Fanholes Comic Books Mutha@#$%! Do You Read 'Em?!? #133: Green Goblin Phil Urich 30th Anniversary!

 Mike has Justin and Derek read Green Goblin #1-13 for its 30th Anniversary!

Download this episode!

Mike's Top Fifteen Favorite Spider-Man Comic Stories, Part Two: #5 - #1

Here we are with the second half of my top fifteen favorite Spider-Man stories list!  In part one I covered my honorable mention and entries #15 through #6.  Here are my top five, plus my DIS-honorable mention- my most HATED Spider-Man story!

-

5. “The Night Gwen Stacy Died”
(Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 # 121-122, 1973)
Written by Gerry Conway, penciled by Gil Kane

I know, I know… it’s a cliché. However, there is a reason this pair of issues are considered one of the most famous comic book tales of all time, even beyond what happens in them and what they meant for the industry in general. Amazing Spider-Man # 121 and its follow-up story “The Goblin’s Last Stand” in # 122 comprise a perfectly-paced, emotionally-fraught, gripping tale of tragedy and revenge. Even knowing exactly what occurred in their pages before I actually read them as a kid, I was still struck by the power of this story and just how damn ballsy it must have been back in the day of their original release.

In case you’re somehow unaware, in the face of his son Harry suffering from a drug overdose and his company facing liquidation, Norman Osborn snaps and once again becomes the Green Goblin. He kidnaps Peter Parker’s lady love Gwen Stacy and brings her to… The Bridge. Spider-Man tries to come to her rescue, but Gwen falls off The Bridge and dies. A vengeful Spider-Man vows to destroy the Green Goblin and tracks him back to his hideout. After beating the Goblin nearly senseless, a horrified Spider-Man pulls back at the last moment, unable to become a murderer like his foe. The Goblin remotely triggers his glider to stab Spider-Man from behind, but the wall-crawler dodges and-

D’oh! Of course, there have since been a number of retcons applied to this story, not least of which is Norman Osborn actually recovering from this wound and going into hiding in Europe for years. There are other, more offensive retcons that I won’t elaborate on here (Gob-lin Baaabe-ies…) but my point is you probably have to set those aside and take this story at face value. Some people can’t do that, but I can and that’s why this story is here. Much like the previous entry, I can separate what came after from what was at the time, and still consider this to be one of my favorite Spider-Man stories. I first read it in a “Spider-Man VS. Green Goblin” trade paperback that my dad bought for me one afternoon out at the mall and it still sits on my bookcase to this day.

Gwen Stacy’s death remains a hot topic of discussion among fans to this very day. From the exact means of how she died (the “snap” of her neck thanks to Spider-Man’s webbing or the shock of the fall?) to whether it should have been done at all, everything has been analyzed and discussed ad nauseam. Personally, I think it was the right move for the book, as Gwen had long since exhausted herself as a character by that time.

When she was first introduced in Amazing Spider-Man under Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, she was actually sort of the frigid, sharp “Veronica”-type to Mary Jane Watson’s more lighthearted and loopy “Betty”. However, as soon as Steve Ditko departed the book and John Romita Sr. took over on art, their roles began to reverse, with Gwen becoming the sweet, soft Miss Perfect and MJ becoming trouble on two legs. Her and Peter’s relationship became both frustrating (as Peter would resort to increasingly-insane methods to hide his Spider-Man identity from her) and near-intolerably saccharine when they were happy together. All the “edge” was basically sanded off on Gwen, both artistically and as a character.

Peter and Gwen were deeply in love, and even after the death of Gwen’s father during a fight between Spider-Man and Doc Ock and a separation period, it was clear they couldn’t live without each other. Comics are a serial fiction and Peter Parker as the original “Hard Luck Hero” could never really have a happy ending for very long, so instead of breaking them up again or marrying them, Gerry Conway and John Romita Sr. (still serving as inker on Amazing Spidey at the time) decided to axe Gwen. It created tons of story potential and character development for the rest of the supporting cast, particularly for Mary Jane, who takes her first steps to becoming Peter’s best friend and soulmate at the end of this tale. Refusing to abandon Peter in his moment of grief, even after he lashes out at her, is often referred back to as Mary Jane Watson’s defining character moment.

So yeah, maybe including this story on the list is a cliché, but I can’t help but love it on its own merits, beyond its historical significance. Killing off your hero’s significant other was really something you just DIDN’T DO back in those days, and perhaps it did set some bad precedents and removed some of the “innocence” of early-modern superhero comics. However, I still recognize the pathos and dramatic potential fully realized by Conway and the rest here and can revisit this story and marvel at that any time. Again though… I suppose you may have to put Goblin healing factors, clones, and Goblin Babies out of mind to get the full effect.


4. “Fearful Symmetry” AKA Kraven’s Last Hunt
(Web of Spider-Man Vol. 1 # 31-32, Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 # 293-294, Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 1 # 131-132, 1987)
Written by J.M. DeMatteis, penciled by Mike Zeck

Another well-known and beloved classic like the last entry, the story known more widely as “Kraven’s Last Hunt” is usually on anyone’s list of recommended Spidey tales. Kraven the Hunter, while always a relatively well-known Marvel supervillain, had never really evolved as a character or made a name for himself other than “that goofy jungle guy who’s constantly playing The Most Dangerous Game” over the years.

Kraven wasn’t even writer J.M. DeMatteis’ first pick for the adversary of this story, nor was Spider-Man the first pick for the hero! He tried pitching the concept of a hero being buried alive by their opposite number multiple times in the years prior to the publication of this story. It started as a Wonder Man/Grim Reaper pitch to Marvel, went over to DC as a Batman/Joker pitch, and then finally came back to Marvel as a Spider-Man pitch. Even then, DeMatteis had planned to create a brand-new villain for the story, but instead changed his mind to Kraven after researching the character a bit and seeing potential.

The story opens with Kraven having a sort of personal crisis and craving some meaning in his empty life before it ends. Meanwhile, the newly-wed Peter and Mary Jane Watson-Parker have just recently returned from their honeymoon, and Spider-Man goes out on patrol on a particularly dark and rainy night. Kraven ambushes Spidey, drugs him, and buries him alive on the grounds of the Kravinoff estate. Kraven then dons Spider-Man’s black costume and seeks to replace him, brutalizing criminals and capturing Vermin, a mutated half-man/half-rat creature that had been roaming New York’s sewers and cannibalizing citizens.

Mary Jane is left to agonize and wander the streets looking for her husband, as Spider-Man remains in a grave for two full weeks, drugged into a state of simulated death. Suffering through numerous nightmares involving spiders and visions of his recently-deceased friend Ned Leeds, Peter finally breaks through the haze by focusing on his love for Mary Jane, "returning to life" as it were.

Learning what Kraven’s been up to in his absence, a shaken Peter heads home to reunite with MJ, then after briefly resting… heads right back out to confront the Hunter. Kraven is expecting the infuriated Spider-Man, and makes no moves to defend himself when the wall-crawler attacks him. He explains that he’s already triumphed over Spider-Man and in so doing, won a spiritual battle and filled the void in his tired, empty soul. After all, Kraven COULD have killed Spider-Man while he was unconscious, but then Spidey wouldn’t KNOW he had been defeated. Kraven then releases the imprisoned Vermin and tells Spider-Man to go after the creature and prevent it from killing again. Kraven also solemnly vows that his hunting days are over.

Once Spider-Man is gone, Kraven calmly takes a rifle and blows his own head off, seemingly at peace. He leaves behind documentation for the police that clears Spider-Man of anything Kraven did while impersonating him to boot. Spider-Man tracks Vermin back to the sewers, defeating and apprehending him, then returns to Mary Jane- the nightmare ended… for now.

This was another story that I was well-aware of before reading, as it had become so famous (or infamous) by the point I had started reading Spider-Man comics regularly that it was impossible NOT to hear about it or see it called back to in-story. It’s a dark, psychological and literal horror tale, and one not common to Spider-Man at the time of its publication. In fact, most point to this story as the point where Spider-Man started to dip into the “grim and gritty” territory usually reserved for Batman and as mentioned above, that’s not a coincidence. J.M. DeMatteis specializes in getting into a character’s head and laying bare their deepest fears, insecurities, and dreams in a way that’s deeply affecting to a reader. Mike Zeck’s pencils and colors, along with Bob McLeod’s inks, paint some moody, creepy, and dank settings throughout that will make your skin crawl just by looking at them.

It wouldn’t be unfair to say this story was the first time Kraven the Hunter was truly fleshed-out as a character, but it also was probably the peak for him as well. Over the years, writers have tried to come up with ways to explore Kraven again, either through his offspring (he’s had multiple kids who have followed in his footsteps), his lovers (his wife Sasha and the voodoo witch Calypso), and even his half-brother the Chameleon- a notable Spidey villain in his own right.

Kraven was eventually resurrected from the dead, but even he was basically like “Why? I already fulfilled my life’s ambition.” Aside from an amusing stint as Squirrel Girl’s friend and mentor, Kraven really just fell back into his usual tired routine from before “Last Hunt” up until very recently. Writer Nick Spencer just wrapped his own big Kraven story up in Amazing Spider-Man titled “Hunted”, and made yet another attempt at revitalizing/rebooting the character. As of this writing, we don’t know if this new version of Kraven the Hunter will make a more unique impression, but it’s long since been proven the basic concept is popular enough that Kraven will always be an indelible part of Spidey lore.

Much like the previous entry on this list, this story being on here might be seen as something of a cliché, but it really is damn good. Maybe J.M. DeMatteis goes a little too far and deep sometimes with the psychological intrigue and treating everyone in superhero stories as intensely-damaged individuals, but I can’t deny it makes for some visceral imagery and thrilling drama. Kraven’s Last Hunt perhaps didn’t make as much of a seismic impact on me as it did for those who read it “in the wild”, but the quality of the writing and art spoke for themselves when I did. I’m always happy to revisit it because What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?


3. “The Coming of the Scorpion”
(Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 # 20, 1965)
By Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

After a few of what I’d consider “obvious” entries that would go on a lot of people’s lists, here’s a true personal favorite of mine. This is actually the first Lee/Ditko issue I ever read (aside from perhaps a reprint of Spider-Man’s origin in Amazing Fantasy # 15) and it has always been near-and-dear to me. I actually first read it as a reprint in Spider-Man Megazine, a monthly collection of reprinted stories that only lasted six installments. They would collect about three or four classic Spidey issues from different eras with no real connection to each other all for the low, low price of about three bucks (actually, that was kinda expensive back then.)

In whatever case, I only ever had this issue of Megazine, and I would re-read the reprint of Amazing Spidey # 20 over and over again, captivated by the classic style of art and storytelling. This is the first appearance of the Scorpion, and I suppose it also endeared him to me as one of my favorite Spidey villains. J. Jonah Jameson hires private investigator Mac Gargan to follow Peter Parker and discover how he gets so many pictures of Spider-Man. Peter catches on and is able to evade his stalker, so Jameson changes tactics and pays Gargan to undergo an experimental procedure that will mutate him into a being that can take Spider-Man down. Otherwise reasonable scientist Dr. Farley Stillwell grants Gargan the proportional powers of a scorpion, as well as a suit with a powerful tail to bludgeon his foe with. Gargan is also overcome with the powerful urge to “lick” people for some reason…

Jameson sics the Scorpion on Spidey, who quickly learns that Scorpey is nearly as quick as him and even stronger! After Scorpion knocks Spider-Man unconscious, Gargan realizes that no one can stand in his way now (aside from like, all the other superheroes in New York, but let the guy have his moment, huh?) and instantly decides to go on a crime spree. Jameson is horrified that Scorpion is out of his control, as well as Farley Stillwell, whose after-the-fact tests reveal that the treatment he gave Gargan has affected the goon’s mind as well as his body. Realizing that the Scorpion will become a danger to mankind, Stillwell rushes to get a counter-serum to Gargan, but falls to his death trying to administer it.

Stillwell’s death always stuck with me as a kid, as I had always assumed the early tales of Spider-Man were more innocent affairs before actually reading them. Ditko keeps his fatal plunge largely off-panel, but we see people clustering around him on the street when the reawakened Spidey arrives. Much like any good episode of the Twilight Zone, your imagination probably makes the scene even more gruesome than if you had actually seen the body.

Anyhow, Spidey goes for round two with Scorpion and loses again, although this time Scorpion nearly breaks his hand punching Spider-Man out. The supervillain decides to go kill Jameson at the Daily Bugle, as he’s the only one who knows his identity as Mac Gargan. In one of the earliest displays of Spider-Man’s incredible fortitude, Peter rises once more and limps after the Scorpion after he hears his best gal Betty Brant’s screams from the Bugle building. Inside the Bugle, Scorpion corners Jonah, but Spidey arrives and fights smarter this time, sticking Gargan to the floor, ripping off his tail, and evading his blows.

Spidey finally beats Scorpion and leaves him for the police, while Jonah is left to stew and mull over his part in the Scorpion’s creation. Peter Parker ends the issue trying to explain all his bruises to Aunt May and having to sew up his damaged costume by himself. A classic Spidey tale indeed, and a prime example of the “formula” Lee and Ditko perfected in those early days. There’s a surprising amount of pathos regarding J. Jonah Jameson as well, as his role in the Scorpion debacle would remain his shameful secret for years.

While I have a lot of fondness for Scorpion as a villain, I feel like his potential has been largely-wasted for years. He was the original “anti-” Spider-Man, with a different arachnid’s powers and specifically created to destroy the hero. However, Mac Gargan’s since had a long history of just being treated as dumb muscle and even when he became Venom for a stint, his general effectiveness didn’t increase a whole lot, even if his profile did.

In whatever case, this is probably my favorite Lee/Ditko issue, being the earliest I imprinted on, and one I always enjoy revisiting for its fast-paced plot and brutal action scenes. I also enjoy the depth shown in Jonah’s character as he agonizes over Stillwell’s death and his own responsibility in the matter. There’s also a scene where Peter learns his rival for Betty’s affections, Ned Leeds, is leaving on a trip for Europe, and his internal glee at having Betty all to himself in the meantime always cracks me up (“Aw, that’s too bad!” Hooray!”)

The one question that remains to me about this issue is what ever happened to Scorpion’s snippy-snip fingers power?? I don’t recall him ever using that again and it seems super-useful! If anyone can find an instance of him doing that again, lemme know!

2. The Fall of Harry Osborn
(Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 1 # 178-184, 189-190, 200, 1991)
Written by J.M. DeMatteis, penciled by Sal Buscema

I’ve mentioned how J.M. DeMatteis specializes in exploring Spider-Man’s villains, and the one I think he handled the best was Peter Parker’s best friend… Harry Osborn. Haunted by visions of his deceased father (well, THOUGHT deceased at least and he really was considered dead at the time) Norman, Harry begins his descent into madness and ultimately death over the course of DeMatteis’ two-year run on Spectacular Spider-Man. Some of these issues were acquired by me at a young age and I was quite proud to own (and spend a whole whopping five dollars on the backmarket for) Spectacular Spider-Man # 200, where Harry’s arc largely concludes.

We start off with Spec Spidey # 178-184, a multi-part story titled “The Child Within”. While the “A”-plot focuses on Vermin (the aforementioned mutated man-rat that also featured in DeMatteis’ “Fearful Symmetry”) and his coming to grips with the abuse he suffered as a child, a parallel B-plot has Harry Osborn steadily losing his grip on reality. Having created the character of Vermin/Edward Whalen, DeMatteis sure did enjoy featuring him in stories a LOT over the course of his run on Spider-Man. Even though more time is probably dedicated to Vermin’s plot in this story, I always felt he was something of a distraction. I mean, after all- Harry Osborn was Peter’s best friend and the second Green Goblin, so of course I (and most readers, I’d wager) would be more interested in the goings-on there.  I’m mostly gonna focus on Harry’s part of the story here, but I thought I’d just get Vermin mostly out of the way.

So anyhow, Harry’s seriously losing his marbles and talking to an apparition of his dead father, sometimes even in the presence of his wife Liz and son Normie. I feel like the second and third Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies took this element directly from these comics in regards to Harry (although it’s a tad more inexplicable in the movies, as Harry’s nowhere near as mentally-disturbed there.)

Harry finally snaps, becomes the Green Goblin again and drugs Spider-Man, forcing Peter on a mind-bending journey of his own inner turmoil and guilt. Peter manages to overcome this and gets away from Harry, and once recovered, has to go hunting for the escaped Vermin again. Spider-Man confronts Vermin and fights him, but the Green Goblin interrupts and then it’s a three-way struggle. After Vermin is disabled and left for the cops, Peter and Harry’s fight is carried away to a secluded area where the masks come off. The ghosts of Harry’s past are too powerful to overcome, and Peter decides to do something drastic to snap his friend out of it. He allows Harry the chance to kill him, and with the specter of Norman Osborn urging his son on, Harry goes for it. However, Harry ultimately cannot bring himself to kill his best friend, and leaves, vowing to return when Peter least expects it.

There’s a lot of heavy (and typical on the writer’s part) exploration of both physical and mental abuse in this tale, but as a kid I kind of ignored all that deeper stuff in favor of the vicious fight scenes between Peter and Harry. Drawn to perfection by Sal Buscema, Harry’s Green Goblin is a true delight (and horror) to behold here. This bit from Spec # 180 always made me chortle in particular-

Harry’s story continues in Spec Spidey # 189-190, where he seals his own fate by subjecting himself to an experimental new Goblin Formula created and hidden away by his father. Now possessing super-strength on-par with Spidey, Harry begins literally getting his house in order. He kidnaps his wife and son, along with his brother-in-law Mark Raxton- otherwise known as the reformed supervillain Molten Man. Spider-Man tracks them to the Osborn estate, where he finds Harry has… cooked dinner for them all. In perhaps one of the tensest scenes ever in a Spider-Man comic, Spidey sits down to eat dinner with the Osborns as a completely off-the-deep-end Harry holds court. Unwilling to put Liz and Normie Osborn in danger, Peter is forced to listen to Harry hurl demented accusations and bile at him, all the while wondering if Harry will reveal his secret identity to the others.

Of course, things descend into violence when Molten Man decides he’s had enough with the charade and lunges for Harry. Showcasing his new strength, Harry knocks Molten Man out and turns his attention to Peter, and we have Green Goblin VS Spider-Man Round… I’ve lost count by this point. Spidey manages to triumph over the Goblin again, and has him carted away to prison at the end, but Harry gleefully taunts Peter that he will reveal his secret identity to the world at a moment of his choosing.

Harry’s story comes to its tragic conclusion in Spectacular Spider-Man # 200. Harry’s lawyers bail him out and he’s released from Ravencroft (Marvel’s discount version of Arkham Asylum.) He continues to torment Peter but by this point, it’s clear that Harry is very sick, and not just mentally anymore. The new Goblin Formula he subjected himself is having some side-effects, and Harry is constantly sweating and in a feverish state.

Spider-Man and the Green Goblin have a final battle inside a new building Harry’s had constructed that he also planted explosives in. He initially planned to lure all of his father’s old business rivals there and kill them in one fell swoop, but once Harry manages to paralyze Spider-Man with a drug-tipped Goblin glove, he changes plans. Harry decides their families would be better off if they BOTH died together and sets a timer for the building to explode in two minutes. However, no sooner after doing so, Harry comes to the horrifying realization that Mary Jane and his son Normie are still on the premises.

Harry is crippled by his insecurities, but a still-paralyzed Peter assures his friend that he can still save them. Harry gathers himself and speeds MJ and Normie out of the building, but MJ begs him to return for Peter. With only seconds to spare, Harry flies back in and rescues Peter, his best friend and worst enemy, as the building explodes behind them. However, the strain of it all is too great for Harry’s body, and it finally succumbs to the toxic Goblin Formula he absorbed. Spider-Man rides in the ambulance with his rapidly-fading best friend to the hospital, and on the way… Harry Osborn makes peace with Peter Parker… and dies. The final, dialogue-less page of the story, where Peter has to tell MJ and Normie that Harry didn’t make it, is absolutely devastating.

All of this stuff was really powerful to me as a kid, and it still is, even with the inevitable retcons that later came (like Harry being alive, for one.) I always liked Harry better as the Green Goblin over his father, as I could relate to his and Peter’s rivalry a bit better. I mean, not a significant amount of people have a special hatred for their best friend’s FATHER, but I think anyone can relate to having a fight with their best friends themselves. Harry’s tragedy was also developed over nearly fifteen years of stories, and the issues I mention here are just the tail-end of them. I also think both Harry and Norman work best as characters when the other is not in the picture. My favorite Harry stories take place when Norman was “dead” and my favorite Norman stories take place when Harry was “dead”.

Of note, Harry’s legacy after he died would also be significant and lead to some dramatic moments down-the-line. Spectacular Spider-Man Annual # 14, the very end of the miserable storyline “Pursuit”, and the Spider-Man: Legacy of Evil one-shot all feature post-mortem Harry Osborn schemes and contingency plans that Peter has to deal with. The fact that Peter made peace with Harry just before he died makes these moments particularly bitter, especially the end of “Pursuit”, after Harry had enabled the Chameleon to trick Peter into thinking his parents were still alive.

J.M. DeMatteis and Sal Buscema’s run on Spectacular Spider-Man is one of my favorite runs on the character of all time, and their Harry Osborn arc is indeed my favorite part of it. Again, like with Aunt May’s death, you probably have to ignore what comes after this to appreciate the power of this tale, but it’s still there. Harry Osborn’s come back and died again in modern comics, and he’s never hit these personal lows... or dramatic highs again, but I’ll always prefer him and Peter as… “The Best of Enemies.”


1. The Original Hobgoblin Saga
(Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 # 238-239, 244-245, 249-251, Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 1 # 85, 1983)
Written by Roger Stern, Bill Mantlo, and Tom DeFalco, penciled by John Romita Jr., Al Milgrom, and Ron Frenz

Some of the very first Spider-Man comics I read were back issues that my older cousin lent me, and they featured the Hobgoblin. Ironically enough, I believe (my memory is spotty here, having been seven or eight years old at the time) those specific comics actually starred the SECOND Hobgoblin, Jason Macendale, and not the original one who features in this story here. In whatever case, the supervillain’s distinct orange and blue color scheme and M.O. left a big impression on me, and when I started to seek out comics on my own, I was always on the lookout for Spider-Man stories that featured the Hobgoblin.

I acquired my most treasured possession in that regard in possibly the first trade paperback I ever owned- “The Origin of the Hobgoblin”, published in 1993. With its eye-catching cover (ironically enough drawn by one of my favorite Transformers artists of all time, Derek Yaniger) depicting the Hobgoblin’s hideous visage, it was something I read and re-read for years.

The issues included within constitute what most consider to be the “original” Hobgoblin saga, telling the origin of the mystery man who would become one of Spider-Man’s greatest enemies and his explosive first clashes with the wall-crawler. Amazing Spider-Man # 238 and 239 give readers a ground-level view of the man who-would-be-Goblin as he assumes his new identity, always keeping his face cloaked in shadow, but still allowing us access to his thoughts.

After Spider-Man lets a petty criminal escape into the sewers, that criminal stumbles onto one of the Green Goblin’s secret hideouts. He sells that location to our mystery shadow-man, who promptly kills the criminal and revels in his new treasures. Having access to all of the Green Goblin’s paraphernalia, along with the secret journals of Norman Osborn, our power-craving villain decides to continue the legacy and become a supervillain himself. I always liked the scenes of Mystery Man (whom we now know was business mogul Roderick Kingsley) trying out the Goblin’s toys and realizing the freedom from society such an identity would grant someone. It’s no surprise that I’d often want to be the Hobgoblin when I’d play with my other cousins or with action figures, as I was practically acting out what these scenes implied.

After the Hobgoblin locates more Goblin hideouts and Spider-Man gets wind of the thefts, the two meet and have their first scuffle. The exhausted and outmatched Hobgoblin barely manages to evade Spider-Man, realizing he’s missing a fundamental something that allowed the Green Goblin to stand up to the web-slinger so many times. He vows to find out what edge the Green Goblin had at any cost, which leads into the next part of the saga in Amazing Spidey # 244-245.

The Hobgoblin reads Norman Osborn’s journals and discovers the existence of the Goblin Formula that granted enhanced ability to its recipient. He hires and brainwashes a petty thug named Lefty Donovan to test-run the formula and stand-in as the Hobgoblin to face off against Spider-Man. In this battle, the Hobgoblin displays super-strength and is able to put up a better fight against his foe, but Spidey still triumphs over him. The true Hobgoblin has Donovan’s glider fly directly into a building wall and explode to silence his pawn, and Spider-Man gets a sense of just how ruthless and calculating his new foe is.

In Spectacular Spidey # 85, the Hobgoblin subjects himself to a refined Goblin Formula and emerges with perhaps even greater strength than the Green Goblin possessed. He heads out to test his new abilities and comes across Spider-Man and his then-paramour the Black Cat. The Black Cat is eager to prove herself to Spider-Man and unfortunately does nothing but get in his way, allowing the Hobgoblin to run rings around the pair. Satisfied with his newfound strength, the Hobgoblin departs to enact the next phase of his plans.

In Amazing Spidey # 249, Harry Osborn finds himself being blackmailed by someone who has proof that his father Norman was the original Green Goblin. Peter Parker accompanies him to the Century Club, an upper-crust establishment where various other businessmen and wealthy elites have been summoned to by the blackmailer. Among others, J. Jonah Jameson is there, having also been sent a threat to expose him for something. The blackmailer finally appears and turns out to be the Hobgoblin himself, who holds proof enough to extort whatever he wants from those assembled. Peter changes to Spider-Man and confronts the Hobgoblin, who doses him with a gas that renders his Spider-Sense inert. The Hobgoblin easily defeats Spider-Man, and prepares to execute him, when the wall-crawler is saved by a surprising guest at the meeting-

Classic Kingpin bad-assery, right? Spider-Man awakens and is told that his Spider-Tracer was placed on the Hobgoblin’s glider, so he heads off to rest and then track his foe down, even without his Spider-Sense. After going back into action, Spidey’s first stop is to the Daily Bugle, as he discovers J. Jonah Jameson preparing an editorial confessing that he was the one who created the Scorpion (remember, from a couple list entries ago?) That’s what the Hobgoblin is holding over him and Jonah’s going to beat him to the punch. Despite his long-standing feud with the guy, Spider-Man crumbles up Jonah’s work and tells him he’ll defeat the Hobgoblin and let him keep the secret.

Spidey heads off and locates the Hobgoblin’s base, busting in and surprising the villain. The two fight and when Hobgoblin activates an auto-firing ray cannon, Spidey dodges into the path of where Norman Osborn’s journals are stored. The cannon incinerates all of Osborn’s journals, infuriating the Hobgoblin as he hadn’t made copies of them yet. He throws a pumpkin bomb to stop the cannon from firing, which causes an explosion and the entire place goes up in flames. The Hobgoblin boards a special armored battle van that he acquired from Osborn’s weapon stores and smashes his way out of the conflagration, with Spider-Man clinging to its front.

After trying to scrape Spidey off by driving through a few buildings, the Hobgoblin believes he’s finally killed the wall-crawler, only to be astounded when Spider-Man tears part of the van’s roof off and jumps inside. Engaging the van’s auto-pilot, the Hobgoblin engages in some close-quarters combat with his foe, but Peter’s Spider-Sense finally returns in the nick of time, giving our hero his edge back. The battle van careens off a pier into the Hudson River, and still the Hobgoblin struggles against Spider-Man as they plunge into the water’s depths. The water short-circuits the van’s computers and initiates its self-destruct sequence as the two continue to battle.

Spider-Man tries to help the Hobgoblin escape, but the villain is beyond reason and the van explodes with both of them inside. Spider-Man recovers and makes it back to the surface, but dives back into the water to locate the Hobgoblin, who he was separated from. All Spidey finds… is Hobgoblin’s shredded mask drifting amongst the van’s wreckage. The story ends with Spidey finding out that Jonah published his confession anyway and is stepping down as editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle. And of course… the Hobgoblin is still at large...

This is like… a perfect Spider-Man story to me. I mean, yes it’s my favorite and yes probably because of massive nostalgic feelings towards it, but there’s really nothing truly bad I can say about it. Everyone’s perfectly in-character, a cool new villain with a connection to Spider-Man’s deep history is introduced, the action sequences are thrilling, and the intrigue is high. It IS unfortunate however, that the mystery of the Hobgoblin’s identity wasn’t solved here, and Marvel chose to drag it out for years until they killed it with a rushed, deeply-flawed conclusion.

Roger Stern departed Amazing Spider-Man with issue # 251 (there’s a Tom DeFalco co-writing credit on that one, actually) because of the dreaded “creative differences” with editorial, so he didn’t get to expand on the Hobgoblin’s mystery the way he wanted to at the time. The Hobgoblin mess wouldn’t be properly fixed until nearly a decade later when Roger Stern returned after the Spider-books were under new management.

Stern has admitted he didn’t have anyone in particular in mind for the Hobgoblin’s identity while plotting the story out, but realized as he was penning the dialogue for the mystery shadowed man that he was writing Roderick Kingsley’s character. He didn’t get much of a chance to set up Roderick and his twin brother Daniel’s patented “switcheroo” routine before leaving the book, and as hokey as the identical twin brother trope can be, it does make perfect sense for how the Hobgoblin operates- his love of dupes and decoys and such.

Lefty Donovan, Flash Thompson, and Ned Leeds (who Marvel editorial initially and somewhat inexplicably decided was the REAL Hobgoblin back in the day) were all framed by Kingsley as the Hobgoblin over the years, so I think the twin brother thing fits nicely with that. There are actually THREE subtle clues in this original Hobgoblin story that Stern wrote pointing towards Roddy being the Hobgoblin, and here they are-

Being a fashion designer, of course Roddy would put importance on altering the Green Goblin’s costume. Of course, the panel where Kingsley is claiming the Hobgoblin could be “one of us” seems like a sly joke on Stern’s part (clearly that’s Daniel Kingsley, not Roddy.) And the panel with Kingsley musing about his brother was the set-up for the identical twin. I think had Roger Stern remained on the Spider-Man books, the twin thing would have been more fleshed-out and set-up so it wouldn’t become a cruddy Jeph Loeb mystery with a solution that comes out of nowhere, but sadly he never got the chance. At least… Stern didn’t get the chance until the “Hobgoblin Lives!” mini-series in 1997 where he set the record straight and finished the mystery the way he intended to from the start.

Like I said, I love this story/saga- Spider-Man himself is handled perfectly and the original Hobgoblin was never really as threatening or mystifying again as he was here. This story made the Hobgoblin my favorite Spider-Man, perhaps favorite Marvel villain of all, and cemented me as a lifelong fan of Spider-Man comics in general. Now that I’ve revealed the story that basically made me a Spider-Man fan for life, there only remains to tell you about the story that KILLED Spider-Man for me… at least temporarily.

-

Before I start this entry for my least favorite Spider-Man story ever, lemme just say… it isn’t “One More Day”. Don’t get me wrong, “One More Day” is awful and perhaps one of the worst comic events I’ve ever experienced BAR NONE, let alone a Spider-Man story.  However, by the time it came out, I had built up more of a resistance to that sort of thing, and while incredibly disappointed in Marvel for going in that direction, I wasn’t gonna stop reading comics forever because of it.

This next story did, however, get me to quit comics FOREVER (at least at the time.) It insulted and infuriated me to such a degree that I didn’t even accept the next month’s Spider-Man comics as a free GIFT from a friend. I thought I was done with comics and Spider-Man in particular after reading this and I don’t think I’ll ever feel that way again.

So without further ado, I give you...

0. “The Final Chapter”
(Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 # 441, Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 1 # 263, and Peter Parker: Spider-Man # 97-98, 1998)
Written by Howard Mackie and John Byrne, penciled by Rafael Kayanan, John Romita Jr., and Luke Ross

This story marked the end of my following Spider-Man comics (and ultimately ALL comics) for about three years, which is the longest stint I’ve ever gone without. I’m a fan of that sort of nebulous period in-between the Clone Saga and this story, where things were starting to get relatively “back-to-normal”, so to speak. However, the higher-ups at Marvel wanted to do more than that, and their Spider-Man “normal” was far different than mine. To that end, they sought to end the current titles and reboot to slowly move them in the direction they wanted. “The Final Chapter” is the first step in that direction and they immediately broke their figurative ankle.

There were plenty of intriguing plot-lines running in the comics at that time- Norman Osborn owning the Daily Bugle, his use of a Green Goblin stand-in whose identity was a mystery, and the increasing hints that Peter and Mary Jane’s daughter May was in fact alive and out there somewhere. Marvel editorial’s new direction for Spider-Man meant all these plots had to be halted, ignored, or tied-up. In this story, and its lead-in, the previous month’s crossover “The Gathering of Five”, most of that was accomplished… with the most hackneyed solutions possible. Most people would lump “The Gathering of Five” in with “The Final Chapter”, but I honestly don’t want to talk about it. It’s generically-terrible and worse- completely boring. I was willing to endure it back then because I thought it was leading to something epic. I was completely wrong.

“The Final Chapter” opens with… “The Gathering of Five” ceremony that the last month of Spider-Man stories had been building to. Yes, that’s correct- the event that the month-long story was building to didn’t even happen in the story bearing its name. Basically, Norman Osborn and four other people (who I won’t even bother to tell you about here) undertake this random magical ritual that gives each of them a three-in-five chance of gaining a significant boon. Three people will receive the gifts of wisdom, immortality, or power… while the unfortunate other two will receive either death or madness. Long story short, Norman seemingly receives “power”, which he was after from the beginning and gleefully goes off to launch his latest and final scheme. Side note, Norman’s panicked reactions in the panels where he thinks someone else received “power” are kind of hilarious.

Annny-hoo, one of Osborn’s agents who was there the night Mary Jane seemingly lost her baby (and who has been showing up for months prior in scenes indicating that she actually HAS little May) finds MJ, and passes on a message to her before dying- “May is alive.” MJ tells Peter, who immediately heads off to Osborn’s estate, convinced that Norman faked their daughter’s death and has had her in his care all these months. Bizarrely, Mary Jane doesn’t want Peter to even entertain the possibility and tells him to ignore it, figuring Norman is tricking them again. Besides, she’s gotten back into modeling and their lives could finally stabilize if Peter would just let his “obsession” with Norman Osborn go. If you think that sounds odd, don’t worry- Mary Jane’s just being written terribly, that’s all!

Spider-Man shows up at the Osborn estate, and the Green Goblin confronts him in his new (and kinda bad) costume. The two fight, and Peter demands the return of his daughter. Norman seemingly has no idea what Spidey’s going on about, but is happy to exercise the new power he supposedly received from the Gathering ritual. Spider-Man still beats him down and enters the estate, breaking down a locked door to find his May. And indeed, find his May he does…

Yep. It’s AUNT May that Norman had all along! But wait, didn’t Aunt May die months ago?? Sigh… let’s get through this… it turns out that Norman had Aunt May kidnapped from the hospital after she recovered from her coma. He replaced her with… siiiiigh a “genetically-altered actress” who pretended to be Aunt May and who died at Peter’s side in the touching Amazing Spider-Man # 400 (entry # 6 on this very list.) This is despite Norman writing in his own journal (as seen in “The Osborn Journal” one-shot also mentioned on this list) that he was happy May died of natural causes, even if he had nothing to do with it. So yeah… this completely craps all over that touching story, makes Norman look stupid, and returns Aunt May to the cast where she will return to being that dumb idiot who doesn’t know Peter is Spider-Man and a frail plot device for the next two years of stories.

I haven’t even gotten to WHY Norman would fake Aunt May’s death and keep her alive. That’s because he’s installed a “DNA Bomb” in her head that will go off and melt anyone in the vicinity into primordial goop. Norman plans on using the bombs on a wider scale and remaking all of humanity in his image because of… reasons.

Seriously, why is this even a plan Norman Osborn has? He clearly had it in the works before the Gathering ceremony, and it’s completely unlike him, even if he IS crazy-go-nuts. Anyhow, Spider-Man drops Aunt May off at the Fantastic Four’s HQ, where he leaves Reed Richards to magic… I mean, science the bomb out of the old woman’s head. He then heads to Oscorp, where Norman reveals the aforementioned DNA goop plan to Spidey, and then they fight. And Norman wins, unmasks Spider-Man in front of everyone at the Bugle, then kills him. Spider-Man is dead. The End.

Except no, because that fight we just witnessed was all in the Green Goblin’s head. Seems Norman actually received “madness” from the Gathering ceremony, not “power” and he’s gone loopier than normal. Spider-Man uses the power of overly-expositional thought bubbles to explain all this nonsense.

The Goblin is taken into custody, but the damage from their fight causes the Daily Bugle to collapse. Spider-Man leaps in and holds the building up while J. Jonah Jameson, acting like the utter loon only lazier writers portray him as, screams that it’s all Spider-Man’s fault the Bugle is collapsing and riles the crowd against him. Spider-Man mines deep reserves of inner courage and strength and yadda yadda yadda, the usual “lift heavy weight” cliché that had been done to death even back in 1998, and manages to stabilize the building. Jameson screams for Spider-Man to be arrested, the crowd of morons take Jonah’s side, and Spidey limps off to check on Aunt May.

He bursts into a surgery on her to tell Reed about the DNA bomb in May’s head, and how it might be triggered if removed. Reed is all like “I got this brah” and everything goes off without a hitch. With Aunt May back in his life, Peter and MJ burn his Spider-Man costume in a garbage can, because he’s gonna quit FOREVER this time. Sure. Until the brand-new Spider-Man # 1 titles next month, of course. Well, that’s disingenuous... it takes him TWO months to become Spider-Man again. Let’s hear it for restraint! Anyhow, the Green Goblin is removed from custody by his henchmen before his identity can be exposed, and having made a total ass of himself, Norman cackles off into the night. THE END.

(You gotta read that bottom part in Victor Caroli’s voice.)

Like I said, it really was THE END for me, because I hated this story so bad I quit comics altogether for a few years. I was really enjoying where the Spidey books were going up until this point, and then Marvel editorial decided to halt all that, put the least-qualified writer at the time (Howard Mackie) in charge of EVERYTHING, and lose my business for awhile.

Now, “One More Day” is pretty horrible, but at least some decent stories followed-up shortly from the new status quo it created. However, “The Final Chapter” was the prelude to nearly two years of some of the worst Spider-Man tales EVER, and I know because once I got back into comics, I went back and suffered through everything I had missed. Howard Mackie and John Byrne might not be entirely to blame, as editorial interference in Spider-Man comics was pretty high around that time, but they clearly couldn’t produce anything particularly remarkable under their own auspices either.  Kind of funny that I hate the story where Peter gets Aunt May back through no real action of his own a tiny bit worse than the story where Peter actively sells his marriage to the devil to get Aunt May back.

If I can say something nice about it, “The Final Chapter” was another springboard (along with “Revelations”) for Tom DeFalco’s excellent Spider-Girl series. That follows on from DeFalco’s INTENDED conclusion to his run on Amazing before “The Gathering of Five” cut him off, where Osborn DOES have Baby May, she is returned to her parents safe and sound and grows-up to be a hero like her dad.   DeFalco eventually addressed his version of how events occurred during "The Final Chapter" in Spider-Girl and couldn't resist a bit of critical commentary about that entire era of Spider-Man when revisiting it.  See if you can notice the snark!

The only other nice thing I’ll say is that “The Final Chapter” has pretty good art, especially on Romita Jr.’s part, as you can see in a few images above.  In the end, this story gets the nod as my least favorite Spider-Man story ever mostly because of the personal impact it had my hobby. It nearly convinced me comics weren’t worth reading anymore, and with Marvel in the midst of bankruptcy at the time, I might have even felt the whole industry was coming to an end. Thankfully, I was wrong and I eventually came back, but this almost truly was… “The Final Chapter.”

Thanks for reading!  


-Mike

Mike's Top Fifteen Favorite Spider-Man Comic Stories, Part One: #15 - #6

My top FIFTEEN favorite Spider-Man comic book stories, with an honorable mention and a DIS-honorable mention at the very end! (And it may not be what you think!)  The first part will cover #15-6, and the second will have my top five and my dis-honorable mention.

Let's get swinging!

-

Honorable mention-
“The Death of Jean DeWolff”
(Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 1 # 107-110, 1985)
Written by Peter David, Pencils by Rich Buckler

I feel like this honorable mention should be for Peter David in general, as he has no other stories on my list. He has a talent for spinning gold from crap most of the time, and I especially enjoyed his run on Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (Vol. 1, 2005-2007) in which he routinely did so. David mined overlooked deposits of story potential that the “main” writer at the time was ignoring, and told genuinely-interesting tales using half-baked ideas like “The Other” and Spider-Man’s unmasking during Civil War.

This is probably his most famous (or infamous) Spidey story and it’s a pretty compelling murder mystery. Mature, gripping, and very dark- it probably would have made the list when I was a bit younger and less well-read. I think re-reading nowadays, I’m less enamored with it, particularly after having read other past stories featuring Jean DeWolff. She was a great supporting cast member for Spidey and she was undoubtedly, as they say, “refrigerated” here. Also, Spidey comes off as a bit of a butthead and has to be schooled by Daredevil a number of times, even if I feel like his violent anger towards the Sin-Eater was pretty justified.

Still, while this may no longer be one of my absolute favorite Spidey stories, it is certainly noteworthy and Peter David in general deserves a mention here, despite how hot-and-cold as he can be as a writer. He definitely skews further towards “hot” than “cold” the majority of the time though, and he’s got a firmer grasp on the character of Spider-Man than most writers do nowadays.


15. “Shush”
(Marvel Knights Spider-Man # 1-12, 2004)
Written by Mark Millar, penciled by Terry Dodson and Frank Cho

Okay, the story isn’t really titled “Shush”, but fans are fond of calling this twelve-issue run that. It does basically follow the formula of Batman's “Hush”, with Spider-Man fighting nearly his entire rogues’ gallery while a mystery villain pulls the strings from the shadows. It’s actually three four-issue story arcs with an overarching plot- “Down Among the Dead Men”, “Venomous”, and “The Last Stand”. With J. Michael Straczynski mainly focusing on new concepts and villains during his then-current run on Amazing Spider-Man, this series was launched with the intent to tell more classic, “back-to-basics” Spidey tales.

I really don’t care for the bulk of Mark Millar’s work in comics, but I think he mostly succeeded in capturing the feel of a typical Spidey “epic” here. He also admitted he wasn’t very familiar with Spider-Man’s continuity prior to this series, having to bone up and even ask fans for help while writing it. This series is in fact heavily-steeped in classic Spidey lore, and the homework Millar did for it really shows. References to everything from the Spidey-Mobile to poor Baby May are sprinkled in each issue, and exploring these deeper corners of Spidey’s rich history had been somewhat looked down upon during that period at Marvel.

I also give credit to Millar for revitalizing a lot of older or recently-misused concepts in new and interesting ways. Giving a right middle finger to the idea (then popular among Marvel editors) that there could be no romantic tension if Peter Parker was married to Mary Jane, he reinserted the Black Cat into the dynamic. He made an effort to elevate many of Spidey’s classic villains and make them feel dangerous and threatening again, like Electro and Vulture.

Millar also tried to upgrade the Scorpion to “A-tier” baddie by making him Norman Osborn’s right-hand man and bonding him to the Venom symbiote. A great idea, considering that Scorpion was introduced as the original “anti-Spider-Man” and the Eddie Brock Venom was suffering through a creative slump at that point. Subsequent writers never really fully seized upon much of this momentum at the time, but it was still nice to recognize the potential even in re-reads of this run.

The plot itself has its hiccups, and the climax is kinda weak (Norman was behind everything… AGAIN) but I can say that I had a great time reading Millar’s run and was more compelled to pick it up every month than I was to read any other Spidey book at the time. The Dodsons (Terry and his wife Rachel as the inker) produced some beautiful art for this book, and Frank Cho’s pages weren’t too shabby either. If I had to pick a favorite part of this story, it’d probably be the fight with Electro in issue # 3, which has fantastic Dodson art and is one of the most unapologetically-brutal battles Spider-Man has ever been in.

Mark Millar may be crass and entirely-unsubtle in his writing most of the time, but I can’t deny that he can produce something that is pretty entertaining and thoughtful on occasion. He certainly writes a better mystery than Jeph Loeb, at any rate...


14. Untold Tales of Spider-Man
(# 1-25, Minus 1, Annuals ‘96 and ‘97, 1995)
Written by Kurt Busiek/various, penciled by Pat Olliffe/various

I’m cheating here, but it’s my list, so hard cheese. I literally couldn’t pick a single story from this series to represent it, so I’m just including the whole run in this spot. I adore this series; it was one I eagerly snatched up every week it came out along with the main Spidey books. On weeks when I didn’t have enough money to get everything I wanted, Untold Tales always made the cut- it was ninety-nine cents, after all! Maybe that seems a bit laughable to people older than me who bought new comics for far less back in the day, but 1995 WAS my “back in the day”! I had to spend MY actual allowance money by that point and normal new comics were a buck and change, going on two bucks back then... so ninety-nine cents was a steal!

This series does exactly what it’s title says; tell new Spidey stories in the “gaps” between early Lee/Ditko issues. With Kurt “Grandmaster of Continuity” Busiek at the helm, those classic tales were supplemented and even improved in some cases by these previously-untold adventures. Busiek didn’t even feel the need to “update” the setting and time period much, instead going for a sort of “timeless” quality about these events. I can say that thanks to this series, my mental image of a young Peter Parker always has the dorky blue suit and square haircut no matter how far the timeline slides into the real life "present day".

If you forced me to pick some single issues from this run I especially like, I’d go with # 13 (the death of Sally Avril), # 16 (told from Mary Jane Watson’s perspective before she even met Peter Parker), # 17 (Spidey’s first meeting with Hawkeye), and the Minus 1 “Flashback Month” issue (a tale about Peter’s parents during their spy days where they rescue a certain Ol’ Canucklehead in distress.) Annual ‘96 is also a brilliant tale with lovely Mike Allred art that sees Spidey take the Invisible Girl out on a date, only to be interrupted when the Human Torch tells Namor that the wall-crawler “kidnapped” his sister! Classic.

Some years back, I plunked down the money to buy the complete Untold Tales Omnibus, which contains everything mentioned above plus some extras. If you’ve never read this series, do yourself a favor and seek it out. This is one of the most notable comics that deals in heavy retcons to previous history that is actually respected by most writers and fans even to this day, and that alone should speak to its quality and longevity.


13. “Doomed Affairs”
(Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2 # 50 (Vol. 1 # 491), 2003)
Written by J. Michael Straczynski, penciled by John Romita Jr.

“JMS” has never been one of my favorite Spider-Man writers. I will partially credit him for helping extricate the character from the creative dank hole that John Byrne and Howard Mackie left Spidey in after their disastrous run on the books. However, I’ve always felt many of Straczynski’s “high concepts” for Spider-Man never really took off or were even the right fit for the franchise. What JMS DID excel in (most of the time) was characterization for Peter Parker and the supporting cast, and particularly in writing the relationship between Peter and Mary Jane.

This issue sees them reconcile after a period of estrangement, and I was kind of shocked reading it the first time. JMS had initially stated he wasn’t too interested in utilizing Mary Jane in the book when he first started writing it, so it was a pleasant surprise when he restored their marriage to a healthy state not seen in years. I’ve always been a proponent for the “Spider-marriage”, and JMS is among the best to write Peter and MJ as a couple. Of course, he also would have a hand in breaking them up and tainting their relationship FOREVER with “One More Day”, but it seems like he was pressured into co-writing that and regrets it nowadays.

In whatever case, this is a fine, entertaining issue aside from Peter and MJ’s big heart-to-heart, guest-starring Captain America as he and Spidey have to protect Doctor Doom from an assassination attempt. JMS also nails the relationship between Spidey and Cap- too often, the age gap between them is emphasized by writers and Cap is written as some stern authoritarian who sees Spider-Man as a reckless kid. While there is still a small element of that in JMS’ portrayal, Cap also treats Spidey as an adult and a respected peer. They’ve fought together for years, and Spider-Man isn’t some rookie anymore who needs to be baby-sat. The scene at the end where Peter introduces MJ to his “work-friend” is perhaps my favorite in this issue.

This is the last of JMS on this list, and I feel this issue best represents his strengths as a Spider-Man writer for me. The humor is pretty spot-on as well, with Doctor Doom of all people getting some choice laughs (“Such incompetence would not be permitted in the Latveria of DOCTOR DOOM!” “How do you speak in all capitals like that?” “Silence, minion.”) And of course, the art by prolific Spidey penciler John Romita Jr. works perfectly for this story.


12. “I’m With Stupid”
(Spider-Man/Human Torch # 1-5, 2005)
Written by Dan Slott, penciled by Ty Templeton

After reading this series as well as Dan Slott’s short-lived Thing ongoing (which featured a guest-spot by Spider-Man) back in the day, I remember thinking to myself- “Wow! Slott would be GREAT on a regular Spider-Man book!” Errr… fast-forward fourteen years and I can’t say my faith was rewarded. I think Slott’s probably about the opposite of JMS… good ideas and basic concepts for Spidey, but poor execution and characterization. However, this is a favorites list, and this series is in fact my favorite Dan Slott Spider-Man story.

Each of the five issues takes place in a different era of Marvel history and explores the long relationship between Spider-Man and the Human Torch. It’s a heartwarming, humorous, continuity-heavy yet completely-accessible series that perfectly showcases their friendship with all its ups-and-downs. The final issue takes place in the then-modern day, and has the consequential and long-overdue moment of Johnny Storm learning Spider-Man’s secret identity. It was certainly amusing at the time that Spidey’s closest friend in the superhero community was one of the last to find this out, especially since Johnny knew Peter Parker and never got along with him.

Ty Templeton’s lovely, animated art graces all five issues and as mentioned, this was before Dan Slott got “too close” to Spider-Man, by my reckoning. He always seemed to write better stuff on the “fringes” of a property, so to speak, and this is no exception. Even if he outright swiped a gag from Joe Kelly’s Deadpool run in the first issue (the full page of Spider-Man laughing at Paste Pot Pete), I’ll give Slott full marks for this series.


11. “In Final Battle With The Black Tarantula!”
(Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 # 436, 1998)
Written by Tom DeFalco, penciled by Joe Bennett

One of Spider-Man’s trademarks is his stubborn refusal to give up and tenacity in the face of impossible odds. On occasion, that manifests in a story as a protracted battle against an enemy completely out of his league. Juggernaut, Firelord, sigh... Morlun… it seems like every so often, a writer decides to pit Spidey against a foe that is relentless, unstoppable, and one he has little chance of defeating in a straight fight. While his first fight against the Juggernaut back in Amazing Spider-Man # 229-230 is probably the most famous example of this scenario, my personal favorite version of it is in this issue.

The Black Tarantula was built up by Tom DeFalco to be the next new “big bad” after the Clone Saga and the ultimate foe hanging over his second run on the flagship Amazing Spider-Man book. A legendary South American crime-lord who possessed superhuman strength, speed, healing, and the ability to fire force blasts from his eyes, the Black Tarantula was also purported to be immortal on top of all that. In their first meeting, he beat Spider-Man to within an inch of his life, unmasked him, and presented the mask to New York’s biggest crime-lord Fortunato (the Kingpin was out of the country at the time) as a show of his power.

The two got a rematch several issues later when the Black Tarantula learned his ex-wife and son were being granted asylum by Fortunato and sought to retrieve his heir. Spider-Man stepped in to defend them, and the two threw down again on the grounds of Fortunato’s estate.

Spider-Man makes a better showing of it, being better prepared this time, and having back-up in the form of Fortunato’s men (including HYDRA “Killdroid” power armors.) He even thinks to upgrade his web-shooters with stinger launchers and impact webbing from his late, lamented clone Ben Reilly’s arsenal. Still, it isn’t near-enough to close the gap and only the fear of the Black Tarantula’s young son caused by the crime-lord’s rampage gets him to stop. It’s all Spider-Man can do not to fall over from his injuries as the Black Tarantula willingly departs from the location… and sadly, the Spider-Man titles themselves.

The Black Tarantula would later be used by writer Ed Brubaker in his run on Daredevil, but he was severely-reduced in status and ability. He went from a South American, super-powered version of the Kingpin to the apparent head of some local New York gangbangers and went around calling people “dawg”. Lame! At least Tom DeFalco continued his story (and legacy) more respectfully in his future-set Spider-Girl series where the Black Tarantula’s son took up the mantle and became a recurring adversary/ally of Peter Parker’s daughter Mayday.

I always thought the Black Tarantula was cool, even if a tad overpowered. He had an awesome costume and was kinda like Spider-Man’s Bane, in more ways than one. He may suffer from the same “new cool baddie on the scene who jobs the hero right away” status that many villains I dislike do, but at least Tom DeFalco skillfully set him up before he ever properly appeared and beat Spidey down.

I always loved this issue and it holds extra sentimental value to me, as one of my best friends bought it for me when I was home sick from school. Joe Bennett’s art is pretty awesome, Spidey’s perfectly in character with spot-on quips in the face of a devastating onslaught (as expected from DeFalco), and it was a decent cap-off for the character of the Black Tarantula (even if I didn’t realize that at the time.) Oh yeah, this issue also features the unmasking of the second man to use the Rose identity, but it's kind of an afterthought.


10. “A Death in the Family”
(Peter Parker: Spider-Man Vol. 2 # 44-47, 2002)
Written by Paul Jenkins, penciled by Humberto Ramos

When the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man movie came out, Marvel scrambled to cash in by doing some storylines that featured the Green Goblin. The former Editor-in-Chief of Marvel, Bob Harras, had basically lost his job over failing to properly tie into the release of the first X-Men movie, so there was no way the new EIC Joe Quesada was gonna let that happen to him. We got this storyline in the Peter Parker: Spider-Man book alongside another Green Goblin storyline running over in the Ultimate Spidey title. Paul Jenkins has never been my favorite comic book writer, but he manages occasional spots of brilliance, and I consider this four-issue arc one of them.

On the surface, it might seem your average Spider-Man/Green Goblin confrontation, but there’s a lot going on here underneath all the usual earmarks of any good appearance by your hero’s arch-nemesis and Norman Osborn in particular. First off, the Green Goblin interrupts television broadcasts to proclaim his innocence in the death of Gwen Stacy all those years ago. It had rarely, if EVER been outright stated in-story that Spider-Man’s webbing was what broke Gwen Stacy’s neck at that point, but that’s just what the Goblin does, complete with a macabre re-creation of the event that he provides on-air.

 Norman then gets Peter’s buddy Flash Thompson drunk, puts him behind the wheel of a tractor trailer, and has him crash into the school where Peter teaches. Flash is left in a coma, the classroom hamster is tragically killed (holy shit), and an enraged Peter sets a date with Norman to settle their score once and for all. The final straw comes when Norman declares he plans to murder his grandson Normie if Peter doesn’t stop him that night. Camel’s back… broken.

Doing horrible stuff to get under Peter’s skin is standard Green Goblin 101, but what makes this story special is when Peter finally figures out why Norman is pushing these buttons. In Norman’s previous appearance before this story, he was trying to brainwash Peter into becoming his heir, the type of son he always wanted (a character conceit poached by the Raimi Spider-Man film.) However, Peter refused him, fought him, and ultimately drove him away. Norman now knows the one person who actually understands him the best will never join him, so instead he’ll just make Peter KILL him. Norman truly wants Peter to end the cycle of violence between them, and once Peter realizes this, he lets his anger subside.

After a “Killing Joke”-style moment of shared laughter between them, Peter bluntly tells Norman that he’ll NEVER be broken by him, no matter what the Green Goblin does. Even if Norman kills all of Peter’s loved ones, what then? Peter’s resolve will still remain intact, and Norman will still be the same miserable, desperate person he always was. Spider-Man effectively flips their entire relationship at the end here, calling the Green Goblin’s bluff and refusing to be held hostage by their shared secret any longer. As Peter so elegantly puts it-

It might seem weird to say, but never before has Spider-Man so utterly defeated the Green Goblin. Every time prior to this, Norman would lose his memory, or escape, or even DIE, but he was never so thoroughly humiliated and made vulnerable. Peter saw to the very core of him and took away the one thing Norman was absolutely sure he could control. This story’s a fantastic exploration of their relationship and perhaps the last time in reading history that Peter and Norman’s rivalry felt so damn insular and personal.

After this, Norman will get his green groove back and go on to bigger things in the Marvel universe at large, and the consequences of this story will be largely forgotten. Also, Norman’s then-deceased son Harry will be revealed to have always been alive (which Norman was apparently aware of), robbing this tale of much of its power. In a vacuum though, this is still one of my favorite Spider-Man tales, and certainly my favorite thing Paul Jenkins ever wrote for the character.

Oh, Humberto Ramos’ art is a very much “take it or leave it” thing. I generally like his wacky cartoonish style, but a part of me does wonder how this very dark story would have looked with grittier, more “realistic” art. Still, Ramos draws one stylish and distinct Green Goblin, that’s for sure. I even bought the Marvel Legends action figure based on his design.

9. “An Obituary For Octopus”
(Spider-Man Unlimited Vol. 1 # 3, 1993)
Written by Tom DeFalco, penciled by Ron Lim

This is probably not the first Doctor Octopus story I read, but I know it’s one of the first I owned. It’s got two side-by-side plots; the first follows the Daily Bugle’s obituary writer Dilbert Trilby (a minor recurring character at the time that’s probably long since been forgotten) as he’s updating the obit for Doctor Octopus. He regales an intern (and the reader) with Otto Octavius’ backstory, which up until this point had gone largely-unrevealed.

We learn of Otto’s sheltered childhood, his abusive father, his overbearing mother, his all-consuming passion for science, and a fellow scientist named Mary Alice Anders whom he eventually falls in love with and proposes to. However, Otto’s mother fears she will be abandoned, and guilts Otto into breaking off the engagement and driving Mary Alice away. After his mother dies during an argument with him, Otto has nothing but his work to turn to and continued his descent into misery until the day he became Doctor Octopus.

The reason Trilby’s updating the Ock obit is that the good (or bad) Doctor is currently at large and has stolen a vial of AIDS-infected blood. Spider-Man quickly gets wind of this and goes after Octopus, wondering if he’s planning to hold the city to ransom with the threat of an outbreak. Of course, AIDS is still currently a tragic and devastating disease, and there’s more understanding of it nowadays, but back in the early nineties people were very much in “AIDS awareness and education” mode. Writer Tom DeFalco accordingly uses this issue as an opportunity for Spidey to go all “The More You Know” when he first catches up with Doc Ock.

Clunky, sure, but the message is there. Anyhow, Octopus refuses to tell Spidey what he plans to use the blood for and gets away. Spidey tracks him to an underground lab and the two go at it again, with Otto performing an experiment on the blood with two of his metal arms while attacking Spider-Man with the others. He manages to hold the wall-crawler off until the experiment is complete, and upon checking the results, suddenly sags in defeat. Doc Ock surrenders to Spidey and goes peacefully with the authorities who come to arrest him, the fight completely taken out of him.

Spidey is left to wonder exactly what this whole ordeal has been about and what Ock was after. In the end, Mr. Trilby is given a new obituary to write, and we see that Mary Alice Anders has died of AIDS. Otto did have noble intentions, but ultimately couldn’t save his old sweetheart.

Doc Ock’s never been one of my personal favorite Spidey villains, but I of course recognize and acknowledge his significance. While someone like Batman has an undisputed # 1 foe in the Joker, I’ve always felt Spidey had an “unholy trinity” of arch-foes- Green Goblin, Venom, and Ock. I think this issue is a pretty perfect portrayal of Otto Octavius as a character, and is also my usual mental image of Doctor Octopus altogether. I always dug the “business suit” Ock look that was prevalent during much of the 90s… much more dignified for a portly guy like Otto than the green and orange spandex.

This issue itself is of course significant on its own for telling Otto’s backstory, and will be referenced again many times- especially during the Superior Spider-Man era. Ron Lim’s art is pretty excellent here, capturing Otto at both high and low points in his life, and there are some great fight scenes with Spidey to boot.

Oh yeah, this extra-sized issue of Unlimited also features back-up stories starring forgettable 90s characters Corona and Annex, but obviously they’re not included in this entry. Schema Mode… Tiny Violin. Sorry, Annex.


8. The Original Clone Saga
(Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 # 141-150. Giant-Size Spider-Man # 5)
Written by Gerry Conway and Archie Goodwin, penciled by Ross Andru and Gil Kane

The Clone Saga is obviously something that gets Spider-Man fans talking. Some people have a distinct and justifiable hatred for it and some people think it’s alright in places and have an attachment to some of the characters introduced in it. Being that I started buying comics regularly around the time the Clone Saga was starting up, I am in the latter group described above.

I should clarify though; when you say “Clone Saga”, most comic fans will think of the infamous one- the one from the 90s with Ben Reilly, Kaine, Judas Traveller, Scrier, Seward Trainer, Spidercide, Gaunt, and a number of other characters that some would just as well prefer to be left back in that decade. However, this entry here is for the OG Clone Saga from the 70s, the springboard from which the 90s one launched from. Its reputation is… somewhat less dubious.

Amazing Spider-Man # 129 is well-known as the first appearance of the Punisher, but it is also the first appearance of the Jackal, the criminal mastermind with a furry hand in BOTH eras’ Clone Sagas. The Jackal was built up by writer Gerry Conway for several issues, appearing to have an insider’s knowledge of Spider-Man, and launching a vendetta against him for some unknown reason. Ten or so issues later, Peter Parker begins seeing who appears to be his deceased girlfriend Gwen Stacy in passing over the course of several issues. He wonders if he’s going nuts, or is just feeling guilty over his blossoming relationship with Mary Jane Watson.

Eventually, “Gwen” appears in his apartment, asking for his help and Peter is forced to confront the apparent fact that she has returned from the dead! He uh… does not take this well at all.

After some investigating by his reporter pal Ned Leeds, Peter discovers that this Gwen Stacy is a genetic duplicate of the original, who remains dead and buried. The Jackal sics the Scorpion and the Tarantula (the OG Tarantula, not the Black) on Spidey and kidnaps the Gwen clone with Peter chasing them down only to discover a horrible truth. The Jackal is really his trusted college professor and mentor Miles Warren, who had become obsessed with Gwen Stacy and wished to avenge her death by killing the one he holds responsible- Spider-Man!

Not only did Warren clone Gwen, but he also cloned Peter Parker as well, pitting two Spider-Men against each other with Ned Leeds’ life in the balance. Ultimately, the Gwen clone rejects Warren’s intentions, jolting him back to sanity, and he sacrifices himself and allows Spider-Man to save Ned. The Jackal dies in an explosion (apparently), one of the Spider-Men dies (apparently), and the Gwen clone leaves Peter to find a new life on her own. Peter is left to assure himself that he is the real Spider-Man, and it was the clone who perished… but who can really be certain?

Obviously I’ve simplified things quite a bit, but this is a fun ride and a great cap-off to Gerry Conway’s first run on Spider-Man, which I have a lot of fondness for in general. The Jackal is at his best here, attacking Spider-Man through various proxies over the span of twenty issues (even before the “clone” stuff starts up), and being a pretty twisted and perverse villain for that period in Comics Code-approved history. I’ve always enjoyed any appearance by the Scorpion, and Spider-Man delivers one hell of a memorable curb-stomp to him after the guy threatens Aunt May in her hospital bed.

Seeing Spidey beat down the super-powered Scorpion like that, it is kind of funny how much trouble the Tarantula gives him later in this tale though, considering his abilities can be generously summed up as “has pointy shoes”. I can’t help but see Tarantula as Spidey’s “Batroc the Leaper”, but Conway always seemed to treat him as a deadly-serious threat. Speaking of Frenchmen, Spidey also fights the goofy-ass Cyclone over the course of this saga, but thankfully that’s an entertaining pair of issues as well.

This whole story is pretty gripping from start to finish, even in its lower points, with consistently-solid art by Ross Andru throughout. I have a lot of affection for the original Clone Saga, despite obviously not being old enough to have read it when it first came out. I received the “Clone Genesis” trade paperback fairly early on in my Spider-Man reading career, which contained the bulk of these issues and provided a solid backbone for the Clone Stuff happening in the current titles I was buying off the shelves at the time.

I also enjoyed the follow-up stuff with Carrion that Bill Mantlo did in the Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man title years later and I don’t believe the original Clone Saga should share in the stigma that its 90s sequel suffers from. Even if Gerry Conway and others apparently felt embarrassed enough by it to try and retcon cloning away in later stories (which was then reversed back by the 90s saga. Oy.) Oh yeah, one final point of interest about this story… it has what most people consider to be the scene where Peter Parker lost his virginity. Oh my!

(Clearly I’ve altered that.)


7. “Revelations”
(Spectacular Spider-Man # 240, Sensational Spider-Man # 11, Amazing Spider-Man # 418, (adjective-less) Spider-Man # 75, and The Osborn Journal one-shot, 1996)
Written by Todd Dezago, Tom DeFalco, Howard Mackie, and Glenn Greenberg, penciled by Luke Ross, Mike Wieringo, Steve Skroce, John Romita Jr., and Kyle Hotz

Ha! You thought I was done with the Clone Saga?? I ain’t even STARTED yet! The previous entry was the beginning of the Clone Saga, this entry is the end of it! Perhaps one of the most controversial Spidey tales of all time, “Revelations” puts the lid on the Clone Saga for good (save for some resurgences of plot elements from it over the years) and manages to be pretty memorable in the doing (if perhaps for some of the wrong reasons.)

Most people who praise this story arc will usually limit their adoration to the final issue, and I certainly could have done so as well. Revelations, part 4- “Night of the Goblin” is one of the most noteworthy Spidey issues ever and I have a lot of nostalgic feelings towards it. However, I will be brave and include all four parts in this entry, as despite the first three being a bit pedestrian, there are some good bits in them.

With Ben Reilly having taken over as Spider-Man and Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson-Parker expecting their first child, things seem to have finally settled down after a tumultuous period in the Spider-books. The first issue of Revelations, Spectacular Spider-Man # 240, focuses heavily on the bond that has grown between Peter and Ben as they spend an afternoon rummaging through Aunt May’s attic and the memories they both share. While they both currently believe that Peter is the clone, they’ve largely moved past that and bonded as brothers. This was probably my favorite part of having Ben Reilly around in the Spider-books- him and Peter’s interactions around this time were both amusing and heartwarming.

Of course, things can’t remain like this forever, and the shadowy mastermind behind the entire clone magillah puts the final act of his plan into motion. In short order, his enforcer Gaunt is sent to murder Ben Reilly’s friend and confidant Seward Trainer, many of the friends of Peter Parker are lured to the Daily Bugle and locked inside, and Mary Jane is poisoned, inducing an early labor. Peter and Ben team-up against Gaunt, who is revealed to be a resurrected (and fairly-forgettable Spidey villain) Mendel Stromm, AKA The Robot Master.

The Robot Master unleashes some robots (as is his wont) on the Spider-boys, delaying them from reaching Mary Jane at the hospital. Ben (as Spider-Man at the moment) goes into overdrive upon hearing of Seward’s death and defeats the Robot Master, allowing Peter to make his way to his wife’s side. However, after Peter leaves the scene, Ben is ambushed and defeated by the shadowy mastermind who has been pulling everyone’s strings since the beginning. Peter makes it to the hospital, but is drugged and rendered unconscious before he can find MJ. When he awakens, he finds himself in his Spidey outfit and someone who has been dead for years looming over him.

Yes, Norman Osborn is alive and has been orchestrating events behind the scenes this entire time. He enabled Miles Warren/the Jackal, funded the cloning experiments, got Peter to believe he was the clone and Ben the original Spider-Man, and now… cost the Parkers their child. Norman suits up as the Green Goblin again and an enraged Peter leaps into battle with him. Meanwhile, a badly-beaten Ben Reilly sheds his shredded Spidey outfit and dons Peter’s discarded civilian clothes, meaning to rescue the people trapped in the Daily Bugle, which is rigged to explode. Above the Bugle, Spider-Man engages in a vicious battle with the Green Goblin, but showcases his ironclad perseverance and overcomes his foe.

Ben arrives, having gathered the explosives Osborn planned to use on the Bugle in a sack. He hands it off so Peter can dispose of them, but the down-but-not-out Green Goblin triggers his jet-glider to home in on Spider-Man. With both their Spider-Senses dulled, only Ben notices the incoming glider and shoves Peter out of the way, being impaled by it and thrown off the Bugle’s roof. A grief-stricken Peter swings the bag of explosives into the Green Goblin, sending him plummeting off the other side of the roof into a fiery explosion. In the end, Ben dies and almost instantly decomposes, proving once and for all that he was the clone and Peter was the original Spider-Man. Peter makes it to MJ’s side in the hospital, and the couple are left to mourn their losses.

Man, I can’t tell you how much this story (or at least the final issue) completely blew me away when I first read it. This is probably the first HUGE Spider-event I was there “in the trenches” for, that I bought straight off the shelf and read with almost no expectations about what would happen. I know more well-read Spider-Man fans at the time were frustrated and angered at the resurrection of Norman Osborn (he had been dead for over twenty years in real time by that point) and were generally unhappy with the Clone Saga as a whole. Looking back at it with older and wiser eyes, I can understand their frustration, and this particular story certainly does have its problems. However, as a wide-eyed twelve year-old, this stuff was amazing to me and with those nostalgia goggles firmly in place, I absolutely have to include “Revelations” in this list for its impact on me alone.

I couldn’t believe they brought Norman Osborn back, that he was behind the Clone Saga the entire time, and Ben Reilly was gone and melted to a pile of goo. It was pretty poetic that Ben died wearing Peter Parker's clothes, but it was also kind of an ignominious end for such a likable character (at the time, he got better of course. Comics amirite?) I will say though that Ben’s death scene gets me right in the feels every… single… time.

Like I mentioned, the middle bits of this inter-title crossover are kind of average (The Robot Master, really?) but the “bread” of the sandwich is pretty solid. I can vividly recall the memory of picking “Adjective-less” Spider-Man # 75 off the shelf for the first time and gaping at the image of the Green Goblin on the back cover. See, they actually revealed Norman Osborn was alive in the third part, Amazing # 418, but I had missed that issue the last time I was at the store. Revelations Part 4 was my “big reveal” in that regard and I wonder if I had gotten Amazing # 418 and had a week to speculate in-between installments; would I have been so (pardon the pun) Gob-smacked?

Spider-Man # 75 does have this (as perfectly-stated over at the Chasing Amazing blog) “surreal, nightmarish” quality to it that burns itself in your memory, thanks in no small part to John Romita Jr.’s pencils, Scott Hanna’s inks, and Kevin Tinsley’s colors.

I would be remiss in not mentioning the insane amount of writing and re-writing that went into this story. Todd Dezago was always a consistent and competent writer on Spidey and he handles the first two parts. Tom DeFalco is of course, one of the most famous Spider-Man writers of all time, at that. Annnd then we come to Howard Mackie, who could probably be considered one of the WORST Spider-Man writers of all time. As so amusingly laid out in the “Life of Reilly” blog series, Mackie’s script for Spider-Man # 75 had to be re-written and revised a numerous amount of times. Some of the best character interactions are still his, but most of the continuity-juggling, the explanations on how Norman Osborn is still alive and how he orchestrated everything, were all largely written by Glenn Greenberg. 

Greenberg also produced “The Osborn Journal” one-shot which supplements this story by laying out in detail the Clone Saga timeline from the viewpoint of Norman, explaining how everything works and generally greasing the wheels for Mackie. Greenberg is truly the near-unsung hero of “Revelations” and you should do yourself a favor and read “Life of Reilly”, in which he contributes an insider’s view of the Clone Saga from one of the creators involved in it.

“Revelations” re-established Peter Parker as Spider-Man and Norman Osborn as his number one nemesis. It saw off Ben Reilly, a controversial character, but one with dedicated fans. And it provided a springboard for Tom DeFalco’s excellent Spider-Girl series, that followed the future adventures of Peter and MJ’s daughter “Mayday” Parker… had she survived. She still might have survived, in fact- the scene in which MJ gives birth makes it look like the baby was spirited away by one of Osborn’s agents. However, the official word from Marvel appears to be that poor little Baby May died.

In whatever case, they’ll never touch the possibility that the baby is still out there with a ten-foot pole now, what with their mandate to keep Peter Parker as young and hip as possible. It’s too bad; Ben Reilly was the young, hip, single Peter Parker they wanted. If they really tried, they could have made it work with him on a more permanent basis.

Funny story, Mephisto was originally planned to be the mastermind behind the Clone Saga at one point. But thankfully, they decided to bring an actual Spider-Man villain like the Green Goblin in to provide an end to that era. I mean, using Mephisto to reboot Spider-Man’s life? Who’d accept that, huh? That's be as crazy as imagining that Norman Osborn boinked Gwen Stacy and had Goblin babies with her... sigh.

6. “The Gift”

(Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 # 400, 1995)
Written by J.M. DeMatteis, penciled by Mark Bagley

What?? Three Clone Saga stories in a row? Am I insane?? Well, we’ve been from the beginning to the end of it, and now we’re gonna go back to the middle-ish of it. This is Amazing Spider-Man # 400, the death of Aunt May… and when I say “death”, I mean it. This is the death of Aunt May as she existed for nearly thirty years, at the very least- as the dull-witted old lady who was taking heart attacks every other month and went on and on about “that awful Spider-Man”. Aunt May eventually came back, of course, in a terrible story that undid this beautiful one, but the time’s not right to talk about that yet. Right now, let’s talk about “The Gift” and how it remains one of the most touching Spider-Man tales of all time.

Aunt May took ill and fell into a coma for a few months but eventually wakes up. Peter takes her home, where May joyfully learns that MJ is pregnant, and spends the week catching up with her family. On a trip to the top of the Empire State Building, May tells Peter that she’s actually known he was Spider-Man for quite some time and is proud of him for it. That night, May takes ill again and passes peacefully with her nephew at her side, the two sharing a heartfelt farewell.

MJ and her aunt Anna arrive just in time to see May off and join Peter in their grief while poor Ben Reilly sits alone on the roof, crying his eyes out. The modern Marvel universe has lost one of its oldest characters, and at the time it was supposed to be irrevocably permanent. Of course, May would be brought back less than four years later, with this story rather insultingly being swept away. The reasoning in bringing Aunt May back was that she was too much of a staple character and essential to Spider-Man’s world, which I don’t necessarily disagree with. However, the ridiculous (even for comics) manner in which it was done, as well as it completely shitting over this lovely story, actually made me quit comics altogether for a good two or three years afterwards. And once Aunt May was back, the then-current writers defaulted to making her back into the doddering ninny who always needed her medication and hated that “awful Spider-Man” again.

It wasn’t until writers like J. Michael Stracynski and Paul Jenkins realized that Aunt May had to evolve as a character that things got better. They began writing her as an actual support system for Peter, in much better physical health and not some fragile plot device. Stracynski even had May discover Peter was Spider-Man (discover it AGAIN, long story) and opened up that part of his life to her, strengthening their bond and making their interactions so much deeper and more interesting.

In modern comics, May’s no longer constantly “teetering on the brink” as it seemed for nearly thirty years. She’s not exactly Marisa Tomei’s age… but she’s certainly not someone who Peter needs to be fretting over every waking moment. It’s funny, because Marvel’s constantly trying to make Peter Parker seem as perpetually “young and hip” as possible, and usually as a consequence of that, Aunt May gets “younger and hipper” with every passing year.

This story is expertly drawn by Mark Bagley, one of the all-time Spider-Man greats, and written by J.M. DeMatteis… who will pop up a few more times before this list is over, so I’ll talk more about him later. Even if this story takes place during the downward slope of the Clone Saga, and has plot elements like Ben Reilly, Kaine, Spidercide, Judas Traveller, and the revamped 90s Jackal (ugh) running around in-and-between the beautiful stuff focused on Aunt May, it’s still a favorite of mine.

I think I knew going into it that Aunt May would be dying, as all the speculation in the letters pages, as well as some preview materials released by Marvel at the time pretty much spoiled that, but it still touched me nonetheless. The cover of this anniversary issue had a special engraved tombstone overlay atop it, and you can see the clear, un-engraved image above. HOWEVER, the actual thing looked like this in your hands-

You can KINDA make out the image, but not clearly, so this special gimmick cover kind of failed at what it was supposed to do. Marvel was all about the special gimmick covers in the 90s, and it’s probably that emphasis on flash over substance that largely-bankrupted them both financially and creatively as that decade closed out. However, sometimes if you look past the trappings of that era, you can find the gold stuff buried among the turds, and “The Gift” is certainly gold.

-Mike

Go to Part 2!