Published on February 1st, 1984
This was a fantastic issue. The book was so engrossing back then, it's kind of hard to even fathom how awful it is these days. Back then, the book seemed to be more coherent. Now it seems like it constantly changes and thus there's no long term build and very few side characters of note that don't disappear for long stretches. John Romita, Jr. did the "breakdowns" in this issue and Dan Green did the "finishes." I don't know if that means Green just inked it or he basically drew it. It is crazy that John Romita, Jr. is currently drawing The Amazing Spider-Man. This book came out almost 40 years ago. And The Hobgoblin is still around these days...so they've pretty much run out of ideas. In this issue, we find out that Harry Osbourne and J. Jonah Jameson are being blackmailed by someone. It turns out to be The Hobgoblin, who invites everyone at a rich, members only club to a private meeting. The Hobgoblin wants their money to keep their secrets. Harry's being blackmailed because The Hobgoblin knew his dad was The Green Goblin, and if that got out I guess the Oscorp stock would fall apart. J. Jonah Jameson is being blackmailed because he helped create The Scorpion and nobody knows that. There's a brief fight between The Hobgoblin and Spider-Man and Spider-Man gets a tracker on The Hobgoblin thanks to The Kingpin's help. The Kingpin is still a bad guy, but doesn't want The Hobgoblin to meddle in his crime business. We also get a meeting between Mary Jane and Parker at Harry and his wife's bbq. Mary Jane turned down Parker's wedding proposal in #183 but she's still around. Shockingly, Mary Jane is still hovering around Parker's love life in 2020. It's almost as if Marvel can't make a decision about those two. Considering this will-they-or-won't-they end up together storyline has been going on for like 50 years, it's past the point of ludicrousness. That's probably one of the many reasons The Amazing Spider-Man hasn't been a great book in years. The book worked back in the day by being a continuous soap opera but now it's just been glazed and locked down in amber with no hope of growth. It's a shame, because back in '83/'84 the book was glorious. ***1/2
No comments:
Post a Comment