100th Review Spectacular!
Wow! 100 reviews. That's pretty cool, I think. Given what I reviewed for my 50th review extravaganza(!), I figured it would be fitting to review the comics that inspired it. So here goes.
(This is a review of both Amazing Spider-Man #121 and #122: "The Night Gwen Stacy Died" and "The Green Goblin's Last Stand".)
You'd be hard pressed to hear me praise anything about the early portion (or just about any portion other than this one) of Gerry Conway's run on The Amazing Spider-Man. I don't know that he disliked Spidey, but I do think that he liked humiliating him a bit more than his fellow writers. In one climactic battle. Conway had Spider-Man taken out by the evil, dastardly, powerful, and menacing... Aunt May? Go ahead, reread that sentence. It's true. Aunt May knocked out Spider-Man by hitting him in the head with a vase. That means, of course, that at that point, May had done what Sandman, Mysterio, Kraven, and Molten Man had all failed to do. Take out Spider-Man.
Combine that with that whole Doc Ock courting Aunt May storyline, not to mention starting this rolling snowball of hell, and you can see why Conway isn't my favorite writer. But I have to admit, he handled these two issues like a pro. He does just about everything right and exceptionally well, which makes me wonder about the rest of his run, but anyway...
There are a lot of obvious things in this comic that make it great. You've got the tragic story of the death of a loved one, the climactic "final" battle between two mortal enemies, and a tale that runs the emotional gauntlet. But there are a lot of less obvious things that make this comic a great one. Take for example, this panel from issue #121:
This panel here does a fantastic job of conveying Peter's emotional state in each aspect of it's presentation. Firstly, there's the dialogue. We have Spidey stubbornly refusing to believe that Gwen is dead, saying to himself that he saved her, trying to convince himself that he didn't fail to protect her. Then we have the lettering. The words "I saved you..." are small and thin, conveying a whisper or perhaps a whimper that reflects the feelings Peter must be experiencing. Finally, the art does a fantastic job of conveying just how small and unworthy Peter must feel. The angle is high, so that we're looking down on him, making him more pitiable, and the focal point of the panel, Spider-Man and Gwen, is far away from us, showing them as two small figures separated from the world and alone. This panel alone is a masterpiece. Bravo.
This is the first story in Amazing Spider-Man that shows how distraught death can make us. In issue #122, we have the obvious example of Peter ballistically attacking Norman Osborn, The Green Goblin. But there are countless other examples as well. For instance, we have Peter trying to comfort Gwen after her death, telling her that everything will be ok and that he won't let anyone hurt her anymore, perhaps still not allowing himself to believe that she's really dead. There's also the case of him physically lashing out at a cop in anger, and Peter abandoning his friend Harry when he was in need because of that aforementioned anger, things we would never associate with Peter under normal circumstances. This issue's a serious look at what death, guilt, and even responsibility can do to even the nicest of people.
These two issues, 122 in particular, also mark a turning point for someone who would go on to be arguably the most important woman in Peter's life: Mary Jane. When Peter is emotionally crippled by the event, MJ attempts to comfort him only to have Peter unfairly lash out at her. Despite how hurt she must have been by his comments, she knows Peter is distraught and displays for the very first time the maturity, understanding, and patience that would later become mainstays of her character.
Now, despite the brilliance of these two issues, there is one thing that bothers me to no end about them. Take a look at this panel:
See how Spider-Man saves that person from a potentially fatal fall by shooting out a webline to multiple points on the person's body, thus keeping the person from not only hitting the ground, but experiencing whiplash as well? At this point you may be thinking, "Clearly, Peter learned from the mistake that took Gwen's life and is now saving this man using that knowledge." That's all well and good, except for one thing; it's not true. That panel is taken from issue #120 of The Amazing Spider-Man, one issue before "The Night Gwen Stacy Died." Peter is a scientific prodigy, so it's not hard to believe that he has more than a basic understanding of momentum, inertia, pivot points, and how they apply to situations like this. He even proves it in that panel up there. So why didn't he use that knowledge to save Gwen? Was he just too emotionally invested in the moment to think clearly? Or were the higher ups too worried about the corner they believed they had painted themselves in by advancing Pete and Gwen's relationship so far to acknowledge something that occurred merely one issue ago? I'll let you decide for yourself.
Despite the grievance stated above, this is easily one of the most heart wrenching stories I've read in comics. It's easily one of, if not the, greatest Spider-Man story and it should easily find itself among the greatest comic book stories of all time (in my humble opinion, of course). It's perfect in almost every way and is a great example of the emotional impact that comic books can have on those who read them. A beautiful must read for any comic fan, be they webhead or otherwise.
