Peter Parker: Spider-Man #18
The Curse of Spider-Man?
This story continues from Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #18…
A new Green Goblin has surfaced and with Norman Osborn incarcerated and his son Harry dead, there are questions swirling as to the identity of this Green Goblin.[1] Meanwhile, Peter Parker has been through a series of very hard knocks. His wife, Mary Jane, has seemingly died in a plane crash leaving Peter broke and homeless. Adding to his troubles, he was rolled by a thief while sleeping in an alley the night before and now his Spider-Man costume and web-shooters are now missing. Knowing how dangerous his creations can be, Peter has spent the past few hours in the pouring rain searching for them.[2] At that moment, the thief — a young boy — is surprised to discover that he robbed Spider-Man and plays around in the costume. After thinking about how good his luck was, he puts the costume back in his backpack and wonders how much he can sell it for.
Later, Peter Parker is giving himself a whore’s bath in the washroom at Empire State University. He worries about the new Green Goblin that has been terrorizing Liz Osborn and wonders if it is Harry come back from the dead since his father Norman has cheated death once before in the past.[3] On his way out of the bathroom, he runs into Flash Thompson who gives Peter his condolences again. He tells Peter that he is at ESU to apply for a job in the physical education department when he bumped into someone who spilled coffee all over him. Peter is glad to see Flash but has to go, telling Thompson he has things he needs to sort out. Learning that Peter is heading over to the Daily Bugle, Flash decides to invite himself along since he’s been working on making things work between himself and Betty Brant.[4] Seeing that Peter is down, Flash offers him some advice, saying that things are never as bad as they appear. Peter thanks Flash for this half-assed bit of non-advice.
Meanwhile, the new Green Goblin looks at his face in the mirror and decides that he sees nothing and that is unacceptable. Smashing the mirror, the Goblin puts his mask back on and decides that it’s time to pay Liz Osborn another visit. While elsewhere, the kid who robbed Peter struggles to get Spider-Man’s web-shooters to work. When he can’t figure out how the devices operate he decides to take a hammer to them instead.
By this time, Peter and Flash have arrived at the Daily Bugle. There he notices Liz Osborn’s security detail standing outside J. Jonah Jameson’s office. When she comes storming out, Peter asks if Liz can talk but she blows him off saying that she has a lot to deal with right now.[5] While this is happening, Flash is bad-mouthing Peter to the other Bugle staffers. This is overheard by Randy Robertson who stands up for Peter.[6] Flash doesn’t like being attacked and leaves, vowing to get even with Roberston. That’s when Joe comes out and learns that his son hasn’t come to visit with him but was hoping to catch Peter. Joe invites Peter into his office first, before his son can talk with him though. Joe tells Peter that they can’t use his photos of the Green Goblin, not only because Jonah’s moratorium on Spider-Man pictures, but Liz Osborn asked Jonah to kill the story.[7] This upsets Peter who storms out of the Bugle office but is stopped by Randy who suggests that the two become roommates since they are both struggling living on their own. Peter instantly accepts the offer. By this point, the young man who robbed Peter has a web-shooter clamped in a vice and hits it with a hammer. The web-shooter finally sprays webbing, but it ends up pinning the youth to the wall.
When they get down to the lobby it’s just as the Green Goblin is attacking Liz Osborn’s limo for the second time. Scrambling to figure out what to do, Peter spies that someone has been painting the lobby of the Bugle building. Turning a painters tarp and hanks of rope into a make-shift costume, Peter leaps into battle against the Goblin. Although the Goblin has the advantage since Peter doesn’t have his web-shooters, the wall-crawler eventually gains the upper hand when he knocks the Goblin off his glider and into a nearby alley. As they fight, Spider-Man tries to find out who the Goblin is under their mask. Discovering that this Goblin doesn’t have any super-powers, he quickly deduces that this is the same Goblin that Norman used to convince the public that he wasn’t the Green Goblin in the past.[8] Realizing that he has been fighting Spider-Man this whole time, the Goblin unmasked and at first the wall-crawler thinks it’s Harry. However, the Goblin’s face starts changing forms. As it turns out, the Goblin was created in a lab when Norman Osborn wanted to convince the public he wasn’t the Green Goblin. The creature wanted to be loved like a son by Norman but never received it. Now, without a stabilizing formula, this new test-tube Goblin is beginning to fall apart. It’s final words to Spider-Man is how much it believes that Norman Osborn hated the wall-crawler considering how much time he has devoted to the wall-crawler. He then warns Spider-Man that Norman Osborn will return soon before melting into a puddle on the ground.
In the aftermath of the battle, Peter strips off his makeshift disguise and asks Liz to talk again however she refuses him again. While she is sorry to hear about the loss of Mary Jane, she can’t have Peter in her life since bad things always happen when he’s around and she leaves with Flash. This hurts Peter, mostly because nobody understands that Mary Jane is still alive. As Peter is saying this, Aunt May is being visited by representatives for Pan Global AIrlines who have been having a hard time contacting her nephew Peter so they can deliver Mary Jane’s luggage that was salvaged from the crash site. Meanwhile, the kid who mugged Peter Parker has found someone who is very interested in buying Spider-Man’s costume: J. Jonah Jameson.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Green Goblin, Flash Thompson, Liz Osborn, Randy Robertson, Joe Robertson, Aunt May
Continuity Notes
Some facts about past Goblins:
Norman Osborn is said to be incarcerated after going mad. Norman was driven insane following the Gathering of Five and Final Chapter story arcs as seen in Sensational Spider-Man #32-33, Amazing Spider-Man #440-441, Spider-Man #96-98, and Spectacular Spider-Man #262-263.
Everyone thinks Harry Osborn is dead. Everyone believed Harry died due to a side-effect of the Goblin Formula in Spectacular Spider-Man #200. Harry actually survived and was spirited away by his father and is currently going through rehab as revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #591-592. Harry will turn up again in Amazing Spider-Man #545.
There is a lot of drama going on in Peter’s life by this issue. Here are the details:
First of all, Peter and Mary Jane are referred to as a married couple here. However, years later, their marriage is erased from existence by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. As such they should be referred to as a common-law couple here.
Mary Jane seemingly perished in a plane crash in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #12. However, hse is still alive, as we’ll discover in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #29.
Peter ended up becoming broke after Mary Jane’s agent embezzled their money, leaving Peter without a home in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #16. This was compounded by the fact that J. Jonah Jameson started refusing any pictures of Spider-Man in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #10.
Peter managed to get a one-bedroom apartment, but he ended up getting evicted from that last issue and was reduced to sleeping in an alley in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #18 and that’s where he got mugged.
When Norman Osborn ended up on the business end of his Goblin Glider in Amazing Spider-Man #122, everyone thought he was dead for years. He survived thanks to the healing properties of the Goblin Formula as explained in Spider-Man: The Osborn Journal #1. Norman later resurfaced in Amazing Spider-Man #412.
Flash and Betty have dated on and off since Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #98 while Betty was still married to Ned Leeds. That romance fizzled out shortly after Ned’s death in Spectacular Spider-Man #148. They were briefly working on getting back together circa Spectacular Spider-Man #250 after Flash started sobering up after struggling with alcoholism.
Peter thinks about how he, Flash, and Liz all went to high school together and that Flash and Liz even dated for a time. All three attended Midtown High from Amazing Fantasy #15 until they graduated Amazing Spider-Man #28. Flash and Liz dated on-and-off during this period.
Flash mentions Peter’s ex-girlfriend Gwen Stacy in a very disparaging fashion here. This is kind of a dick move since Gwen was murdered by the Green Goblin in Amazing Spider-Man #121.
Jonah has stopped accepting Spider-Man photos since Peter Parker: Spider-Man #10. The reason is that he is being forced to do so by Alistair Smythe as we’ll learn in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #20.
During the period in which Norman Osborn was believed dead, Ben Urich published a book outing him as the Green Goblin in Spider-Man: Legacy of Evil #1. When Norman make his public return in Spectacular Spider-Man #249-250, he bought part ownership of the Daily Bugle to start discrediting these accusations. During the Spider-Hunt event (Sensational Spider-Man #25, Amazing Spider-Man #432, Spider-Man #89, and Spectacular Spider-Man #255) Norman had a new Goblin working for him to further convince the public that he wasn’t the Green Goblin.
