I’ve been neglecting this blog of late because of my own mental health issues but I’m trying to get back into it again. Where better to start than the story arc where Harry gets out of rehab, I guess?

Yep, ASM #105 is the first time we see Harry after his overdose. His appearance on the cover shows him relatably sobbing.

Harry isn’t the main focus of these issues, but plenty of interesting things happen around him. First, let’s take a look at his welcome-back party. Flash, newly back from Vietnam, is there… as is Gwen… and MJ appears to be playing head games with them and Peter.

I love how immature MJ was at this point. Sometimes I think one thing she and Harry had in common was a love of manipulation. MJ grew out of it but Harry did not.

Harry enters with Norman, wearing a jacket that looks too big for him. Maybe it’s Norman’s. MJ gives Harry a kiss on the cheek and calls him “pussycat” but Peter is more concerned about Flash… and the seed of doubt about him and Gwen.

Of course, that bit of teenage drama isn’t the thrust of the issue, that would be Peter’s fight with the Spider-Slayer. But over at the Harry blog we care more about the interactions between Peter’s social circle! So let’s jump to ASM #106. This story features the entertaining sight of Peter getting a mask of his own face made to get out of a situation where an enemy saw his face.

Smart move, Pete! That’s why you’re my favourite superhero.

On his way to a date with Gwen, Peter encounters Harry at their apartment. He’s not looking all that well, still.

…and it’s all because of MJ.

Harry is still totally hung up on MJ, despite the fact that she’s been flirting with Peter in front of him and seemingly declared the relationship over even before Harry had his overdose.

Then MJ shows up and immediately proves Peter’s point by flirting with him in front of Harry again.

The Harry and MJ romance was so toxic, I find it completely fascinating. Both of them are completely damaged people, the products of abusive parents, who hide under masks and play games from behind them. They would never have lasted in a million years. Their friendship, on the other hand… that would go a very different way. But more on that some other time!

Harry isn’t the only one having girl trouble. When Peter goes out on his date with Gwen, she wants to see… Flash? Was MJ right about them after all?!

“We’ve a whole lifetime ahead of us, Pete,” says Gwen. Oh, that’s very sad. :(

There’s definitely something up with Flash, but since Peter gets captured by the Spider-Slayer at the end of this issue, he has to wait to find out what it is.

Harry doesn’t appear in ASM#107 (except for a brief shot of the back of his head) so let’s jump forward to ASM#108!

Flash has been Flash-napped! And it’s all to do with the Vietnam War. Which was still ongoing, by the way. Its “official” end was 1975.

There’s obviously SO MUCH to say about how superhero comics tackled the tail end of the Vietnam War, when disillusion was high, but I don’t think I’m qualified to say any of them. So maybe check out this article on the subject from The Smithsonian instead.

This comic marks the debut of Sha Shan Nguyen, a Vietnamese woman who rescued Flash in Vietnam and who would play a big role in his life going forward. I find Sha Shan fascinating but so little seems to be written about her!

Flash believes that Sha Shan was killed in the bombing of her father’s sacred temple, and worse, multiple people are convinced Flash engineered the bombing. (He was actually just trying to warn everyone to evacuate, but they refused to leave.) Hence, why he’s in trouble now.

Peter is going to help Flash but MAN is he going to bitch about it! He’s still sure there’s something between Flash and Gwen.

Meanwhile, Harry and Aunt May are about to stumble on something suspicious…

You may have seen that middle panel as an out-of-context meme.

Gwen enters, frightened about what’s happened to Flash. Peter wonders if this is all due to a romantic interest in him. (He doesn’t seem to trust her an awful lot, does he?)

Gwen and Peter go to see Flash while Harry stays with May. But when Flash’s pursuers capture him, Peter is suddenly faced with a terrible decision! Should he reveal his secret identity to Gwen?

Don’t forget, Gwen still thinks Spider-Man killed her dad, as well!

Cut to ASM#109 and…

Peter decides to simply remain where he is with Gwen while Flash and his captors get further and further away.

Luckily he comes up with a plan! He creates a fake “Peter” with webbing and his clothes and then “kidnaps” him!

Peter has a spider-tracer on Flash’s captors so they won’t be too hard to find. And he also has the help of Dr Strange!

Flash also gets to see that Sha Shan isn’t dead after all! She doesn;t seem to be too willing to help him, though, because his death will revive her father.

But as you know, this is a Harry blog, what’s Harry up to? Well, his job now is to comfort Gwen, who believes that Peter is in the hands of Spider-Man.

Gwen then proceeds to have a TOTAL FREAKOUT at Aunt May for daring to… be worried about her kidnapped nephew?

I always thought this was one of Gwen’s most interesting moments, myself. She hasn’t really been a terribly sympathetic character since her father died, if you ask me.

Spider-Man and Dr Strange arrive just in time to save Flash, as well as Sha Shan’s father!

It also turns out that Sha Shan was trying to save Flash all along! A happy ending all round!

…But not for Peter. When is it ever?

“Now that he’s a civilian again, how can I compete with Flash?” Peter laments. Well, this will be tackled in the next story, ASM #110, which stars the Gibbon!

You know… That guy.

“If I ever lost Gwen-” Peter exclaims. Oops, more sad foreshadowing.

After an encounter with the Gibbon, who is sadly a C-lister of Spidey villains, Peter returns home to see Harry.

Unfortunately, he forgot about the whole “faked my own kidnapping” thing.

And he’s STILL hung up on the idea that Gwen might be interested in Flash!

Nope, Gwen only has eyes for Peter. Harry quells another argument before it begins and decides to look after Peter til he wakes up.

Unfortunately, before falling asleep Peter hears…

Wow, Peter really doesn’t seem to think to much of Gwen when it really comes down to it, if he assumes she’d cheat with the next handsome guy who comes along when she’s supposed to be with him.

(Man, they really wouldn’t have lasted long-term, would they?)

Peter dreams about Gwen leaving him and then-

Awww, Harry was watching over Peter for twelve whole hours. That’s adorable!

But back to the plot! Peter runs off after Aunt May and, of course, encounters the Gibbon.

We’ll find out what happened to her in issue #112, by which point Gerry Conway will have taken over as head writer! See you then for more Harry Osborn (and co.)

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Want to read these stories? ASM 105-109 are collected in Amazing Spider-Man Masterworks #11 and ASM 10 is in Amazing Spider-Man Masterworks #12.