Well, here we go. Jazzy Johnny makes his debut a memorable one as the mystery of The Green Goblin comes to a close. Romita does not get a plot credit, and given the circumstances, I bet this is a case where Stan was more involved than he’d been in years. A brand-new artist ending a long running subplot probably needs some help.The splash promises more surprises than you’ve ever seen in a Spidey comic before as Green Goblin decides Spider-Man’s probably forgotten all about him, and the time has come to strike.
As The Goblin flies off, revealing in his impending victory, his fearsome foe… is developing cold. That’s Spider-Man for ya. He stops in to see Dr. Bromwell and gets a B-12 shot, but he also gets told that Aunt May is significantly weaker since her last health scare, and that Peter should make sure she experiences no sudden shocks, for her safety. A typically worried and oblivious Peter wanders out of the doctor’s office as we get Romita’s first crack at the school gang.
This whole thing where someone walks by you looking very upset and lost in thought and the entire world goes “That guy is a snob!” is so bizarre.
A quick turnaround is incoming for Peter & the gang. It’s funny, Romita’s Spider-Man looks more like his own and less like Ditko’s here than it will in future issues. Maybe he wasn’t trying to copy Ditko until someone told him to. He’s always said he was trying to give the book visual consistency for his first year, but I wonder if that idea was given to him after an issue or two. Well, let’s see his first Spidey fight scene:
Not bad at all, but not Ditko, either. The battle continues, and our hero refers to himself as “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” for what I believe is the first time as he thinks this still feels weird. Too practiced. He lures the villains away from the elevator so their hostages can escape before realizing he shouldn’t be taking all these risks with what Bromwell said about May. So he decides he better wrap this up.
The goons are shocked that the gas didn’t kill Spider-Man as they were told, and he gets them all webbed up just as the cops show. But…
Uh-oh! Our man walks to The Bugle, worrying about his Spider Sense, thinking about how he knew someone was at the window in his fight with Stromm in ASM 37, but didn’t sense anything (A bit of a red herring). The Goblin has no idea why this guy’s going into The Bugle, but just hangs around outside waiting. Peter finds a surprisingly contrite Ned Leeds wanting to apologize for blowing up at him last time, and thinks at this rate, even JJJ will be nice to him. He’s not, tho, until he finds out about the photos of Spider-Man’s battle. But he once again tries to delay payment.
Imagine reading this as a kid in 1966. This is pretty shocking. This does not happen to your favorite heroes. It’s a real swing for the fences. At that moment, Aunt May hears something outside, but it’s too dark out for her to see anything, lucky for her. Outside, Peter starts trying to take the battle to The Goblin, but without his Spider Sense, it’s a tough situation.
In a way, the most shocking thing here is how un-shocking it is. GG’s identity was a lot more telegraphed than the legends have it. But still, a pretty wild issue. Is this satisfying? Teasing The Goblin as someone you know, and then revealing him to just be “JJJ’s friend, that insane guy from 2 issues ago…” In a fanzine interview shortly after he came on board ASM, John Romita said Stan wanted it to be Ned Leeds, but Ditko forced it to be Norman. Can you believe that? People trying to make poor Ned any Goblin that comes along. I mean, I don’t know who else it coulda been, really. Flash? That would’ve been crazy. But there’s not many candidates, and Ditko telegraphed Norman heavily, so Norman it is. But the big question is, now that you’ve gone this far… how do you get out of it?