Ultimate Spider-Man #52

I got this two summers ago at NJ Gamer Con.

Title: Ultimate Spider-Man
Issue: 52
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: March  2004
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciller: Mark Bagley
Inker: Art Thibert
Colorist: J.D. Smith
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Nick Lowe, Mackenzie Cadenhead, C.B. Cebulski, Ralph Macchio

This story features a realtively young/inexperienced Peter Parker who has just gotten to know the Black Cat. He agrees to meet her for a rooftop rendezvous, admitting it's against his better judgement, but they are quickly interrupted by the Kingpin's newest assassin, Elektra (also young and inexperienced in this version).

The title of the story is "Catfight", and the resulting match with attempted interference and narration by Peter Parker, is about as male-gaze-y as the title suggests that it is going to be. The whole thing feels like there isn't much at stake, and indeed, little of consequence is accomplished story-wise when it's all done. There are a lot of panels of fighting, but none of them are all that interesting, and in the end, Peter, is left in the same self-esteem crisis that he started the issue in.

There is a bit of plot advancement and character development in the cutaway scenes to Kingpin, but still nothing of great consequence.

This felt like a WWE house-show match where nobody is working to their full potential, and everything has to remain unchanged because it's not being televised.

Rating: 3.5/10

The Amazing Spider-Man #800

Another comics I picked up at Merrymac Games and Comics this past summer.

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue: 800
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: July 2018
Writer: Dan Slott
Artist: Nick Bradshaw, Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba, Guiseppe Camuncoli, Cam Smith, Stuart Immonen, Wade von Grawbadger, Marcos Martin
Colorist: Edgar Delgado, Java Tartaglia, Marte Gracia, Muntsa Vicente
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Cover: Humberto Ramos, Edgar Delgado
Editor:Kathleen Wisneski, Nick Lowe, Devin Lewis

Did I mention that I love collecting these big round-number issues? So here we have Amazing Spider-Man #800. It's interesting to contrast this with Action Comics #1000 (I reviewed it here). For Action Comics, DC went with a mostly-out-of-continuity tribute anthology, celebrating Superman and the idea of inspiration, with only a short final segment as a tease of actual future in-continuity action.

Marvel takes the opposite approach here. This is a single story concluding a major story arc, with big impacts on storyline continuity, including the death of a major character who has been there for most of those 800 issues.

The scenario has Spidey up against what could be his ultimate nemesis: The Red Goblin. That would be the Green Goblin attached to the Carnage symbiote.

Of course, given the momentous occasion, this story is absolutely loaded with nostalgia. There are a bunch of appearances by classic members of Peter Parker's supporting cast, not to mention tribute scenes that evoke some of the most emotional moments of past stories, particularly from Peter's past clashes with Normal Osborne.

This was a pretty good story with a lot of twists and action. There were some moments where it just felt like it had too many moving parts, but the finish came down to Spider-Man vs. (Red) Goblin like it needed to.

The throwback sequences were fun to spot, but they also had the unfortunate effect of reminding me that Spider-Man has had some truly awesome, emotional moments, and this story, while good, never really reaches the level of those classics.

This was satisfying, and it felt important, but at times it was trying too hard to look backward and trying too hard to be all things in a single issue.

Rating: 6/10

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #14

Another item from the unread comics stack. I seem to recall that I found this on the freebies table at ReaderCon last summer, but I could be mistaken on that.

Title: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
Issue: 14
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: January, 2007
Writer: Peter David
Penciller: Scot Eaton
Inker: John Dell
Colorist: Matt Milla
Letterer: VC's Cory Petit
Editor: Axel Alonso, Michael O'Connor

This is in the midst of the Unmasked storyline, and the lead-up to Marvel
s original Civil War. Spider-Man's true identity as Peter Parker has become public knowledge, and Peter is dealing with the fallout from that.

This issue specifically focuses on his efforts to safeguard Midtown High School, now that his connections to the school have become known. Peter enlists the help of the Beast, and gains what effectively amounts to a major new power (in one of those annoying bits of plot that will undoubtedly be forgotten in a few months either with or without some token writeoff to reset things).

While that is going on, a classic Spider-Man villain returns to action, setting up a future confrontation. And Peter Parker also experiences some further repercussions in the form of the publication of a tell-all book by an ex-girlfriend.

This was loaded with excellent visuals, and it had a classic Spider-Man vibe to it. It made good use of a lot of moving parts and kept the story rolling smoothly. I wasn't a fan of some of the the out-of-sequence aspects of the storytelling. They weren't terrible; they just didn't feel entirely justified.

Considering I hadn't read much by Marvel from this time period, this felt reasonably comfortable, even with it being a jump into the middle of a major crossover storyline. But it was still something of a transitional issue, with bigger plot developments saved for forthcoming issues.

Rating: 5.5/10

The Amazing Spider-Man 275

One of the older books in the random to-read stack. No idea where I got this one.

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue: 275
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: April, 1986
Writer: Tom DeFalco, Stan Lee
Artist: Ron Frenz, Josef Rubinstein, Steve Ditko
Colorist: Nel Yomtov
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Editor: Jim Owsley

From right in the midst of the original black-costume era, this story pits Spider-Man against the Hobgoblin, but more importantly, it pits Peter Parker against his own self-doubt.

It also includes a complete reprint of the original Spider-Man origin story by Lee and Ditko from Amazing Fantast #15 in 1962. In this case, the retelling of the origin is framed as a flashback related to Mary Jane Watson by Peter Parker, who is seriously questioning his second life as Spider-Man.

There is also a major soap-opera going in with Flash Thompson (presented here, disturbingly, as a domestic abuser), Sha Shan, Betty Leeds, and Ned Leeds. It is complicated, and melodramatic, and before the issue is over, the lives of these characters will collide with the lives of Spider-Man and Hobgoblin (well, it's hinted that there may already be a connection there).

Peter Parker's concerns about collateral damage, and his own failings, felt very real, and the discussion with Mary Jane about whether he should continue on as Spider-Man had no real straightforward answers, and writer Tom DeFalco did an especially good job of acknowledging Mary Jane's very mixed feelings.

Hobgoblin, meanwhile was in classic villain mode, operating as an enforcer for the Rose, who is preparing to challenge the Kingpin for control of New York's underworld, while really obsessing over his next encounter with Spider-Man.

It takes a while to get to the action, but once it gets going, the fight between Spider-Man and Hobgoblin is excellent.

This issue has a lot going on, most of it very good, a little bit of it cringe-inducing (Flast Thompson's scenes). The reprint is shoehorned in somewhat awkwardly, but it's hard to complain about getting one of the  greatest comic stories of all time as a backup feature, no matter how many times I've read it.

Rating: 7/10

The Sensational Spider-Man #33.2

This is another book that I picked up on Free Comic Book Day from New England Comics. It's not an actual FCBD giveaway, just a random comic from the box of extra freebies at NEC.

Title: The Sensational Spider-Man
Issue: 33.2
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: October, 2012
Writer: Tom DeFalco
Penciler: Carlo Barberi
Inker: Walden Wong
Colorist: Antonio Fabela
Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles
Cover: Simone Bianchi
Editor: Tom Brennan

I haven't really read much from Marvel during this timeframe, so I have no idea what is up with that numbering system.

NYPD detective Carlie Cooper finds herself in the midst of a case involving human trafficking, immigration, elements of the Russian mob, and the new incarnation of the Vulture.

While Cooper pursues the case through her channels, with help from Peter Parker, Spider-Man is going after the bad guys using his own methods. This story didn't duck the complexities of the human trafficking and immigration issues, and it had a pretty interesting cast of minor characters, all pursuing their own agendas.

Detective Cooper is particularly interesting as she grapples with issues of what is right versus what is the law.

Rating: 7.5/10

Spider-Man, Storm, And Power Man

Public service comic from the 1980s. From the backlog. No idea where I picked this one up.

Title: Spider-Man, Storm, And Power Man
Date: 1982
Publisher: Marvel Comics, American Cancer Society

This is a public service comic co-published by Marvel and the American Cancer Society as part of an anti-teen-smoking campaign.

Before I get further into the review, let me mention that none of the creative team on the book are credited, which is something I absolutely hate to see. Fortunately, this isn't as common now, but it is still worth mentioning. There wouldn't be a comic without writers and artists. Is it really that difficult to spare a bit of space to give them credit? Stan Lee's name still manages to get prominently featured, of course.

On an unrelated note, why is it that Spider-Man's name has a hyphen but Power Man's doesn't? Just wondering.

So, on to the story. Bret, a star track athlete, has fallen in with a bad crowd and picked up some bad habits, including smoking cigartettes. Luke Cage is the volunteer coach for Bret's team and there is a big relay race coming up.

Cage is concerned about the group that is influencing Bret and follows him to the local hangout where some fairly stereotypical mobsters are engaged in mobster type activities. Spider-Man and Storm get involved. I am guessing that this is happening on a week when Galactus and Magneto are not, in fact, threatening the world, and there are no major Marvel crossover events going on.

Storm finds the secret lair of the bad guys and is immediately knocked out and captured by their supervillain leader Smokescreen (yeah, you had to know that there was going to be a goofy villain with a smoke theme). At least she does self-rescue later in the story.

The ending has Bret trying win the race while the superheroes take down the, um, evil gambling ring that is betting big money on high school track meets. Oh, and the book clearly shows Bret lining up to start the race and the starting gun goes off, and later cuts to him making a final push for the finish line. Last time I checked, the same dude is not supposed to both start and finish a relay race. Just saying.

But this book is not about continuity! It is about smoking! The discussions of the effects of smoking on the body are incorporated into the narrative about as well as could be expected. There are a couple of quick quiz type activities along with the main story. And aside from a few of the goofy bits like Smokescreen's name and gimmick, the book does not get overly preachy. I don't think anyone is going to smoke or not smoke just on the basis of having read this comic, but it manages to be relatively true to its purpose.

And also, given what the book was, it did manage to put together a reasonably entertaining story.

Rating: 5.5/10

Oh, and don't smoke!

The Amazing Spider-Man: Free Comic Book Day 2011

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man: Free Comic Book Day 2011
Date: 2011
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Dan Slot
Penciler: Humberto Ramos
Inker: Carlos Cuevas, Victor Olazaba
Colorist: Edgar Delgado
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Editor: Ellie Pyle, Stephen Wacker

Spider-Man brawls with Spider-Woman, who is under the control of the (extremely annoying) Mandrill. Mandrill's power is mind control over females only, which is probably exactly what the world of comics needed (not) after SDCC 2011 and that now-famous Batgirl cosplayer asking about the lack of female creators in the "New 52". So, yeah, Mandrill's deal is that he's basically a sexist concept (women can't resist his animal magnetism), but that's okay because he gets punched out in the end, right?

You know what would be more okay? If Mandrill never appeared in another story.

Fortunately, this story gets a bit better as it goes. Following the Mandrill idiocy, we have a guest appearance by Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, who ends up training Spidey (who has lost his spider-sense to a heavyhanded plot device).

One exchange that was really great here: Peter Parker taking a scientific view of martial arts, contrasted with Shang-Chi's more spiritual view. Very cool.

The end of the issue is previews, starting with a little teaser for the Spider Island storyline. To finish up the book, there is a five-page preview of Fear Itself, with Sin getting her own personal magical hammer. It's not horrible, but it could easily have been told in 2-3 pages without losing anything.

There were a lot of attempts at humor in the main story, and some of them worked. I don't find Mandrill or his power funny, so some was lost on me, but Peter Parker trying out his official status as an Avenger to get himself out of legal entanglements was pretty amusing, as were some of the interactions between Parker and Shang-Chi.

Rating: 4.5/10

30 Day Comic Challenge Day 27

Day 27 - Favorite Comic Book Movie.

See my previous post for some thoughts on my general lack of enthusiasm (at least lack of the level of enthusiasm of most of my fellow geeks) for movies and TV versions of my favorite comics and books.

That being said, I think that comic book movies have come a long way and improved quite a bit, especially in the area of being faithful to the original source material.

I credit this movie for starting the trend:



Okay, admittedly, there were some changes, and I know that some hardcore fans got righteously indignant over the "organic" web-shooters.

But seriously, take a look at Spider-Man and see what a great job they did with the cast. The minor characters that Hollywood would in past years have thrown out are present and in most cases spot-on. J.K. Simmons absolutely NAILED the part of J. Jonah Jameson. And this movie didn't NEED J. Jonah Jameson. He was there because somehow against all odds, the powers that be in Hollywood actually paid attention to the comics and realized that the fans didn't want to see Hollywood's Spider-Man. They wanted to see Marvel's Spider-Man, or at the risk of sounding overly sentimental THEIR Spider-Man.

Since that time, there have been some films that ditched the source material completely (Wanted), but there have been a lot more that made a very serious effort to stick close to it (Lord of the Rings did a pretty admirable job). If Spider-Man had been a flop, I'm not sure if we'd be seeing that kind of effort. We might easily have remained stuck in the days when Hollywood thought that Cathy Lee Crosby as a blonde Wonder Woman was a good idea.

From My Creations

It's been about two weeks since this challenge was for favorite cartoon series, and I STILL don't have anyone offering a movie deal.

So, sorry, no Dandelion Studios films in the works, and that means a pass on this half of today's question. However, I don't want to leave you with nothing video-wise, so here's the video trailer for the first issue of Stone.



The 30 Day Comic Challenge Page on Facebook is here. Here is the complete list of daily topics:

30 Day Comic Challenge
Day 01 - Your first comic book.
Day 02 - Your favorite character.
Day 03 - A comic that is underrated.
Day 04 - Your guilty pleasure comic or character.
Day 05 - Comic character you feel you are most like (or wish you were).
Day 06 - Most annoying character.
Day 07 - Favorite comic couple.
Day 08 - Best series being published right now.
Day 09 - Most touching comic book/comic book scene.
Day 10 - Dream versus match.
Day 11 - Favorite comic book cartoon series.
Day 12 - A comic everyone should read.
Day 13 - A book you’ve read more than five times.
Day 14 – Most awesome single comic book image
Day 15 - A Picture from the comic you’re reading right now.
Day 16 - Funniest comic book/comic book scene.
Day 17 - Most useless Villain.
Day 18 - Favorite B-list character.
Day 19 - Comic book city/universe you wish you lived in.
Day 20 - Favorite super power or skill.
Day 21 - Favorite writer.
Day 22 - A series that you liked but stopped reading
Day 23 - Your favorite artist.
Day 24 - Dream character team up.
Day 25 - A book you plan on reading.
Day 26 - A comic you wish they would make into a movie.
Day 27 - Favorite comic book movie.
Day 28 - Favorite comic publisher.
Day 29 - A comic you thought you wouldn’t like, but ended up loving.
Day 30 - Your favorite run or series of all time.

The Amazing Spider-Man Sketchbook / Astonishing X-Men Sketchbook

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man Sketchbook / Astonishing X-Men Sketchbook
Date: 2009
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Dugan Trodglen
Artist: Phil Jimenez
Editor: Richard Rodriguez, Arune Singh, Erik Lebron, Matthew Lichtenstein, John Rhett Thomas

Flip book. This freebie from Marvel spotlights the Gauntlet storyline from Amazing Spider-Man as well as Warren Ellis' run on Astonishing X-Men.

The X-Men portion is primarily an extended interview with artist Phil Jimenez, who comes off as a really enthusiastic guy who's a true fan of the genre, the business, and the characters he's working with. He also goes into some detail on his process, with some nice insights into how he works with Warren Ellis' script. There is plenty of his artwork to liven up the text.

Flip the book over and you get an extended preview of the Gauntlet storyline in Amazing Spider-Man. I've never read those issues, and I tend to be a bit dubious about Marvel's handling of Spider-Man lately, but I have to admit, this preview did its job of selling the product. I really like the focus on classic villains. The hype does occasionally fall into the rather tired territory of claiming that they are going to make a character "darker" (really? how original!), but there is still a lot to like about a series that will bring back guys like Sandman, Electro, Rhino, Lizard, Mysterio, and Doc Ock as the major opposition for Spidey. No idea how this series turned out in execution, but I will at least grant that showed potential here.

Rating: 7/10

Spider-Man Halloween Special 2004

Title: Spider-Man Halloween Special 2004
Date: 2004
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Todd Dezago, Sean McKeever, Mike Raicht
Penciler: Jonboy Meyers, Makoto Nakatsuka, Lou Kang, Patrick Scherberger
Inker: Pat Davidson, Makoto Nakatsuka
Letterer: VC's Randy Gentile, David Sharpe
Colorist: Udon's Larry Moliner, Chris Sotomayor, Digital Rainbow, Sotocolor's J. Rauch
Cover: Roger Cruz, Randy Green, Makoto Nakatsuka, Shane Davis, Sotocolor
Editor: Barber, Cadenhead, Cebulski

Not much Halloween-themed in this. It's essentially a preview book for four Marvel Age (Marvel's superhero line for younger readers) series: Spider-Man, Spider-Man Team-Up, Fantastic Four, and Hulk.

Nostalgia was running thick here. I recognized three out of the four stories as reworkings of early-issue stories from their respective characters. First up was an updating of "Spider-Man Tackles The Torch" from an early issue of Amazing Spider-Man. There were a couple of amusing one-liners, but for the most part, Peter and Johnny both act like jerks in a forced attempt to build up a rivalry between them. I didn't like the Marvel-Age look for Johnny, although the interpretation of The Thing worked pretty well.

Second story was a remake of the "assemble the team" sequence from the first issue of Fantastic Four. The new version of the FF-Signal was pretty awesome. Again, I wasn't a fan of the art style for Johnny. The rest of the team was better. Since it's just the opening sequence, not much really ends up happening in this preview.

The last two stories were even shorter, to the point of really just being fragments. I did really enjoy Peter Parker's genuine awe at meeting Captain America in the preview of Marvel-Age Spider-Man Team Up.

A lot of my enjoyment of this book came from having read the original versions of the stories, something the book's target audience might not have done. As a result, this may miss the mark as a preview when taken out of the context of nostalgia.

Rating: 5/10

Spider-Man Collectible Series #24

Title: Spider-Man Collectible Series
Issue: #24
Date: 2006
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciler: Steve Ditko
Inker: Steve Ditko
Letterer: Sam Rosen

This is one of a series of newspaper freebies that reprinted early Spider-Man stories. In this case, this issue reprints the second half of Amazing Spider-Man #11 from 1964. This is a fun story involving Betty Brant and her brother, who has gotten involved in organized crime. Peter Parker's relationship with Betty had been deepening, and he was considering revealing his second life as Spider-Man to her, but she was suddenly caught up in her brother's criminal dealings.

To make matters worse, Doctor Octopus has just been released from prison, and he's got revenge on his mind. Everything comes to a head aboard a tramp freighter ship, and Spider-Man must fight on one leg after he sprains his ankle tripping on a rope while boarding the ship. No, really! How often does THAT happen in comics these days? It actually makes for a really fun, um, twist, as a fight against random thugs becomes at least challenging for Spidey, and the fight against Doc Ock gets downright desperate. The action is fast and furious, and it's all pretty logically thought out once you accept the fact that Peter's spider-sense failed to warn him that he was about to trip on that rope.

There's an extremely melodramatic conclusion to Betty Brant's subplot, but a final epilogue scene makes it at least somewhat reasonable, and it serves to add plenty of tension to the story.

Doc Ock is a great villain here, and he really comes off as someone who could beat Spider-Man and would have fun doing it.

A lot of comic fans are familiar with the first two or three Spider-Man stories. This reprint series was a great chance to go a little bit deeper into that initial Lee/Ditko run, and it's definitely worth a look.

Because these books each contained half an issue's worth of story, they alternated between the original cover art and new covers commissioned for the reprint series. This issue has one of the new covers which is, unfortunately, uncredited.

(I'll offer a free comic to the first person who can find me the correct cover art credit for this book!)

Rating: 7.5/10