While Marvel Comics has had some incredible moments, things changed forever with this specific issue of The Amazing Spider-Man. The cover image says it all, as it has Spider-Man admitting that someone close to him was going to die and he couldn’t stop them. The photos on the cover included faces like Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson, Harry Osborn, J. Jonah Jameson, Aunt May, Norman Osborn, and more. Readers saw this cover when the book was released on March 13, 1973, and wanted to know who would die. The book teased the death on the first page, but withheld the issue’s title until the final page, forcing readers to wait until the very end for the reveal. That was when Gwen Stacy died.
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In “The Night Gwen Stacy Died” by Gerry Conway and Gil Kane, Harry Osborn had relapsed into his drug addiction, and Norman Osborn blamed everyone but himself. That is when Norman remembered that he was the Green Goblin and went after Spider-Man for revenge. He abducted Gwen Stacy and took her to the Brooklyn Bridge, where she was knocked off during their battle. Spider-Man caught her with his webbing, but after a snap, she died in his arms. It is a shocking and genre-defining moment that makes this issue one that any Marvel Comics fan would be lucky to have in their collection.
Amazing Spider-Man #121 Ushers Out the Silver Age of Comics
Many comic book historians consider The Amazing Spider-Man #121 to be the end of the Silver Age. The death of Gwen Stacy broke the era’s unwritten rules about the consequences for a person’s actions and the deaths of major characters. When Gwen died despite being caught by Spider-Man’s webline, it sent shockwaves through the comic book world and showed that anyone could die at any time, and opened the door for the darker Bronze Age, an era where major deaths could happen more often than not.
It also changed Spider-Man forever. Gwen Stacy was the love of Peter Parker’s life, and seeing her die in this manner sent him into a downward spiral. He set out in the next issue to find and kill the Green Goblin in revenge, and while Norman Osborn did seemingly die in that next issue, it was because of an accident that was not Spider-Man’s fault, leaving his hands clean and keeping his role as a genuine hero intact. It also set up Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson’s relationship, which would become even more important over the next few decades than the one with Gwen.
However, with Gwen Stacy dying in this issue and Green Goblin dying one issue later, the gloves were off for the Marvel Universe from this point forward. This issue was also important because Marvel Comics showed the effects of drug use, something that the Comics Code Authority didn’t take kindly to. With the cover showing someone was going to die, Harry Osborn was the most likely since he had taken too much LSD and had a doctor in the issue say Harry developed schizophrenia as a result. Seeing the effects of drug addiction on a person’s mind was another turning point. The Amazing Spider-Man #121 changed comics in many ways, and this was when the industry grew up.
The Amazing Spider-Man #121 Is a Piece of History for Any Collection
In today’s Marvel Comics world, characters die all the time, only to be resurrected and act like nothing ever happened. However, in this issue, the death was real, and Marvel didn’t go back on it, although the company teased it during the Clone Saga and the later multiverse versions of Gwen. That said, this is a comic book that had real stakes and is a quality addition to anyone’s collection.
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