15 Emotional Comic Book Moments That Made Us Shed A Tear
10. The Death Of Harry Osborn
In the world of Spider-Man comics, Peter Parker and Harry Osborn have long had a complicated relationship. Harry blamed Peter's alter-ego, Spider-Man, for the death of his father, Norman (who masqueraded as the supervillain the Green Goblin). At one point in the 1970s, Harrys anger for Peter/Spider-Man reaches such a tipping point, he took on the mantel as the Green Goblin, and attempted to strike back at the hero by murdering his Aunt May. Spider-Man was able to defeat Harry, and after some therapy, his marriage to Liz Allan, and the birth of his son Normie, Osborn appeared to be cured from his bout of insanity.
That's when J.M. DeMatteis and Sal Buscema decided to take Harry down the path of evil again, as part of their Spectacular Spider-Man storyline The Child Within. In this story, Harry is haunted by the ghost of his father, and returns to the Green Goblin persona to exact justice on Spider-Man. Peter is distraught to be fighting his friend again, and is unprepared and unwilling to use his full strength on Harry, despite the fact that the Goblin is threatening the safety of his wife Mary Jane, and Aunt May.
The storyline culminates in Spectacular Spider-Man #200, when it appears that Harry has defeated Spider-Man, leaving him to die in a building that is rigged to explode. However, Harry suddenly feels guilty and goes back to save Spidey seconds before the bomb goes off. Immediately after his moment of heroism, Harry falls to the ground and he dies in the back of an ambulance.
What makes Harry's death so tear-inducing is how there are no words; DeMatteis and Buscema let images tell the entire story. Despite the lack of dialogue, Buscemas pencils are so extraordinary, they are able to convey how the two have reconciled and love each other. The final image of the comic is a photo of Peter and Harry in younger, happier times, reminding the reader of a what a world with less complexity and evil looks like.