Because publishers want you to buy their product every month, comics are typically serial in nature. However, occasionally (and more often nowadays than ever before) publishers launch a comic title that is only meant to last for one issue. While ongoing series often have multiple chances to hook in new readers, the comics highlighted in this ongoing investigations only had One-Shot At Greatness!
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Date: June 1996
Cover Price: $3.95
Writer: Kurt Busiek
Artist: Mark Texeira
Three Green Goblinettes kidnap young Norman Osborn (the original Green Goblin’s grandson) right in front of his mother (Liz Osborn), reporter Ben Urich, and Spider-Man. The silent villains left a telepathic message with Liz: they inted to bestow the Green Goblin legacy upon young Norman. As the issue progresses, Spider-Man, Liz, Ben and the Molten Man (Liz’s step-brother) track down old leads and shake down informants in an attempt to locate where the Goblinettes have taken the young boy. The heroes finally find the boy and are able to rescue his moments before he’s exposed to the formula that will warp him into the latest Green Goblin.
This is a beautifully painted Spider-Man tale that does a wonderful job of analyzing the past history of the Green Goblins – and even their spin-offs. It also moves the Goblin story forward – if even just a bit. After all, the Green Goblin persona is indeed one of the more prominent familial legacies in the Marvel Universe. Of course, a lot of this tale is kind of a moot point now that both Norman and Harry Osborn are back but, at the time this was published, they were both assumed dead for the long-haul. The end reveal of who was behind the Goblinettes was a bit of a letdown … although, at the time, there weren’t many other people that it could have been. I suppose the most lasting part of this story was that it showed the beginning of Ben Urich’s book that exposed the Green Goblin’s true identity to the world. This book has showed up quite a bit in Marvel continuity and it’s interesting to note that it got its start from this one-shot.
On Ebay: Spider-Man | Kurt Busiek | Mark Texeira
On AtomicAvenue: Spider-Man