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Down But Not Out

by Drew Clements westofmiskatonic@gmail.com

It was 1994 and it was the beginning of a dark time in the world of Spider-Man. The "Clone Saga" ended my near-obsessive buying of the Spidey books for nearly five years. If you weren't able to follow all sixty (or something like that) of the monthly Spider titles, then you were screwed when it came to keeping up with what was going on. That's not the reason for the end of my Spider-buying, no, it was the idea the Ben Reilly, the Spider-clone, was actually the real Peter Parker and the Peter Parker that had been with us so many years, was actually the clone... ugh... So I stopped buying the books regularly after this "revelation". It ended all interest in a character I'd loved for many years. If you're really interested in learning more about the "Clone Saga", check out the "Life of Reilly" .  It's an excellent 35-part article on the whole thing. The introduction of Marvel's Essential books, namely The Essential Spider-Man volume #1, in 1999 fully immersed me again in the world of Spider-Man, but this time it was from the start: Amazing Fantasy #15 written by Stan Lee and drawn by Steve Ditko. It was a re-introduction to the world of Spider-Man. There were no weird continuity issues going on since this was where it all started. It was just pure, plain fun. Most important of all this: Peter Parker was Peter Parker. There was no Ben Reilly. It wasn't until J. Michael Straczynski took over that my interest in the current (at the time) Amazing Spider-Man book resurfaced. Unfortunately, the very man that brought me back to Spidey has recently sent me running at a speed faster than I left the books when the clone, Ben Reilly was around. All of this outlines my feelings toward the books at the time and brings me to the book that I'll be covering this week. Unfortunately the events in the core Spidey titles from 1994 to 1997 overshadowed this title, so it never really had a chance to take off, but you (all three of you) will get a glimpse into a real hidden gem of the time. You'll also get a little more background on a character that's recently shown up in Brian K. Vaughn's Runaways v.2. It was 1995 and the Spider-Man books were knee-deep in the infamous "Clone Saga" when it was decided to revamp an old character... Green Goblin #1 Original Release Date: October 1995 Writer: Tom DeFalco Artist: Scott McDaniel Letterer: Jim Novak Colorist: Gregory Wright Editors: Danny Fingeroth & Tom Brevoort Editor In Chief: Bob Budiansky On the first page of this book we're greeted by a rather maniacal looking Green Goblin (is there any other kind? hmm...). You're pretty sure right off the bat that this isn't the Norman Osborne GG since the character repeatedly uses the expression "cool" to describe his flying around on the goblin glider. Norman was never known for his use of slang. The next page sends us to a flashback. Five people are inside a video store, Kidd Video, trashing the place. Why? Apparently the place fired one of their friends, so they decided to retaliate by vandalizing and looting the store. Outside we meet up with Phil Ulrich, who was asked by a friend, "Fast" Freddie Glazer, to meet him in front of Kidd Video. Phil asks why Freddie wanted him to meet him there and Freddie lets Phil in on the whole thing. Apparently it was Phil that got fired from the video store and Freddie, being the friend that he is, called in one of his friends, Ricko "The Sicko" to take care of things. Phil freaks out, not wanting to have any part of this. As soon as he expresses his disdain for the situation and Ricko "The Sicko", the cops show up. Not wanting to be taken down by the cops just by association with the crew, Phil tells Freddie to grab his van. The cops exit their car and start checking the place out. From the outside it looks fine and one of the officers comments on this. Phil runs up from behind, shouting that a lady down the block is getting mugged (Lie to the cops, Phil. Lie to 'em!). The cops take the bait and drive off in the direction Phil points them in. Nice. Phil soon finds himself in Freddie's van with Ricko and his no good niks. Ricko rewards Phil for his efforts with a couple of videos. It's funny because Ricko's hand obscures the titles for the most part. On one video you see the final word of a title is "Boots" and the other is "allas". "Boots" could be anything, but if you look closely you can see part of a letter at the bottom of Ricko's hand that corresponds with the VHS that has "allas" on it. Now, I may be jumping to things, but the piece of this letter looks something like a "D" (it's entirely possible it could be an "E"), but anyway, if you're a porn connoisseur, like my grandmother, you might see where I'm heading with this. I've determined that this videotape is none other than a copy of "Debbie Does Dallas" (how's that for a stretch?)... The van stops and lets Phil off at his studio apartment. He checks his messages and finds one from his mother, reminding him about dinner with her and his father tomorrow evening. On his way to crash in his bed, Phil drops the stolen VHS tapes into the trash. The next day, at the Daily Bugle, we're thrown into the hustle and bustle of a busy New York newspaper. Ben Ulrich is searching through the chaos for his intern, who is also his nephew, who is ALSO our main character, Phil Ulrich. Ben seems to believe that his nephew is something of a slacker and ponders why he hired him in the first place when a co-worker points him in the direction of the copy center. We jump over to the copy center to find Phil watching the object of his affections, Lynn Walsh, make copies (nothin' sexier than that). He contemplates how funny it would be to show up at dinner that night with Lynn on his arm. While lost in though, she turns and greets him, catching him off-guard. Phil mumbles as she exits and is replaced by his Uncle Ben. Ben puts him on a research project that'll send him the next day to a piece of property bought, under the guise of a dummy corporation, by Harry Osbourne (the Green Goblin AFTER Norman). Ben has a big interest in all things Goblin since he's writing a book on the old villain. Phil comments that about how the original Goblin's costume is retro and dorky. Next up we jump to the evening at Phil's parent's home. Phil explains that he's helping his Uncle with research for his book, but his older brother, Kenneth, a financial consultant, is more interested in his long-term career prospects. His dad thinks his son would be wise to move back home and get back into school. This scene sets up the idea that Phil isn't exactly the apple of his parents' eyes. Back at the Bugle it's presumably the next night as Phil has checked up on the Osbourne property through the use of the County Clerk's Office. He's done such a good job that he's impressed his Uncle Ben, who is in a hurry to check out the property. Phil leaves his Uncle and the man's excitement to head back home. On his way he considers saving up some money and going back to college and possibly studying journalism, which is apparently something he's good at. On his way he spots Freddie in a crowd on the streets of Manhattan. He confronts Freddie, still irritated that the guy almost got them both in trouble the other night. Freddie offers his opinion on Phil's life (and where better to get such an opinion that from a person that robs video stores for a living?). He thinks that everyone in Phil's life is using him and that HE was just trying to look out for his friend the other night. Freddie comments that even Phil's Uncle Ben is using him, but Phil jumps in and lets the cat out of the bag that he found one of the Goblin's old hideouts. Freddie's ears perk up at this information and he wants Phil to tell him more. Next up we visit Ben Ulrich at his home in the evening. He's just finished up dinner and he's talking to his wife, Doris, about how proud he is of his nephew. Ben also tells his wife that he's going to check out Harry Osborne's property... Over at Phil's we find our misunderstood slacker fast asleep. A phone call shakes him out of bed. Upon answering it, he finds that his upstanding friend, Freddie, has told the equally law-abiding Ricko "The Sicko" about his Goblin find. We zoom over to the next scene where Phil arrives on the scene outside Osborne's old warehouse to confront Freddie, once again. He enters the building and finds Ricko and his goons going through multiple crates. The frontman for this instrument-less band of fools is ecstatic at the idea of selling all this pricey equipment they found. From behind, some of the man's crew brings Ben, struggling, to the group. Phil ducks into a corner to avoid his Uncle spotting him. This corner just happens to be by the main light switch, so he flips it and plunges the warehouse into darkness. Phil runs out and in between Ricko's crew, who are all confused and blind, to snag his Uncle and lead him outside. The two stumble down a flight of stairs in the pitch blackness. Phil instructs Ben on how to exit the building from their current location and Ben does as he is told. The goons eventually find the light switch and see that Ben is gone. Ricko orders his crew to find the man. Phil is now hiding again behind more crates. Leaning back, he accidentally triggers a hidden door. Once inside he closes it behind him. He finds a button, presses it, and is suddenly inside one of the hidden Green Goblin labs (the GG had many hideouts over the years, so this wasn't just made up for plot's sake). Phil snoops around, checking out all the cool Goblin gear. Being a bit of a wuss, he is scared by a rat and falls back into a large glass cylinder filled with green liquid. The glass shatters when his body hits it, dousing him in the goo. Immediately, he cries out in pain as the weird stuff causes a severe irritation in his body. The goons upstairs hear the scream and begin rooting around more. Eventually they find Ben, who instead of leaving, has just ducked behind some boxes. Phil hears their shouts that they've found the old man so he decides to try something... he figures he can use all the Goblin gear to scare Ricko and his baddies away from his Uncle and out of the building. So, he puts the Goblin mask on and something happens. He's electrocuted, but still presses on, determined to save his Uncle. Back upstairs we find Ricko threatening Ben, asking where his pal that turned the lights off, is hiding. From above a demented creature (not the Hypno Hustler) swoops down on a jet-powered glider. It's Phil and he's trying his best to balance on the tricky conveyance. Ricko's crew begin throwing stuff at the Goblin and Phil, new to the glider, crashes it into a stack of crates. The crew runs after him, ready to attack, when Phil finds that he has the ability, just as the original GG did, to shoot bolts of energy from his fingertips. He also finds that his strength has been augmented (possibly... more than likely, by the chemicals), so he tosses a crate at his attackers as if it weighed nothing. As the old GG did, he tosses a few Pumpkin Bombs at his adversaries as well. Ricko finally gets enough of having his ass handed to him and pulls a gun. He shouts, "I AM THE MAN!" just in time to feel a swift punch from the new Goblin. It puts him down for the count. The cops finally arrive to find the goons and Ben, as well as the new Goblin. Instead of staying behind to explain things, Phil uses the goblin glider to quickly exit the warehouse. In the last panel, which is much the same as the first, we see the Goblin flying toward us. The text boxes let us in on Phil's thoughts as he wonders whether he'll ditch the Goblin stuff of keep it... "But, like, whatever happens... one thing's for sure! This is definitely not the end!" And on those final words, the book comes to an end. This is the first time I've read this book in years, so I'm finding some of the dialogue a bit dated. The use of "like" is quintessential 1990's slang. I find it a bit more irritating than when I go back and read the 1960's issue of The Amazing Spider-Man where they use all sorts of outdated slang. I think that's probably because I lived through the time when the phrase was mind-numbingly overused. I'd imagine that anyone from the 60s and so forth cringe at any use of their slang. Anyway, Tom DeFalco writes a fun little story here. There's nothing complicated about it. This is your typical first issue. It sets up the main character's world and how he interacts with it. Then it moves on to how he comes across his new alter ego. This is fun stuff and with all the crap that was going on in the Spider-Man titles at the time, it was completely refreshing, which is why it deserves attention. I love the idea of taking an old villain, really THE Spidey villain, and putting a fresh spin on him. The stories that come from this had the potential (and were) to be really original. Think about how hard it would be to take on the Green Goblin's identity and NOT have a negative spin on it. How hard would it be to turn that around? The art, by Scott McDaniel is good stuff. There are a lot of bright colors here and there, but when the story calls for something dark, the guy really delivers. So that's good stuff as well. The series only lasted for 13 issues, which is a shame, but that makes it pretty easy to locate. I honestly can't imagine this stuff going for any more than $1 or so an issue (maybe less if you look hard enough). Check it out, it's one of my "fun" titles that I like to point people to.