J.M. DeMatteis’s excellent Shadow of the Green Goblin has finished now. Oh, you were hoping things might end well for Harry? Nope! He goes through the wringer here as always. (To be fair so does everyone else, including the poor, poor Proto-Goblin.)

The real heart of this series is Peter Parker and Aunt May, and thankfully they do get a happy ending. But let’s look at what happens to Harry this issue. He wakes up to find Emily…

Needless to say, this is a massive shock for Harry. For one shining moment it seems like he might forgive his mother…

…but then things change. Harry is furious that his mother abandoned him. (This is the feeling he notably didn’t have when he first met Emily as an adult in Amazing Spider-Man #800.)

And then who should enter but Norman. (He’s kind of right, though, Emily should’ve picked a better hiding place.)

Norman moves to shoot Emily and, despite his anger, Harry begs him not to.

Norman lowers the gun. But it’s not over yet…

Harry utterly rejects his mother’s offer to go with her and even slaps her hand away. He’s full of rage (understandably) that she left him, but unfortunately, that rage makes him 100% Norman’s son in that moment.

Harry continues to side with his abusive father… but then said father mindwipes him. Harry forgets the events of the cabin and Emily is back to being “dead.”

Her “death” will still haunt Harry as an adult, however.

(Spectacular Spider-Man #181)

Emily leaves the cabin and encounters Proto-Goblin.

She tells him there is no cure for condition, everything he did for her was for nothing. Jeez, Emily. Poor Proto-Goblin exits, pursued by a Spider-Man, and dies horribly.

Next time we see Harry, he’s comforting Gwen, whose mother died of cancer.

(this actually retcons the Gwen Stacy miniseries, where Harry and Gwen don’t meet until a little while after Helen Stacy’s death and they bond over dead moms. But oh well.)

Gwen then says something very familiar:

“You’re my best friend” are Harry’s last words in Spectacular Spider-Man #200.

Was Harry subconsciously (or consciously) echoing Gwen when he said those words? And his next line, his final one in this series, is:

This series does such a great job of showing how close Harry and Gwen really were, and retrospectively making her infamous death even more devastating.

I’ve loved reading Shadow of the Green Goblin, how about you? All thoughts are welcome in the comments. :)