THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #179

"The Goblin's Always Greener...!"

• Writer: Len Wein
• Artist: Ross Andru
• Inker: Mike Esposito
• Print Date: Apr, 1978

Featuring:

Plot Summary:

The most recent incarnation of the Green Goblin carries Spider-Man, wrapped in a polymer plastic bag, through the sky. Spider-Man is trapped, and the Goblin intends to keep his deal to the heads of the city's underworld. The Goblin's flight is interrupted when two mobsters fire a bazooka at him from a nearby rooftop. The bazooka misses the Goblin, but it was close enough to damage his goblin glider and cause him to drop Spider-Man. Spider-Man takes the opportunity to break free of the bag, but not quick enough to avoid landing in a half-full dumpster.

Granted that the Green Goblin is probably not too difficult to spot when he flies over the city on his glider, but how many men did the Silvermane have to station around the city in order for one of the teams to get a clear shot at the Goblin with a bazooka? Likely the ambush took place near the Goblin's destination although that was never mentioned. Presumably the Green Goblin is not going to find the 'heads of the underworld' still waiting in Top Of The World restaurant after the shootout that took place there the previous evening. A better plan by Silvermane might've been to allow the Goblin to deliver Spider-Man and then take out the Goblin right there with some sort of pre-planned ambush. Surely the Green Goblin couldn't defend himself against an unseen sniper, right?

I was going to gripe about a bazooka blast going off in close enough proximity to Spider-Man that it damaged the webbing that Spider-Man himself couldn't break, but not so close as to actually injure Spider-Man. Then I realized it wasn't really relevant to the story, and I'm just assuming Spider-Man managed to free himself from the netting once the Green Goblin dropped it. He is lucky a several story flop into a dumpster didn't more than stun him for a few minutes

I laughed at how overjoyed the mobster looks when he realizes that Spider-Man is only unconscious and not dead in the dumpster. "He's alive, fellas, and he's ours!" Maybe they were under orders to bring Spider-Man in alive although that would seem to run contrary to the notion of firing bazooka shells in Spider-Man's general vicinity. "Better snaps these handcuffs on him before he wakes up!" Excellent plan, I'm sure that will hold Spider-Man.

I'm surprised that the mobsters eschew the convention of wearing identical brightly-colored jumpsuits and masks in order to advertise their villainous henchmen status. Instead, these guys show up in suits and fedoras and driving large sedans. What a wacky idea!

Minutes later, Peter Parker makes it to Newhope Memorial Hospital. He quickly signs the surgical consent forms. As soon as the doctors heard Peter was on his way, they started prepping Aunt May for surgery. According to the doctors, it is the only thing that can save her now. In the waiting room, Peter and MJ wait and pray.

Not even the Green Goblin and a gang of mobsters can prevent Peter from showing at the hospital on time in order to save Aunt May's life. I do find it disturbing to think that the hospital was simply going to let Aunt May die quietly in her bed for lack of a signature however.

While downtown, in the warehouse hideout of the Green Goblin, the Goblin sputters in on his damaged glider. The Green Goblin realizes that Silvermane is going to stand in his way of being the city's top crime-lord, and he must be destroyed. The Goblin replaces his damaged equipment and refills his bag of tricks. He also reveals that he placed a miniature transmitter on Silvermane's person allowing the Goblin to find him anywhere in the city. After slapping around his hooded hostage, the Green Goblin flies off through the skylight.

This Green Goblin is crazy. Crazy plans, crazy talking to himself, crazy slapping around his hostage, crazy trying to fistfight Spider-Man, crazy crazy crazy.

Back in the hospital, Robbie Robertson joins the group in the hospital's waiting room (smoking his pipe in the hospital as well!). Peter talks to Robbie and spouts some emotional stuff about "Never being able to find out who I am" or something. Bleh. The doctor returns to the waiting room with news on Aunt May...

Ugh, I'm not going to reprint the conversation Peter has with Robbie, but with Aunt May in emergency surgery, Peter gives Robbie a very "woe is me" speech. He doesn't espouse concern about his aunt, and only briefly mentions his appreciation to Robbie for coming. Mostly he talks about how going from home - where he was center of attention - to school - where it was just the opposite - prevented him from 'finding himself' or some garbage. If Peter was like this today, I'd expect him to have dyed black hair, wearing black eyeliner, and smoking out back with the right of the emo-kids in high school.

But we cut to Radio City Music Hall, where Silvermane is attending the show. The crowd is filled with folks from all around the country focused on the stage, but the Green Goblin manages to steal the show when he sails in on his goblin glider.

Putting his crazy out for display yet again, the Green Goblin attacks Silvermane in the middle of a packed Radio City Music Hall.

Back at the hospital, the doctors tell Peter that Aunt May is going to be all right as long as she doesn't exert herself or get upset. A phone call comes in for Robbie, and he gives Jonah a brief update on the situation. Unbelievable, Jonah called in order to assign Peter to a riot at Radio City. Even more unbelievably, Peter accepts the assignment and heads off reasoning that "Aunt May's anesthesia won't wear off for several hours".

I firmly believe that, if my boss called me at the hospital where someone close to me was having surgery and asked me to do something work-related, my immediate response would probably tend towards a vulgarity laced "I quit" and not an "Okay, sure, no problem".

In the Goblin's hideout, his hostage slowly inches over to the discarded goblin glider.

At Radio City Music Hall, Peter heads into the building as the crowd stampedes out. Through a gap in the crowd, Peter spots the Green Goblin swooping over the crowd pitching goblin grenades. Peter quickly changes into costume and heads into the theater to find Silvermane men and the Green Goblin battling it out. Pandemonium reigns as bullets flies and the Goblin lobs grenades in response. Silvermane stumbles on his way to the exit and lays helpless before the Goblin. Spider-Man arrives in the nick of time, and snags the Goblin with a webline. Spider-Man is ambushed from behind by the Goblin's glider (flying by remote control) and finds himself in a three-way fight between himself, the Green Goblin, and Silvermane. With Spider-Man distracted by disarming Silvermane, the Goblin hops on his glider, grabs the mobster, and flies off. Refusing to quit, Spider-Man grabs Silvermane and knocks the Goblin off his glider. The three foes fall to certain death from the roof of Radio City Music Hall.

Once he had them on the ground and disarmed, how did Spider-Man NOT make short work of both the Green Goblin and Silvermane. Was he holding back for some reason?

At the warehouse, the Goblin's hostage finally manages to inch across the floor to the discarded glider, cut the rope tying his hands together, and free himself from his bonds. He rips off the hood and after all this time in captivity, Harry Osborn is furious! And he intends to do something about it.

And the shock ending. The clues were there. Well, the biggest clues being that you never saw the Green Goblin without his mask nor the hostage without his hood. But I'm guessing this ending came as a huge surprise to most readers.