Let's go back to the late Spring of 1984. Rom's entering the last phase of his war with the Dire Wraiths, who are infiltrating Earth, replacing humans, and planning a sorcerous coup. Spider-Man's only recently come back to Earth with a symbiotic costume that responds to his commands. ] Synopsis Roderick Kingsley’s office is intruded by the Hobgoblin. But it reveals itself to be a Wraith, and offers him a body double he can use for his secret identity! He runs for it, hidden passage out, and makes it to his gear. He fights back as the Hobgoblin, not trusting anyone to have his secret. He seems to kill all the agents present from the Dire Wraiths. The Dire Wraiths report this attempt to replace Hobgoblin and assume his place in the underworld, failed, but they have two other plans, converging. One, they have a poltician adviser in place, who will get the humans to build detention centers, for the use of the Wraiths once they take power. The second plan invol...

The Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-man Board Game from Milton Bradley greatly expanded my love of Ditko (a name I didn’t know), and the Fantastic Four, and the Spider-man rogues in general. Along with Cap, Iron Man, Thor, and of course Hulk, as mentioned in my previous post, they were my first Marvel Super Heroes. Her cartoon assures Spider-Woman the tenth spot in my quest to discover Marvel Heroes. I saw Matt Murdock and a color-separated image of him thinking about, but not Being, Daredevil. It had to be within a few weeks of that when I saw the macabre cover of Amazing Spider-Man #220, with Moon Knight. I didn't get to read much of it, but I did read the Aunt May back-up story! That cover creeped me out good. I saw it a couple of times and felt like someone had walked across my grave, seeing Spider-Man in a coffin like that. And then, the number of super-heroes I could identify would double in one month. The two issues I schemed to buy for myself each featured a sup...

I watched the Avengers all the way through for only the second time, including its cinema debut the summer of 2012, where we went opening day in Horton Plaza, a reliable ways from our first shawarma experience later that afternoon over on Fourth Avenue. Me being my best friend and band mate, Anji Bug. I love how that one post-credit scene, of any of them, does no more previewing than simply showing they socialize. Now, I’m recalling the first of my Marvel Super Heroes. When I’m three, there’s already Spider-Man, and soon after, the Incredible Hulk, who I probably started watching in his first season. I already could read the TV Guide well enough. G-Force is already my favorite superhero team when I’m four, and I love Goldar from The Space Giants, and will meet the Superfriends just before Ultra Man and Spectre Man. Avengers is so great because at its core, it’s got the four of the first five Marvel heroes I found: Hulk, then Iron Man, Cap, and Thor. I’m less sure about Thor, b...