and the party-girl Mary Jane get together. Not since Betty/Veronica/Archie had a love triangle defined a comic’s fanbase, but since Stan Lee was the writer for Spiderman’s comic, his preference for the down-to-earth Gwen Stacy as Peter Parker’s life-partner won out. But not that Stan would let Gwen and Peter have a peaceful relationship. The relationship took a huge blow when Gwen’s father, Police Captain George Stacy, was killed by falling debris during a fight between Spiderman and Dr Octopus. Gwen’s anger at Spiderman over her father’s death and Peter’s feelings of guilt caused a brief separation between the two of them, one that would not last though.
Years passed and eventually Gerry Conway would take the reigns of writer for Amazing Spiderman from Stan Lee. Gerry felt that the Spiderman books had become too complacent and that a big shake-up needed to take place to reinvigorate the franchise. His solution? The Green Goblin would return and murder a member of Spiderman’s supporting cast. His original pick for the Goblin’s murder victim was Aunt May, but The Powers That Be refused to let him kill May Parker off. So Gerry decided to do the unthinkable: Spiderman’s girlfriend Gwen Stacy would be murdered by the Green Goblin. His justification was one that many fans had noted in their mail to Marvel about their preference towards Mary Jane over Gwen Stacy; that Gwen Stacy was a boring goody two shoes who had zero personality. The Powers That Be surprisingly agreed to let Gerry give Gwen the axe, a decision that would have massive implications towards the world of comics and the Spiderman franchise for years to come.
Without Gwen’s death, we would never have had the Jackyl and the Clone Saga. Peter Parker would never have become lovers with the Black Cat and redeem her through that love. Peter would never have had married Mary Jane Watson. And if Gwen hadn’t died, Peter’s friendship with Harry Osborn would never have been permanently destroyed, as Harry would never have reached the darkest depths of insanity due to his father’s murder of Gwen, depths that would lead ultimately to his own death. Furthermore, Gwen and circumstances around her death would become a permanent cloud that would hang over Spiderman’s head for the rest of his life and remind him of the consequences and risks of being a super-hero.
In the years that have past sine this story was first published, the story has surprisingly not been available in trade paperback format. For years, fans either had to hunt down the original issues or track down the issues of Marvel Tales that reprint the arc (those issues are BTW Marvel Tales #98-99 and the double-sized Marvel Tales #192, which collects both installments in one issue). Finally in 1999, Marvel finally released a trade paperback collecting this controversial story for everyone to read at long last.
The Skinny
This collection starts off with filler material (because two single issues don’t fill up a trade paperback) in the form of Amazing Spiderman #96-98. These issues are not typical filler though as they do have some significance towards the rest. These three issues were the famous three issues of Spiderman that were published without the “Comic Code Authority” label due to the fact that these three issues dealt with the then taboo issue of drug abuse. This was the first time since the CCA was established in the 1950s that any comic book publisher had openly defied the CCA and published a comic without the seal of approval of the CCA and would serve as the catalyst for the comic industry fighting back against the CCA’s fascist policy of what could be seen in a comic book, and would open the gateway for DC Comics to have Green Arrow’s sidekick Speedy revealed to be a junkie in the pages of Green Lantern (complete with an issue cover showing Speedy and his drug paraphernalia) as well as DC and Marvel to continuing to publish such controversial books such as Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing and Peter Milligan’s X-Force without having to bow down towards the CCA’s outdated morality…
Second of all, these three issues begin the fall into the abyss of long-time Spiderman supporting cast member Harry Osborn. Disillusioned with his failing relationship with Mary Jane and his disintegrating relationship with his father, Harry turns to the drug LSD to find joy in his life. But instead of joy, Harry would overdose and nearly die. His drug abuse would lead to an end of innocence for Peter Parker’s best friend, as he would soon descend into insanity, evil, and ultimately his death.
Finally these issues see to the long awaited return of Green Goblin. It had been several years since Spiderman and Green Goblin had last met, when the two had discovered the other’s secret identities. A well-timed explosion had stripped Norman of his memories of his evil alter-ego and that over the years since their last battle Norman had luckily not regained his memories of his secret life. These issues would set the stage for the return of the Green Goblin in the next collected arc and his ultimate fate.
The plot for these three issues is pretty standard stuff. Spiderman goes after drug dealers who are selling drugs in the city and to Peter’s best friend Harry, who’s just overdosed on LSD that he bought from them. Complicating things is Norman Osborn suddenly remembering his past life as Green Goblin and donning his spandex once again with the intent on killing Spiderman. The arc is also features Stan Lee getting onto his trademark soap-box and attacking the media for stereotyping drug addiction as being exclusively a “black problem” by way of using his African-American cast member Robbie Robertson’s rant and rave at his boss, newspaper publisher J. Jonah Jameson about why they need to give Harry Osborn’s drug overdose major coverage as proof that rich white people like the Osborn’s are drug users.
The arc ends with a happy (if not prophetic given the nature of this collection) ending as Gwen Stacy returns from an overseas vacation and reconciles with Peter. We then go directly to the main storyline for this collection, Amazing Spiderman #121 and 122 and the now infamous “Death of Gwen Stacy” two-part story. We skip several months into the future, as Harry Osborn’s condition has gotten much worse. After his overdose, Harry still kept using drugs and now has descended into insanity. Diagnosed as schizophrenic by a doctor brought in by his father Norman, Harry’s friends try to find out why Harry would throw his life away like he has with drugs.
Sidenote #1: Reading this trade and the issues from this period, one can easily lay the blame upon Mary Jane and Peter Parker, who’s obvious sexual attraction towards each other had been re-ignited in the wake of Gwen and Peter separating, in wake of Captain Stacy’s death. But later stories would establish that his dad and his emotionally abusive parenting methods were to blame for Harry’s turning to drugs and mental problems. But those revelations were more or less written by later writers who felt the best way they could keep Norman Osborn and his evil alive was to retroactively establish Norman as an abusive father who made Harry turn into the pathetic and insane wreck he was.
As the gang ponders Harry’s condition, we learn that Harry’s condition isn’t the only crisis Norman Osborn is facing. His company’s stock has suddenly and drastically fallen, leaving Norman in serious danger of going bankrupt and losing everything he’s spent his entire life building. The stress of his son’s descent into drug-induced insanity and his inability to stop the financial bleeding that his company is experiencing causes Norman to utterly lose his mind and revert to his Green Goblin personality. Back in charge, the Green Goblin decides that Spiderman is to blame for his life falling apart and decides that Spiderman must suffer for his sins. So Green Goblin kidnaps Gwen Stacy and takes her to the Brooklyn Bridge (referred in the story by the name “George Washington Bridge for some unknown reason) and threatens Spiderman by vowing to toss Gwen off the bridge to her death. As Spiderman and the Green Goblin fight, the Goblin carries out his threat and tosses Gwen off the bridge, where she dies.
Sidenote #2: The actual cause of Gwen Stacy’s death has been subjected to much debate and controversy throughout the years. Marvel’s official statement has always been that the fall itself caused Gwen’s death, as the unconscious Gwen’s neck snapped as she was knocked off the bridge. However some fans have theorized that Spiderman might have murdered Gwen Stacy himself. This theory states that Gwen’s neck was broken the instant Spiderman’s webbing hit Gwen’s leg, as a result of the sudden stop Gwen’s body endured when Spidey caught her. In his introduction, then Spiderman editor Ralph Macchio reveals that the “SNAP” sound effect in the panel when Spiderman catches Gwen with his webbing was added without Gerry’s knowledge, leaving the truth about Gwen to remain a hotly contested subject for years to come.
With Gwen dead, Spiderman goes after the Green Goblin who has been waiting for Spiderman while he tries to figure how he can solve Norman’s financial problems. They fight and Spiderman literally beats Norman’s brains out of him before pulling back upon realizing that he could not bring himself to murder Norman. As Spiderman decided to haul Norman off to jail and face the chance that Norman will expose his secret identity, Norman activates the remote control device in his Goblin Glider and causing the front end of the glider to slide down into the form of a pair of spikes to impale Spiderman with. Luckily Spiderman’s Spider-Senses warn him and he ducks out of the way, leaving the Green Goblin to die via impalement from his own glider. As Spiderman leaves and contemplates the empty feeling he still has now that the Green Goblin is dead, we see a shadowy figure looming in the background, having seen the entire final battle between these two heated enemies.
Sidenote #3: The shadowy figure eventually was revealed to have been Harry Osborn. Harry left his sickbed and ended up at Norman’s lair and watched the battle. This would be the final straw for Harry, who descended into madness and insanity and eventually adopted the Green Goblin identity for himself. This would lead to the Green Goblin living on through others adopting the identity (or in the case of the Hobgoblin, altering the Green Goblin costume).
The story finally ends with Peter finding Mary Jane inside of Peter’s apartment in tears about Gwen’s death. Peter lashed out at Mary Jane, calling her a shallow party girl who never cared about him and Gwen, and who wouldn’t feel any sorrow or sadness if her own mother died. Ordering her to leave, MJ insteads slams the door to Peter’s apartment and stands her ground. The final panel is a powerfully prophetic scene with MJ standing next to Peter as they both cry in sadness at the knowledge that Gwen has been taken from their lives.
The final couple of pages collects a short ten page back-up story from Webspinners #1 called “The Kiss”. Written by JD DeMatteis (who’s work on Spiderman was far superior to the crap being churned out by JMS currently) this is a nice nostalgic formula that is hurt by the over-dramatic narration from Peter Parker, who is looking through an old photo album while telling the story.
