Crawling Back: Amazing Spider-Man #136-137 Review (The Osborn Prelude, Part 10)
A new Green Goblin allows Conway to artfully weaponize history and hate, making afresh old, simmering conflicts
—by Nathan on March 27, 2025—
In my mind, as I have been examining the long-running Spider-Man/Green Goblin conflict, I have divided the ongoing saga into "parts," each defined by their own characteristics and ended in some form of climactic showdown. The first two "parts" focused on Peter's battles with the original Green Goblin, Norman Osborn. The first chapter of their enmity ended with Norman forgetting about his verdant alter ego for the first time, capping a series of issues which saw the Goblin transform from underworld gang leader wannabe to just wanting to utterly demolish Spider-Man. That hatred fueled the second chapter, seen as a series of incidents where the amnesiac Osborn temporarily remembered his vendetta and resumed his supervillain role, his lapses culminating in the deaths of both Gwen Stacy and, seemingly, himself.
By this point, Gerry Conway had stepped in to guide the war, taking the reins from Stan Lee and redefining the scope of the Spider/Goblin conflict. Impactful as Osborn learning Peter's masked identity was, Gwen's death had ripple effects for decades, some of which were plotted by Conway himself (more on those in the future), and Norman remained "dead" for two decades. But Norman's death left a Goblin-sized hole in the Spider-Man mythos, a gap another Osborn would soon find he could fill nearly as well as his dear old dad.
I've not chronicled the decay of the Peter Parker/Harry Osborn friendship, but I can lay out some elements: a failed relationship with Mary Jane Watson steered Harry towards drugs, a habit worsened when he saw Peter and MJ being chummy. In the wake of Gwen's death, and with Harry and MJ broken up, Peter and his future red-headed wife grew even closer, rankling the roommates' relationship further. Plus, unbeknownst a short while to readers, Harry had witnessed his father's death and blamed Spider-Man…and, in the issues leading up to this two-part narrative, he had learned Peter Parker wore the Spider-Man mask.
It seems like prime time for Harry to put on a mask of his own.
"The Green Goblin Lives Again"
Writer: Gerry Conway
Penciler: Ross Andru
Inkers: Frank Giacoia and Dave Hunt
Colorists: Linda Lessman and Petra Goldberg
Letterer: Artie Simek
Issues: Amazing Spider-Man #136-137
Issue Publication Dates: September 1974-October 1974
For readers, Gwen had died a little over a year before these issues were published. For Peter, it had been several months. And what a wild few months! He'd fought the Man-Wolf, met the Punisher, gotten his own car, and even stopped his Aunt May from marrying Doc Ock! Still in mourning over his lost lady love, Peter has not caught a break…which may be one reason why, as he remarks early in this story's first issue, "My roommate and I haven't been seeing too much of each other lately."
But really maybe it's because Harry saw his dad die while fighting Spider-Man? And then learned Peter is Spider-Man?? Maybe???
Conway had teased Harry taking on his father's mantle previously, but Peter's former best buddy becomes Green Goblin Jr. in full in these issues, adding a new dynamic to the Spider/Goblin saga. Under Lee and Conway, Norman Osborn's vendetta against Peter had grown deeply personal, and Conway brings a different kind of venom (no, not that guy) to these proceedings. Norman hated Spider-Man before ever knowing he was Peter Parker, with his chemically induced madness warping Peter into an enemy once learning his identity. Harry hated Spidey, too, in the wake of his father's death, but his reliance on Peter had started crumbling long before. Don't do drugs, kids. Harry did, and though Conway doesn't explicitly state in these issues that the younger Osborn's reliance on narcotics has brought him specifically to this point, there's enough in prior issues for readers to assume his addiction certainly hasn't helped him. Harry's bitterness towards Peter is exacerbated once determining Peter's costumed identity, and he reacts violently.
The cover to ASM #137 completely spoils any attempt at mystery, but in the interior comic, Conway at least tries to develop tension for our protagonist, even if it's completely lost on the reader. After an explosion at his apartment nearly kills MJ as well as himself, Peter pins the attempt on the Goblin, worrying his arch-foe is back from the dead…or could be someone else in the costume. We worry along with Spidey as he dives into the mystery behind the Goblin's return, but Conway doesn't tease us for long. He's more interested in the conflict generated by both Spidey and the Goblin openly knowing each other's identities, just like Lee and John Romita established with the original Green Goblin.
Peter never had a relationship with Norman prior to fighting the Green Goblin–Norman actually didn't appear physically as a character, outside a few background appearances, until ASM #37, two issues before his identity as the Goblin was revealed. Most of the Peter/Osborn tension came afterwards, generated by Peter's constant fear that Osborn would relapse into his mean, green self and creating awkwardness at dinner parties and for the short while Peter worked for Norman. But Conway uses the several years of friendship, and the recent fraying situation between the two men, to up the ante. Tiny moments sprinkled into prior narratives–mainly, harsh looks between Peter and Harry–are given greater heft as Harry's hate boils over.
Peter shares a certain amount of concern and sympathy for his friend but less than I would have anticipated…which doesn't bother me as much as I would have assumed. Again, maybe the drugs play into this, but Harry's mind hasn't been fractured by an explosion of chemicals to the face. He certainly isn't behaving rationally, but Peter acts as if Harry has more agency than Norman did, which I would agree with. He recognizes Harry is "sick," as he says, and is in need of help, but that doesn't prevent Spidey from taking the kid gloves off. He does note how a full punch could kill his former friend, reinforcing the notion that Harry lacks his father's strength, but he also believes he can "knock him out of his hysteria." But Spidey doesn't belabor the point about getting Harry help, nor does he attempt to understand Harry's intentions. He knows Harry hates him, and he knows the guy will stop at nothing to kill him (when the dude blows up the apartment he shared with Peter, you know he's serious), and that's really all that needs to be understood. There's no talking this guy down.
Conway capably crafts the enmity between them as natural, and he adds a few lines of dialogue which brings Norman's spectre into the picture. Whatever "hysteria" is driving Harry has altered his perspective of his father. Way back when, Peter and Harry initially bonded over their lack of strong father figures–Peter noting he was an orphan whose uncle died, Harry mentioning Norman's negligence. Subsequent issues showed Norman having more of an interest in his son but nothing that would radically reframe Harry's perspective. Perhaps in the face of his father's death, Harry's mind pivoted, or perhaps it was a touch of madness which has reshaped how he views his father. I feel like something must have snapped to make Harry believe his father was suddenly "the greatest man this world has ever known," as well as the notion that Peter was never his friend to begin with. It's a bitterly ironic perspective Conway has Harry embrace, a lack of balance similar to Norman's in perceiving the world in whatever way he wants to see it, particularly when different facts are presented which he outright ignores in favor of his own green-colored lens. Harry even notes that killing Peter will "free" him to pursue the life he's always wanted to live, maybe because he feels indebted to avenging his father.
I credit Conway with capably crafting a new take on the Green Goblin. The "peer" aspect of two former friends duking it out adds a unique layer to a conflict which had already been going on for years at this point. Lee had done enough to keep things moving, except for maybe when Peter kept relying on Norman's amnesia to block out his Goblin memories. Conway had already delivered two shocking twists to the mythos, with this second Goblin feeling naturally born from the ashes of his father's greatest defeat and seeming death. In "Spider-view," I'm creeping closer to a fairly climactic chapter in the Peter/Harry side of this ongoing narrative, so I hope to take a look at a few more moments Harry donned the Green Goblin mask, carrying on his father's legacy before reaching the "ending" of his own story.