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I finally got to Amazing Spider-man #668, part two of Spider Island". This arc is still a rollercoaster of FUN, two issues (and a prequel) in. Peter webslinging out of costume with his girlfriend and a slew of civic-minded and spider-powered New Yorkers is just too groovy an idea to believe no one ever thought of it before! Fun, fun story--can't wait to read the rest of it!
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
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FYI, I read somewhere online the full story about the Queen and it jogged my memory of her quite a bit. I still feel like there was some sort of connection to JMS's whole mythos of Ezekiel and stuff, but that could have been something Jenkins originally implied to get more readers to check it out. Long story short is: this story is FAR MORE INTERESTING than anything the Queen was ever in before.
With one more issue to go, I'm loving Spider-Island. It's all the fun of the major Spider-crossovers of the 80's and 90's but with an actual solid story that builds on Spidey's mythos and utilizes his supporting cast.
I've enjoyed it so much I'll probably get the Scarlet Spider series too when that comes out. Easy money is that it stars Kaine but for some reason, given the Venom / Flash thing, I kept thinking it might star Randy Robertson for some reason (who in my theory keeps his powers after this story).
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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Spider-Island wrapped up in fantastic fashion, maintaining its level of quality and fun in its conclusion as it did throughout the series. I’m now an official fan of Humberto Ramos and convinced more than ever that the ‘Big Time’ Slott era is reaching heights that no run on Spider-Man has since the late 80’s.
The Queen was done very well and even though her returning may seem impossible, I do hope she comes back. The Jackal was great and the nod towards what’s next for the character was expected but still awesome. The best part of the series though was three-fold: (A) we get to see Peter being the brilliant scientist we know he is, which highlights the ‘man’ makes the Spider-Man, and we get to see his awesome science-related supporting cast; (B) we get to see Spider-Man in a situation where there are over a million other spider-men & spider-women and what makes him stand out; and (C) we get to see some awesome personal development for Peter with Carlie (which has me looking to see where this goes now) and even better, Mary Jane. Probably my favorite Peter & Mary Jane interaction since…pre-Clone Saga?
The Venom tie-in issues were equally as good, with writer Rick Remender kicking ass in ways I could never imagine for either Venom or Flash. What he’s done here is simply amazing: he’s made Venom a character I really care about, he’s given Flash the starring role of a lifetime with Betty and others being equally as important and he’s made Venom a comic enjoyably connected to Spider-Man but able to stand on its own. Impressive.
I really liked how Slott had been setting up so much of this for months. From Doc Ock’s former robots playing a role to the Spider-suit Peter created coming into play and then being taken by Kaine at the end. I’m enjoying Venom so much that picking up Scarlet Spider when it debuts is a no-brainer. I like Kaine as a character (and I would have liked Ben Reilly too), but my only hesitation is the creative team doesn’t have the same pedigree as Venom’s creative team; in fact, my past enjoyment of their work has been sparce. We’ll see.
Meanwhile, the second Spider-Man series debuted with Avenging Spider-Man, which is basically a reluanch of Marvel Team-Up with a name that has a better chance to sell. I tend to be nostalgic about such things but I can see its probably a much more clever strategy. Zeb Wells is the writer and he really nails it from the get-go; he was never the most prolific web-head during the last era but his stories were always terrific. He could be deadly serious at times and then he could be hilarious. In #1 he not only rivals Slott & Joe Kelly in showing Peter’s hilarious side, but he writes the absolute funniest Jonah Jameson EVER. I’d probably buy five copies a month of a JJJ series by Zeb Wells at $3.99 a pop.
Joe Mad is the artist which is the big news of the day. I like Joe Mad well enough but his art isn’t my all-time favorite. His old X-Men work never really made me take notice before, but his Battle Chasers series was pretty fantastic. Here, he really knocks it out of the park with his pension for chaotic battle scenes. Pov once told me that the absolute worst artist in keeping deadlines was Joe Mad and apparently that’s true: by #4, a few guest artists will show up. That doesn’t really bother me since as long as it’s a new storyline with new guest, the artist doesn’t have to be uniform.
Red Hulk is the first team-up, and I’ve followed the character since his first appearance (I guess in two ways). It’s an interesting and amusing dynamic. I know we’ll get a lot of the team-ups you’d expect (Wolverine, Cap, Iron Man, etc.) but I expect we’ll get some random ones as well.
I recently went to the CBS and got 4 weeks of comics. It’s pretty telling that after Walking Dead, the first comics I read were the Spider-Man and Venom comics (I’m saving the most recent issues of each for later on to savor it). The franchise is just kicking ass and taking names right now and it makes me feel good to be able to say that!
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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AWESOME time travel story in recent issues of Spider-Man teaming him up with one of the cool Horizon supporting characters that Slott has introduced. Slott excels here with his best qualities: fun, complex plot + characterization of Spider-Man and the supporting cast in just about every single panel. I also love that this was a nice little self-contained two-parter without ever for a moment taking away from the momentum of the run thus far.
Also, as a major fan of obscure Spidey stories, I can appreciate a big in-joke within. At one point, Spidey goes out to 'do stuff' and finally fights a super-villain; this turns out to be F.A.C.A.D.E., an obscure one-off villain from the mid-90's (just before the clone saga). The kicker of that panel is FACADE had a mysterious identity in that story that was set-up to be an ongoing mystery...and then was promptly never revisited again. Until now--15 years later! I've been dying to know the answer to this question for 15 years and Slott amusingly makes fun of me and others like me who remember the story by not telling us! To be honest, I really don't remember anything about FACADE other than he had a mysterious identity, and also because this was the awful, stupid story that killed Lance Banon for no reason. If anything, Slott should use FACADE to restore Lance to life.
Lardy, I presume you're still reading and enjoying?
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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Yeah, ASM's been so good that I've overlooked Marvel quietly dropping the extra story pages beginning with Spider Island. It's Spidey done right for the first time in a long, LONG time, so I'm onboard for the foreseeable.
My most recent issue read was the one-off with the Sinister Six vs. the Frightful Four, so I'm a little behind ya.
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
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So-- the Winter Guard seemed to be killed in a recent issue (don't know the number). I leafed through that issue and thought it looked like there was any number of 'saves' that could be written.
But the event hasn't even been referred to in the Spidey books, has it? Does Peter know what happened? Do the other heroes? The Russian government?
Is there follow-up coming?
From: Knoxville, TN | Registered: Jul 2003
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^ Todd, to me it didn't look like they were killed, just beaten.
Anyway, the latest Spidey blockbluster is underway with "Ends of the Earth", and so far it's been another whopping Dan Slott success! Yet another fantastic adventure thrill ride featuring Spidey & pals vs. the "new" Sinister Six. (Note, the Sinister Six with the Rhino and Chameleon instead of the Vulture and Kraven isn't the real one, but that doesn't bother me).
It's chock full of all the good things Lardy and I have mentioned already, so I won't be too repetitive.
But I will add that Slott doesn't something really cool here regarding the Sandman. He very cleverly establishes that one lone grain of sand is the 'true Sandman', which allows him to take on more grains as he pleases, explaining the increases in size he's had over the years (particularly since Spider-Man 3). It's a small yet brillaint enhancement to Sandy.
Also, love seeing Silver Sable get a chance to shine after what feels like forever!
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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I may actually get the crossover 626/Ultimate Spider-man mini. Looks like fun, and I like the villain that will be featured. We'll see...
From: Turn around... | Registered: Jul 2003
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Thanks for the update, Cobie. Let me know if the WG get touched upon in the Spidey books.
Loved Spidey in this month's FF- I'd buy a monthly of Johnny and Peter's hijinks with pleasure! Guest- star turns by Iceman, Crystal, Thundra and Angel (once he gets his memory back)! Paste-pot Pete/Trapster's too obvious a choice for a requisite baddie. Hmmmm. Deadly Nightshade and some mutant werewolves? Red Ghost's apes sans RG? The Headmen? Who would you cast?
From: Knoxville, TN | Registered: Jul 2003
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From the Masterworks board... This was initially in response to a question about John Romita inking Ross Andru. In many ways,m the Gerry Conway era was "MY" era of Spidey. It was the first time I bought the book new as it was coming out. I was in high school at the time. Enjoy!
Yeah. Romita inked (actually, RE-PENCILLED and inked) #121-124 over Gil Kane layouts (discarding his pencils-- I've seen samples).
It was when I got ahold of ESSENTIAL MARVEL TEAM-UP that I began to suspect that Gil Kane did not like having his hard work (full pencils) discarded and unused that way. (Romita's finished pages veered closer to Kane's layouts than they did his pencils.) Ross Andru was the original penciller on MTU, something I'd forgotten. (Perhaps my 2nd-ever exposure to Ross, after that one WW issue in the 60s, was MTU #2, inked by Jim Mooney.)
Anyway, it appears what happened was, Gil Kane & Ross Andru SWAPPED books. The same month, Gil Kane took over MTU (and so readers got to see Kane's full pencils being inked again), while Ross Andru, some years after he did his 1st Spidey story, finally took over as the regular artist on ASM.
The first issue, #125, was the 2nd half of the Man-Wolf story. And here's the funny thing... I DIDN'T NOTICE. Romita's inks tend to be over-powering, and frankly, it just looked terrific to me. The NEXT issue, #126, was the return of the Kangaroo-- and was inked by Jim Mooney. SUDDENLY, I noticed-- "Hey-- they replaced Gil Kane!" I got a laugh when I realized it had happened a month earlier and had gone right by me.
The NEXT one, #127, was when Frank Giacoia & Dave Hunt took over & became the regular inking team for most of the rest of Gerry Conway's run. I REALLY noticed, because all of a sudden, all the characters had a very "intense", almost haggard appearance. Put another way, they all looked "miserable". That was the issue with the FAKE Vulture (which is the tip-off for me, I strongly suspect that issue is when Gerry Conway REALLY took over plotting the book from John Romita-- who had been the plotter ever since ASM #39!!!).
I was never happy with Andru/Giacoia/Hunt... UNTIL the FAKE Mysterio story. All of a sudden, JJJ and the rest of the cast just started to look "right"! (Unless of course Romita decided to start doing touch-ups again...)
Things started to get pretty rough by Conway's last issue. (Which, incidentally, included a FAKE Gwen Stacy-- and a FAKE Spider-Man!) When Len Wein debuted as both writer & editor on #151, and started a "new era", the first issue was crammed with all kinds of character sub-plots. I loved it! But the icing on the cake was, John Romita inked the issue. WOW!! I had such high hopes that maybe this new era would blow Conway's right out of the water.
And then Giacoia & Esposito inked #152. And MJ turned into a "typical B**** girlfriend". This was something she had never been before... that I knew of. It's been pointed out, this was how she treated Harry during the "drug" issues, co-plotted by Gil Kane, whose issues ALWAYS seem to be accompanied by nervous breakdowns and extreme violence and the like. But I see it differently... MJ was ALWAYS in love with Pete, from the day they met. It hurt her terribly to see him with Gwen. Harry was just marking time for her. She kept waiting for Pete to come to his senses. He never did. And then Gwen got KILLED. Finally, Pete was "available" again... except, he was in so much pain, he wasn't really anyone she could chase after right then. And I'm sure that's not how she imagined or hoped she'd finally get him. So, to me, MJ had never been that way toward Pete. And suddenly she was. I wanted to strangle Len for that.
Then Len did 2 issues in which the supporting cast didn't appear, or Spidey never took off the mask. It was as if Len forgot he wasn't still writing MARVEL TEAM-UP. Both issues were drawn by Sal Buscema, who had become the regular MTU guy at the time. I wondered... what the hell's going on with this book? The new guy hasn't even been in charge for 3 months and already it's falling apart. Sadly, although Len was quite capable of doing fun stories here and there, too much of his career, I noticed, consisted of him getting on a book, starting out like a rocket, then fizzling out in less than 6 months. In the long run, it seemed to me that all of Len's sub-plots were in support of only ONE single "big" story-- which he dragged out over 3 whole years. (The 3rd Green Goblin.)
As they used to say on the oldies stations, "Ahh, what memories, what memories!"
Registered: Aug 2003
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Just posted at Masterworks, in the "What was your first AMAZING SPIDER-MAN issue?" thread. Enjoy!
ASM #55 -- "Doc Ock Wins!" I got this (with half the cover missing) from the corner store. I'd seen some Spidey comics across the street at my barber, but this was the first one I got for myself. It seemed very fitting... it was clear to me from the 1967 cartoon show that Doc Ock was Spidey's #1 most dangerous enemy. And his megalomania in this reached heights unimagined before. It bothered me a bit that i was walking into the middle of a story (part 3 of 4, as it turned out), and also that the damned thing ended on a cliffhanger... and the bane of TV shows at the time-- amnesia! Incredibly, somehow, a month or two later, I actually got a copy of ASM #56 from the same store (also with half the cover missing). First time I ever got 2 issues of anything in a row, and I felt real lucky, considering that cliffhanger.
So imagine my annoyance when, at the end, although Ock was captured by the Army, Spidey STILL had amnesia, and was on the run from the authorities. I really did not care for continued stories back then... for me, it was always difficult to catch both halves of any 2-parter.
This book was my introduction to John Romita, who managed to make nearly EVERY PANEL pin-up worthy! Wow.
When I did the artwork for a music compilation of tracks from the cartoon show, I used a panel from ASM #55 as the basis of it.
Oh, by the way... I finally got a copy of ASM #57-- with NO cover at all!-- at the same store-- 8 YEARS later. How the hell did that happen? I never did figure that one out. Imagine my annoyance when THAT episode ended on a cliffhanger, too!!! (MARVEL TALES had reprinted #59, but skipped #57 & 58. So #58 was one of the books I bought when I went to my first NYC comics convention, a few years later.)
My best friend always said in the 60's, he preferred DCs. You tended to get 2 complete stories. With Marvels, chances are you'd only get part of a story, and if you didn't buy regularly, you were screwed.
Registered: Aug 2003
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Shagbag Jones wrote: "That's partly what I liked about the Romita reprints I read as a kid: the idea that Peter Parker wasn't doomed to be an unpopular yutz for all time, but could get a bit more into the swing of things. Important stuff to a kid with dreams of getting the girl, etc."
I agree with this.
HOWEVER... at the same time, there was some very strange back-peddling going on in other areas. One of the greatest things about ASM #33 was the way Peter Parker finally grew up and refused to put up with Jameson's CRAP anymore!!! He insisted on getting what he was worth, and got it. Jameson looked worried.
But when Romita gets on the book, suddenly, Jameson is pushing Pete around all he wants again. What kind of character growth is this? Worse, while Ditko showed us that Jameson had his own twisted reasons for the way he was, and often generated a lot of humor at Jameson's expense, something I noticed on re-reading the entire 60's run a few years ago was that under Romita, sense, logic & reason went completely out the window with Jameson. He became more and more of a dangrous, out-of-control lunatic, raving his unreasonable hatred of Spider-Man at every possible opportunity and more, and-- unlike the 1967 tv show-- in the comics, he WASN'T FUNNY. He was just a complete madman.
Ironically, this changed-- momentarily-- when Gil Kane got on the book (definite evidence that Kane was contributing ideas). It's strange how nearly every book Kane gets on turns manic-depressive psychologically-intense and ultra-violent... and yet, on his watch, Jameson was seen to develop a social conscience for the first (and perhaps, ONLY) time. This is very inconsistent handling of these characters, the sort of thing that 60's DAREDEVIL usually gets called on the carpet on, but almost never SPIDER-MAN.
Personally, I would have preferred it if Gwen Stacy had remained the comics equivalent of Lauren Bacall instead of evolving overnight into Betty Cooper. I think it made for a much better contrast that the "classy" (but self-centered and stuck-up) girl was LOSING to the "free-spirited" (and genuinely NICE) girl. Too bad Stan's one major contribution to the Romita era was his unrelenting insistence on Pete & Gwen being a couple, instead of Pete & MJ. On the other hand, had they gone the ARCHIE route, with Pete forever playing the field between them, it might have been a lot more fun to watch!
Registered: Aug 2003
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One thing Stan did on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN was to FORCE John Romita to get Pete & Gwen together, which was never a good idea. And along the way, he also made Romita change her APPEARANCE AND PERSONALITY. So... it wasn't really "Gwen Stacy" Pete wound up with-- WAS IT?????
That reminds me of the comment someone made that in the 3 SPIDER-MAN feature films, Kirsten Dunst (a natural BLONDE!) seemed to be playing "Gwen Stacy" more than "Mary Jane", despite her having her hair colored red and them calling her "Mary Jane".
Hyperpath: Email this page to someone!
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