Up until a couple of years ago, I was exclusively a reader of modern day comics, and I was not at all interested in the books of the past. I just thought that the art looked bad, and believed that all of the stories were poorly written. Could I have been anymore wrong?
Maybe two years ago, I subscribed to the Marvel Unlimited service, which allows you to read thousands upon thousands of Marvel books from the past. So I immediately decided to read the entire catalogue of The Amazing Spider-Man. Many of the early issues were just your typical super hero narrative of the time, as Marvel had yet to ditch the Comics Code Authority, meaning that most of the stories were exactly the same, with Spidey nearly always triumphing over his enemies and saving the day, with a little bit of J. Jonah Jameson mocking sprinkled in between.
As the 1960s bore on however, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko were fazed out, for new writers and artists to take the helm and take the beloved hero in a new direction.
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| The cover for Amazing Spider-Man #121 (1973) |
Even from the cover of Issue #121 you knew that something was going to happen as the narrative progressed, with it showing Spidey saying "Someone close to me is about to die! Someone I cannot save! But who? Who?" If you only had a limited knowledge of the Spider-Man mythos, you would start going through all of the possibilities. It could be Aunt May, she's always been old, and seemingly always at death's door. It could be Jonah Jameson because he seems to have it coming to him, what with him having helped create the Scorpion, who could be back to kill him at any moment. As the issue progresses, you start to believe that it could be Harry Osborn, after having taken LSD again, and is now bedridden. All of these people dying would affect old Peter Parker in different ways, but the person who really passes affects him in a huge way.
This issue of The Amazing Spider-Man was written by Gerry Conway, with art by Gil Kane, and inks by John Romita Sr. and Tony Mortellaro. It begins with a splash page of a bed-ridden Harry Osborn, who is being checked over by his doctor and Mary-Jane and Gwen Stacy are also in attendance. Outside the window we have Spider-Man, who has just returned to New York after battling The Incredible Hulk in the previous issue.
When Peter enters the Osborn house to visit Harry, to check if he is alright, he is met by Harry's father, Norman, also known as the Green Goblin. Peter is angrily told by Norman to get out of the house and not to go near his son. This seems to spark a change in Norman's psyche, causing him to remember that he is The Green Goblin. Pete leaves with MJ and Gwen.
Jumping forward in the issue, after Norman as been confronted by a dazed Harry, he is in his office when he has a hallucination of Spider-Man. Once he realises that this is all fake, he finally snaps and heads out of the house and to one of his Goblin hideout spots, donning the infamous persona once again. We are then met with Gwen Stacy in Harry and Peter's apartment, where she is waiting for Pete. When Peter arrives, he finds that Gwen is not there, with a single Pumpkin Bomb lying on top of her handbag. Peter swings frantically around the city, until he has found where ol' Normie has taken Gwen. TO THE TOP OF THE GEORGE WASHINGTON BRIDGE!
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| The point where Gwen is killed. |
A battle ensues, with the two of them trading blows, before Spidey seemingly gets rid of the Goblin. He goes to check on Gwen, when the Goblin returns, and in the tussle, he knocks Gwen off of the bridge. Quite rightly, this distracts our hero from his fight, and he shoots a web towards Gwen, which catches her on the ankle. He exclaims "Did it!" as the web connects. This is where the debate comes in. As this panel is accompanied by a SNAP! sound effect, indictating that Gwen's neck as snapped when she is caught by the web. Although she would have died anyway, falling from such a height, I do believe that Spidey had a hand in killing Gwen, no matter what he says within the confines of the issue.
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| A grieving Spider-Man telling Green Goblin that he will destroy him. |
The Goblin comes back, calling Peter "you romantic idiot", with Peter clearly distraught at what has just taken place. The Goblin tells him that "death will come more quickly and more surely than the shock of a sudden fall", to which Pete replies, "Wrong Goblin, you're the creep who's going to pay ... you killed the woman I love, and for that, your going to pay." At this point, the title of the issue is finally revealed as "The Night Gwen Stacy Died". And they make you wait until the next issue to find out what happens next. (But you won't cause I'm gonna tell you right now.)
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| Peter's reflection. |
As you can probably tell, Issue #122 picks up immediately after the events of the previous issue, with Peter holding Gwen in his arms and telling the Goblin that he's going to kill him. Before battling Gobby again, Pete makes sure to get Gwen's body to a safer place. During the battle Goblin knocks Spidey into the water below, getting away, and Pete makes what I think is an awful remark, "Now I'm falling -- just like Gwen fell -- only this time -- I'd better be able to do something about it ... If only Gwen had had my strength -- she might have been able to survive!" A pretty terrible thing to sya considering he was basically the one who struck the fatal blow, or spun the fatal web if you prefer. Pete goes back to Gwen's body and finds that the police have arrived. One of the officers accuses Spidey of murder almost instantly, before his partner states that he clearly a grieving man. After this unfolds, we are treated to a splash page showing how life between Peter and Gwen was, and how happy it was, before her dad was killed some falling bricks, and now Gwen has died as well, with him finally realising that she was as much a victim of the Spider-Man lifestyle as he is, and that this dual identity was what stood between him and Gwen having a long, happy life together. When the officer tells him that the ambulance has arrived, Peter says, "Ambulance? She doesn't need an ambulance, officer -- she's dead -- and Spider-Man killed her." This is another instance where Peter is taking on guilt and carrying it all through his life, just like he did when his Uncle Ben was killed. He gets into a brief scuffle with the police, and then leaves to find ol' Gobby. He is told by Robbie Robertson at the Daily Bugle that the Goblin was spotted at an Oscorp warehouse, which is where he heads next.
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| Green Goblin is impaled by his own creation. |
What turns out to be the final battle between the two (at least for a few years) has now begun. They battle and battle, until the Goblin loses his glider. But Spider-Man does not know that the glider is coming back, until at the last second, his Spider-Sense warns him and he ducks underneath it. The glider fatally impales its owner, and the Goblin slumps to the floor. Spider-Man leaves the scene. We briefly see a figure lurking in the shadows, who we do not find out the identity of until a few issues time.
The issue ends at Peter Parker and Harry Osborn's apartment, where Mary Jane is waiting. Peter arrives home and snaps at MJ saying "What do you care about straights like me and Gwen?" which visibly upsets her. She turns to leave, tears streaming down her face, but she simply shuts the apartment door, presumably to comfort Peter, as the issue ends.
All in all, I think that Conway's writing for these two issues has been almost perfect. Capturing the emotion of Gwen's death and the grief that Peter feels, and his desire for revenge against the Goblin (he says that he wants revenge against the man who killed her, but surely that's just himself though.) My only gripe with these two issues is the previously mentioned quote when he is saving himself from hitting the water, and how cold that comes across as. The art for these issues is also pretty decent, and, in my opinion, vastly superior to Steve Ditko's art in the early days.
Thank you for reading, that has been the first installment of Classic Comics.
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