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...

Marvel Team-Up “MiSCHIEF NighT” SPIDER-MAN and PHANTOM RIDER Page 1 Spidey swings over Manhattan, thinking of the Midnight Western he saw before heading out. Flash! 2 Is that Jack O’Lantern? No, it’s Jack Stingy, who thinks Spider-Man is the Devil’s emissary. 3 They clash! Stingy’s a bit like Mysterio in battle. He has a special locket he was just about to use to activate a time travel spell. Their scuffle puts Spider-man close to the locket, which picks up his concept of the Wild West. Jack Stingy activates it, happy to have a target for his mischief, and takes them to an American Southwest of the 1860s by the end of page four. So, we’ll pick up page 5 with Carter Slade, in his guise as The Phantom Rider and it’s the dawn, the day of Mischief Night. He's using his spectral dust and fists, wrapping up a serious rustling plot. Show Nancy, his girlfriend, in a locket; she’s coming on the next train. As is mentioned in front of Carter, we flash to: Some Tequila is ...

Imagine if Marvel Team-Up could’ve been more experimental and not had to rely on their mascot Spider-Man nearly every issue: more stuff like this cool Deathlok/ Devil-Slayer story I’m about to read, in the last issue of Marvel Spotlight. One imagines a decent tale, for every era of the title, without Spidey, easily, at least, potentially- so, it’s too bad they were locked into that mold, and make their black and white magazines print better. Granted, they didn't want to break an unbroken thing, trying to fix it. 1972 team-up? Ah, Black Widow and Iron Man, by Gene Colan Luke Cage and Iron Man, by Billy Graham and Ron Wilson. ’73? Conan the Barbarian and Dr. Strange. The Cat and Shanna the She-Devil, guest-starring Night Nurse. ’74 The Vision and the Scarlet Witch versus Dracula! I thought of lots of interesting things about Dracula and Vision, but then I got one helluva Hex Wanda could throw that seemingly cures Dracula. I'll say no more. ’75 ...

Along with its pop culture phenomenon theme song, the original ABC run of Spider-Man , and its many reincarnations in syndication around the world (but especially in native-content-loving Canada!), gave the superhero a platform which I think launched his popularity ever skyward! Already a surprise smash hit for Marvel Comics from his 1962 inception by writer/editor Stan Lee and designer/plotter Steve Ditko, the wallcrawler's exposure through the Grantray/ Lawence animated series took him into homes for Saturday mornings- and then, afternoons ever after- to fascinated children of all ages everywhere. The series debuted on September 9th, 1967, which prompted me to share a bit of my re-discovery of the hero's famous, jazzy, funky and sometimes hilarious adventures. The second regular series writer on Amazing Spider-Man in 1972, a teen named Gerry Conway, told me he was eager to consume any iteration of his favorite Marvel characters. He watched Spider-Man every week, followi...

I can almost here a Peter Parker voice-over on this one, plus that great Bernard Cowen narration about "born losers" As you will find on the channel, Struttin' Success, on YouTube: From the original master tapes from the KPM music library in Britain: 1) "Drive On" composed by Alan Hawkshaw; 2) "LSD" composed by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter; 3) "Quite Contrary" composed by Syd Dale. This middle track is really weird! So creative, though. That third number,"Quite Contrary," brings things back to Chill Mode. VEry nice. Another crazy way the cartoon's been reincarnated: a huge Reddit stream of memes, many composed and posted in real time during online viewing parties in recent years. I am really crazy for "Latin Gear," but I haven't found it listed alone. It's worth hearing "The Eyelash" again! Due to the similarity in their names, I've seen some confusion about "Beat Street...

OK, Best Spider-Man Team-Ups of the Years brings you a quartet of comics this time out, so Face Front! First, the two-parter that won the spotlight: 1978’s Best, with the grand prize, Spider-Man with Mighty Thor versus The Living Monolith in Marvel Team Up #70! What epic spectacle, the great in power shaking the city while our point-of-view character, Spidey, at one point hitches a ride on Thor’s hammer, Mjonir! That scene’s homaged on the very cover of Marvel Team-Up #148, where I first caught that tactic with my young eyes. So, Marvel Team Up #68 set up the return of Havok, the X-Man whose origins share the source of power with the villain of our piece, the archeologist who also shares mutant solar-absorbing abilities. But should Havok fall…! Let’s say, Thor is just about the only cavalry who’d have a chance. The 1972 first pairing of the god and the graduate, Marvel Team-Up #7, was my choice of winner in that year! Here, it’s my 2nd favorite Spider-Man/ Thor story. ...

Captain America is such a wonderful touchstone to cultural values, history, and an enduring sense of decency fostered in a time we try to preserve in us. I knew I had to participate in my country’s culture today by discussing someone whose courage transcends politics. He’s just the sort of fellow we need to make real from our own hearts and determination. From soldier to teacher to playground child to handicapped shut-in, to believe in Cap gives an intangible form to what we admire in ourselves in the face of adversity. Yes, in his stories, he’s a hero who finds a way to win. Along the way, he finds a way to never quit! In my selection for Spider-Man’s most awesome team-up of 1981, I went with the spirit of Marvel Comics Group at that time. Frank Miller was completing the new, rather basic crime noir Daredevil; John Byrne began a back-to-basics approach with Fantastic Four. I might’ve cocked an eye at first, how Cap spouts historic object lessons throughout. But isn’t this a ...

Ordeals! Lefty Donovan cruelly leaves the once-heavily-armed crew with whom he stole chemicals to die in burning creosote-soaked timbers. I’m reminded the Hobgoblin mystery’s tension comes from his devious schemes and ability to murder people for his goals! Realistically, he’s still hurt from the first battle with Spider-Man, seems, so using other pawns would be a way to move forward anyway-but he’s also setting up Donovan to BE the Hobgoblin AND to be his test subject for the Goblin serum. Enjoying that the Hobgoblin will be Out There for me these October, 2017 nights, so this can become a time ol’ Fright Face can make memorable, as when I was only ten! His hood and mask make him like a living totem of some horrid demon, beyond the grave and madness. The Goblin takes over the minds of men with this equipment’s power and ruthless destructive power. Something makes them fashion their lives and plans around a secret existence of villainy. The avatar, this time, moves fr...

Does the world really need me to make a book about 80’s Spider-Man, cartoons, video games- all of it? I’ll admit freely, if that was paying work, it sounds divine! But who knows. Just like, who knows who is this mystery Osborn Industries prowler, with the dangerous idea to utilize Norman Osborn’s instruments of mayhem- and possibly, the secret of Spider-Man, too? One point worth making: Stern’s underscored how he thinks of the Spider-Sense as Spidey’s unique, defining, most useful power. He’s provided his own set-up for Hobby robbing Spidey of that one secret, most crucial ability. If you’ve been reading all along, he’s set up the more assured, experienced Spider-Man to end his run with the most nuanced, multi-layered challenge yet! Three story lines mingle with the Hobgoblin mystery to provide texture, to build suspense and provide a passage of time the villain uses to grow as a threat. You have the Amy Powell scheme to mix Peter into her open relationship games with his...

From the start, The Avengers, the Marvel Comic, was created to bring together as many of the company’s big solo stars as possible. His appearance in Captain America: Civil War marked the untangling of difficulties with rights-holder Sony, to allow a Spider-Man to come flipping onto that Berlin battlefield and snatch the shield of no less than Cap himself! A complicated circumstance under which to join any form of Avengers, but a logical one: Stark took a chance on the mystery teen and masterminded his recruitment. His non-adventures afterwards are the set-up to Spider-Man: Homecoming. I love the personally-filmed documentary of Pete’s Berlin mission and even the selfies going into that fight- what better way to reflect how star-struck and still immature Parker still was? With daily texts back to liason Happy Hogan, Pete yearns to break the bonds of his successful but comparatively uneventful scholastic life at Midtown High school. His tendency towards barging in without consult...