Bad Day To Have A Cold Mr. Parker
So, we've got what might be one of the most famous comic books in the history of comics, along side Action Comics #1, Batman #429, Captain America #25. Everyone knows the story ending, the title is the ending, Gwen Stacy dies in this issue. And the story really holds up over time, yes there is a completely pacing difference compared to today's comics, but that's really nothing to complain about. But here's how I see today's storytelling compared to this issue's.
It's rather funny to me how quickly Osborn goes from being a horrible father to Harry, whose tripped out on LSD, to remembering he's the Green Goblin, which is one of the biggest changes in storytelling, I think, compared to how I think this story would be told today. Today's comics and pacing would have placed Osborn's return to the suit and mask as a cliffhanger for the next issue. And all the backstory and character relations you need to understand the situation are in the issue. So, as an industry, comics don't sell nearly as well as they used to, even if copies of Cable or Dark Avengers selling out seems like a big deal. But maybe the answer is in the storytelling, everything you need to know is between the two covers. And this is not to say that I feel like I need to be spoon feed the story of Spider-Man or his friends every issue, but this issue is very new reader friendly. And any question about what the characters are talking about , like Spider-Man fighting the Hulk or Harry's last trip on drugs are explained in nice boxes telling you where to find such info.
Of course now we're in a day and age where stories are all collected in nice TPB, so writer's are allowed to write stories that can self-contain themselves over the course of 4 or 5 issues. And the Previously pages that Marvel credits the Ultimate line for bringing to our current day comics also help this.
Wow, I got off topic there.
Is this a good issue? Yes. Peter's back from Canada fighting the Hulk, he's got a cold, something that is never mentioned when discussing this issue, not that it's that important, but it really tosses his timing off balance. Which is really a handicap when fighting the Green Goblin and saving Gwen. I'm not going to get into how Gwen died, the fall (which is stupid, because anyone who skydives would tell you falling off a bridge, while being asleep, will not kill you by just the fall alone) or the webbing (No, I'm pretty sure that did it), but I could see how this ending (like the end of Empire Strikes Back) would cause the audience to go nuts.
And it only makes me wish they'd saved Ultimate Gwen Stacy even more. Good issue, read it if you can find it, there are a lot of ways to, Death of the Stacys hardcover or one of the black and white collections. I love reviewing old comics!