The Amazing Spider-Man: A New Goblin

The Amazing Spider-Man (1963-1998) #176-180

by Len Wein, Ross Andru (Contributor)

Collects Amazing Spider-man 176-180

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Spider Man, Marvel

94 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Len Wein was an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine, and for helping revive the Marvel superhero team the X-Men (including the co-creation of Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus). Additionally, he was the editor for writer Alan Moore and illustrator Dave Gibbons' influential DC miniseries Watchmen.

Wein was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2008.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

With the (seeming) multitude of Green Goblins that run around the Spider-Man universe, it could be easy to forget there was, for a short time, a third person who donned the Goblin outfit back in the day.

"A New Goblin" collects that storyline together and it's full of all the things that made Spider-Man, well, Spider-Man. It's got angst with Aunt May, it has Peter struggling to balance his real identity with that of his secret identity, it's got villians in a power struggle and it's got an undercurrent of relationship angst for Parker. All these come to a boil when the Goblin decides he wants to be the crime boss of New York and will trade Spidey's secret identity for this. Meanwhile, Aunt May is in the hospital, waiting for Peter to arrive to give consent for a life-saving surgery.

In a lot of ways, this is a greatest hits of themes from Amazing Spider-Man days of old. It's enjoyable and fun to read and they to try to throw in a twist or two. But it's still not as strong as some of Spidey's original battles with Goblin back when Stan Lee was writing the book.

[Alex Andrasik · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty good quality 70s vintage Spidey tale! It does better than most of the era at balancing the soap opera drama, Peter's aw-shucks navel gazing, and really quality superheroics. It's got a twist that anyone with a couple of brain cells could see coming, but it's well-executed and serves Harry Osborn's character quite well. It hits a lot of the Spidey tropes, but does so in fun and somewhat fresh ways: Aunt May's back in the hospital, of course - but it's because she was out agitating with the Grey Panthers! Peter has to rush to her side, sure - but this time, he's the one who has to sign off on her life-saving surgery! (Not sure how that works...) And fine, another underworld crime war is brewing - but the Green Goblin is just going to murder all their asses!

I also like the little convention that carried over from the Silver Age of naming Green Goblin battles with these kind of off kilter, nursey rhyme-esque little titles: "Goblin in the Middle!" "Green Grows the Goblin!" "The Goblin's Always Greener!" "Who Was That Goblin I Saw With You?" It's cute and I wish it never stopped!

[Michael Emond · Rating 2 out of 5]

A five issue tale from the 70's which is fine but not really worth a special collection. You have solid writing by Len Wein and solid art by Ross Andru but it is a mostly forgettable tale of a "new Goblin". I have to say - it doesn't make any sense that this new Goblin is "the fastest thing" because he never got a special formula to make him strong like Norman Osborn did. He is an ordinary human and, in theory, Spider-man should take care of him with one punch. I always get a little frustrated when a hero's powers fluctuate depending on the need of the writer and the story they are currently writing.

Overall the big reveal was kind of obvious to me so it lacked a wow factor. Also - the subplot of "Aunt May is dying - where is Peter!!?" is so old. I found a lot of these 70's Spider-man stories were just retreading ground Stan Lee had established and they didn't bring much new to the table.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those left-field trades. Why on Earth would they collect a 30 plus year old arc that has no bearing on today’s continuity? I’m not complaining, just curious! I owned all of the floppies as cheap-o back issues some 20 odd years ago. Len Wein's writing is great with the exception of the over-used phrase "web slinger", as if everyone who meets him would call him that. It would be more fun if you made a drinking game out of it, I imagine. While most of the peeps on the Intrawebs hate on Ross Andru, I actually enjoy his take on the character. Sure, it's a bit rough around the edges, but his action sequences are good and he met his deadlines. Trades like this are great because they offer a slice of Bronze Age goodness at an affordable price.

[Yosef Shapiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic 1970s Green Goblin story.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's fun to see how Marvel was playing with the legacy of the Goblin back in the day (and I enjoyed finally getting to read this complete story, as I'd only owned #180, the last issue, when I was young). Unfortunately Len's pace is too plodding and there's way too much artificially created drama for this to be a particularly great story.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spiderman is attacked by the Green Goblin, but Harry was thought to be cured. Meanwhile Aunt May is very ill again. A short book, and predictable story line. The Aunt May plot was a bit of a repeat, I'd heard it all before. The slight twist at the end, though predictable was a nice change. A good read.

[Matt Shaqfan · Rating 5 out of 5]

good silver-age story about the third green goblin. alluding that it's harry, there's a nice plot twist that was probably huge back then. i wish marvel would put out more of these older spidey stories out, cause comics these days just don't have the same feel.

[Viridian5 · Rating 4 out of 5]

For better or worse, they just don't write comics like this anymore. *g* The narration is amusing, florid, and festooned with exclamation points. It really takes me back.

I figured out the Green Goblin's identity way before I should have, though.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

An alright Spidey story but even though I love the character some of the inane expositionary speech from the older comics is still a little annoying.