No reason Norman couldn’t have reverted to the classic suit for this. I wish he had. We open on the Green Goblin throwing an unconscious Spider-Man off the bridge… you know the one…Then going home happy after a good night’s murder, but when he pulls off his mask, he sees Spider-Man’s underneath, and many masks are removed until Peter wakes up from another nightmare.
It’s 2001, the computer has a webcam! Come on, Peter, Randy had the same dream and you’re still not getting it? Norman gloats and recaps as he watches through the camera before going to see Kolina, asleep in a bed. He cries a little about what happened,and a tear lands on her hand and wakes her up. How poetic!
But we turn away to Spider-Man, rushing to the Brooklyn Bridge, where Robbie is waiting for Peter. He got a tip that the Green Goblin dumped a body here last night, and they’re here to report.
Funny to tie it back to a classic Stern/Romita joint. While Peter’s finally gettin’ wise, we return to the Osborn Estate, where Donald Menken has arrived with Norman’s drugs. Norman tells him Kolina learned his secret, and Menken says she must be dealt with, which makes Norman angry, obviously.
Norman gives her a not-exactly-factual rundown of his Goblin origin, with Mendel Stromm as a villain plotting against him and the formula not driving him crazy.
Look at all those Untold Tales references!
Kolina manages to slap a patch on Norman’s neck, and tells him if he loves her, he won’t kill Menken. Norman concedes, and has goons take Kolina and Menken to a different safehouse, where Menken is to be taken care of and Kolina protected. Then he recaps to us that it really as Peter in the Goblin suit disposing of Bendix’s body, so complete is the mind control in the toothpaste, which is… pretty silly. And now the added mind control of the CD is sending Peter even now to a certain address Norman has waiting for him.
RIP Donald Menken. You died as you lived, kinda skulking around in the shadows. Yeah, man, this whole thing was just setup for the anniversary issues. Which is extremely weird, not least because Roger isn’t working on either one. This mini was not so hot, but I guess that was by design. All exposition. A risky thing to do. But, with it completed, we can finally see a regular issue of a Spider-Man title next post for the first time in this block…