Originally Posted by
Revolutionary_Jack
Then Editor-In-Chief Roy Thomas said that, and it was largely in response to the fan backlash and a need to shut down debate and attacks, so that people know there was no way Gwen could have lived. Had Spider-Man not shot a web-line, she would have died upon hitting the water anyway.
The intent of that scene was to build suspense around the expectation that Spider-Man would save Gwen at the last moment...so you as a reader, i.e. the reader when they first read this comic, had to believe that Spidey would save the day at the last moment, just as always. Only this time it doesn't work.
Because the thumb was on the scale that's why. In the court of criminal justice, Green Goblin is responsible for Gwen's death. He kidnapped her and brought her to the top of the bridge to endanger her. Most crucially, when Spider-Man goes to save Gwen, Goblin rams the glider at him at top speed, ramming Gwen off the bridge. So Green Goblin killed Gwen end of story. That's the story and plot Gerry Conway and Gil Kane wrote.
The "snap" was just a gimmick Conway introduced as a gimmick and was never supposed to be actually followed-upon (i.e. Spider-Man actually held accountable within the narrative for Gwen's death).
However, Peter Parker still has moral responsibility and culpability for Gwen's death:
-- Peter Parker knew that Norman Osborn was Green Goblin, and that Norman has mental illness and could be a danger to himself and the people around him.
-- Peter Parker didn't turn Norman in (which is a crime...failure to report a crime).
-- Peter Parker allowed Norman Osborn to worm his way into his supporting cast, and exposing everyone he knew in his life (Harry, Gwen, Mary Jane, Aunt May, George Stacy, Jonah, Robbie, Flash) to danger.
-- To the extent that you could introduce extenuating circumstances to pardon Peter (Norman's amnesia, Amnesia Norman doing some good, including an earlier issue where he saved Gwen's life...yeah that happened), that went out the window with the Drug Trilogy (ASM#96-98), where Norman relapsed badly.
So at the start of ASM#121-122, Peter knew Norman was mentally ill, was the Green Goblin, and had relapsed once before and could again, and he still allowed himself and his supporting cast near him. And for those who argue there wasn't anything Peter could do (no legal resources and evidence to turn Norman in), all he had to do was tell the truth, and reveal his identity and Norman's to Gwen and others, putting them on warning about the presence of a living time bomb in their midst.
So that's the additional tragedy in the story...Norman Osborn/Green Goblin spitting on Peter Parker's mercy, and another innocent close to him paying the life because, to turn a phrase, "he let the burglar go free".
In that context, "A couple of straights" means innocents. In the '70s context, straights would be people who didn't drink, smoke, shoot drugs and so on and so forth, i.e., the kind of people who don't have it coming to them. The intent was to sell the tragedy of Gwen as this innocent being cut down in her prime.