The Amazing Spider-Man #121

The story nobody saw coming

The Amazing Spider-Man #121 went on sale March 13, 1973, with a June 1973 cover date. It cost 20 cents for 36 pages. The cover, drawn and inked by John Romita, carries the title "Turning Point" and refuses to say who is about to die. The 20-page story opens with a line that hints at what is coming: "There are quite a few things we could say about this issue -- but we won't."

The plot builds from earlier issues. Harry Osborn, Peter Parker's best friend, is bedridden after taking LSD again. Under the strain of his son's condition and a failing business, Norman Osborn regains his memory of being the Green Goblin, and with it the knowledge that Peter is Spider-Man. He kidnaps Peter's girlfriend, Gwen Stacy, and takes her to the top of a bridge. In the fight, Gwen falls. Spider-Man shoots a web line that catches her by the legs, and a small "snap" appears beside her head. When he pulls her up, she is dead.

In issue #122 Spider-Man tracks the Goblin to a warehouse but cannot bring himself to kill him. The Goblin sends his glider at Spider-Man from behind; Spider-Man dodges and the glider impales the Goblin instead. The arc closes with Peter and Mary Jane Watson, both grieving, trying to comfort each other.

Before this story it was not common for a superhero's central supporting characters to be killed. A hero generally did not fail so badly unless it was part of his origin. The two issues are widely described as marking the end of the Silver Age of comics and the start of the darker Bronze Age.

Who decided Gwen had to die

Gerry Conway was born in Brooklyn on September 10, 1952. He began scripting The Amazing Spider-Man at 19, succeeding Stan Lee, and his run lasted from issue #111 to #149 (August 1972 to October 1975). Eight issues after this story he and Ross Andru introduced the Punisher. Conway died April 26, 2026, in Thousand Oaks, California.

The accounts of how Gwen was chosen disagree. In a 2015 interview John Romita recalled that the editors first asked for Aunt May to be killed; he and Conway objected, ruled out Mary Jane as a comic-relief character, and Romita proposed Gwen, remembering how Milton Caniff killed a love interest in Terry and the Pirates. Conway told author Sean Howe in 2008 that he and editor Roy Thomas had discussed killing Aunt May and that Romita suggested Gwen instead, but at a 2013 convention he said killing Aunt May had been Romita's idea. Stan Lee later said he had approved the plan while packing for a business trip to Europe and was surprised when he came back to find it done.

Gil Kane, who penciled the story, was born Eli Katz in Latvia on April 6, 1926, and grew up in Brooklyn. Two years earlier he and Lee had produced the anti-drug issues #96 to #98 of the same title, which Marvel published without the Comics Code seal. He died January 31, 2000.

John Romita, born in Brooklyn on January 24, 1930, had taken over the title from Steve Ditko in 1966. He was promoted to Marvel's art director in June 1973, the month this issue's cover date carries. He died at his home in Floral Park, New York, on June 12, 2023, at 93.

Spring 1973

The issue reached stands in the spring the United States left Vietnam. The last American soldier left the country on March 29, 1973, less than two weeks after many of the remaining troops began to leave.

The Watergate scandal was breaking open. On March 23 burglar James McCord wrote to Judge John Sirica that the defendants had been pressured to stay silent, and on April 30 President Nixon announced that John Dean had been fired and that H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman had resigned. Televised Senate hearings began May 17.

New York, where the story is set, was changing too. The first handheld cellular phone call was made in the city on April 3, and the World Trade Center officially opened the next day. In May the United States launched Skylab, its first space station, and in June Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths to take the Triple Crown.

Grief, letters and a long afterlife

Readers were shocked. Some admired the bold move; others were horrified. In issue #125 the letters page explained that the relationship had nowhere left to go short of marriage, and that "Gwen's death was simply fated to happen." The same column said that the whiplash from the sudden stop of the webbing was what killed her. Fans were not appeased, and Romita said Marvel received death threats. Romita also recalled that Lee demanded Gwen be brought back, and that the editorial staff talked him out of it.

The cause of death has been argued ever since. In the issue the Goblin claims she was dead before the web reached her, and the 1987 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe attributed her death to the fall. Later stories, Lee himself in a television special, and physicist James Kakalios in The Physics of Superheroes all came down on the side of the web line.

The story's reach has been long. The Comics Buyer's Guide coined the phrase "the Gwen Stacy Syndrome" for the habit of killing heroes' wives and girlfriends. In Marvel's 2001 fan poll for The 100 Greatest Marvels of All Time, issue #121 ranked sixth and #122 nineteenth. The bridge fall was adapted in the 2002 Spider-Man film with Mary Jane in Gwen's place, and in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 2014, where the clock stops at 1:21 as a nod to the issue number.

The original art has its own market. In February 2013 internet bidding on John Romita's original cover reached $268,875, ahead of a live sale session in New York.

What to look for

The text and the art disagree about the bridge. Spider-Man's dialogue names the George Washington Bridge, but the art shows the Brooklyn Bridge. Stan Lee said the artist drew the Brooklyn Bridge and the bridge was mislabeled, and some later reprints changed the dialogue to match the art. An original 1973 copy names the George Washington Bridge.

The story has been reprinted many times, including in Marvel Tales #98 and #192, Marvel Masterworks, Essential Spider-Man in black and white, The 100 Greatest Marvels of All Time #5 and a Marvel Legends figure reprint in 2005. None of these is the 1973 original, which carries a 20-cent price and a June 1973 cover date.

At the top grade the census has grown steadily. A February 2012 sale listing counted 24 copies at CGC 9.8 and none higher. By April 2026 a listing counted 105 at 9.8, still with none higher.

Prices for 9.8 copies peaked in 2021 and 2022. A 9.8 sold at auction on June 19, 2021, for $9,300, and two more brought $7,800 and $7,500 in June 2022. Sales at auction since then have mostly fallen between about $3,800 and $5,900, with a 9.8 bringing $3,782 in May 2026.

The numbers

Cover price

20 cents

Pages

36; the story runs 20

Print run of #121

No verified issue-level figure found

Title's average circulation, 1973 statement year

541,043 printed and 273,204 paid an issue, per published statements of ownership

Census, February 2012

24 at CGC 9.8; none higher (per a sale listing)

Census, April 2026

105 at CGC 9.8; none higher (per a sale listing)

Highest grade

CGC 9.8; no 9.9 or 10.0 reported in either listing

Timeline

1. 1966

   John Romita succeeds Steve Ditko as artist of The Amazing Spider-Man.

2. May 1971

   Gil Kane begins the three-issue anti-drug arc in #96, published without the Comics Code seal.

3. Aug 1972

   Gerry Conway, 19, takes over the title with issue #111.

4. Mar 13, 1973

   The Amazing Spider-Man #121 goes on sale, cover-dated June 1973.

5. Jun 1973

   Romita is promoted to Marvel's art director.

6. 1973

   Issue #122 concludes the arc with the Green Goblin's death.

7. Oct 1973

   Issue #125's letters page explains the decision and the cause of death.

8. 1987

   The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe attributes Gwen's death to the fall.

9. 2001

   Fans vote #121 the sixth greatest Marvel comic of all time.

10. Feb 2012

    A sale listing counts 24 copies at CGC 9.8, none higher.

11. Feb 2013

    Internet bidding on the original cover art reaches $268,875.

12. 2014

    The Amazing Spider-Man 2 adapts the bridge fall, with a clock stopped at 1:21.

13. Jun 19, 2021

    A CGC 9.8 copy sells at auction for $9,300.

14. Jun 12, 2023

    John Romita dies at 93.

15. Apr 2026

    A sale listing counts 105 copies at CGC 9.8, none higher.

16. Apr 26, 2026

    Gerry Conway dies in Thousand Oaks, California.

The world in 1973

• Jan 22, 1973

  The Supreme Court decides Roe v. Wade.

• Mar 29, 1973

  The last U.S. soldier leaves Vietnam.

• Apr 3, 1973

  The first handheld cellular phone call is made in New York City.

• Apr 4, 1973

  The World Trade Center officially opens in New York.

• May 14, 1973

  Skylab, the first U.S. space station, is launched.

• May 17, 1973

  Televised Senate Watergate hearings begin.

• Jun 9, 1973

  Secretariat wins the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths and the Triple Crown.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, The Amazing Spider-Man #121 is number 56 of 100 in the comics entries of the FLOAT 100. 92 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (45 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The script says George Washington Bridge, but the art shows the Brooklyn Bridge; later reprints changed the words to match the drawing.
• Aunt May, not Gwen, was the first character the editors proposed killing.
• Stan Lee said he agreed to the death while packing for a trip to Europe and was surprised to find it done when he got back.
• A small "snap" sound effect next to Gwen's head is the panel fans have argued over for five decades.
• In The Amazing Spider-Man 2 a clock stops at 1:21, a nod to this issue number.
• John Romita said Marvel received death threats after the story ran.