Issue(s): Amazing Spider-Man #14
Published Date: Jul 64
Title: "The Grotesque Adventure of the Green Goblin"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Writer
Steve Dikto - Penciler
Steve Dikto - Inker

Review/plot: The first appearance of the Green Goblin is very silly.

He convinces a bad stereotype of a Hollywood producer to create a movie starring Spider-Man, the Enforcers, and himself. Spider-Man agrees to be in the movie (He signs a contract, presumably as Spider-Man. Doesn't he remember that he can't cash checks made out to that name?), and flies out to New Mexico where the movie is to be filmed. Peter thinks the crew did a really good job with the make up because the "actors look just like the real Enforcers". The Green Goblin tells Spidey that they and the Enforcers should go off and rehearse the fight scene, and when they get him alone, they attack him. That's it. That's the Goblin's plot.

I'll try to give the Goblin the benefit of the doubt and say that the reason he wanted in the desert is that it is out of Spidey's element, with no buildings to swing on. However, Spidey doesn't have too hard a time of beating them in any event. The fight eventually winds up in a cave where Spidey picks off the Enforcers one by one, But then it turns out that the Hulk is hiding out in this cave and Spidey has to fight him too.

The Green Goblin gets away, but the Enforcers are presumably picked up by an Army helicopter (How they'll recognize these guys as the 'real' Enforcers as opposed to actors when even Spidey, who has fought them before, did not is not mentioned).

The Green Goblin rides around on a mechanical flying broomstick. This doesn't square away as nicely with UTOS #8 as one might like it to. In that issue, the Headsman was using a proto-Goblin Glider, but the Goblin is not using a Glider here. Also, was this the great scheme that the Headsman was originally trying to contact the Enforcers about?

When Osbourne is not dressed as the Goblin, his face is kept hidden. At this point Lee and Dikto did not have a person in mind for the Goblin's alter ego, and Dikto actually left the book over the decision.

Meanwhile, Liz Allen is definitly falling for Peter Parker. She describes him as a dream boat. Also, Peter tells Aunt May that he is a high school senior almost ready to go to college.

The editors of this reprint have chosen to replace all the topical references with updated ones. Therefore the producer considers having Tom Selleck play the role of Spider-Man, and wants a soundtrack by Blondie. Worse, Peter tells Flash that he has as much a chance with Liz as Arafat has with Begin. This book was reprinted in 1994, so even if they were aiming for topical, they failed by at least a decade (unless the changes were carried over from an earlier reprint?). It's a bad idea to update these references at all for just that reason.

There's also a panel where the Green Goblin is talking to the Enforcers and says, "I'm now ready to give the four of you your orders!". It's probably just a mistake (if so, why not fix that while they were updating all the topical references?) but maybe he's got another henchman that we don't know about, like maybe the Headsman?

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 7 - first Green Goblin

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References: N/A

Cross-over: N/A

Continuity Implant? N

Reprinted In:Spider-Man Classics #15