Credits: Words by Tom DeFalco, art by Scott McDaniel and edited by Tom Brevoort.
Plot: Phil Urich (nephew of Ben Urich) the newest Green Goblin is fantasising about Joystick, the masked fighter he met alongside the Scarlet Spider. She had contact information, given to Phil to lure Ben Reilly (as the Scarlet Spider) into battle with her. Phil is a teenager and all he can think is “hot girl” and he uses this information to try and find her himself. He grabs the goblin attire and puts on the mask. The mask enhances his body and gives him a tremendous amount of energy, the only downside is the intense pain it delivers as well. With the help of kinds in the hotel that Joystick is staying in, Phil finds her room and the note she has left for Scarlet Spider, warning of dire consequences to other people if the note is ignored and Phil decides to make that appointment, as he takes the note gas grenade booby trap goes off..
Speaking of Joystick as she elsewhere waits to see if the note is taken, sees the gas go off and is confident her opponent will show up. She and the referee assigned to her are informed of the death of Henri and that El Toro Negro has re-entered the game. At a pre-arranged meeting, Phil and Ben (dressed as the Green Goblin and the Scarlet Spider) discuss the note and Ben is pretty uninterested in getting involved as Joystick is only committing crime as part of the game, so if he doesn’t show, no match and the police can deal with it. Phil agrees, but he immediately goes against this and moves towards Joystick’s chosen meeting point.. Phil is attacked mid-air and lands hard. He gets up to find and incensed Joystick who was expecting Scarlet Spider. As Phil tries to start chatting ,El Toro Negro attacks Joystick in a brutal manner. Phil hems and haws, but finally intervenes and takes a hit from nearby power lines for his trouble. Out of options he unleashes his “lunatic laugh” which is a sonic weapon Phil neither understands, nor completely controls and as Toro staggers around, he is attacked by an arriving Ben. Now the fight is between the three of them, but Joystick comes to and fires her ill-defined energy baton things at him as Toro’s second wind makes him a threat to Phil and Ben both. The referee calls time on the match due to all the interference. Phil is less keen on Joystick now, but carries her to safety as Ben focuses on Toro and beats him quite easily. Phil meanwhile tries to have a moment with Joystick, but can’t take off his mask, so just lets her go.
Later Ben berates Phil on his lack of responsibility, but Phil points out that this is purely something he does for fun, but honestly he begins to question what he’s doing and why he’s doing it. As he thinks that it can’t get worse, Ricko, a criminal he knew and left beat up for the police catches up with him.
Notes: This was the late 90’s edition of lets do Spider-Man again. The teen hero with relatable problems in over his head. We had Nova in the 70’s, Speedball in the 80’s, Darkhawk in the early 90s and now Green Goblin. I don’t mind it, because it’s a formula that has worked before and in the case of Miles Morales and Kamala Khan would again to relative success. I read the series when it was released and last year, I read the series again and it’s … ok. It’s not great, but it doesn’t change the game or anything. This is the same, it’s fun and diverting, but as a story doesn’t add much and just serves to close off the Joystick story started in Amazing Scarlet Spider 2. There’s little in the way of depth to the game story and we don’t really learn much about it, but we do get a good look at the Green Goblin. Here is a character with humour and edge and very much a product of his time, if he was introduced now, he’d be a viral sensation, or some sort of influencer. But it was a fun little story that had Ben playing the seasoned hero, berating the rookie and that is nice to see, when writers remember that Ben remembers every Spider-Man adventure from Amazing Fantasy 15, to Amazing Spider-Man 149, he is rusty, but not a rookie. So I’m glad I included this, but it is on the forgettable side.
Verdict: Writing 3 out of 5. The story moves along quickly and the first person narration does help to flesh out the character of Phil Urich and playing him as the young upstart against Ben Reilly’s experienced veteran does make this a fun team-up. Also Phil’s stupidity in dealing with Joystick is all too relatable to me as someone who was a teenage boy. Ultimately this was a fun bit of popcorn fodder.
Art: 4 out of 5 – Scott McDaniel is an underrated 90s artist. He had a moody style that fit great with street level heroes and the crime noir aesthetic. He did good work on Daredevil, Nightwing and Batman in the past, so he is a good fit for something spooky like a goblin. His Joystick and Scarlet Spider are less well served, but the action scenes are good and the pencils are good and consistent, despite being so stylised, a trick many artists didn’t master. The whole thing has it’s own look and that really makes this title worth picking up.
Overall 7 out of 10: This wasn’t entirely necessary for the Scarlet Spider parts, but I did like this little team up, it’s fun and made me think fondly of this series again and it may be time for a re-read of this short lived series.
Next time: X-Men in spaaaaaaaaacccceeee!!!!!!
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