THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #122

"The Goblin's Last Stand!"

• Writer: Gerry Conway
• Artist: Gil Kane
• Inker: John Romita, Tony Mortellaro
• Print Date: July, 1973

Featuring:

Plot Summary:

This is it. The Goblin's last stand! Arguably one of the most epic stories in the Spider-Man mythos! This issue, obviously, picks up immediately after the last. Spider-Man stands atop the George Washington Bridge holding Gwen Stacy's limp form in his arms. The Green Goblin circles on his glider nearby gloating that that the woman Spider-Man loves is death and Spider-Man shall soon join her!

Enraged, Spider-Man gently deposits Gwen's body on a nearby pier before going after the Goblin. Vowing, "You're gonna pay!" Spider-Man and the Green Goblin battle around the cables and columns of the bridge. Finally, just when it looks like Spider-Man grabbed the upper hand by jumping aboard the Goblin's back, the Goblin manages to knock him off by flying under a nearby cable and retreats back to the city. Spider-Man, faring in his fall better than Gwen did in hers, swings back over to the pier where Gwen's body lay. Seeing the police and reporters examining Gwen's body, Spider-Man frightens the bystanders by dropping down and shouting at them until they backed off.

Cue flashback scene, Peter remembers the times he and Gwen had. How they met the first day of college, how long it took them to admit that they were in love, the tragedy of Gwen's father, Captain Stacy, dying and Spider-Man being blamed. And he remembers how much of a victim she was of Spider-Man, and how Spider-Man always stood between him and Gwen.

Finally, the ambulance arrives and Gwen is taken away. Two nearby cops try to take Spider-Man into custody for questioning, but Spider-Man, having an appointment with the Green Goblin, swings off as the cops fire after him.

Spider-Man begins his hunt for the Goblin at the Osborn residence. Peter, obviously enraged, enters looking for Norman. Instead, he finds Harry still ailing and tripping on the LSD he dropped yesterday. Harry recognizes Peter through his delusions and begs Peter not to leave him alone anymore. Instead of staying to help and comfort his friend, Peter opts for revenge and leaves a weak, pitiful, and feverish Harry begging him to come back.

Moments later, on, or rather over, a crosstown street, Spider-Man heads towards the Daily Bugle in an effort to find the Green Goblin. He enters Robbie's office just as Robbie reads the story regarding Gwen Stacy's death. Robbie confirms for Spider-Man that the cops have already told the press that Spider-Man is responsible for the death. Brushing off Robbie's questions, Spider-Man demands that Robbie make some calls to see if Norman Osborn owns any unusual properties and if he has been seen around town in the past hour. Soon, after a mystified Joseph Robertson has made those inquiries, he confirms to Spider-Man that Norman owns a warehouse off 23rd Street and Ninth Avenue, and Norman was just seen in that area forty minutes ago. Before he has a chance to leave, Jonah barges in, confronting Spider-Man about the murder, and receives a mouthful of webbing for his efforts.

While our morose hero makes his way downtown, let us move ahead of him somewhat to a certain ill-kept warehouse in an area of the city moist with the Hudson River breeze. A warehouse whose crumblin facade hides a sinister purpose, which purpose we are soon to discover, as we move into the recesses of the dusty building, past crates and boxes long overdue for delivery, to a single square of illumination in these shadowed halls, a door slightly ajar, and a man slightly mad.

The Green Goblin waits. He realizes Spider-Man will be coming soon. He's anxiously awaiting the hero's entrance so he can destroy Spider-Man and be free to conquer what is rightfully his. The Goblin hears a noise outside in the warehouse indicating Spider-Man's arrival. The Goblin's plan is to outflank Spider-Man and ambush him as Spider-Man waits by the front door. Unfortunately, Spider-Man's already anticipated this and waits for the Goblin outside the side entrance. Spidey knocks the Goblin off his jet-flyer and crushes the device into the ground. Spider-Man and the Goblin trade blows from a distance: the Goblin lobbing pumpkin bombs and sparkle blasts with Spider-Man retaliating with webbing. Finally, the two get close enough to trade blows, and Spider-Man pins the Goblin up against the wall and begins pummeling him into submission.

At the last instance, Spider-Man pulls himself off of the Goblin. Disgusted with himself and the fact that he almost became a murderer, Spidey drops back. He's unaware that the Goblin is controlling the remains of his jet-glider using remote control. As Spider-Man tells the Goblin he's going to jail, the Goblin steers the jet-glider intending to impale Spider-Man from behind. At the last instance, Spidey's spider-sense warns him of the danger and he dodges to the side causing the jet glider to strike the Green Goblin in the chest. The force of the impact slams the Goblin against the wall, and he crumples to the floor dead. Having avenged Gwen's death, Spider-Man is left feeling empty, washed-out, and alone. As he leaves the scene, his doesn't notice a shadowy observer who witnessed the entire fight.

Epilogue: Mary Jane Watson has waits in Peter's and Harry's apartment for someone to return. She's startled with Peter's haunted look as he opens the front door. Mary Jane tells Peter how torn up she is about Gwen, and Peter, deep in his depression, lashes out at Mary Jane telling her that she wouldn't be sorry if her own mother had died. Mary Jane hesitates by the front door, and then, closes it, deciding to stay.

Comments:

Again, another epic issue. I didn't realize how good this story would be. I mean, I know it's a huge story in Spider-Man's history, but after having read so much cheesy crap that was written in the 70's, I felt there was no way this would live up to the hype. I was wrong. Really really wrong. This is a classic tale at its best, and I would put this story up against anything else that's been written since.

Plot Analysis:

So, this issue starts with a huge bang. I mean, Gwen's dead, Spider-Man is nearly insane with rage, and the Goblin is flying around gloating. To be honest, I think that scene to start with shows how far the Green Goblin's gone over the edge more than any other. Anyway, Spider-Man deposits Gwen's body on the pier. I'm not sure why he swings down there to drop her off. It strikes me that him swinging down with Gwen's body would be an opportune time for the Goblin to strike, but no matter. Then, we have a great fight scene between the Goblin and Spider-Man around and over the Washington Bridge. Gil Kane displays Spider-Man's rage perfectly as he easily catches up to and begins pummeling the Goblin. The Goblin gets away from him with a lucky shot, and wisely decides to take his leave.

As Spider-Man confronts the crowd surrounding Gwen's body, there's an amusing interplay between two cops on the pier. The hot-shot rookie cop who tries to arrest Spider-Man on sight, and the veteran sergeant who wisely interprets Spider-Man's grief for what it is. Of course, Spider-Man, in his state, admits to killing Gwen: "She's dead and Spider-Man killed her." Obviously, this is taken for a confession by both the officers, and Spider-Man ends up tossing them around in rage. Oh, and at the end of the scene, great line, the sergeant yells at the rookie: "Shoot to wound, blast it! Shoot to wound!" Silliness abounds even in the most tragic of issues.

That particular scene has a lot of good and bad about it. I mean, it poignant as Spider-Man thinks back to all the good times he and Gwen shared, but the interaction with the cops distracts from that a little bit. I think it would have been a much stronger and better scene had the two cops not been there to distract from the center of attention so much.

The expression on Peter's face is great when he goes into the Osborn residence searching for the Green Goblin. Gil Kane draws Peter with a classic look of rage on his face. The scowl, the twisted lips, and most important, the wide and dark eyes. Peter looks to be just a little bit mad (angry and crazy) in these scenes. He does question what to tell Harry about his father's double life, but sets that aside for the moment. I wonder if that's going to come up next issue, or what drives Harry to become the Green Goblin? We see exactly how over the edge Peter is in this scene. Harry begs him for help, and his pleas fall on Peter's deaf ears. Peter opts for revenge against the Goblin instead of staying to help his friend. I assume this entire scene is going to have repercussions later on.

It's also good to see Spider-Man using his contacts here. He swings by to talk to Robbie Robertson in an effort to track down Norman. Now, the logical side of me reads this and wonders what kind of contacts Robertson has that can track down Norman Osborn at an abandoned warehouse so quickly. On the other hand, I'm willing to give in to the suspension of disbelief in order to keep the story moving. Again, Jonah's little tirade and Spider-Man's response is little comical and distracting considering the rest of the issue. I think maybe a page or two showing Peter's friends reacting to as the news of Gwen's death might have been a more productive use of space instead of Jonah and the two cops on the pier.

I love the page where Gil Kane is slowly walking us through the warehouse, and Gerry Conway describes the surroundings in a bit of prose. It seems like such a good, slow, lead-in to where the Goblin is hiding, and what the Goblin is thinking. Norman sits here, waiting for Spider-Man to show, as Norman knows he must.

Anyways, final fight between the Goblin and Spider-Man. Again, we see exactly how full of rage Spider-Man is. He goes all out against the Green Goblin, giving the Goblin no breathing space or any room to maneuver. He starts off by knocking the Goblin lose from his glider, and then immediately putting the glider out of commission. A wise move to ensure that the Goblin can't flee again. Next, he closes fast through a barrage of sparkle blasts and pumpkin bombs, getting right up in the Goblin's face to go toe-to-toe with him where the Goblin's weapon won't do him any good. And then, the final scenes of the fight where Spider-Man has the Goblin pinned to the wall and brutally beats him into submission.

Of course, we can't have Spider-Man give in to his rage. Spider-Man doesn't fall to the dark side so easily, and he turns aside before delivering a killing blow. Amazingly, the Goblin is still coherent enough to use Spider-Man's disgust against him (suspension of disbelieve still going here), and manages to kill himself by accidentally impaling himself on his jet-flyer. After all that happened, we knew the Goblin had to die here. There was no way that the editors could allow him to live. If they had, there would have been another fight, and most likely another death to satisfy the fans and get their attention. It's one of those things where they would've had to keep going over the top to keep the readers coming back for more. Call it the Garth Ennis syndrome or something. :P

The end scene with Mary Jane is interest. Harsh as it was, I really think the conversation seem to have a lot of basis in reality. I mean, Peter's hurting and unthinkingly, lashes out at his friend in his grief. It really foreshadows quite a bit between Mary Jane and Peter that instead of abandoning Peter in a rage, Mary Jane swallows her pain and stays to help her friend in his time of need. I wonder if they are going to pick this up next issue or not?

Art Review:

Like last issue, Gil Kane's art is absolutely stunning. His backgrounds are extremely detailed, but no so cluttered as to crowd the scene. The action is clear and crisp. The best part about his pencils are the facial expressions however. From the look of fear on the Goblin's face, to Peter's rage, to Harry's sickness, and Mary Jane's concern, you can read each character's thoughts and emotions beautiful. Many of the scenes could easily pass without a word of text. That, in my mind, is the work of a classic artist.

Action Factor:

This issue leaves nothing to be desire. We have the initial face-off between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin continuing from last issue. And, of course, we're treated to "The Goblin's Last Stand!" at the end of the issue. In each fight, Spider-Man understandably comes on like a wild man, giving the Goblin no time to scheme or even muster a decent counter-attack. Even through his rage though, Spider-Man isn't a murderer and draws the line at killing the Goblin outright. The Goblin deserves to die for what he did though, and it makes the story sweeter than he accidentally dies by his own malice.

Spider-Villain lessons 101:

Tip #1:
Well, it would appear that killing off a hero's loved one is not such a good idea after all. It didn't work for Norman, and I'm sure we can't expect Spider-Man to be so charitable as to let everyone live who kills off his loved ones. All-in-all, let's put "knocking off the hero's girlfriend" in the "Not such a bright idea" category. After all, if you already know the hero's identity, there are so many better ways you can toy with him.