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Post by Hoosier X on Feb 10, 2017 12:23:36 GMT -5
Since I've read the first Vandal Savage and the first Solomon Grundy (and a lot of Mutt and Jeff!), I decided to put aside the Golden Age for a while and focus on the Silver Age Spideys I've never read and all the comics I ordered recently (some Silver Age Detective, eight issues of Doom Patrol from the 1960s to Vertigo, two House of Mystery issues, some bronze Age Thor, two issues of Strange Tales, one late 1960s issue of Adventure, several issues of low-grade GI Combat (Haunted Tank!) and ... I probably missed something. I won with a lot of low bids on eBay.) But I have decided I must fit in All-American #16 soon! I've read the Green Lantern story but I never read the rest of it. So where were we on Spidey? Oh yes! The Brainwasher turned out to be ... the Kingpin! And the cover of the next issue (#60) is an iconic Kingpin cover! Wow! Looka that! Wham! Take that, Spidey! Mary Jane has got a job dancing at a club, but she's being used by the Kingpin to brainwash city officials, who have been invited to the club. Including Captain Stacy, Gwen's dad! So Captain Stacy is a mind-slave of the Kingpin! Later, Peter gets photos of Captain Stacy and some thugs rifling trough the police files. He doesn't want to hurt Captain Stacy or Gwen, but he's not sure how to expose the Kingpin's plot. So the photos are published in the Daily Bugle, subjecting the Stacys to public humiliation and disgrace! So now Gwen hates Peter! The Kingpin's plot is exposed, of course, and Captain Stacy is exonerated. But this seems like a major blip in Peter and Gwen's relationship and I can hardly believe I never heard of it! (I've read up to #62 as of last night, and Gwen and Peter haven't reconciled yet. She won't talk to him, and Captain Stacy is recovering in bed and can't remember anything. I haven't read the next few issues ever. When I get to #66 (the great issue where Mysterio shrinks Spidey and traps him in a tiny Death Carnival!) then I'll hit a point where I've read every issue (except one) all the way up to #105.) Peter has a tough time explaining things to Gwen. Depending on how Stan is writing her in any given issue, Gwen can be kind of dumb sometimes. Despite all that, the highlight of these issues is some Mary Jane dialogue. Somebody asks her why she's so perky and she says something like: "Why shouldn't I be in a good mood? There's eight million people in this city, and half of them are MMMMALES!" Oh, that Mary Jane! I need to find that scene where she's supposed to be helping Aunt May move into Anna Watson's house and all she does is get in the way because she doesn't do anything but dance. And then Spider-Man #62 is great! It stars Medusa! I read that one before, it was reprinted in "The Superhero Women" in the 1970s. But it's been a long time!
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 10, 2017 12:58:49 GMT -5
LOL It's a wonder the JSA ever survived. Are you kidding? They had Johnny Thunder! True! Not to mention Ma Hunkel.
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Post by Hoosier X on Feb 10, 2017 13:10:31 GMT -5
Are you kidding? They had Johnny Thunder! True! Not to mention Ma Hunkel. That reminds me I want to read more Johnny Thunder stories in Flash Comics. I've only read a few Golden Age Johnny Thunder stories. His origin story is HILARIOUS! And you can always count on his JSA segments to be a riot.
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Polar Bear
Full Member
Married, father of six
Posts: 107
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Post by Polar Bear on Feb 10, 2017 18:09:05 GMT -5
I've recently returned to pre-Crisis Superman. I'm up to 1980, and I just finished the Radio Shack TRS-80 giveaway drawn by Starlin & Giordano, a surprisingly awful art pair.
I'm sad the Marty Pasko issues are behind me; I think his run was my favorite since Clark joined WGBS.
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 11, 2017 9:21:32 GMT -5
I've recently returned to pre-Crisis Superman. I'm up to 1980, and I just finished the Radio Shack TRS-80 giveaway drawn by Starlin & Giordano, a surprisingly awful art pair. I'm sad the Marty Pasko issues are behind me; I think his run was my favorite since Clark joined WGBS. Hey, I actually have that Radio Shack TRS-80 giveaway! By the way, I was watching an episode on my Thundarr, the Barbarian DVD this morning, and I noticed Marty Pasko's name among the writers! Steve Gerber and Mark Evanier, also.
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Post by dbutler69 on Feb 11, 2017 9:23:44 GMT -5
I'm still making my way (slowly, and I'm working through other things as well) Steve Englehart's Doctor Strange run. I just finished #15, so I've seen the entire earth get destroyed and rebuilt, then Doc takes on Dracula, followed immediately by taking on Satan himself! Englehart wasn't afraid to take chances!
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Polar Bear
Full Member
Married, father of six
Posts: 107
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Post by Polar Bear on Feb 11, 2017 14:33:19 GMT -5
I've recently returned to pre-Crisis Superman. I'm up to 1980, and I just finished the Radio Shack TRS-80 giveaway drawn by Starlin & Giordano, a surprisingly awful art pair. I'm sad the Marty Pasko issues are behind me; I think his run was my favorite since Clark joined WGBS. Hey, I actually have that Radio Shack TRS-80 giveaway! By the way, I was watching an episode on my Thundarr, the Barbarian DVD this morning, and I noticed Marty Pasko's name among the writers! Steve Gerber and Mark Evanier, also. Indeed; Thundarr's writing was well above that of most of the Saturday-morning pack. ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) The Radio Shack story is in-continuity, amazingly; the classroom he visits (complete with Alec and Shanna, "the Radio Shack Whiz Kids" 🙄) shows up again in Superman #230 EDIT: and a second Radio Shack giveaway!. I'm currently on DC Comics Presents #26-30, a fantastic run of art by Jim Starlin (sans Giordano) that's often overlooked due to José Luis Garcia Lopez' equally-impressive but better-known ~eight issues tossed in from #1-35. Starlin & Giordano are both great artists, but the same techniques that make Giordano work wonderfully over the dark, angular Neal Adams make him a truly terrible pick on Starlin's rounded, generally lighter art.
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Post by Icctrombone on Feb 11, 2017 18:31:58 GMT -5
Hey, I actually have that Radio Shack TRS-80 giveaway! By the way, I was watching an episode on my Thundarr, the Barbarian DVD this morning, and I noticed Marty Pasko's name among the writers! Steve Gerber and Mark Evanier, also. Indeed; Thundarr's writing was well above that of most of the Saturday-morning pack. The Radio Shack story is in-continuity, amazingly; the classroom he visits (complete with Alec and Shanna, "the Radio Shack Whiz Kids" 🙄) shows up again in Superman #230 EDIT: and a second Radio Shack giveaway!. I'm currently on DC Comics Presents #26-30, a fantastic run of art by Jim Starlin (sans Giordano) that's often overlooked due to José Luis Garcia Lopez' equally-impressive but better-known ~eight issues tossed in from #1-35. Starlin & Giordano are both great artists, but the same techniques that make Giordano work wonderfully over the dark, angular Neal Adams make him a truly terrible pick on Starlin's rounded, generally lighter art. I remember that Starlin book too. I was under the impression that he was instructed to draw the book in a bland way on purpose. Mike Zeck was told to dumb down his pencils for Secret Wars and maybe Jim was told to do the same.
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Polar Bear
Full Member
Married, father of six
Posts: 107
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Post by Polar Bear on Feb 11, 2017 21:33:04 GMT -5
I've always wondered why the high-profile Secret Wars was Zeck's worst published story...
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Post by Hoosier X on Feb 13, 2017 11:42:37 GMT -5
I'm having a great time reading The Amazing Spider-Man #53 to #67. This includes quite a few I'd never read before (#57, #59, #60, #61, #63, #64 and #65). A lot of great material! But the thing that boggles my mind the most is ... MJ's new hair-do! I've never seen nor heard of this before! No wonder Harry is running away!
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,698
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Post by Confessor on Feb 13, 2017 11:46:39 GMT -5
I'm having a great time reading The Amazing Spider-Man #53 to #67. This includes quite a few I'd never read before (#57, #59, #60, #61, #63, #64 and #65). A lot of great material! But the thing that boggles my mind the most is ... MJ's new hair-do! I've never seen nor heard of this before! No wonder Harry is running away! Yeah, definitely not MJ's finest hour. Still, I really don't think Harry Osborn ought to be throwing stones in the bad hairstyles glass house! EDIT: By the way, I've always taken MJ's comment about "thrillin' Dylan discs" as proof that she herself must be a fan of his Bobness.
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Post by Hoosier X on Feb 13, 2017 11:49:04 GMT -5
Next, I'm going to read the run from Spidey #99 to #115. It has a few issues (#106 to #109) that I've never read, along with a few issues I haven't read for a very long time (like the awesome three-story arc where Peter grows four extra arms and tangles with the Lizard and Morbius).
And after that, I'll have read every issues of Spider-Man from #1 to at least #250.
And Spider-Man Annual #5. I've never read that. That seems like a key issue.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,698
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Post by Confessor on Feb 13, 2017 12:59:55 GMT -5
And Spider-Man Annual #5. I've never read that. That seems like a key issue. It is and it isn't. I love it, but I know of at least a few folks round these parts who consider it to be the moment where Spider-Man jumped the shark. I don't want to spoil it for you, but suffice it to say, it's a "love it" or "hate it" kind of issue.
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Post by Hoosier X on Feb 13, 2017 15:21:03 GMT -5
And Spider-Man Annual #5. I've never read that. That seems like a key issue. It is and it isn't. I love it, but I know of at least a few folks round these parts who consider it to be the moment where Spider-Man jumped the shark. I don't want to spoil it for you, but suffice it to say, it's a "love it" or "hate it" kind of issue. I think I know the basic story. I used to read a lot of indexes and stuff in the comic book press and now I catch the same kind of material online here and there. So I believe I've picked up the gist of the story in ASM Annual #5. Heck, I'm not 100% sure I haven't read it. In the 1970s, among the gang I would hang out with, somebody would get hold of a really old comic. (In some cases, really old meant two or three years old, like when I read JLA #108 at a friends house and became a fan of the Freedom Fighters for life.) I remember reading Spidey #56 about 1976. I was thinking I'd read Spidey #64 (with the Vulture) because I have a memory of that cover, holding it and looking at it. But I didn't remember the story at all. Not one little thing. I sort of remember one of my friends having ASM Annual #5, but I don't think I read it. I seem to remember being more fascinated by his horror comics, and I read Man-Thing and Werewolf by Night instead.
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Post by Hoosier X on Feb 13, 2017 15:22:37 GMT -5
And I've never read this either:
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