| Author |
|
Matt Hawes
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 16502
|
| Posted: 28 January 2014 at 9:25am | IP Logged | 1
|
|
|
I've been using the 1975 Marvel Comics calendar in my office at my shop, since that year's dates match this year's dates. Looking over at the calendar, I see that this is noted as being the day that Gwen Stacy died.
I wonder if that date is based on the day the book went on sale?
Anyway... it is worth noting the impact that story had on the industry, even to this day.
Any thoughts on poor Gwen's passing?
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
| www
|
| |
Joe Hollon
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 08 May 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 13699
|
| Posted: 28 January 2014 at 9:40am | IP Logged | 2
|
|
|
I didn't start reading comics regularly until 1987 so to me Gwen Stacy was always "Spider-Man's girlfriend who was killed by the Green Goblin." After two and a half decades of reading comics with Spider-Man as my favorite hero I've come to view ASM #121-122 as a huge mistake in the history of the character. It drew a distinct line in the history of the character: there is pre-Gwen's death and post-Gwen's death. It aged the character. It led to Mary Jane being the girl which eventually led to their marriage, another mistake. Gwen should've wandered in and out of Peter's life and been just another girl in his past.
The death of Norman Osborn, another huge mistake. Green Goblin is largely considered Spidey's arch-nemesis yet he only had a handful of appearances over nearly a decade before he was killed off. Norman should've continued to go in and out of his crazed Goblin persona and amnesia and battled Spider-Man countless more times. You still could've had Harry take up the mantle of the Goblin and even Hobgoblin come along later. But Norman should've always been there. I know he eventually came back but it was, what, 25 years later? That's as dead as dead gets in comics. Multiple generations of comics readers came and went during that stretch.
These mistakes are so burned into what Spider-Man is that of course as soon as Hollywood makes a Spider-Man movie what do we get? Green Goblin in a reenactment of the Gwen Stacy death scene (with MJ filling in) and of course the Goblin has to die because that's what he does. He can't live to fight another day like classic villains should.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
| www
e-mail
|
| |
Brian O'Neill
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 November 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 1964
|
| Posted: 28 January 2014 at 10:06am | IP Logged | 3
|
|
|
At least until the recent 50th, Marvel obviously liked the idea of doing something Goblin-related for Spider-man's anniversaries(killing Norman on the 10th, introducing Hobgoblin on the 20th, killing Harry for the 30th-which happened to be the last Spider-Man comic I read before I stopped collecting-and I believe Norman was reintroduced for the 40th).
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133324
|
| Posted: 28 January 2014 at 11:05am | IP Logged | 4
|
|
|
Any thoughts on poor Gwen's passing?•• That was the issue that marked my return to buying comics on a regular basis. I'd been poking around a bit, since my interest in a possible career in the Biz had been sparked, and when I saw that cover, I bought it. They're killing Aunt May! I thought. I'd been away long enough that I had no idea who Gwen or the Green Goblin were, so the actual story was something of a non-event, for me.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Rick Senger
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 9690
|
| Posted: 28 January 2014 at 12:58pm | IP Logged | 5
|
|
|
I didn't read it til years later (though I'd known about it) and I still found it powerful. Killing the GG in the very next issue was a daring move, as well. In two consecutive months they offed two of Spidey's trademark characters, which really wasn't done so much in those days (at least not for real.) Editorial's eventual manipulation of these deaths (clones and various relatives taking GG's place) watered down the impact, but for me these stories still have a boldness of Marvel trying new things. BTW, just for historical accuracy, while the Marvel Tales reprint has "The Day Gwen Stacy Died" on the cover, the interior still has the original title, which was "The Night Gwen Stacy Died."
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
e-mail
|
| |
Sam Karns
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 26 December 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 7624
|
| Posted: 28 January 2014 at 1:44pm | IP Logged | 6
|
|
|
Gwen should've wandered in and out of Peter's life and been just another girl in his past.
*** The writer and artist could have simply broke them up. Peter had done this before with other love interests, killing her the way it was done made it his fault. That was the true crime.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Brian O'Neill
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 November 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 1964
|
| Posted: 28 January 2014 at 3:19pm | IP Logged | 7
|
|
|
I'm trying to think of the first time I saw Gwen in a non-reprint story. I was born in '73, so was too young for any of her original appearances, as well as the 'clone' stories. By 1978, when I was first old enough to 'sort of' follow the stories, Peter had gotten over thinking about Gwen on every other page(and by that point, he was about to put his relationship with MJ on hold til about '83, entering the era of Deb Whitman, the Black Cat, and one or two other 'revolving' GFs). Maybe it was at some point early in the Hobgoblin era when Peter had a flashback to Gwen's death. Gerry Conway re-visited a lot of '70s' territory when he returned to SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN in the late 80s. In fact, I think 'dead Gwen' may have turned up more after Peter and MJ's marriage than she had in the several years leading up to it.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Gene Best
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 24 October 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 4598
|
| Posted: 28 January 2014 at 3:29pm | IP Logged | 8
|
|
|
I read it when it originally came out, and had been following the Gwen/Peter storyline since around ASM #85. Even though I was only in grade school, I was still blown away by the issue. It was the first significant comics "event" for me - and like nothing I'd ever seen before. Sure, I knew about Bucky and Uncle Ben, but they were way before my time - I didn't think my comic book characters could die.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133324
|
| Posted: 28 January 2014 at 4:30pm | IP Logged | 9
|
|
|
The writer and artist could have simply broke them up. Peter had done this before with other love interests, killing her the way it was done made it his fault. That was the true crime. ••• The "crime," which was anticipated by no one at the time, was that the death of Gwen drew a line thru Peter's life. Before Gwen Died and After Gwen Died. Various prior girlfriends, who departed in more conventional ways, did not do this. And, truth to tell, there was no real reason why Gwen should have done this, either -- except that there were two converging forces at work. First, the Deatwatch Mentality. Comics were doomed. They'd be "gone in five years." Which meant people were doing things without much consideration of long term consequences. And one of those consequences, also unforeseen, was the influx of fans-turned-pro, bringing with at least some of them a refusal to let go of ANYTHING. As I recently mentioned elsewhere, the fact that something "existed" meant it could not be allowed to simply fade away. It must be constantly referenced. And so, the death of Gwen drove a big stake into the heart of "Marvel Time." It might be possible to fudge on just how long it had been since the FF went up in that rocket, or Captain America came out of the ice -- but Gwen's death was "recent," and there was a kind of enforced awareness of time passing since it happened. Yeah -- if only she'd just moved away!
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Richard White
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 28 August 2009
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 1058
|
| Posted: 28 January 2014 at 5:06pm | IP Logged | 10
|
|
|
Considering the early FF and Human Torch stories I'm
surprised we haven't had constant stories about Johnny
battling Asbestosis.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
| www
e-mail
|
| |
Eric Jansen
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 27 October 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 2366
|
| Posted: 28 January 2014 at 5:09pm | IP Logged | 11
|
|
|
I started buying AMAZING a couple of years after this storyline, but I was on board for Peter to start being "haunted" by Gwen's clone and it really grabbed my attention and kept it! AMAZING was probably my favorite comic through this time and SPIDER-MAN my favorite hero (though Captain America and Superman reasserted themselves later).
Gwen (and GG) died about ten years into the series, and you sort of get the impression that things mattered more that far back. Now, we're 50+ years into the thing and literally thousands of SPIDER-MAN stories later--you get the impression that nothing they do with him really matters at this point. I always enjoyed MARVEL TEAM-UP, but when SPECTACULAR came along, it really seemed like the stories weren't going to matter as much anymore. When RICHIE RICH and ARCHIE had multiple titles going at one time, you KNEW it meant that nothing of lasting importance could happen to them--and the same was now true for SPIDER-MAN.
I think, for Marvel, you just want to read the first 200 issues of all their books and that's enough. Sure, come back for things like JB taking over FF or other special issues/runs by favorite creators, but, otherwise, the first 200 are enough.
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
William Griffin
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 15 August 2012
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 156
|
| Posted: 28 January 2014 at 8:07pm | IP Logged | 12
|
|
|
I first read this story when I was in my early teens, in a British Spider-Man annual (the large format hardcover type). It may have been the first Spidey story I ever read but I can't say for sure. I knew nothing about the Green Goblin or Gwen prior to this annual (which reprinted the two key issues only).
It broke my heart, man! I found it so sad, even reading it cold like that. And I still do. It's really affecting. Still two of my favourite issues of any comic, and certainly my favourite Spider-Man comics.
I've still got that annual, as well as another one that had the Black Cat chucking herself off a pier. Loved those issues as well!
|
| Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
| |
Topic Closed)
