By Stan Lee, Gerry Conway, Gil Kane, John Romita Sr., Frank Giacoia, Tony Mortellaro & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-1026-2 (TPB/Digital editions)
In fiction, the relationship of love and death is grimly inescapable and has produced some remarkable moments. If we’re thinking of the romance of the moment let’s not forget what happened to the actual St. Valentine…
In these days of an infinitude of fan-sites, publicity cycles and gleeful spoiler-mongers, it takes major effort to keep a shock-ending from the readership, but back in 1973 comics consumers had only word-of-mouth and the story itself. Thus, the eponymous stories in this compilation staggered everybody when they were first published…
The Amazing Spider-Man was always a comic book that matured with – or barely ahead – of its fan-base, and this curated collection of the World’s Most Misunderstood Hero features the tragic build-up and a life-altering failure: one that forever altered the tone and timbre of his existence even…
After a rather nervous nativity, the webslinger became a certified sensation with kids of all ages. Before long the quirky, charming, thrillingly action-packed comics soap-opera would become the model for an entire generation of younger heroes impatiently elbowing aside the staid, (relatively) old thirty-something mystery-men of previous publications and hallowed tradition.
Outcast, geeky high school kid Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider and, after attempting to cash-in on the astonishing abilities he’d developed, suffered an irreconcilable personal tragedy. Due to the teenager’s arrogant neglect, his beloved guardian Uncle Ben was murdered. The traumatised boy determined henceforward to always use his powers to help those in dire need.
For years the brilliant young hero suffered privation and travail in his domestic situation, whilst his heroic alter ego endured public condemnation and mistrust as he valiantly battled all manner of threat and foe…
The isolated High School nerd grew up and went to college but despite having more friends, due to his guilt-fuelled double-life he struggled there too. His one glimmer of hope and joy came from finding true love with policeman’s daughter Gwen Stacy…
Re-presenting Amazing Spider-Man #96-98 and 121-131, this selection also includes prose essays ‘I Remember Gwen – An Introduction’ (by Ralph Macchio) and ‘An Afterword’ which segue into to a bittersweet ‘Epilogue’…
Peter and his ever-expanding cast of comrades were practically household names and the darlings of college campuses and the media intelligentsia throughout America and the world. Stan Lee’s scripts tapped into the always-evolving zeitgeists of the times and the deft use of soap opera plots kept older readers glued to the series even if the bombastic battle sequences didn’t. And here a sharp reminder came – that in those days at least – funnybooks were not immune to tragedy…
The drama commences as Gwen, still reeling from the recent loss of her father, reunites with Peter after time in London getting her head together. Amazing Spider-Man #96 (May 1971) saw deeply disturbed and partially amnesiac industrialist Norman Osborn abruptly remember he once had another menacingly macabre persona and subsequently launch an attack on Peter in ‘…And Now, the Goblin!’ by Lee, Gil Kane & John Romita.
The author/editor had long wanted to address the contemporary drugs situation in his stories but was forbidden by Comics Code Authority strictures. When the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare approached him to tackle the issue, Lee crafted this tale. When it was denied Code approval, he went ahead and published it anyway…
Although the return of the madman who knew all Spider-Man’s secrets was the big fan-draw, the real meat of the tale was how Osborn’s son Harry – a perfectly normal rich white college kid (and Peter’s best friend) – could be drawn into a web of addiction, abuse and overdose…
Frank Giacoia began inking Kane for the second instalment –‘In the Grip of the Goblin!’ – as the elder Osborn ran riot, nearly killing the webslinger and preparing for a final deadly assault, even as his son lay dying, before the saga spectacularly concluded with ‘The Goblin’s Last Gasp!’ In the clinch, the villain’s deeply-buried paternal love proved his undoing and Parker’s salvation…
That seemed to be the end of it. Life went on, Peter and Gwen reconciled and grew even closer and villains came and went. A couple of years later, everything changed as the culmination of a decade of suspense and simmering intrigue boiled over on ‘The Night Gwen Stacy Died’ (#121, June 1973).
Here Gerry Conway, Kane, Romita & Tony Mortellaro delivered the initial instalment of a 2-part tale which stunned fans as Peter’s greatest efforts proved utterly insufficient to save his intended from the insane rage of a resurgent Green Goblin. Ultimate nemesis Norman Osborn had recovered lost memories of his evil alter ego after Harry fell back into drug abuse. Restored to his malign potency the elder Osborn kidnapped Spider-Man’s girlfriend to force a final confrontation…
The tragic episode leads inexorably to ‘The Goblin’s Last Stand!’ one issue later and a grim and gritty new direction…
Rounding out this slim compilation is that promised bonus. Originally seen in Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man #1 (January 1999), ‘The Kiss’ is a lovely in-filling reminiscence from John Marc DeMatteis & John Romita, Sr. as a lost love is fondly recalled…
Happily, most romances don’t end in quite such distraught manner but sadness is a big part of the deal. Still, nothing ventured, no one gained…
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