Green Goblin Reborn!
"Green Goblin Reborn!" | |
---|---|
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
Publication date | May – July 1971 |
Genre | |
Title(s) | The Amazing Spider-Man #96–98 |
Main character(s) | Spider-Man; Green Goblin; Harry Osborn |
Creative team | |
Writer(s) | Stan Lee |
Penciller(s) | Gil Kane |
Inker(s) | John Romita Sr. |
"Green Goblin Reborn!" is a 1971
Plot outline
Issue #96 begins with
In issue #97, the Green Goblin attacks Spider-Man, then disappears mysteriously. At home, Parker is shocked to find that Harry is popping pills because Harry's love interest Mary Jane Watson was affectionate toward Parker. Later, while Spider-Man is hunting the Green Goblin, Harry buys more drugs and suffers a drug overdose. Parker finds him in time to rush him to the hospital. In issue #98, Spider-Man lures the Green Goblin to Harry's hospital room. When he sees his sick son, Norman Osborn faints, and the Green Goblin is vanquished. At the end of issue #98, Peter and his estranged girlfriend Gwen Stacy rekindle their relationship.
Historical significance
This was the first story arc in mainstream comics that portrayed and condemned the abuse of drugs. This effectively led to the revision of the
While the story had a clear anti-drug message, the Comics Code Authority refused to issue its seal of approval. Marvel nevertheless published the three issues without the Comics Code Authority's approval or seal. The issues sold so well that the industry's self-censorship was undercut
Lee recalled in a 1998 interview:
I could understand them; they were like lawyers, people who take things literally and technically. The Code mentioned that you mustn't mention drugs and, according to their rules, they were right. So I didn't even get mad at them then. I said, 'Screw it' and just took the Code seal off for those three issues. Then we went back to the Code again. I never thought about the Code when I was writing a story, because basically I never wanted to do anything that was to my mind too violent or too sexy. I was aware that young people were reading these books, and had there not been a Code, I don't think that I would have done the stories any differently.[4]
Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada called it the one Spider-Man comic that made him a lifelong fan, saying his father "encouraged [me] to read these issues and... I really got hooked... What my father didn't realize was that he was starting a whole other addiction [to comic books]".[5]
See also
- "Speedy as a junkie. It also was published in 1971, weeks after the "Green Goblin Reborn" arc.
References
- ^ a b Wright, p. 239
- ^ Manner, Jim (October 2010). "Cracking the Code: The Spider-Man Drug Issues". Back Issue! (#44). TwoMorrows Publishing: 3–6.
- ^ Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics, Marvel by Les Daniels, Page 152
- ^ "Stan the Man & Roy the Boy: A Conversation Between Stan Lee and Roy Thomas", Comic Book Artist #2 (Summer 1998). WebCitation archive.
- ^ Sanderson, Peter."Comics in Context" #168 Archived 2008-10-04 at the Wayback Machine, 2007
Further reading
- Wright, Bradford W (2001). Comic Book Nation. Johns Hopkins Press. ISBN 0-8018-7450-5.