You’ve Never Read Spectacular Spider-Man by DeMatteis and Buscema?! Part 3
Part III: The Osborn Legacy
I am very much a child of the ‘90s. The first comic book I ever purchased was Spider-Man #37 by J.M. DeMatteis and Tom Lyle which happened to be the twelfth chapter in the massive fourteen-part “Maximum Carnage” event that sprawled across all of the various Spider-Man books at the time. I was conditioned to believe that the baddest villains and antiheroes in Spider-Man’s rogues gallery were characters like Venom, Carnage, Doppelgänger, Shriek, Demogoblin, Morbius, etc. While I was certainly aware of the “classic” Spider-Man villains of the ‘60s and ‘70s, I didn’t have any relationship with or connection to them. Of those old school villains, the one I saw most frequently referenced in the comics I was reading at the time was Green Goblin. I knew that both Norman Osborn and his son Harry Osborn had assumed the mantle of Green Goblin and tormented Spider-Man in the past (I have written about the various Goblins who have terrorized Spider-Man in great detail here, here, here, and here), but I had never read any of those stories up to that point.
That changed when my parents got me a trade paperback collection of Spider-Man stories titled The Very Best of Spider-Man. The blurb on the back promised that it contained “tales that represent the finest of each era of Spider-Man’s adventures.” It doesn’t disappoint. It contains Spider-Man’s first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, his refusal to give up in the face of impossible odds in Amazing Spider-Man #33 (also by Lee and Ditko), the brilliant “The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man” story from Amazing Spider-Man #248 from Roger Stern and Ron Frenz, and many more. The one that captured my interest more than any other was a story titled “The Osborn Legacy” from Spectacular Spider-Man #189.
That’s right! This needlessly in depth trip down memory lane was my way of getting to the next issue in the DeMatteis and Buscema run of Spectacular Spider-Man. What I love about this issue is it works equally well as a continuation of the story that began with “The Child Within” as it does a standalone issue that tells a singular Spider-Man story. You can tell that the folks at Marvel realized what a gem they had on their hands by including it in a collection titled The Very Best of Spider-Man despite being published less than two years prior to the release of said collection. While that may seem like jumping the gun, I can assure you it is most certainly deserved.
The issue begins with Peter sitting solemnly on the couch with a jack-in-the-box on the table in front of him. Mary Jane is trying to have a conversation with him, but he doesn’t react to her at all. Instead he silently begins turning the crank on the toy box. All of this is conveyed in a twelve panel grid. It’s incredibly effective at building tension. The page turns over into a splash page equivalent of a jump scare as a giant Green Goblin head pops out with “GOTCHA!” written on a note.
This rules. I love everything about it. Everything you need to know about the tone of this story is established with these first two pages. From there we see Liz Allan (wife of Harry Osborn) having a conversation with her stepbrother Mark (better known as Molten Man) about how worried she is about whatever is going on with Harry. That’s interrupted when her son Normie walks into the room carrying a Jack O’Lantern he found. Unsurprisingly, the Jack O’Lantern begins emitting a gas that knocks all three of them unconscious as you hear Harry exclaim, “Gotcha.” This is one sick dude we’re dealing with here. We then see Peter find some other “presents” left by Harry in his home with the same “GOTCHA!” messages along with them.
From there we learn that Harry has abducted his family and taken them to his father’s abandoned mansion while positioning them around a large dinner table complete with food and libations. Harry is decked out in full Green Goblin gear, and he begins waxing maniacally about his family legacy while dancing around the room with little Normie in his arms. A completely distraught Liz makes a move for the door only to find it completely walled off with bricks. Molten Man (having metallic skin and having super strength) tries to approach Harry and talk him down only for Harry to toss a pumpkin bomb into his chest at point blank range.
When Molten Man dares to suggest he might be having some mental issues, Harry quickly and savagely beats the holy hell out of him. As you may remember from last week’s post, Harry had just recently given himself the same super strength and invulnerability as his father before this little dinner party. No one present had realized that until now.
The rest of the issue alternates between Harry having his twisted family dinner as Spider-Man slowly infiltrates the mansion while avoiding the numerous boobytraps Harry had installed to thwart him. There’s a palpable sense of dread throughout the issue that only heightens once Spider-Man finally reaches the dining room.
An enraged Harry demands that he sit at the table and eat with them. Not wanting to endanger Liz or Normie, he agrees to play along for the time being. Something that DeMatteis and Buscema do extremely well is convey how little Normie is handling things. Normie loves his father and implicitly trusts him. Harry maintains throughout the issue that this is all just a fun game, and Normie believes him. Because Spider-Man is here to ruin this supposed game, Normie makes his disgust with Spider-Man very clear. What also makes it clear is the way Buscema illustrates his facial expressions. Drawing children can be extremely difficult, but Sal Buscema does so expertly.
Eventually Molten Man has had enough and tries to subdue Harry himself. It goes about as well as their first fight (translation: Harry whoops his ass again). It’s at this point that Spider-Man finally intervenes. Harry is one of Peter’s oldest and dearest friends, so he tries his best to talk him down without resorting to violence. After Harry verbally abuses both Spider-Man and his own wife, he launches his glider directly into Spider-Man’s back. It’s the same move his father used to try to kill Spider-Man years ago that resulted in his own death, so Harry knows exactly what he’s doing to mess with Peter.
Now it’s on. Peter and Harry stop holding back and fully embrace their Spider-Man and Green Goblin personas in a no holds barred slugfest. It’s one of the most visceral fights I’ve ever seen in a Spider-Man comic, and Buscema draws it masterfully. While the two trade blows, Harry relentlessly taunts Peter with threats about exposing his secret identity. Eventually Peter reaches his breaking point and unloads on Harry with a knockout blow you rarely see from Spider-Man. It’s incredible.
With Harry defeated and being led away by authorities (still in full Green Goblin costume with Normie staring daggers at Spider-Man), he announces that he knows Spider-Man’s secret identity and will tell the world! But. Not. Just. Yet.
As I’ve mentioned previously, this is one of my favorite comic book issues of all time. It has everything that I love about Spider-Man contained within it. He’s a flawed and tragic hero who refuses to give up on the people he loves. He’s so compassionate even while one of his closest friends threatens his life and the lives of his loved ones. He does everything he can to diffuse the situation to avoid anyone getting hurt. But when things do devolve into a physical confrontation, it becomes one of the most dynamic and well composed action sequences that the medium has to offer. This is a comic that can appeal to you whether you’re eight years old or thirty-eight years old.
Next up on the DeMatteis and Buscema Spectacular Spider-Man retrospective? Rhinos and Pumas.
What I find compelling about this dynamic is that Spider-Man always loses to Harry, because it means hurting his closest friend. For him, there's no real victory.