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Amazing Spider-Man, The (1963 series) #98

on-sale: Apr 13, 1971
Stan Lee | Gil Kane

Amazing Spider-Man, The (1963 series) #98 cover

Story Name:

The Goblin's Last Gasp!


Synopsis

Amazing Spider-Man, The (1963 series) #98 synopsis by Anthony Silvestro
Rating: 5 stars

The Green Goblin flies outside Peter Parker’s apartment window, determined to kill Spider-Man once and for all, just as Peter was going to call a doctor for Harry! The Goblin flies into the apartment, where Peter shows him the sick, limp form of his son. This causes the Goblin to pause and then freak out. Not wanting to remember Harry and what he means to Norman Osborn, the Goblin hurriedly flies out of the apartment to finish off Spider-Man at another time! With this brief respite, Peter quickly gets Harry to a hospital, forced to leave things in the doctors’ hands. Peter thinks about Gwen and wonders if she’s thinking about him. Little does he know, across the pond in London, Gwen is indeed thinking about him. She realizes that nothing in life feels quite right without Peter and aims to fix the mistake she feels she’s made!

Some time later, Peter exits class and is soon stopped by a drug pusher, looking for Harry. Peter realizes this is the guy who sold Harry the drugs and he’s led away by the guy and his friends into an alley. Now out of sight, Peter lays a royal smackdown on the two goons before turning his anger upon the drug pusher. Peter thrashes the guy, despite holding back, and warns him not to push his drugs anywhere again, or next time he won’t be this gentle! Meanwhile, at the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson calls Robbie into his office to discuss how they’re going to run the story about Harry being in the hospital. Robbie feels it’s the perfect way to show that drugs affect everyone, not just the poor minorities, and Jameson tells him to get it ready as soon as possible.

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That evening, Peter changes to Spider-Man to once again look for the Green Goblin. Soon enough, the Goblin finds him, forcing Spidey on the move to avoid his attacks, while Spidey worries about how to deal with him without hurting him. After being worn down, Spidey is hit by a new weapon of the Goblin’s, a mist that neutralizes his wall-crawling! Not only that, just after Spidey discovers that his web-shooters have run out of webbing, leaving him without two of his greatest advantages! Spider-Man is then forced to stick and move, dodging the Goblin’s attacks by sheer agility alone, while he figures out a course of action. Beginning to tire, Spidey ducks behind a roof ledge and is able to pounce on the Goblin when he goes to investigate, wrapping his legs around the Goblin’s neck!

Now in control, Spidey uses his might to steer the Goblin in the direction of the hospital, stopping just outside Harry’s window. He forces the Goblin to confront the sight of his bed-ridden, drug-addled son, and it has the desired effect. Osborn’s grief at seeing his son like this shocks him out of his Goblin persona once more, eventually fainting from the stress. Spider-Man then rushes Osborn back home, making sure to burn his Green Goblin costume once more, now that the threat of the Goblin has passed once again. Feeling that his identity is safe once more, Peter goes to head home, before getting a huge surprise. Gwen appears, revealing that she returned from London and the two run to each other and embrace in a passionate kiss, giving Spidey a happy ending for once!

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Characters
Good (or All)
GSTACY
HARRYOS
JJJAMESON
ROBBIEROBERTSON
SPIDERMAN

Enemies
GREENGOBLINGNO

> Amazing Spider-Man, The (1963 series) comic book info and issue index



This comic is in the following collection:
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Collecting AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) #86-104.

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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Gil Kane
Frank Giacoia
Unknown
Gil Kane (Cover Penciler)
Frank Giacoia (Cover Inker)
Unknown (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Art Simek.



Review / Commentaries


Amazing Spider-Man, The (1963 series) #98 Review by (August 27, 2025)

Review: This historic story ends in spectacular fashion as the two concurrent plotlines finally converge! Spidey is backed against a corner by the Green Goblin, hit with a weapon that neutralizes his wall-crawling, and at the same time running out of webbing. His solution is to hop on the Goblin’s back and steer him to the hospital to confront the truth about his son’s condition. The sight shocks Osborn back out of his Goblin persona (as every Green Goblin story tends to end) and it’s actually quite sad seeing his reaction. Osborn breaks down and cries at seeing what the drugs have done to his son, and you genuinely feel quite bad for him. The art and the pacing of the scene do such a great job at making the strong emotions hit hard. My favorite scene in the issue though, is when Peter full on kicks the crap out of the guys who sold Harry the drugs, and threatens that he'll be back if he catches them pushing their drugs anywhere else! It’s just so extremely satisfying!

One point of contention I do have is that Peter muses that Harry may not have gotten into this situation if not for how Mary Jane treated him. While she could have possibly handled it better, it doesn’t feel right to blame her for his poor decisions. She didn’t make him take the drugs and Peter even refused to learn her side of things when given the chance, so we don’t even know her full side. It almost feels like Stan didn’t really like MJ by this point (which tracks as she doesn’t really start to get depth until Gerry Conway comes on board). Peter and Gwen also reunite when she returns from London, leaving this intense story off on a happy ending. Aw. I’m sure nothing bad will happen after this. Overall, a fantastic ending to this history-making story! And remember, kids: don’t do drugs!

Comments: Third issue of this story with no Comics Code Approval. At one point, Spidey alludes to the famous book, “The Old Man and the Sea”, but erroneously calls it “The Old Man of the Sea.”





Thor

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