Featuring: Spider-Man
Release: June 9, 1966
Cover: September 1966
12 cents
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciller: John Romita
Inker: Mickey Demeo
Letterer: Sam Rosen
20 pages
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|---|---|---|
| Amazing Spider-Man #39 | Reading order | Sgt. Fury #32 |
| Amazing Spider-Man #39 | Amazing Spider-Man | Amazing Spider-Man #41 |
Only you know who the Green Goblin is! … Just as I know who Spider-Man really is!
We left off at an exciting moment. A captured and unmasked Spider-Man faces an unmasked Green Goblin, revealed to be Norman Osborn.
Norman doesn’t want Harry to learn his identity, just as Peter doesn’t want May to learn his.
We learn at last the origin of the Green Goblin. Norman’s wife had died. He was never a good father to Harry, focused more on work and money. But he wasn’t awful-awful; he was more like the dad from the Cat’s in the Cradle song.
As we already knew, he betrayed his partner Mendel Stromm. We now learn he stole the formula for a serum that made him powerful, but also crazy. He went from being an aloof and absent father to actively mean to his son, and became the Green Goblin, and tried to become a master criminal without much success.
We at last find Betty again. She’d gone to the Midwest, but thinks she has to return to New York and face Ned and Peter again. She’s got one foot on the platform, another foot on the train…
Green Goblin frees Spider-Man so they can fight one more duel and he can prove himself superior.
But Spider-Man beats him decisively.
As we know, a villain who learns the hero’s identity suffers one of two fates, death or amnesia.
Amnesia it is.
Peter makes the decision to save Norman’s life and not reveal to the police he was the Green Goblin. Norman has no memory of ever being the Goblin, or anything from the last few years. Maybe he and Harry have a chance at happiness this time. (Spoiler in Ron Howard voice: They don’t.)
This is a questionable choice, as Norman was a bad guy pre-Goblin. He’d betrayed Stromm and stolen his work. So even before he took the serum, he deserves some jail time.
Peter returns home to find Aunt May had fallen sick with worry. Dr. Bromwell chastises him for his carelessness.
While I think the amnesiac ending is a cop-out and an over-worn trope within these stories, this is otherwise a great final battle and generally a good comic. Romita is proving himself a worthy heir to the great Steve Ditko. And this is the epic final battle between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin built up for over 25 issues.
A lot of people–not me, but a lot of people– consider Green Goblin to be Spider-Man’s top nemesis. Hence his showing up in the first Spider-Man film. The reasoning behind that I think comes down to just a couple famous stories, this being one of them.
Rating: ★★★½, 68/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
Just good enough to get a spot on the Best We’ve Read, even displacing a classic Ditko Spider-Man battle against the Vulture from Amazing Spider-Man #7. Which again ties Ditko with Kirby at 46 entries. Since Ditko has left, Kirby is likely to take the lead soon.
I read this story in Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection vol. 3: Spider-Man No More.
Characters:
- Spider-Man/Peter Parker
- Green Goblin/Norman Osborn
- Aunt May
- Anna Watson
- J. Jonah Jameson
- Betty Brant
- Dr. Bromwell
- Harry Osborn
Story notes:
- Full title may be: “Spidey Saves the Day!” Featuring: The End of the Green Goblin!
- Peter disorients Norman by mentioning Harry.
- Norman reveals his origin: Harry’s mother died when he was a baby. Norman tried to be a good father, but thought work and money were more important. He wanted wealth and power. Osborn betrayed Stromm and took the business and his inventions. He found a formula in Stromm’s notes, and created a serum. It exploded and he spent weeks in the hospital. Doctors thought his brain was damaged, but he thought he was more brilliant than ever. And he was now actively mean to Harry, not just aloof. He’d been greedy and ruthless before, but the chemicals made him crazy.
- Near death, Peter thinks of Betty and May.
- May concerned Peter hasn’t called. Anna comforts her, noting even Mary Jane comes home late sometimes.
- Jameson’s current secretary named Miss Brown.
- Jameson wants to write an editorial about what’s wrong with the younger generation. And the older one.
- Betty is at a railroad station in the Midwest, deciding to return to New York.
- Art Roberts of Station WLS in Chicago wonders why nobody has heard from Spider-Man for a few days. Of course Spider-Man stopped the goons earlier that day. It’s not the next day yet, just late at night for Peter to be coming home.
- Spider-Man represents everything Betty hates. Danger, uncertainty, fear.
- Goblin’s Retroscope helmet projects pictures of previous fights. Green Goblin notes he was never really beaten.
- They both change into costume for final battle.
- Flying broomstick shatters in battle.
- Spider-Man still trusts spider-sense despite it recently failing.
- Norman remembers nothing since becoming the Goblin.
- Spider-Man changes Norman into ordinary clothes and burns goblin costume.
- Spider-Man tells police Norman is a hero who helped defeat Green Goblin.
- Dr. Bromwell lectures Peter on staying out late.
- May happy to tend to Peter.
- Peter lies about getting distracted studying.
- Harry visits father in hospital.
| Previous | #534 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Amazing Spider-Man #39 | Reading order | Sgt. Fury #32 |
| Amazing Spider-Man #39 | Amazing Spider-Man | Amazing Spider-Man #41 |
It was a good first story for Romita and makes it clear that Spider Man is in good hands. The interesting thing is that the characters still continue to feel like they do with Ditko, there is no abrupt change in personality… But the events of this story and the fact that Peter has supported Harry with his father, will cause a progressive evolution that will change Peter’s dynamic with his future college friends, which I think is great.
Curiously, it would only be in the 2020’s Gwen Stacy miniseries; when they showed the reason why the Green Goblin stopped aspiring to be a criminal leader after the death of the Crime Master and focused on other projects. Leaving the way clear for a certain character who would occupy the position of Marvel’s greatest criminal leader, causing problems not only for Spidey, but also for Daredevil.
I’d wanted to compare/contrast the looks and personalities, but there are no radical changes yet. We’ve seen a new side of Harry now. And the changes will come fast.