This:
“Both of these happened with the Oct 1978 issues at DC.”

Should actually read…
Both of these happened with the Oct 1970 issues at DC.

Honestly, when I read these two issues back in the day, I was disappointed and unimpressed, maybe because the punch line in both cases (121 and 122) was already known to me. And I think the writing quality in comics, at both Marvel and DC, had already advanced so far beyond what was in these two “death” issues. In the 1970-1990 period, there were a lot of great writer/artist teams, all doing heir own great and innovative work, in many new directions. What a great era to be reading.

And even while these two Gwen Stacy and Goblin issues were published, I don’t think Gerry Conway, at age 19, had reached his full development in comics writing. But still, an ambitious writer, who broke into writing professionally at a very young age. Conway was 16 when he created Man-THING in SAVAGE TALES 1 in May 1971. But Conway at that point (1972-1973) already captured well and expanded on the the established Stan Lee brand of deadpan melodrama (as did Roy Thomas, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, Chris Claremont, and so many others at Marvel) .

For me some of the most well-done “death” issues (while acknowledging that this Gwen Stacy story is he one that cracked the ice, and maybe made the subsequent ones possible) are :
* Jim Starlin’s death of Warlock (in AVENGERS ANNUAL 7, and MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL 2),
* the death of characters in AMAZING ADVENTURES 34 (Killraven series, by Don McGregor and Craig Russell),
* the many developments with Jean Grey/Phoenix, and her eventual death in X-MEN 137,
* Starlin again with Marvel’s first graphic novel THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN MARVEL
* (and in his EPIC ILLUSTRATED 1-9 “Metamorphosis Odyssey”, and THE PRICE, and DREADSTAR graphic novels, 1980-1983).
* And Frank Miller’s death of Elecktra in DAREDEVIL 181, that had further ongoing impact in issues 182 and 190, among others, as well as an alternate happier ending in WHAT IF 35, Oct 1982.

These were the high end of the “death stories” trend.

I frankly felt by the 1980-1990 period that “death” stories quickly became an uneventful and exploitative marketing ploy, and in many cases done cheaply by writers who didn’t have the talent to do something more interesting with the characters. And with “death” issues, or drug stories, or other gimmicks, just became a contrived marketing event to generate interest and sales.
On the DC side, the deaths of Karate Kid, and then Blok, in LEGION (in 1984, and then 1989) I found very cheaply done and insulting to readers. Likewise the overblown “Death of Superman” and “Funeral for a Friend” wankery in the early 1990’s.

At least the Starlin and Aparo “Death of Robin” story in BATMAN 426-429 had an interesting pairing of the Joker with the Shah of Iran had some wild twists. But I recall Starlin in the COMICS JOURNAL quoted saying he was ticked off with DC, because he felt he was writing an eventful story, but then (for licensing reasons) DC executives immediately launched another Robin (“Hey, we have to, he’s on a million toys and lunch boxes”) to replace the character just killed.
Reducing what was a pretty good story, to just another fake event and marketing tool.

I take some minor issue with labelling the Gwen Stacy death story a “Silver Age” story. Since it occurred in 1973, I think that one occurs pretty solidly after the Silver Age had already ended.
But once you get past the “Golden Age”, “Pre-Code” and “Silver Age” periods, the labelling of comics eras becomes rather unclearly defined and subjective. Even the exact end of the Silver Age is a bit of a gray area.
As I recall, the Overstreet Price Guide labels the end of the Silver Age as the point where the industrywide comics cover price went from 12 cents to 15 cents, that occurred in June 1969 at DC, and in August 1969 at Marvel.

But for me, the criteria for the change should be THE STORY CONTENT that defines the change, from the more whimsical Silver Age storytelling, to a more sophisticated writing and art, and a more socially conscious realism in the 1970’s era that followed.

For me, the defining moments of transition from the Silver Age era to the next are :

1) the move of Jack Kirby from Marvel to DC, with JIMMY OLSEN 133, in Oct 1970
2) the dropping of DC’s “SUPERMAN, NATIONAL COMICS” logo, for a more modern cover design.
Both of these happened with the Oct 1978 issues at DC.

3) The Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams/Giordano series work that began in DETECTIVE COMICS 395, Jan 1970, and GREEN LANTERN 76, April 1970, that ushered in an era of detailed art, realism, current events and social conscience, that undeniably transformed subsequent comics storytelling by virtually all other comics writers and artists beyond that point.
Examples including Wein/Wrightson SWAMP THING, Goodwin/Simonson MANHUNTER, Englehart/Brunner DOCTOR STRANGE, Englehart/Rogers DETECTIVE, Claremont/Byrne/Austin X-MEN, Moench/Sienkiewicz MOON KNIGHT, Alan Moore/Alan Davis MIRACLEMAN, and Moore’s other work on SWAMP THING, V FOR VENDETTA and WATCHMEN, Miller’s DAREDEVIL, RONIN, DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, and BATMAN: YEAR ONE, and pretty much any writer and artist who comes from the “realism” school of comics for the last 50 years.

And
4) The creation of CONAN THE BARBARIAN, the first issue also cover-dated Oct 1970, that brought in a wave of pulp writer adaaptations and characters into comics form, such as Solomon Kane, Kull, Bran Mak Morn, H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptations in TARZAN by Kubert, KORAK, and WEIRD WORLDS, beautifully adapted by Kaluta, Thorne, Weiss, Anderson, Amendola, Green and others. And later O’Neil and Kaluta’s THE SHADOW, O’Neil’s JUSTICE INC. with McWilliams and then Kirby. Over at Marvel, DOC SAVAGE, and many others adapted and expanded in comics form.
And pulp-inspired sophisticated magazines beginning with SAVAGE TALES and then SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN, and ultimately for me EPIC ILLUSTRATED, that were inspired by pulp writing, pulp illustrators, and other mainstream book illustrators. With SAVAGE SWORD portfolio sections, that led to published portfolios, posters and prints, often advertised in SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN and other fan magazines.

And expanding on that, Windsor-Smith’s Gorblimey Press posters and prints, Steranko’s HISTORY OF COMICS and other Supergraphics posters and prints. And the 1979 book THE STUDIO of gorgious work by Windsor-Smith, Kaluta, Jones and Wrighson, that like EPIC ILLUSTRATED, remains one of the most impressive representations of the comics field.

I’m resistant to terms like “Bronze Age”, “Copper Age”, “Modern Age” and so forth. (The term Modern Age is one I find particularly laughably problematic: What happens as the Modern Age, moving becomes 40, 50, 60 years into the past, itself an obsolete era, is no longer “modern”?)
The declining qualities of metal implies a declining quality of published material.

“Modern Age” generally/subjectively is seen as marking the rise of the comics direct market of the early 1980’s. Or alternately by some, seen as beginning in the early 1990’s with Image Comics and the like.

Beyond “Silver Age”, I prefer to just label subsequent eras by their decade, that is more specific of the time and material discussed: the 1970’s era, the 1980’s era, the 1990’s era, the 2000’s era.

Although I gain a certain pleasure from use of the term “Dark Age” o describe the current dominant trend in comics published since the late 1980’s, following in the styles esablished by Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Howard Chaykin, Neil Gaiman, the Vertigo line, and the Image guys.

See Alan Moore and Don Simpson’s story “Pictopia” in ANYTHING GOES issue 2, in 1986. An editorial in the form of a comics story, on the updated “realism” of characters we love, into gritty, dark sociopaths we no longer like or recognize. A great commentary, ironically penned by one of the foremost architects of that Dark Age comics have descended into.

Moore expressed in a COMIC BOOK ARTIST magazine interview his regrets that his work was a major part of reigning in that Dark Age. I largely stopped buying new comics altogether, around 1994, when dark cynical “grim and gritty” became the industry standard.
I keep hoping that era will end, and be replaced with the playfulness and fun that comics had, from the Golden Age up till the mid/late 1980’s when the darkness set in. Incredibly, i’s been over 30 years, and that era sill hasn’t passed.

The ones that were double issues, then the Omnibus format, with three of four stories, were printed in much smaller quantities and still definitely highly collectable.

B, Sorry, but I am not a book repair expert. My suggestion would be to check out YouTube and/or the internet in general, for tips on how to repair the spines of paperback books!

You’re very welcome! Happy to help.

Jennifer, thanks for reaching out! I went ahead and passed your information on to our team, but you can click here if you want to be proactive.