10 Best Comic Storylines Featuring The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Villains
5. The Return Of The Green Goblin (Amazing Spider-Man #136-137)
After the death of the original Green Goblin, Norman Osborn, writer Gerry Conway and artist Ross Andru waited about a year before unleashing a new level of emotional torture for Spider-Man. Harry Osborn, Normans son and Peters best friend, discovers his roommate's Spider-Man costume in a drawer. This sends Harry completely over the edge (who was already emotionally spiraling down the drain after the death of his father) and he dons the green and purple costume to become the second Green Goblin. Harry is physically no match for Spider-Man, but the action is immaterial to this story. Watching Peter struggle to accept the fate of his friend is truly heartbreaking. Demonstrating just how hurt he is by Osborn's transformation, Spidey refuses to address his adversary as the "Goblin," instead, only calling him "Harry." And when the arc ends with Harry being carted off by police for his irrational behavior, its hard not to empathize with Peter, who naturally blames himself for his buddy's downfall.
Mark is a professional writer living in Brooklyn and is the founder of the Chasing Amazing Blog, which documents his quest to collect every issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and the Superior Spider-Talk podcast. He also pens the "Gimmick or Good?" column at Comics Should Be Good blog.
