Post by shlocko on Nov 26, 2012 22:11:39 GMT -5
I did a bunch of comic reviews for my comics blog, strangevisitorfromanotherplanet.blogspot.com/ and I thought I would repost some of my favorites here. I rate the story on a scale of 1-5, five being the best. Your mileage may vary.
Amazing Spider-Man, the Todd McFarlane Era
I missed this stuff when it first came out. I wasn’t reading comics at the time, and I wouldn’t start reading ASM for another two years. McFarlane came on the scene after a short run on Incredible Hulk (the second half of which is collected in the Ground Zero TPB). The Toddster had a very interesting take on Spider-Man’s look. Gone were the standard sized eyes that had gone with the costume for the past 25 years. Spider-Man became part contortionist. Mary Jane, supposedly a top model, still had the same haircut that John Romita had given her in the late sixties. McFarlane updated the look of the book a bit, and in the process, made Spider-Man more popular than he’d been in twenty years.
I think a lot of the credit has to go to writer David Michelinie, who had been on the book since issue #290 (although he really wasn’t regular writer until #296) for his innovative stories, and his ability to build to a logical ending. McFarlane was just icing on the cake, and the logical fanboy extension of Byrne, Simonson, and Perez, who were all “Hot” artists before him. It took them awhile to reach their stride, as it usually does in comics (The only time I can remember that there was no time needed was on X-Men when Jim Lee came on board. The stories were INSTANTLY better.)
#298 (“Chance Encounter” March 1988) and #299 (“Survival of the Hittest” April 1988)
Spidey was still in the black outfit here, although the end was near for that particular outfit. The constantly wagering mercenary, Chance, has been retained by a group that seems to be eco-terrorists called “The Life Foundation”. He is instructed to steal a shipment of Euro-arms and deliver it to them for $25,000. Peter, meanwhile, tries to impress his wife with a candle lit dinner, only to have her arrive with her hairdresser. Later, Parker changes to Spider-Man and takes pics of the arms theft, until a soldier is wounded by Chance. Chance is double-crossed by his employers, and is transported away. There’s a last page teaser of someone with Spider-Man’s old alien costume (last seen in Web of Spider-Man #1.) This is a self – contained story, but also continues in the next issue.
Spider-Man tracks the Life Foundation to New Jersey, to try to bring Chance to justice, but he uncover that the Foundation is selling survival condos to rich folks in the event of a nuclear war. The condos are five million dollars a pop. They are going to provide their security with the weapons that Chance stole for them. They are going to equip themselves with duplicates of Chance’s weapons. Spider-Man frees Chance, and they call a truce. Together, they wreck the Life Foundation’s plan and make their escape. Back at the Chelsea apartment, Mary Jane (Peter Parker’s new wife) comes home, and we see Venom for the first time.
Bottom Line: A good story, although I’m a bit confused as to why the Life Foundation can’t sell survival condos. Sure, they might be out of line with the whole weapon thing, and stealing a guys stuff is not cool, but the actual building of the condos isn’t really illegal. Just saying, free enterprise and all. 3.5 out of 5
#300 (“Venom” May, 1988)
Peter comes home, and MJ is in shock. They move out of the apartment to a hotel, and MJ tries to get them on the list for a place called “The Bedford Towers” a ritzy building on the upper west side of Manhattan. Peter plays tag with Venom for a bit, and then stops by and gets a sonic disrupter from the Fantastic Four. Peter and MJ enlist everyone in the supporting cast’s help to move in to their new apartment. While Pete talks to his boss, Robbie Robertson on the balcony, he sees Venom go by, and decides to follow him. A battle ensues, and Peter tries to use the sonic disrupter on Venom, but the alien costume has bonded permanently to him. Venom knocks him out, and Spider-Man awakens to find himself webbed into a church bell. Venom thinks that the clapper on the bell will squish Spider-Man, and they will have their vengeance. (I suppose I should say that Venom is Eddie Brock, a reporter who was shamed by Spider-Man’s actions a few months earlier. Driven to the brink, he decided to kill himself, but the costume, convalescing in the church, saved him. They merge, and their hate for Spider-Man saves them.)
At any rate, Peter frees himself, and since the costume makes it’s own webbing, it has depleted it’s supply, and Spider-Man cuts and cuts until Venom can’t make any more webbing, and he falls from the church tower. A quick call to MJ later, and Spidey has Venom locked up at Four Freedoms Plaza, until he can be moved to the Vault. At the new apartment, MJ doesn’t want Peter to wear the black costume anymore, and suggests that he wear the replica of his original that he bought in Germany some months back. The ultra cool last page is one of Spider-Man in his original costume, swinging through the snow in Manhattan.
Bottom Line: This was a GREAT story, and the art was superb. I’m not a huge fan of the black costume, so it was nice to do away with it once and for all. The logic behind Venom’s hatred is so twisted that it comes back around to straight and makes sense. It seems that #300 was a grand new beginning for the franchise, and it flew high for about three or four more years from here. 4.5 out of 5.
#301 (“The Sable Gauntlet” June 1988)
This is basically a throw away issue. The art is good, if unremarkable. McFarlane sometimes has a tendency to look a little rushed. It seems that Michelinie used the Marvel Plot Machine ™ to write this one. (It’s a little like a mad-lib, you insert the various things you want, and the MPM spits out a story for you.) Silver Sable’s Wild Pack has been contracted to test the security of a new high rise in New York. They fail, but the chief of security Frank Cruz wants to have Sable herself check it out. Spider-Man comes by the Symkarian Embassy, and Cruz arrives with the owner of the building. Cruz triggers the Spider-Sense, and Peter checks him out. Seems he’s a Nazi, and Silver put his father away years ago, and he wants revenge. Silver infiltrates the building, and is about to press the button to trigger the end of the exercise, when Spider-Man stops her. Of course, a battle between the two ensues, and Spidey stops her by showing her the explosives. The owner of the building commissions Sable to find Cruz, who’s real name is Franz Krause. Throughout the issue, a strange man has been stalking Peter. He shows at their apartment, and offers Peter a job, in Kansas.
Bottom Line: this is the textbook definition of putting something out there because something had to be out there this month, and Marvel doesn’t do unscheduled reprints. Nothing offensive, just not very good. 1.5 out of 5.
#302 (“(Mid) American Gothic” July, 1988)
Peter has traveled to Kansas, to interview for this job. While there, he runs into a guy who was bitten by a – get this – radioactive jackrabbit. (Which puts me in mind of the character one of my brother’s friends had for one of our RPG sessions, years ago. I constantly made fun of him, suggesting things like a cotton tail or ears for his costume.) Anyhow, a scientist there is peeved about losing funding for his pet project, and Spider-Man and this Jackrabbit character have to take him down. Really bad. Back in New York, Sable acquires the services of the Sandman to help her take down Franz Krause, since his army is quite large.
Bottom Line: Another Marvel Plot Machine ™ issue. 1 out of 5.
#303 (“Dock Savage” August, 1988)
Thank God, he’s tying this one up. Silver Sable hires Spider-Man, through an ad in the Daily Bugle, and She, Spidey, and Sandman take down Franz Kraus’s army in surprisingly short order. I hate Silver Sable. She was an attempt to create a strong female character, but they did such a shitty job at it. Her premise was good, but her actual character sucked. (She comes across as a female Cable, if that means anything.) Peter is stalked by someone else at the end of the issue, and he decides not to accept the job in Kansas, instead deciding to return to college.
Bottom Line: Thank God that David Michelinie was done with this pseudo three parter, cus it’s one of the worst stories in the title’s history. They hit bottom with this one, and only the art could save it from a negative rating from me. .5 out of 5.
#304 (“California Schemin’” Early Sept 1988) and #305 (“Westward Woe” Late Sept 1988)
Ah, a two parter. A really funny bit is that the story title of #304 is the cover copy of #305. This is actually a pretty good premise. The Daily Bugle is publishing a book of Peter Parker’s Spider-Man photos called “Webs” and they offer him $25,000 in royalties to do a tour. He agrees, and Pete and MJ are off to California. They stop at Disney, and then to a signing. Black Fox (an aging con man) is also at the place where the party is, a museum, so that he can steal a chalice. This chalice is also wanted by Hobie Brown, aka the Prowler.
I'm not sure why, but back in the day, Marvel went to bi-weekly issues for the summer of the really top-tier books (The big sellers, X-Men, Amazing Spider-Man, Wolverine, Punisher, Silver Surfer, etc.) This book came out a mere two weeks after the previous one. The Prowler wants the chalice because his wife’s been arrested for embezzlement. There’s info on a microchip on the chalice that will save her from prison. Spidey is ambushed for autographs. He checks out the Prowlers story, and then they manage to get the chalice back from Black Fox later on. Peter, being a sucker, lets the Black Fox go.
Bottom Line: Very improved over the last few issues, but still not great. They would start to hit their stride around the end of 1988. 2.25 out of 5.
Amazing Spider-Man, the Todd McFarlane Era
I missed this stuff when it first came out. I wasn’t reading comics at the time, and I wouldn’t start reading ASM for another two years. McFarlane came on the scene after a short run on Incredible Hulk (the second half of which is collected in the Ground Zero TPB). The Toddster had a very interesting take on Spider-Man’s look. Gone were the standard sized eyes that had gone with the costume for the past 25 years. Spider-Man became part contortionist. Mary Jane, supposedly a top model, still had the same haircut that John Romita had given her in the late sixties. McFarlane updated the look of the book a bit, and in the process, made Spider-Man more popular than he’d been in twenty years.
I think a lot of the credit has to go to writer David Michelinie, who had been on the book since issue #290 (although he really wasn’t regular writer until #296) for his innovative stories, and his ability to build to a logical ending. McFarlane was just icing on the cake, and the logical fanboy extension of Byrne, Simonson, and Perez, who were all “Hot” artists before him. It took them awhile to reach their stride, as it usually does in comics (The only time I can remember that there was no time needed was on X-Men when Jim Lee came on board. The stories were INSTANTLY better.)
#298 (“Chance Encounter” March 1988) and #299 (“Survival of the Hittest” April 1988)
Spidey was still in the black outfit here, although the end was near for that particular outfit. The constantly wagering mercenary, Chance, has been retained by a group that seems to be eco-terrorists called “The Life Foundation”. He is instructed to steal a shipment of Euro-arms and deliver it to them for $25,000. Peter, meanwhile, tries to impress his wife with a candle lit dinner, only to have her arrive with her hairdresser. Later, Parker changes to Spider-Man and takes pics of the arms theft, until a soldier is wounded by Chance. Chance is double-crossed by his employers, and is transported away. There’s a last page teaser of someone with Spider-Man’s old alien costume (last seen in Web of Spider-Man #1.) This is a self – contained story, but also continues in the next issue.
Spider-Man tracks the Life Foundation to New Jersey, to try to bring Chance to justice, but he uncover that the Foundation is selling survival condos to rich folks in the event of a nuclear war. The condos are five million dollars a pop. They are going to provide their security with the weapons that Chance stole for them. They are going to equip themselves with duplicates of Chance’s weapons. Spider-Man frees Chance, and they call a truce. Together, they wreck the Life Foundation’s plan and make their escape. Back at the Chelsea apartment, Mary Jane (Peter Parker’s new wife) comes home, and we see Venom for the first time.
Bottom Line: A good story, although I’m a bit confused as to why the Life Foundation can’t sell survival condos. Sure, they might be out of line with the whole weapon thing, and stealing a guys stuff is not cool, but the actual building of the condos isn’t really illegal. Just saying, free enterprise and all. 3.5 out of 5
#300 (“Venom” May, 1988)
Peter comes home, and MJ is in shock. They move out of the apartment to a hotel, and MJ tries to get them on the list for a place called “The Bedford Towers” a ritzy building on the upper west side of Manhattan. Peter plays tag with Venom for a bit, and then stops by and gets a sonic disrupter from the Fantastic Four. Peter and MJ enlist everyone in the supporting cast’s help to move in to their new apartment. While Pete talks to his boss, Robbie Robertson on the balcony, he sees Venom go by, and decides to follow him. A battle ensues, and Peter tries to use the sonic disrupter on Venom, but the alien costume has bonded permanently to him. Venom knocks him out, and Spider-Man awakens to find himself webbed into a church bell. Venom thinks that the clapper on the bell will squish Spider-Man, and they will have their vengeance. (I suppose I should say that Venom is Eddie Brock, a reporter who was shamed by Spider-Man’s actions a few months earlier. Driven to the brink, he decided to kill himself, but the costume, convalescing in the church, saved him. They merge, and their hate for Spider-Man saves them.)
At any rate, Peter frees himself, and since the costume makes it’s own webbing, it has depleted it’s supply, and Spider-Man cuts and cuts until Venom can’t make any more webbing, and he falls from the church tower. A quick call to MJ later, and Spidey has Venom locked up at Four Freedoms Plaza, until he can be moved to the Vault. At the new apartment, MJ doesn’t want Peter to wear the black costume anymore, and suggests that he wear the replica of his original that he bought in Germany some months back. The ultra cool last page is one of Spider-Man in his original costume, swinging through the snow in Manhattan.
Bottom Line: This was a GREAT story, and the art was superb. I’m not a huge fan of the black costume, so it was nice to do away with it once and for all. The logic behind Venom’s hatred is so twisted that it comes back around to straight and makes sense. It seems that #300 was a grand new beginning for the franchise, and it flew high for about three or four more years from here. 4.5 out of 5.
#301 (“The Sable Gauntlet” June 1988)
This is basically a throw away issue. The art is good, if unremarkable. McFarlane sometimes has a tendency to look a little rushed. It seems that Michelinie used the Marvel Plot Machine ™ to write this one. (It’s a little like a mad-lib, you insert the various things you want, and the MPM spits out a story for you.) Silver Sable’s Wild Pack has been contracted to test the security of a new high rise in New York. They fail, but the chief of security Frank Cruz wants to have Sable herself check it out. Spider-Man comes by the Symkarian Embassy, and Cruz arrives with the owner of the building. Cruz triggers the Spider-Sense, and Peter checks him out. Seems he’s a Nazi, and Silver put his father away years ago, and he wants revenge. Silver infiltrates the building, and is about to press the button to trigger the end of the exercise, when Spider-Man stops her. Of course, a battle between the two ensues, and Spidey stops her by showing her the explosives. The owner of the building commissions Sable to find Cruz, who’s real name is Franz Krause. Throughout the issue, a strange man has been stalking Peter. He shows at their apartment, and offers Peter a job, in Kansas.
Bottom Line: this is the textbook definition of putting something out there because something had to be out there this month, and Marvel doesn’t do unscheduled reprints. Nothing offensive, just not very good. 1.5 out of 5.
#302 (“(Mid) American Gothic” July, 1988)
Peter has traveled to Kansas, to interview for this job. While there, he runs into a guy who was bitten by a – get this – radioactive jackrabbit. (Which puts me in mind of the character one of my brother’s friends had for one of our RPG sessions, years ago. I constantly made fun of him, suggesting things like a cotton tail or ears for his costume.) Anyhow, a scientist there is peeved about losing funding for his pet project, and Spider-Man and this Jackrabbit character have to take him down. Really bad. Back in New York, Sable acquires the services of the Sandman to help her take down Franz Krause, since his army is quite large.
Bottom Line: Another Marvel Plot Machine ™ issue. 1 out of 5.
#303 (“Dock Savage” August, 1988)
Thank God, he’s tying this one up. Silver Sable hires Spider-Man, through an ad in the Daily Bugle, and She, Spidey, and Sandman take down Franz Kraus’s army in surprisingly short order. I hate Silver Sable. She was an attempt to create a strong female character, but they did such a shitty job at it. Her premise was good, but her actual character sucked. (She comes across as a female Cable, if that means anything.) Peter is stalked by someone else at the end of the issue, and he decides not to accept the job in Kansas, instead deciding to return to college.
Bottom Line: Thank God that David Michelinie was done with this pseudo three parter, cus it’s one of the worst stories in the title’s history. They hit bottom with this one, and only the art could save it from a negative rating from me. .5 out of 5.
#304 (“California Schemin’” Early Sept 1988) and #305 (“Westward Woe” Late Sept 1988)
Ah, a two parter. A really funny bit is that the story title of #304 is the cover copy of #305. This is actually a pretty good premise. The Daily Bugle is publishing a book of Peter Parker’s Spider-Man photos called “Webs” and they offer him $25,000 in royalties to do a tour. He agrees, and Pete and MJ are off to California. They stop at Disney, and then to a signing. Black Fox (an aging con man) is also at the place where the party is, a museum, so that he can steal a chalice. This chalice is also wanted by Hobie Brown, aka the Prowler.
I'm not sure why, but back in the day, Marvel went to bi-weekly issues for the summer of the really top-tier books (The big sellers, X-Men, Amazing Spider-Man, Wolverine, Punisher, Silver Surfer, etc.) This book came out a mere two weeks after the previous one. The Prowler wants the chalice because his wife’s been arrested for embezzlement. There’s info on a microchip on the chalice that will save her from prison. Spidey is ambushed for autographs. He checks out the Prowlers story, and then they manage to get the chalice back from Black Fox later on. Peter, being a sucker, lets the Black Fox go.
Bottom Line: Very improved over the last few issues, but still not great. They would start to hit their stride around the end of 1988. 2.25 out of 5.
