The Green Goblin Lives Again!

After an afternoon out on the town, Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson decide to spend the rest of the day at Peter's apartment to listen to a new record he has purchased. When they arrive at the apartment that Peter has been sharing with Harry Osborn, Mary Jane insists on unlocking the door herself. As she begins to turn the key, Peter's spider-sense begins to warn him of danger. Before he can get Mary Jane to stop, a bomb on the opposite side of the door goes off just as she turns the lock. Although Peter manages to shield Mary Jane with his body, the blast injures her and renders her unconscious. After checking to see if Mary Jane is okay, Peter hears sirens of approaching police cars. Rushing into his apartment, Peter quickly webs up his Spider-Man gear into a web-ball and tosses it out to the roof of the apartment building next door. He then gets back to Mary Jane just as the authorities arrive.

Forty minutes later, Peter Parker is at the hospital where he's told that Mary Jane is expected to recover and he is allowed to visit her. When Mary Jane wakes up, she asks Peter what happened, but he promises to tell her later. This whole situation gets Peter thinking about how the Green Goblin killed his girlfriend Gwen Stacy. Although he is convinced that Norman Osborn is dead, Peter suspects that the Green Goblin is back. He changes into Spider-Man and goes to investigate Norman Osborn's old lab. Look around he finds that nothing appears to be disturbed, at least initially. However, he discovers that the dust on the floor is merely dry soap used to disguise the fact that someone had been here recently. Suspecting that the person responsible will return, Spider-Man webs up a hammock and decides to wait. Sure enough, hours later, Spider-Man is alerted to the presence of someone coming into the secret lab. He is shocked to discover that it is none other than the Green Goblin, who comes rocketing in on his goblin glider.

Although his foe claims to be the real Green Goblin, Spider-Man has already deduced that his opponent is actually Harry Osborn. He tries to talk sense into his roommate and friend, but Harry seeks to avenge the death of his father. The two fight it out, and the new Green Goblin begins to gain the edge in combat because Spidey is pulling his punches. Ultimately, the Goblin uses a gas mixed into the exhaust of his goblin glider to knock Spider-Man out. Finally having the wall-crawler at his mercy, the Green Goblin attempts to give Spider-Man a fatal jolt from his electro-blasts. However, he soon discovers that he has overtaxed the power source in his gloves. With Spider-Man recovering from the gas, the Goblin decides to flee, vowing to destroy Spider-Man.

Later, Spider-Man changes back to Peter Parker and goes to the Daily Bugle. There he asks J. Jonah Jameson for a week off but is denied unless he wants to be fired. Furious, Peter quits instead. As he storms out of the office, Betty Brant attempts to see how he is doing. Peter tells Betty to butt out of his business and storms out, vowing that nobody will interfere with his life again.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Green Goblin, Mary Jane Watson, Betty Brant

Continuity Notes

• Peter states that he bought the "new" Ella Fitzgerald album. Given the date of publication he is likely referring to Fine and Mellow, which was released in 1974. References to the album being "new" should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale of Earth-616, given the fact that Fitzgerald's last album was released in 1989, and she died in 1996.

• Peter recalls how the original Green Goblin was responsible for the death of Gwen Stacy, and seemingly died himself in a final battle with Spider-Man. These events occurred in Amazing Spider-Man #121-122. However, Norman is not dead and survived as explained in Spider-Man: The Osborn Journal #1, he will resurface in Amazing Spider-Man #412.

• Harry discovered his father was secretly the Green Goblin in Amazing Spider-Man #123. Since then he spent the issues leading up to this story discovering his father's equipment and confirming his suspicions that Peter Parker is really Spider-Man.