Spidey shot a web and snared her legs but the resultant whiplash broke Gwen's neck, killing her painlessly and instantly. As Bungee jumpers and paratroopers (personal experience here) have been doing something like this for ages, I think this is a bit odd. Did Gwen for some reason have weak neck bones? Inactivity makes the walls of bones around the marrow thin. Only with use and exercise does the bone mass increase. Why did Gwen have such a fragile neck? Why did she die so easily, other than the fact MARVEL wanted her dead?

Gwen's death marked the end of the Silver Age, where superheros saved the day each and every time. Now, we go into what is called the Bronze Age of comics, a much darker and evil place than ever before. People die, innocents are killed, drugs, sex and violence make their way into the "funny book" world. Comic book titles dissappear all over the country, like Charlton Comics, Harvey Comics, Dell, Gold Key, and many many others. The era of the comics as we knew them slammed to a halt with Gwen Stacy's broken neck.

The rest does not involve Gwen, except she was the guest of honor at something she and I would rather have skipped; Her funeral. She was buried with all the honor you can bestow on a lost girl, and Marvel rubbed it's hands gleefully. The bitch was gone, now we can get back to doing more Spidey stuff without her.

Fans thought otherwise. Howls of discontent followed. Marvel had painted itself into a corner. What to do? What to do?

Oh, god, no, guess what they DID!

They cloned her!