I was so excited, the day in 1986 I found a copy of Amazing Spider-Man #123 in the back issue bin at Amazing World of Fantasy, For the first of only three times, I attempt to barter with Gordon, the owner. I’d read advice recently then about asking if a shop owner wants to negotiate on back issues you want to collect, especially on older, slower-moving back issues. “That’s part of the Death of Gwen Stacy storyline!’ protested Gordon, with a whip of his long brown hair. I couldn’t argue with that. I’d have to settle for paying the most I ever had for a comic book: $3.50, as I recall. Maybe $4.50. New issues are holding the line at seventy five cents, so this was a big move in my little hobby world. I didn’t regret it, though. I now had the oldest copy of Amazing Spider-Man, yet- from before I was even born! Better, the art benefits from John Romita, I believe finishing Gil Kane’s pencils. Gerry Conway was settling fandom on its ear with that trilogy: the kidnapping and acci...

Listen here! Distinction: how to keep a character voice familiar anywhere, as seen in Luke Cage & The Defenders Luke Cage and the Defenders: Brother in A Strange Land “I couldn’t hear the woman’s heartbeat...no way to judge whether she was lying. None of my hyper-senses can tell me what to do.” “I gotta be some kind of blamed fool, swallowin’ this dude’s rap. But when he started droppin’ names like ‘Nighthawk’ an’ ‘Doc Strange’--yeah, this is the address, all right. I dunno...he came on mighty convincin’ once he got rollin’, and since I didn’t have no plan o’ my own for dealin’ with--- Before you tap that shoulder, sugar- identify yourself.” “Sticks hurt red man- but not Hulk!” “I shall take my magic cloak of levitation and follow, no matter where the trail may lead!” “This is ridiculous! Here I am, putting up one of the greatest fights of my star-studded career, and there’s no one around to applaud!” “If you know me as well as you apparently think you do—yo...

Marvel Comics Group- in its phase as a slightly anarchic bastion of experimentation and creativity- published the comics reprinted here from 1976 to 1978, Leading off this volume we have the second half of Steve Gerber's run. The Steve Gerber stories are SO creative and smartly-written, with Buscema's competent layouts and nice superhero art. The ideas are so weird and original! The inks vary a bit in their outcome, but overall I like the Buscema/ Janson combo. If anything, a bit more subtlety in the art would better compliment Steve's restless wit and canny observations. These are not standard sorts of stories on the whole- the villains are strange but thought-provoking. Plots are both bizarre and driven by commentary about the modern world and individual struggles for identity in sublime pop form. Steve Gerber continued writing in comics and cartoons; after he authored Howard the Duck, Omega the Unknown, Man-Thing, and the team-up adventures of the Fantastic Four...