I think it's okay. Not really outstanding or anything. Cool to finally see Goblin's origin at least.

The conclusion to this Green Goblin chapter is... Not as good as the first half. A lot of this issue is just Norman explaining his life and how he became Green Goblin. And that was actually pretty interesting, and I think the writing was handled well in showing how selfish Norman was as a father, unintentionally. But then we start recapping all the previous Goblin stories, excluding the most pertinent one that I felt needed a little more explanation, issues 37 and 38. It's going to bug me now that they never explained why Norman didn't resort to the Goblin immediately after issue 37, but I guess life has its mysteries. But yeah, the issue is very long winded, which isn't an issue until we start recapping old stories. We get a glimpse at what Betty is up to and that's a bit unappealing to me. I'm ready to move on to the Gwen and MJ years, alright? Gwen has been around for several issues now and MJ is right around the corner. Ned and Betty can get married and we can be done with it. I didn't mention the art in my last review because I'm not a good person, but it is exceptional. I think Romita Sr. is a better artist for Spider-Man than Ditko was. I'm not sure if that's controversial or not, because despite the love for Ditko, Romita's style dominated pop culture for decades, and is still probably the quintessential Spidey that we all think of. As the title becomes more and more entrenched in the soap opera aspect, I think the fact that Romita is so good at drawing pretty people will only bolster my opinion of his art. It's just so good. Even the grotesque Goblin looks his best here. It's like seeing pure nostalgia on the page, I love it. Also, something to mention, we've officially entered Spider-Man: Blue territory. Spider-Man: Blue is one of my favorite Spidey stories ever. It makes me weep like a baby. So, I'm thinking I'll catch up to whichever issue it finishes in, and then go and give that a re-read with the original issues fresh in my mind. If I do, I'll review those as well. I'm not sure if I haven't already done so.... If I have, I'll pull a Robert Ebert and do a re-review, and no one will be the wiser. But for now, I'm genuinely just stoked to get to more Spider-Man.

Quote of the issue: "Who Cares Why You Became the Green Goblin? You Probably Lost an Election Bet or Something!" more