AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #176-180 (1978)

Yes, it’s time for Len Wein’s Green Goblin arc.  Because every spider-writer of the 1970s and ’80s got one.  Marv’s was the first one to introduce a new Goblin.  Of course, Spider-Man didn’t know that at the time….

Another development: Aunt May is in the hospital (again) after suffering two heart attacks and Peter was unavailable for her (again) when she needed him to sign the surgical consent forms.  There’s that chilling image of Spider-Man in a clear trashbag out the window. The image seems, at least to me, to be a tribute to the classic Amazing Spider-Man #39.

All signs have pointed to Harry Osborn gradually losing his mind and becoming Green Goblin again, but

SPOILER ALERT 

this version of the Green Goblin is Harry’s shrink…

…Bart Hamilton. An interesting twist is that Harry, in the course of his treatment, told his doctor that Peter Parker was Spider-Man, so this Green Goblin knows the secret identity.  Bart dies in the end, though, so the secret remains a secret.  During the penultimate battle, Goblin critically injures crime lord Silvermane.  That will be important later.

Harry figures out what’s going on, and it actually inspires him to spring into action as a hero.  For the first time, an Osborn Green Goblin isn’t acting from a bad motive. Or, at least, not a totally bad motive.

He’s still mostly wants to take on the fake Gobby ’cause he wants to be the one true Green Goblin.

Anyway, the shrink (named Bart Hamilton) is unmasked and, surprisingly, dies.

And even more surprisingly, we don’t see the body, there’s no confirmed kill, but as far as I know he’s stayed dead ever since.

First time for everything, I guess.

At the end of this story, Harry has amnesia and doesn’t remember being Green Goblin.