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 The Green Goblin’s exploits to rule the criminal underworld are so intriguing that it was only a matter of time before a new series examined that time period further. Enter: the Gwen Stacy mini series. With a setting based around the time of the events of Amazing Spider-Man #23-30, this series serves as an untold tale centered around, as the title suggests, the magnificent Gwendolyn Stacy. Again, for a full exploration of Osborn’s plan to take over all the criminal syndicates as the Green Goblin, please check out this section. Gwen Stacy #1 takes places shortly after the events of Amazing Spider-Man #23, when Lucky Lobo and his gang had just been arrested by the police. Back in Amazing Spider-Man #23, the Green Goblin had manipulated the events leading up to the gang’s arrest, although at the time the Goblin had planned for only Lobo to take the fall. However, that did not stop Osborn from continuing to meddle in this situation further as Gwen Stacy #1 shows he’s up to his same old tricks. At the onset of the story, Osborn has his loyal thugs, the Enforcers, tailing Gwen Stacy as she heads home from school. While the Enforcers are prepared to kidnap and harm her, Osborn tells them to hold off as he alludes to a different plot that has already been initiated. Gwen eventually makes her way to the police station where she joins her father, who is knee deep in the Lucky Lobo case. Gwen and Captain George Stacy cleverly devise a plan to flip Nick the Greek, a former Lobo gang member, by offering him a deal. When Captain Stacy goes to meet with Nick, a shadowy figure fires a shot, killing the gang member and ultimately framing Stacy for his death. George also sustains a gun shot to the leg during the melee. When Captain Stacy awakes a few days later in a hospital bed, Lieutenant Jean DeWolff informs him that he’s under investigation by Internal Affairs. According to DeWolff, the forensic evidence suggests Captain Stacy fired first and that there are ledgers showing payoffs to various cops. Internal affairs is thus investigating Captain Stacy since it appears that he killed Nick the Greek as part of a cover up for those payoffs. George Stacy was dumbfounded at these allegations and with Gwen alongside him at the hospital, they both adamantly deny any wrongdoing on his part. But things go from bad to worse because a hospital orderly comes by to take Stacy to get x-rays. However, this is no ordinary orderly, this is Montana of the Enforcers and he’s there to threaten the captain. He points out Ox, within striking distance of Gwen and claims it would be a shame if anything were to happen to her.  He tells Captain Stacy to back off fighting these allegations. A deflated Captain Stacy realizes he’s stuck and when Gwen approaches him to get motivated to fight back, he simply tells her that he’s “not up to it.” Soon after, Gwen resolves to take the fight on against Internal Affairs without her dad’s help. Meanwhile, at a secret headquarters across town, the Crime Master and the Green Goblin are gathered to discuss their next play. Interestingly, they express how the events regarding Lobo/etc “worked out perfectly.” This lies a bit in contrast with the Green Goblin’s sentiment at the conclusion of Amazing Spider-Man #23. In that story, the Green Goblin was furious that the Lobo’s entire crew had been arrested, removing the gang he was supposed to lead in Lobo’s absence. Regardless, at the conclusion of Gwen Stacy #1, the Goblin and the Crime Master are poised to strike with Captain Stacy out of the way! Gwen Stacy’s quest to clear her father’s name continues in Gwen Stacy #2, as she enlists the help of her boyfriend, Darius LeClerc, and her close friend Harry Osborn. The trio are operating out of Harry’s house in Manhattan, using Oscorp technology to model the forensic evidence around the Pappas shooting. Gwen scored the forensic data from contacts at the NYPD still loyal to her father and Harry got them access to the Oscorp software. While the group is arguing over the computer model, they’re surprised by the sudden arrival of Norman Osborn. Unfazed by the intrusion into to his office, Norman looks to make introductions with Harry’s guests. He recognizes Darius, since he’s a star athlete, and is even aware that Gwen is the daughter of NYPD’s Captain George Stacy. Osborn is immediately met with complaints about the quality of the Oscorp software from Gwen, he, of course, ignores her comments. As he dismisses himself from the group he offers Gwen a solid bit of advice. “If you want to know who’s behind something” he says, “ask who benefits.”  After Norman leaves, Gwen scrambles back to the computer realizing she has more time to generate simulations. She introduces a third person to the modeling, a mysterious figure that would be forcing George’s hand to shoot. This scenario matches the forensic data, the only trouble is that the person would have to be huge. Gwen intuits that it was probably that giant guy who crowded her at the vending machine a few days back when she was visiting her dad in the hospital. This causes her to posit, who is that big guy working for? And who benefits from his veiled threats? While DeWolff and Watanabe interrogate Lucky Lobo in Ryker’s Island, the criminal emphatically denies that he put the hit out on Captain Stacy. He’s says that police were off-limits in his organization, and then throws the blame on to the ‘new breed’ of psychos like the Green Goblin. DeWolff and Watanabe take note of his claim citing that the Green Goblin did make a move against his organization recently (as seen in Amazing Spider-Man #23). DeWolff and Watanabe bring the notion of the Green Goblin as the mastermind to Captain Stacy, who’s joined by Gwen, at his hospital bed. They remark that removing Pappas as a potential heir to Lobo’s organization and framing George Stacy at the same time would be a win-win for the Green Goblin. Gwen adds to the conversation that the big guy who intimidated her at the hospital is The Ox, a member of The Enforcers, a gang that works for the Green Goblin. Gwen, Watanabe and DeWolff appear excited that all signs seem to point to the Goblin! But Captain Stacy puts a stop to any rejoicing, telling them that he’s taking retirement. The threats from these criminals have gotten to close to his family and he fears anything happening to Gwen. In an eerie bit of foreshadowing he even cites, “God forbid someone like that Green Goblin got to my Gwendy…”  He tells Watanabe and DeWolff to do their job, nothing more and adds that if the Green Goblin wants him out of the way, he’s got his wish. Despite DeWolff and Watanabe claiming they’ll eventually break this case, Gwen refuses to give up so easily. Later, Gwen cuts out of school early and intercepts Norman Osborn as he’s getting out of his limousine. She tells him that she wants to ask him questions about the Green Goblin, he freezes for a moment then adds, “Let's chat upstairs, shall we?” On the balcony of Norman’s home, Gwen shows him a picture of the Green Goblin on his glider from a newspaper clipping. She tells him that this glider looks incredibly similar to the one that Harry showed her in school, one that Oscorp had designed for various military projects. Gwen’s comments land so close to home that it causes Norman to squeeze his glass with enough intensity to make it start to crack and split. He fires back at her insinuation that he’s the Green Goblin but that only makes her giggle. She confesses that there’s no way he could be the Green Goblin because the footage of the criminal suggests that he’s young and strong...of which Norman is neither. Osborn is relieved to hear that and even takes a jab at himself to drive the point home. He then suggests that going after whoever may have had access to the plans would not be fruitful, since Oscorp had shopped the gliders across all branches of the military. Thus, there would be too many people to track down, since secrecy was not part Oscorp’s calculus when they were trying to score a military contract for the gliders. Gwen concedes that may not be the best way to go and instead Norman points her in the direction of Frederick Foswell. Osborn suggests that his time as the Big Man and his role at the Daily Bugle puts him in a unique position to have some intel on The Enforcers. Gwen loves that idea, thanks Osborn (even says “he’s the best”), and heads off. Gwen passes that information over to DeWoff and Watanabe who confront Foswell at the Daily Bugle. Foswell claims that he’s on the up and up and that this move on Captain Stacy doesn’t sound like the Green Goblin, but rather, the Crime Master. He even goes on to say that the Crime Master is trying to consolidate the various criminal organizations. Foswell’s theory is so compelling that DeWolff and Watanabe now set their sights on the Crime Master. Meanwhile, Gwen, Harry and Darius also head over to the Daily Bugle so that they can question Foswell too. They try to convince Betty Brant that they want to purchase ad space from the Daily Bugle but when that doesn’t pan out, Harry decides that they shouldn’t pursue Foswell any further. When Gwen refuses to give up, Harry reminds her of the time they first met. In a touching flashback scene, we see that Harry and Gwen first became friends on Mother’s Day and they bonded over the fact that they’d both lost their mom. Since both of them were bummed out on Mother’s Day, they decided to spend the day together watching horror movies.  They’d been close ever since and Harry claims to know her better than she knows herself. Bouncing off that point, Harry basically tells Gwen to relax on her personal quest and focus on being a high school kid (sleep, study and campaign). The advice really resonates when DeWolff tells her same thing. Over the next few days, Gwen gets back to a normal life, while DeWolff and Watanabe start bringing the heat down on people close to The Crime Master. Soon after, as Gwen is returning home from the police station she finds herself engulfed in a strange fog and suddenly snatched into a back alley by none other than the Crime Master himself!! |  From inside his limousine, Osborn directs The Enforcers to begin tailing Gwen Stacy, as seen in Gwen Stacy #1  Gwen works with her father at the precinct to take down Lucky Lobo's former associates, as seen in Gwen Stacy #1  Gwen strolls through the library with her boyfriend Darius, whilst Peter Parker studies up on adhesives, as seen in Gwen Stacy #1   The Crime Master and the Green Goblin agree that their plan 'worked out perfectly' putting it at odds with the Goblin's sentiment back in Amazing Spider-Man #23 when Lobo and his crew were arrested by the police, as seen in Gwen Stacy #1  The Crime Master and the Green Goblin plan to make their move against the criminal underworld, as seen in Gwen Stacy #1    DeWolff, Watanabe and Gwen begin piecing the puzzle of George's shooting together, as seen in Gwen Stacy #2  In order to spare himself from the threat of the Goblin and others, George Stacy decides to retire from the police force, as seen in Gwen Stacy #2    |