Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas succeeded Stan Lee as writer and editor, respectively, of "The Amazing Spider-Man". Together with inker John Romita, Sr., they came to the decision to have Gwen Stacy killed off. It was Romita who first suggested the idea, during a plotting session with Conway when Romita was still penciller on "The Amazing Spider-Man". Conway later said his contribution to the decision was motivated by a desire to bring Mary Jane Watson to the forefront, as he shared Lee's feeling that she was a more interesting character than Gwen Stacy: "Jane hadn't lost the edge that made her an interesting character. Gwen didn't have an edge. She was just a nice person".