Spider-Man has some of the best villains in comics. When it comes down to the rogues gallery of solo heroes, the only hero with villains that even approach the level of Spider-Man’s are Batman’s. That’s how good his villains are. He’s one of those rare heroes that has several villains that can be counted as greatest foe, but most fans agree that Norman Osborn’s Green Goblin is his greatest antagonist. Osborn is one of Spider-Man’s most important characters, having killed Gwen Stacy, orchestrated the Clone Saga, and battled Spider-Man at every turn for decades. He’s even moved beyond the Wall-Crawler, becoming the main villain of Marvel’s amazing “Dark Reign” status quo from 2009-2011.
Norman Osborn has changed a lot over the years, but for most, he is the Spider-Man villain. However, some fans know something that will shock you: not only is he not the Webslinger’s greatest villain, he’s not even the best Green Goblin. He was the first, sure, but there is a better one out there: his son Harry Osborn. He’s taken up his father’s mantle several times, but the best came in the early ’90s, in the brilliant J.M. DeMatteis/Sal Buscema run on The Spectacular Spider-Man. The saga of Harry as the Goblin is deep Spider-Man lore, and it gave readers one of the best stretches of a Spider-Man book ever.
Peter Parker and Harry Osborn’s History Made Him the Perfect Arch-Enemy for Spider-Man
Image Courtesy of Marvel COmics
So, to understand why Harry worked so well as Green Goblin, it’s important to understand his history with Peter and his father Norman. He and Peter were best friends, going to school together, dating girls together, and were as close as possible. Harry idolized his father Norman and he loved Peter like a brother, with the character often serving as a member of the supporting cast of various Spider-Man books. The death of Norman was a tragedy for Harry, and he started to hate Spider-Man, blaming him for his father’s death, even learning the truth, going a bit crazy, taking up his father’s mantle, then rejecting it.
He’d marry Liz Allen, have a son Norman Jr., but eventually the rage grew and he decided to go after his friend one more time. He used some of his father’s old equipment and became the Goblin again. However, since he didn’t have the Goblin formula, it was something of a rout, with the hero discovering that his best friend had taken up the mantle again. It was devastating, and Harry kept getting more and more unhinged after their fight. Eventually, he found an experimental Goblin serum, took it and gained superpowers while going even crazier. He had one final battle with Spider-Man, dying because of the Goblin formula and seemingly making peace with his best friend.
Writer J.M. DeMatteis built up this story over The Spectacular Spider-Man #178-184, #189-90, and #200 in “The Child Within” and “The Harry Osborn Saga”. DeMatteis is one of the greatest Spider-Man writers ever, and he played the story perfectly. It was the first Green Goblin story I ever read, and DeMatteis was able to get across the drama of the history of these two characters brilliantly, setting the stakes and wringing every emotion he could from this conflict. His Harry was a man vacillating between love and hate, his rage and pain driving him in terrible directions. The way Peter reacts to everything is perfect, and the effect’s Harry’s fall has on his family is amazing. This is what comics should be.
Sal Buscema is a Marvel legend, and has drawn basically every major Marvel character, and his art on Spectacular is generally amazing, but his Harry stories are something else. He nails the tone and emotion of these stories; the hatred, the sadness, the tragedy, the love leap off the pages at you. The action scenes are out of this world, beautifully laid, fluid masterpieces of comic craft. Watching Harry twisted by the darkness of his father is heartbreaking, and Buscema’s art brings it to life. This run on Spidey came in the early ’90s, in the days of McFarlane, Larsen, Bagley, and Lyle; all artists who were the opposite of Buscema’s style. However, the old master lapped all of them, and these issues prove why he was better. The final scene between the two is heartbreaking, especially for readers who followed the whole tragic saga, built up over a visually stunning finale.
Harry Osborn Will Always Be the Green Goblin to a Lot of Fans
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
The latest volume of The Ultimate Spider-Man saw the Harry Osborn of an alternate Earth become Green Goblin, and fans were pretty happy with the whole thing. For some older fans, though, it was awesome to see the best Green Goblin again. Harry’s run as Green Goblin from 1991-1993 was amazing, and it gave the ’90s generation of readers their own version of Spider-Man’s greatest enemy to cherish, down to his death. The final issue of this story, The Spectacular Spider-Man #200, is one of the most unforgettable Spider-Man comics ever.
Like all things Spider-Man, Harry’s stint as Green Goblin has been heavily retconned, with him getting resurrected because of “One More Day”, and then the whole thing revealed to be a ruse he helped engineer for reasons that are best ignored. It’s gotten entirely too complicated. However, if you go back and just read these the issues of Spectacular that gave readers his final story until his resurrection, you’re going to be treated to the best Green Goblin story you can imagine, cementing Harry as the greatest Goblin of them all.
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