The Trouble With Harry

Spider-Man is swinging across the city plagued with thoughts of the new foes that have cropped up recently. One of them he wants to stop as soon as possible is the so-called spider-tracer killer who has been planting his spider-tracers on the bodies of his victims for some time now.[2] As the wall-crawler swings across the city he is unaware that someone has just planted a spider-tracer on a body disposed in a dumpster and has called it in to the police. That’s when the tracer begins giving off a signal, luring Spider-Man to the scene of the latest body. That’s when police arrive on the scene and attempt to arrest the wall-crawler, who flees from the scene. Although the police think this confirms that Spider-Man is the spider-tracer killer, the Bookie — who is listening to calls on his police scanner — is willing to bet against this. Getting home safely, Peter Parker chastises himself for being so stupid when he gets a call from Harry Osborn. Harry asks Peter if he can join him to New Jersey to back him up when he goes and meets his ex-wife Liz.[3] Harry feels he could use Peter as back-up as Liz always liked him. Needing to get away from the city for a while, Peter agrees to tag along.

The following morning, Peter meets up with Harry at the Hollister home where he finds Lily Hollister — Harry’s girlfriend— her father Bill, and Carlie Cooper all present to send them off. Also there are Peter’s roommate Vin Gonzales and his partner Al O’Neil, who have been assigned to Hollister’s security detail since mayoral candidates have been targeted by the Menace.[4] Vin is unhappy to see Peter Parker back in Carlie Cooper’s life, because he’s had a crush on her for quite some time.[5] Peter is a little nervous around Lily Hollister, particularly after she recently kissed him behind Harry’s back.[6] When Lily suggests that they get together on Friday, Peter suggest that he and Carlie go out alone for a change. However, Carlie pulls Peter aside and privately tells him she can’t go out because she has been spending more time helping Bill Hollister with his election than his own daughter and is insulted that Peter is asking her out because he thinks he sees her as a consilation prize.[7] Seeing Parker getting shot down pleases Vin, who figures he’s still in the running to win over Cooper. Bill also takes the opportunity to talk to Harry, and warns him that if the current Oscorp scandal lands at Harry’s feet the Hollisters — including Lily — will have to distance themselves from Harry until after the election.[8]

When Peter and Harry finally leave for New Jersey, Harry tells Peter he is glad that he’s there, saying that between the rough patch with Lily and legal issues with Liz he needs someone by his side, particularly since Liz’s step-brother — Mark Raxton, aka the Molten Man — needs help. At that same moment, Liz Osborn is on the phone trying to get a new nurse to come care for her brother after the last nurse was ran away screaming after she got a good look at Mark. Wanting someone to play with, Normie Osborn is told by her mother that she is busy, so he decides to pay a visit to his Uncle Mark. Raxton is being contained in a specially constructed room that has been constructed to keep him alive. Sleeping, Mark wakes up and sees Normie playing among the equipment and calls for Liz to collect her son before he accidentally hurts himself. When Liz comes to retrieve her son, Raxton — visibly upset — apologizes if he hurt the boy, as his powers are now out of control. At that moment, Harry has stopped to fill up his gas tank, allowing Peter a moment to call his Aunt May and assure her that he’ll be safe on the trip. She particularly wants him to be careful around molten men, reminding him what Charlie Weiderman did to their home.[9] After getting off the phone, Peter decides its time for Harry to come clean about his time in Europe. Harry decides to tell Peter the truth, and tells him that he was once the Green Goblin.[10] Peter knows this, and tells Harry that Spider-Man had told him that he had died during their last battle.[11] Harry explains that he was high on the Goblin formula, and points out that his own father once cheated death thanks to the same serum in his own body.[12] He explains that his father quickly covered things up financially and then hired Mysterio to create a bio-duplicate of Harry to take his place. Mysterio agreed under the condition that Norman pretended that Harry was dead in order to complete the illusion. Harry explains that his father took him to clinics all over Europe for detox, convincing everyone that it was Harry having a drug relapse,[13] and his memories of being the Green Goblin were nothing more than a delusion. However, it all started coming back to him in bits and pieces recently after he saw his father dressed up as the Goblin recently.[14] This is why Harry has been working hard to making amends, recounting how when he revealed his survival to Peter he used his family money to repair Aunt May’s home after it was destroyed by Charlie Weiderman.

When they arrive at Liz’s home, it’s a less than warm reception as Normie is upset to see his father alive after seeing him seemingly die and attending his funeral. Peter takes Normie inside and tries to explain to young Normie what’s going on. Their conversation is overheard by Raxton, who becomes enraged upon hearing that Harry has come over. Outside, Liz continues to berate Harry for how he’s turned her life upside down, when he recommends they take the conversation inside. Meanwhile, Peter continues to try to explain to Normie what is going on with his parents. Parker is disturbed, however, when he opens a drawer in Normie’s room and discovers a number of decapitated Spider-Man action figures.[15] In the next room, Liz is still shouting at Harry, telling him how his faked death has complicated her entire life, particularly when it comes to having money to treat her step-brother. Now hearing Liz, Raxton is more furious than ever and breaks free from the containment unit that. The Molen Man then comes crashing through the house, while Peter gets Normie to safety, Raxton confronts Harry and tells him that he is going to die for harming his family.

Recurring Characters

Spider-Man, Molten Man, Harry Osborn, Liz Osborn, Normie Osborn, Lily Hollister, Bill Hollister, Carlie Cooper, Vin Gonzales, Al O’Neil, the Bookie, (flashback) Norman Osborn, Mysterio

Continuity Notes

1. The cover of this story shows Harry’s death date as 2008 and his year of birth obscured by Spider-Man’s hand. The dates here should be considerd topical. Still, since Harry is around the same age as Peter, at the time of this story he’d be roughly 28 years old at the time of this story. This figure is based on Peter’s admission that he was 15 years old when he first became Spider-Man back in Civil War #2. Per the Sliding TImescale it has been about 12 years since Peter first got his powers at the time of this story. That said, the closest date that ends with a 7 that would work here would be the year 1977, which would make Harry a few years older than Peter, clocking in around 31 years old at the time of this story. This age would fit under the presumption that Peter graduated from high school a few years early due to his advanced intelligence.

2. The first “victim” of the spider-tracer killer was found in Amazing Spider-Man #547. From the start, Spider-Man was accused of the killings even though he is innocent.

3. Harry married Liz Osborn years ago in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #63.

4. The Menace has been attacking people running for mayor of New York CIty since Amazing Spider-Man #549.

5. Vin has been trying to muster up the guts to ask Carlie out since Amazing Spider-Man #556. It was during one of his failed attempts to ask her out that he agreed to let Peter Parker move in with him. Peter moved in with Vin in Amazing Spider-Man #561.

6. Lily kissed Peter in Amazing Spider-Man #573. Peter thinks she is coming on to him, however as we’ll learn in Amazing Spider-Man #586, she did so to prevent Peter from stumbling upon a hidden cache of Green Goblin weapons she has been using as the Menace.

7. Carlie mentions how she was raised by Bill Hollister who treats her like a daughter. In the Many Loves of the Amainzg Spider-Man #1 it is revealed that after the death of Carlie’s parents, she was adopted by the Hollisters — friends of the family — who raised her from then on.

8. This is reference to Amazing Spider-Man #568-573 when a group of undocumented immigrants were discovered being experimented on by Oscorp. When this was publicly exposed by the Front Line, Norman Osborn blamed the experiments on his son, Harry, saying the experiments begun while he was still in charge of the family company.

9. Charlie Weiderman was an old high school classmate who asked Peter to help him get funding for an experimental Vibranium skin project. That ended up blowing up in Charlie’s face and Weiderman blamed Peter and used his newfound powers to destroy the Parker home. This happened in Amazing Spider-Man #515-518. Harry later repaired the Parker Home as we saw in Amazing Spider-Man Family #4.

10. Harry has a long history of being the second Green Goblin. He first put on the Goblin costume in Amazing Spider-Man #135-136, after he was driven insane after seeing his seemingly dead father. (more on that in a sec) Harry became the Goblin on a number of occasions:

    • Harry became the Goblin again in Amazing Spider-Man #180 to fight his psychologist Bart Hamiton who attempted to usurp the Goblin identity for himself.

    • He later became the Goblin again in Amazing Spider-Man #312 to defend his family who was being terrorized by the Hobgoblin at the time.

    • He attempted to become a heroic Goblin in Web of Spider-Man #66-67, unti he was dissuaded from doing so by Spider-Man.

    • Harry became mentall unstable during Spectacular Spider-Man #181-183, and became the Goblin again, seeking to avenge his father’s defeat at Spider-Man’s hand.

11. Harry’s last outing as the Green Goblin occurred in Spectacular Spider-Man #198 when he exposed himself to the Goblin formula and seemingly died in issue #200 of that series.

12. Harry mention’s how his own father cheated death before. Norman Osborn — the original Green Goblin — seemingly died when he was impaled by his own Goblin glider in Amazing Spider-Man #122. He survived and was healed thanks to the Goblin formula. He then retreated to Europe where he operated in the shadows for years manipulating Peter' Parker’s life as explained in Spider-Man: The Osborn Journal #1. Norman later resurfaced in Amazing Spider-Man #412.

13. Harry also mentions his past drug addiction. Harry became addicted to drugs and suffered an overdose in Amazing Spider-Man #96-98, and suffered a relapse in Amazing Spider-Man #119-120.

14. Harry saw his father in his Goblin costume again in Amazing Spider-Man #573. Peter is concerned about Harry’s remembering his time as the Goblin since Harry had learned Peter’s secret identity back in Amazing Spider-Man #135. Althoug his memory of Peter’s double-identity would be spotty and only return when he became the Goblin for evil purposes. Peter’s concerns are groundless as Harry — along with virtually everybody else — had their memories of Spider-Man’s identity wiped out when Mephisto altered reality in Amazing Spider-Man #545.

15. Normie has developed a hatred of Spider-Man since his father’s alleged death in Spectacular Spider-Man #200. Normie has been decapitating Spider-Man action figures since Amazing Spider-Man Annual 2000.