Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #176-180
Written by Len Wein.
Penciled by Ross Andru.
Inked by Tony DeZuniga, Mike Esposito & Jim Mooney.
The Green Goblin is back in New York, and only Spider-Man can stop him!
Norman Osborn, the original Goblin was Spider-Man's deadliest enemy. He was the only villain who knew that Peter Parker was Spider-Man and he murdered Gwen Stacy, the love of Parker's life. When Norman died, his emotionally disturbed son Harry put on the Goblin suit and took up the mantle. Harry went through psychiatric counseling, which seemed to cure him of the madness that had created a second Goblin.
But Harry's been going through a rough patch. His fiance, Liz Allan, has broken up with him. His therapy sessions with his psychiatrist, Dr. Bart Hamilton, have not been going well. And now it looks like Harry has had a relapse of his Goblin-ness, since the Green Goblin has returned.
The Green Goblin starts by attacking Peter's friend Flash Thompson and nearly kills him. Flash doesn't know his former roommate Harry was the Green Goblin. Spider-Man shows up in time to save Flash, but the Goblin gets away.
In addition to terrorizing Spider-Man, the Goblin is also attempting to take over organized crime operations in New York. He crashes a meeting of crime bosses and attacks Silvermane, who leads the powerful Maggia crime syndicate. The bosses tell Green Goblin they'll give in to his demands on one condition: He must destroy Spider-Man once and for all. Spider-Man breaks up the meeting and finds himself in the middle of a war between the Green Goblin and Silvermane!
Adding to Spidey's stress, his Aunt May is in the hospital recovering from a heart attack. May needs surgery, but the doctors cannot proceed until Peter signs a consent form. On his way to the hospital, he's attacked by the Goblin.
Spider-Man Vs. Green Goblin Vs. Silvermane!
During one of their battles, Spider-Man is shocked at the evil in the Green Goblin's voice. His tone sounds more maniacal than ever before. Spidey wonders: is this Goblin really his friend Harry Osborn? Or has someone else put on the green & purple threads and become..a new Goblin?
This was one of the first Spider-Man sagas I recall reading. I came in the middle and didn't read the story start-to-finish until later.
Story:
Len Wein gives us a good, solid Green Goblin story here, even if it's not exactly a classic tale. The aforementioned spoiler will likely be obvious to readers, but it's still a fun ride. Wein also makes good use of the supporting cast. Flash Thompson, Glory Grant and Robbie Robertson all get some good face time. The book opens with a funny scene featuring J. Jonah Jameson. If I have any complaints, it's the (even then) tired use of Aunt May's illness as a source of drama.
This story took up five issues, so you might say Wein was a pioneer of "writing for the trade".
Art:
The art is very good in this tpb. Ross Andru penciled Amazing Spider-Man for five years (1973-1978, with a few issues in-between drawn by others), plus five issues of Giant-Size Spider-Man, one issue of Spectacular Spider-Man and seven issues of Marvel Team-Up, which makes him the definitive Bronze Age Spidey artist. Andru's work here looks as good as ever, plenty of great fight scenes and some nice panels of Spider-Man swinging through New York. The inkers also do a fine job.
How does it look?:
Here's a page scanned from a copy of Amazing Spider-Man #177:
And here's how the same page looks in The Amazing Spider-Man: A New Goblin:
Spider-Man: A New Goblin is a good, fun story, and a sentimental favorite of mine. It's probably not the best place start if you haven't read prior Green Goblin stories. But it's worth picking up for no other reason than Andru's great art (which is worth a "half-a-Sal" all by itself!).
My rating:
.53 and half Sals.
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