questo numero pubblica l' episodio epocale in cui Gwen Stacy perde la vita, vittima della bizzarria ingrata di un destino beffardo e del delirio paranoico del folletto verde :
per la dolce suorina e geisha yé-yé GWEN STACY giunge l' ora del fatidico appuntamento col padreterno
Col tempo Peter riuscirà comunque a consolarsi lo stesso grazie alle carezze , ai pizzicotti , alle unghiate, agli schiaffoni e ai morsi della più grintosa, intemperante e selvaggia MJ
La storia contenuta in questo albo segna una importante tappa nel mondo dei comic e al tempo suscitò molto scalpore e indignazione in parte dei lettori che reclamarono addirittura la testa del "colpevole" dell'omicidio.
I credits della storia indicano Gerry Conway come sceneggiatore ma il soggetto è ad opera dello stesso Conway, di Stan Lee, di John Romita Sr. e di Roy Thomas.
L'idea di uccidere Gwen Stacy pare sia partita da John Romita, che riteneva il personaggio troppo solare, e solo con l'arrivo di Conway si sia concretizzata con il consenso di tutto il team creativo. L'unico a non condividere questa scelta pare sia stato lo stesso Stan Lee che avrebbe preferito che fosse uccisa Mary Jane.
La morte di Gwen favorì lo sviluppo della serie, per Peter fu una botta davvero tragica che però facilitò la maturazione del suo rapporto con Mary Jane.
Contiene inoltre : IRON-MAN (di cui riprende la cronologia a partire dagli episodi successivi a quelli pubblicati sulla soppressa testata di Devil, per gli smemorati, i distratti e i rincoglioniti viene riproposto prudentemente anche il primo episodio originale con le origini della lattina ambulante rinforzata, storia già apparsa a suo tempo sempre su Devil Corno e precisamente nel n.23)
CONDIZIONI : OTTIME, LIEVISSIMO ACCENNO DI MARCA DI PIEGA DIAGONALE IN COPERTINA, ALBO NON DI RESA E NON RIFILATO
LEGENDA STATO DI CONSERVAZIONE
condizioni ECCELLENTI (o anche EDICOLA e/o MAGAZZINO) = si intende un oggetto nuovo e perfetto oppure usato senza difetti e praticamente ancora come nuovo, tenendone per quest’ultimo caso in conto ovviamente la datazione ; corrisponde a un range di grading internazionale compreso tra 8,5 e 9,8 (non assegniamo punteggi superiori a 9,8 perchè trattasi di tipi ideali a ns avviso più teorici e scolastici che reali e concreti, ogni manufatto umano in natura ha una percentuale insita e congenita seppur infinitesimale di imperfezione)
condizioni OTTIME = oggetto nuovo (o talora anche usato ma maneggiato e conservato con molta cura) in cui non si riscontra alcun difetto rilevante e degno di nota, tutt’al più qualche minimo segno di lettura o di uso ; corrisponde a un range di grading internazionale compreso tra 7 e 8,5
condizioni BUONISSIME = oggetto usato (ed in taluni casi anche fondo di magazzino soggetto a piccole usure del tempo) con lievi imperfezioni e difetti poco vistosi, generalmente molto marginali ed appena percepibili ; corrisponde a un range di grading internazionale compreso tra 5,5 e 7
condizioni MOLTO BUONE = oggetto usato con imperfezioni vistose e difetti abbastanza spiccati, pur se non completamente invalidanti (generalmente specificati nel dettaglio alla voce CONDIZIONI nella parte inferiore della descrizione di ogni singolo oggetto); corrisponde a un range di grading internazionale compreso tra 4 e 5,5
condizioni PIU’ CHE BUONE / MEDIOCRI = oggetto usato con imperfezioni e difetti evidenti, smaccati, madornali ed invalidanti, assolutamente non collezionabile tuttavia idoneo per la semplice lettura o documentazione ; corrisponde a un range di grading internazionale inferiore a 4
per eventuali ulteriori dettagli aggiuntivi e specifici si prega di fare sempre riferimento alla voce CONDIZIONI nella parte inferiore della descrizione di ogni singolo oggetto
"The Night Gwen Stacy Died" / QUALCUNO DEVE MORIRE (La notte in cui Gwen Stacy è morta) |
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- "She was dead before your webbing reached her! A fall from that height would kill anyone before they struck the ground."
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
Other Characters:
- Ray, Osborn's doctor
Locations:
- New York City
- Harry Osborn and Peter Parker's Apartment
- George Washington Bridge or Brooklyn Bridge
- Daily Bugle Building
- Lower East Side
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis
In the previous issue Harry Osborn had taken LSD, which made him fall into a clinical Psychosis. This issue begins with Peter as Spider-Man now watching through their apartment window as Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson are at Harry's bedside. The Osborn's family doctor Ray tells Gwen and Mary Jane that Harry has been taking drugs again. He gives Harry a shot of Thorazine, a tranquilizer to offset the effect of LSD.
Spider-Man decides to do a quick change on the rooftop and go inside where he is then confronted by Norman Osborn.
Norman blames Peter for what has happened to Harry and later in this issue cracks under pressure returning to the Green Goblin persona.
Peter on his way to the Daily Bugle building feels a cold coming on from the change of climate between Montreal and New York. While talking to Robbie Robertson at the Bugle dropping off some pictures of the Hulk from his Montreal assignment, J. Jonah Jameson walks in and tells Robertson about Parker to "get this disease ridden menace out of my building". Before Peter leaves he points out that Robbie should have Jameson send him a bonus check for about two hundred dollars for the pictures.
When Norman leaves his son's bedside he begins to think how he has failed him as a father. Then he starts to hallucinate and sees his enemy Spider-Man coming at him, soon he flees from the apartment out into the street until he gets to Manhattan's lower eastside.
There in a place he had almost forgotten lies his Green Goblin paraphernalia. Then after returning to the Goblin persona he decides to kidnap Gwen. She is standing at the window of Peter and Harry's apartment wishing there was some way she could do to help Harry when the Green Goblin comes flying into view.
When Spider-Man finally swings back to the apartment all he finds is a pumpkin lantern and satchel left behind by the Green Goblin. He soon realizes that Gwen has been kidnapped and that he must rely on his Spider-Sense to lead him to where the Goblin is. His Spider-Sense leads him to a New York city bridge which in the original comic Spider-Man calls the George Washington Bridge because it is Norman Osborn's favorite President but it is drawn like the Brooklyn Bridge (this has been later changed to the Brooklyn Bridge in future retellings but the original story was written to include the George Washington Bridge) where he spots the Green Goblin standing next to a motionless Gwen Stacy.
At the bridge Spider-Man attempts to get to Gwen but must fight the Goblin with everything he has.
Both Spider-Man and the Goblin fight until the Goblin swoops down knocking Gwen off the side of the bridge.
Spider-Man then goes to save her and as his Webbing catches her, her neck breaks and she dies instantly.
Spider-Man praises himself as he cradles the lifeless body of Gwen until he realizes that she is dead. The Goblin taunts him saying that "she was dead before your webbing reached her! a fall from that height would kill anyone before they struck the ground".
Holding the lifeless body of Gwen in one arm Spider-Man raises his fist into the air vowing to destroy and make the Goblin pay for the death of the woman he loved. On the final page we get to see the title of the story "The Night Gwen Stacy Died".
Notes
When this issue came out people seemed unsure whether the Green Goblin killed Gwen Stacy, or that her neck was broken by the sudden whiplash effect when Spider-Man caught her with his webbing. It was explained in the letters column of Amazing Spider-Man #125, where Roy Thomas wrote that "it saddens us to have to say that the Whiplash effect she underwent when Spidey's webbing stopped her so suddenly was, in fact, what killed her. In short, it was impossible for Peter to save her. He couldn't have swung down in time; the action he did take resulted in her death; if he had done nothing, she still would certainly have perished. There was no way out." They also explained that Gerry Conway, Roy Thomas, and Stan Lee had decided that she had to die because Peter Parker wasn't ready for marriage, and the relationship was too often off and on again.
Trivia
- Randy Robertson, Aunt May and Flash Thompson all appear on the cover but only as images in Norman Osborn's vision of madness before he returns to the Green Goblin Persona.
- Spider-Man says Norman Osborn's favourite President is George Washington.
"Iron Man Is Born!" / IRON MAN E' NATO |
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Featured Characters:
- Iron Man (Tony Stark) (First appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- Professor Ho Yinsen (Only appearance; dies)
Antagonists:
- Wong-Chu (First appearance) (Apparent death)
- Wong-Chu's Red Guerillas (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- United States Army
- United States Air Force
- South Vietnamese Villagers
- Army of the Republic of Vietnam
Locations:
- Earth
- "US Defense Perimeter"
- Europe
- France
- French Riviera (First appearance)
- France
- Asia
- Vietnam (First appearance)
- South Vietnam (First appearance)
- An Thoc (First appearance)
- Vietnam (First appearance)
Items:
- Iron Man Armor Model 1 (First appearance)
- Micro-transistor-powered mortars
Events:
Synopsis
In a closely guarded lab, Anthony "Tony" Stark shows off a new invention to US military defense officials. He has developed micro-transistors capable of powering up things such as magnets; turning them into powerful weapons strong enough to pull open a thick metal door from a distance. They increase magnetic force a thousandfold!
Stark impresses the military brass with his new inventions, while at the same time impressing the ladies of the international jet set with his dashing good looks and incredible personal wealth.
Across the globe, the evil Red tyrant Wong-Chu takes over another small village in Vietnam, defeating its strongest men in contests of judo.
Meanwhile, Tony Stark has arrived in Vietnam to observe the testing micro-transistor-powered weaponry, which allow heavy items like mortars to be reduced in size no larger or heavier than a flashlight. Accompanying a squad of soldiers equipped with his weaponry on a patrol through the jungle, he accidentally triggers a tripwire that detonates a landmine.
The wounded Stark is captured by Wong-Chu's forces and taken to their nearby headquarters. Wong-Chu realizes his prisoner is a "famous Yankee inventor" and decides that he will put him to work in service of the Communist insurgency even though doctors determine the young inventor only has days to live before "shrapnel reaches his heart."
Wong-Chu falsely promises that he will have a surgeon save Stark's life if he will agree to develop new high-tech weapons for him. Even though he saw through Wong-Chu's words to his true intentions, to make him work until his death, Stark agrees, in order to try and save his own life with his technical abilities and Wong-Chu's resources. Given access to scrap metal and tools, Stark promises he will deliver a "fantastic weapon," but sets out in building a mechanism that will help stop the shrapnel from penetrating his heart. He is given an assistant named Professor Yinsen, a famous physicist whom Stark had read about while in college. Working together, the two finalize work on Stark's project: an iron body suit with a chest plate that will keep the shrapnel at bay through use of transistor-powered magnets.
Just as Stark has donned the life-saving suit and begun to power it with electrical current from a generator, Wong-Chu attempts to come check on his prisoners. Professor Yinsen rushes out into the hallway shouting at Wong-Chu and is shot dead by armed guards, buying the precious seconds Stark needed to fully charge the armor.
Tony Stark, as Iron Man, hears the murder of his friend and swears he will avenge his death. He tries to rise and steady himself in the Iron Man armor, but discovers it is like learning to walk again.
He quickly gets the hang of operating the armor and evades detection from Wong-Chu by leaping to the ceiling and holding himself there using suction cups. After Wong-Chu leaves the room, the tyrant heads outside to "amuse himself" with his favorite sport, challenging the villagers to a duel of judo.
Iron Man descends from the ceiling and finds a coat and hat, with which to cover his armor, and wanders outside to find Wong-Chu tossing people around in the judo arena. Iron Man challenges Wong-Chu, then takes off his coat and hat to reveal the shocking visage of Iron Man! The metal monster walks up to Wong-Chu, picks him up, and twirls him around before tossing him into the brush. Wong-Chu demands that his guards open fire on Iron Man, but the bullets just bounce off the armored figure's metal chest plate. Iron Man then uses "reverse magnetism" to repel the enemy weapons. Wong-Chu tries to get to the speakers of the nearest building, in order to put a bounty on Iron Man, but Stark manages to create electrical interference and switch the radio's channel, telling Wong-Chu's troops through the speaker to flee their leader before the Iron Man "slays [them] all." Iron Man cuts down the building's door using a transistor-powered buzz-saw, but as soon as he enters the Communist menace fells him with a file cabinet loaded with rocks.
Wong-Chu escapes to order the execution of all his prisoners, but Iron Man, low on energy and too weak to continue pursuit, uses his armor's lubrication system to launch a stream of oil towards an ammunition depot near the fleeing Wong-Chu. He then sets fire to the oil stream using a miniature torch in one of the armor's gauntlets, causing the ammo dump to explode, and seemingly killing Wong-Chu. His batteries now recharged, Iron Man dons his coat and hat and walks away into the jungle.
Trivia
- Don Heck based Stark's look on the 1930s movie actor Errol Flynn.
- Yinsen's name is similar to that of a pulp villain of the 1930's named Dr. Yen Sin, who appeared in his own short-lived magazine.
"Weep For A Lost Nightmare!" / UN PIANTO PER UN INCUBO PERDUTO ! |
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Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
- Mr. Kline
- Night Phantom (Robot)
Other Characters:
- Captain America
- Madame Masque (Appears in flashback and main story)
- Janice Cord (Appearance in flashback only)
- Bridget
Locations:
Items:
Synopsis
The Guardsman brings Iron Man to Avengers Mansion. Captain America momentarily mistakes Guardsman for a foe.
The Guardsman uses the mansion's equipment to repair Tony's pacemaker. Elsewhere, Mr. Kline fumes over his inability to control Stark's mind, but beginning to influence his subconscious, sends him nightmare images of the Night Phantom. Mr. Kline has also built a Night Phantom robot.
As Tony recovers at his penthouse, Kevin finds his attraction to Marianne difficult to control.
After Kevin leaves, the Night Phantom robot invades the penthouse and menaces Marianne.
Tony drags himself from his wheelchair to become Iron Man and fights, only realizing when he smashes its chest that he is facing another of Mr. Kline's robots.
