Spiderman Battles the Goblin While Gwen Stacy's Life is at Stake

ASM 121: Because I could see it coming, the story line was just awful. They made Parker catch some sort of flu after coming back from Canada, where he fought the Hulk (and was investigating other matters). Apparently, the cold weather (up there) did him in. Always, the flu has been dangerous to Spidey, because it makes him lose his powers. Prior issues see him unable to stick to walls in extreme cases. He has trouble with certain kinds of coordination, like when landing or flipping (or whatever) after swinging. So, he's sick in ASM 121 just as the Goblin emerges. Trouble is, only the Goblin knows his real identity. So the Goblin strikes at his weak spot, capturing his girlfriend. In this scene, Spiderman tries to knock out Goblin in one perfectly timed attack, hoping that he can save Gwen and sling away. He knows he can't continue to fight. Stacy, right now, is unconscious atop a bridge.

Gwen Stacy is Dead

ASM 121: Well, there is the ending. I'm going to offer two lines of thought. One is why this occurrence was "good" in certain respects. The other is why I am so deeply troubled by it. I'll do the former first.

When I was a kid, no one could get this comic, but EVERYONE heard about it. Even kids with the best comic stashes never had it. It was legendary. I myself was too young to have had any chance to see it at the newsstand. The Spideys I read were all post Gwen Stacy. They were all in the Mary Jane period. And as a young kid, I just loved Mary Jane. Seeing this hot red head with such a perfect personality, calling her boyfriend "Tiger" was just awesome. I remember once being in my early 30s and telling a girlfriend about this. Perhaps it was when the first Spiderman movie came out (can't remember). She tried one day to call me "tiger," either as a funny or perhaps to see if that could done, instead of, you know, "babe" or "hun" or what not. The point: it didn't work. But that was just it: no one real could ever be Mary Jane. If it were a movie, Mary Jane would easily have the best supporting actress award. That's how special her role was in the story.

And so, for people who only generally followed Spiderman -- and for the legions of fans that came later -- the death of Gwen Stacy was like the day the Americans beat Russia in hockey. It was a major, major event. It made the story more than just a comic book: it was now a graphic novel. Real, important people died. It had consequences. The hero could fail. The character development was very good. It launched the era of Mary Jane. People who read Spiderman were as much into the soap opera and personal stories in Parker's life as they were the neat costume and the battles. Just count the deaths in the story line: Foswell, Captain Stacy, etc. Each death involved a more important person. I thought Gwen's father dying was unbelievable. And now: they killed Gwen, which was something simply unthinkable. And the wasn't any warning. It struck out of the blue, seemingly for no reason. From this moment forward, Spiderman became something much larger than it ever truly could have been (if that makes sense).

But after reading every single issue up to this one, I must say that my views on this happenstance have greatly changed. More on that in the next few entries.

Why Did The Writers Kill Gwen Stacy?

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Gwen_Stacy_Died

ASM 121: Gwen Stacy is dead. After reading every single issue up to this point, the reason for killing Stacy now seems obvious: the new writers lacked any serious imagination. They claim, rightly, that Stacy and Parker had become too close. And that a breakup wouldn't have been credible: the two were headed in the direction of marriage. Earlier, they had tried what looked to be a path to breakup, after Stacy's father was killed off in another tragedy involving Spiderman's judgment. Gwen fled for London to stay with family. That would have seemed like a perfect, though tragic, exit. The story had her being there, conceivably, for life. Yet, the writers brought her home, with no mention as to why -- except, of course, that they were not the same writers who "offed" her. So, long story short: no credible breakup scenario could exist.

The writers say that the comic got too bogged down with the prospect of marriage. They say Parker was losing his identity as a desperate, tragic loner who only knew for sure that he had to continue sacrificing his life to fight evil and save people from harm. They wanted him to be sufficiently alone and alienated (struggling). So the girls in his life had to be just another adventure -- just another set of circumstances around the corner to play out.

As I read these comics myself, I now see that this explanation comes from the new writers who possessed very poor imagination. The writers are Gerry Conway, John Romita and Roy Thomas. Romita, of course, isn't a writer: he is the key person who either drew the comic or oversaw its drawing. He had been the one to really make ASM look the best the comic ever has. But he was also consulted on the judgment. He and Conway decided to kill Stacy. Thomas simply approved it. It is very noticing that Stan Lee appears to have none of the blood on his hands.

So why was it a misinformed judgment? The writers didn't understand that the new dynamic made the story more complex and rich. You would see Spiderman away, handling some problem, and readers (like myself) would be thinking, "how is he going to explain this absence to Gwen?" Or, "He's got to finish this up soon, he's supposed to see Gwen." You used to see this same dynamic in the early years with Aunt May. If May wasn't checked upon -- if she didn't appear at some point -- this would be a problem in the story line. Peter juggling his personal life was interwoven into the juggling of his costumed exploits.

But my point is very simple: Gerry Conway wasn't a good writer, at least not back then. He couldn't handle the extra dimension. He couldn't turn out good stories that kept the numerous plots harmonious. Instead, he had to have a straight, simple carnival. Hero puts on uniform to fight deadly bad guy and comes home. Only when he's home will he run into other lives. That way, writers don't need to think about anything but toys and adventures. I've noticed that, when Conway came on board, the writing suffered.

Let me state it is way: Stan Lee wouldn't have killed Gwen Stacy. He saw the value in having the comic be more like a novel. He could handle complexity. Readers could be just as fulfilled watching a few panels of a relationship develop each comic as they would be with the various evils Spiderman had to battle. Before Stacy died, Spiderman was like an orchestra. After her death, under Conway, we see the story looking more like a Transformers movie (more like a comic).

It's no wonder Aunt May was moved out of the story for a while, living at Doc Ock's place. This happens in the same time period when Conway deep sixes Stacy. Also, instead of Parker having "childhood" despairs over not knowing his real family and loosing Uncle Ben, now we see him having this peculiar angst ( what should really be a PTSD situation). The situation can't get better: if Parker snaps out in the next few issues, then it will lack credibility.

My point: Stacy's death only seems to have had the value of lure and sensationalism. I've talked previously over how efficacious it was. But it seems also to have been caused by a writer with a poor imagination, using very poor judgment.

On The Reckless Way that Stacy Was Killed Off

ASM 121. To add support to my last entry, note how terrible the death of Gwen Stacy was written. The story begins with Parker catching a cold, having been in cold-weather Canada the day before. The Goblin, who knows Parker's secret identity, goes to his apartment to kill him. He stumbles upon Stacy, who happens to be there, waiting for Pete. The Goblin takes her to the top of a bridge, where we next find her unconscious. When Spidey comes to the rescue, a fight ensues. The Goblin manages to throw the unconscious Stacy off the top of the bridge. Spiderman tries to save her by shooting webs. He connects around the feet or ankle area, causing Stacy's neck to snap with whiplash. It appears that the cause of death is therefore a broken neck.

See this video involving the physics of the death: VIDEO

Several things bother me about this. The writers kept it so that Stacy never even found out that Parker was Spiderman. They made her be unconscious. Captain Stacy, Gwen's father, was treated much better in his death. There are no parting words with Gwen. There is no disclosure of the identity, no explanation of why it was hidden, no explanation to Gwen for Captain Stacy's death. There is nothing told to her. She's just abducted, blanks out, and gets her neck snapped by a well-intentioned web slinger with the flu, home from Canada. Of course, she would have died anyway had she hit the ground. This has got to be the dumbest ending I've seen. It's amateur hour at Marvel right now.

The only creative aspect to the death is that Spideman's own behavior plays a part in it. Had he known more about how to rescue falling people, he perhaps could have done something different to avoid the problem (better rescue technique). This is the only part that has any continuity. The reckless way he fought Doc Ock, for example, is what allowed bricks to fall over the ledge of a skyscraper, leading to circumstances that killed Gwen's father. So at least there is this aspect.

But truth be told, this was a terrible ending. Written, as I say, by a bunch of amateurs who clearly lacked Stan Lee's creativity.

Norman Osborn, The Green Goblin, Dies

ASM 122. Spiderman ducks out of the way as the Goblin's flying contraption is being flown toward him. He dies. The fools at Marvel will resurrect Norman Osborn much later in the Marvel carnival, but I don't consider it as "true," given the problems with the idea. So for me, the death here is final. Chalk up another death in the series.