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Post by brutalis on Mar 4, 2019 8:14:21 GMT -5
Working my way through Superboy and the the Legion of Super-Heroes Volume One. Starts off with issue 234 and runs through issue 240 including the Collectors edition of the wedding of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl which this is the 1st time I have ever had the opportunity for reading. Some really choice Levitz and Sherman issues along with the wedding to enjoy. Also lots of mediocre stuff as during this time LOSH was partly back up status in Superboy and struggling to achieve its bigger fame and hurting after losing first Cockrum and then Grell on art. Lots of Grell still doing some issues here and there as well as covers. Glad to finally have these stories to read. One particular issue highlights how the LOSH and most of the UP folks have an "extended" life span and explains how the Legionnaires can all be called Boys, Lads, Girls, Lass for over 40+ years.
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 4, 2019 16:31:06 GMT -5
The Scorpion returns in Amazing Spider-Man #29! I have not read this one over and over again. I didn't read it when I was a teenager and I missed it when it was reprinted in Marvel Tales in the 1980s. The first time I read this was in the 1990s when I bought all the Ditko/Lee stories in the Marvel Masterworks format, Volumes One to Four, one by one over a period of a year or so. It's a great story! I remember it vaguely because I read it a few times way back when. The Scorpion break out of jail and decides to go kill Jameson! So this is very heavy on the Daily Bugle offices and supporting cast. Jameson is worried that the Scorpion is going to come and kill him. Peter goes to visit Betty ... and Ned Leeds is back from Europe! Grrrr! Stupid Ned! Jameson puts out an extra edition with a headline accusing Spider-Man and the Scorpion of being partners! He hopes that will force Spider-Man to attack the Scorpion to prove it's not true. Except for a few panels of Peter at the bank and then a few panels at the end where Aunt May has a dizzy spell (I hope it's not serious! I sure hope she doesn't turn out to have a rare condition that can only be cured by a rare radio-active isotope and then Spidey has to fight Doctor Octopus and then almost drowns trying to get it!), this issue is all about these various entities roaming the city and Spidey looking for Scorpion and Scorpion evading Spidey to kill Jameson first and then, a fight that lasts the rest of the issue, moving from the Daily Bugle office to the rooftops and finally to the waterfront where Spidey leaves a waterlogged, beaten Mac Gargan for the police. I honestly don't know why I haven't read this one more often. There's a similar issue, an all-fight issue with Kraven the Hunter, coming up in #34, and I love it! I didn't read that one until long after I was a kid, and it's one I've read over and over. It's my favorite Kraven appearance. The return of he Scorpion is pretty good too. I don't know why it's never really stood out to me before. Maybe because this series is wall-to-wall classics at this point!
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,065
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Post by Confessor on Mar 4, 2019 16:45:16 GMT -5
The Scorpion returns in Amazing Spider-Man #29! I have not read this one over and over again. I didn't read it when I was a teenager and I missed it when it was reprinted in Marvel Tales in the 1980s. The '80s reprint of ASM #29, in Marvel Tales #168, represented the first time since 1965 that this story had been reprinted in the U.S.
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Post by berkley on Mar 4, 2019 18:25:40 GMT -5
I always thought the Scorpion was one of the more interesting of Spider-Man's early, Ditko-era set of villains. I forget whether it was in this return story or in his original appearance, but there was a bit where Spider-Man realises that the Scorpion's mind has become deranged by the feeling of power and superiority his transformation has given him. I thought that was a nice touch, and the kind of thing that would be likely to happen more often in a world where super-powers and bodily transformations actually occurred than we usually see in superhero comics. I just read The Invisible Man for the first time since my teenage years, and Wells makes a similar point there, without actually stating it explicitly.
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 4, 2019 19:48:07 GMT -5
I always thought the Scorpion was one of the more interesting of Spider-Man's early, Ditko-era set of villains. I forget whether it was in this return story or in his original appearance, but there was a bit where Spider-Man realises that the Scorpion's mind has become deranged by the feeling of power and superiority his transformation has given him. I thought that was a nice touch, and the kind of thing that would be likely to happen more often in a world where super-powers and bodily transformations actually occurred than we usually see in superhero comics. I just read The Invisible Man for the first time since my teenage years, and Wells makes a similar point there, without actually stating it explicitly. It's in #20, and it's a very effective three-panel sequence that focuses on the Scorpion's crazy eyes and his evil grimace smile as he goes mad! MAD, I tell you! Mad! It's one of the things I remember vividly from when I first read it in 1976. (It kind of trips me out that that comic was a mere 11 years old when I got it. No wonder is was only $3.25!)
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Post by Duragizer on Mar 4, 2019 20:13:28 GMT -5
So this was one of DC's better selling titles back in the early-mid '80s. I can understand why.
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Post by MDG on Mar 5, 2019 9:01:05 GMT -5
A friend gave me this as a late birthday present: I was excited because I'd never read any of the stories before. When I opened it at home, I realized it was all Kanigher/Andru/Esposito. Four stories in and it ranks with the most lazy, generic stuff I've ever seen.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 5, 2019 9:08:42 GMT -5
A friend gave me this as a late birthday present: I was excited because I'd never read any of the stories before. When I opened it at home, I realized it was all Kanigher/Andru/Esposito. Four stories in and it ranks with the most lazy, generic stuff I've ever seen.
Awwww..I picked this up cheap at Ollie's.. was looking forward to cracking it open. Hopefully I'll like it better than you do!
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 5, 2019 11:07:18 GMT -5
A friend gave me this as a late birthday present: I was excited because I'd never read any of the stories before. When I opened it at home, I realized it was all Kanigher/Andru/Esposito. Four stories in and it ranks with the most lazy, generic stuff I've ever seen.
At least the art is nice! I have mixed feelings about Kanigher/Andru/Esposito on Wonder Woman. I love the art! And there are a lot of things I like about it. Wonder Tot cracks me up! Mr. Genie is hilarious. I also love Mouse Man, any Mouse Man story is awesome in my book. Egg Fu is wonderfully insane. And I don't mind the Improbable Tales … at first. Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl and Wonder Tot fighting weird bad guys is kind of fun. But it gets old pretty quick. I can't stand Bird-Boy or Mer-Boy. So almost all the Wonder Girl solo stories are tales I could do without. Ugh. I get nauseous thinking about it. I would hope that old Suicide Squad stories would have some redeeming qualities. Silver Age Suicide Squad is one old DC series from which I've never read a single adventure. (And I've read enough random DC stories to wonder if they fight a giant conquistador, but that might be a Bob Haney thing.)
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 5, 2019 11:34:53 GMT -5
I read Spider-Man #30 last night. I had a copy of this when I was a kid, so I've read it quite a few times, though not as often as I read #20 or #22 or #28. Reading it again after a long time where I didn't read it or even think of it, I'm struck by how good it is, and what an emotional wallop it packs. There's so much going on! In contrast to last issue, there isn't a long fight scene; Spidey doesn't even encounter the Cat until the last few pages. Instead of being so focused on the Bugle, the story spreads it around with little subplots featuring Liz and Flash and Aunt May. And also a mysterious group of costumed operatives carrying out well-planned criminal schemes for an unknown behind-the-scenes figure. The Bugle isn't ignored … not at all! The Cat robs Jameson's apartment, and Jameson is outraged! He offers a $1000 reward for the capture of the Cat! Spidey hears about it and then goes to the Bugle offices to taunt Jameson because Spidey is going to capture the Cat and get the reward - neener neener neener! We get a lot of panels of Jameson obsessing about this possible outcome. Peter runs into Liz Allan on the street! I love this scene. It's her last appearance for a very long time. She's a working girl now. And though there's no bad feelings between them, they don't seem to have much to say to each other. But Liz asks for a favor. Flash is stalking her to find out where she works, so she asks Peter to delay him so she can go to work in peace. (Sheesh! Flash is such an a-hole!) So Peter does a favor for an old friend and Liz walk out of his life for a very long while. It makes me sad. I always liked Liz. And then there's Aunt May. She's not feeling well. She's having dizzy spells and she doesn't want Peter to know. She's been laying down a lot. But she rallies for Pie Night to make sure Peter has apple pie! And then she goes to the movies with Anna Watson! Again, I'm wondering what they went and saw. It's between high school graduation and the start of college, so it must be summer. I bet they saw either What's New Pussycat! or Cat Ballou! Or maybe I'll Take Sweden! The most emotional subplot involves Betty. Ned has asked her to marry him, but she wants to talk to Peter before giving an answer. Peter realizes he has to put his cards on the table … but he will have to tell her he's Spider-Man if he wants to declare his love for her. He casually alludes to Spider-Man … and Betty unburdens herself. She doesn't want excitement, she doesn't want to worry about whether her husband will be coming home alive. She wants a quiet life. Her brother was killed (in #11) during a battle between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus, and she doesn't want anything like that to happen again. Peter realizes he can't give up being Spider-Man. So as much as it hurts, he has to break it off with Betty. He leaves, and Betty tells the door that it's Peter that she loves, but there seems to be some terrible secret keeping them apart. This whole subplot is heart-breaking. Peter throws himself into the search for the Cat to take his mind off the break-up with Betty. She calls him and calls him, but Peter knows it's her and won't pick up the phone because it will just be prolonging the inevitable. What can he say? He can't tell the truth, so anything he says will sound fake. As much as I like Liz, I prefer Betty for Peter. So it's sad that they broke up. I'm thinking that maybe Ditko and Lee realized that they had to do something about Betty because Peter was going to college and would meet new girls. (And maybe Stan was already planning to play up Mary Jane in the future!) And I'm glad they were able to come up with a way to end it that didn't involve a super-villain murdering her! So that's it for this volume of Marvel Masterworks! It ends on a low note for Peter, but it's the series itself is on the rise and just about to peak in #31 to #33!
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Mar 5, 2019 14:01:29 GMT -5
Sandman. (Not the Kirby version.) It's been a sec since I re-read.
I forgot how good even the first volume is. I would not have minded if Sam Keith stayed for the whole series.
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 5, 2019 14:36:08 GMT -5
Sandman. (Not the Kirby version.) It's been a sec since I re-read. I forgot how good even the first volume is. I would not have minded if Sam Keith stayed for the whole series. My library has the Kindly Ones collection, so I read it last year. I can never decide if my favorite is The Kindy Ones or A Doll's House. Or Season of Mists!
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 6, 2019 9:04:36 GMT -5
Definitely Season of Mists (which I just re-read)... not only is it an awesome story in it's own right, it spun off to Lucifer
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Post by Cei-U! on Mar 6, 2019 10:19:02 GMT -5
I would hope that old Suicide Squad stories would have some redeeming qualities. Silver Age Suicide Squad is one old DC series from which I've never read a single adventure. (And I've read enough random DC stories to wonder if they fight a giant conquistador, but that might be a Bob Haney thing.) The giant conquistador is indeed "a Bob Haney thing," from Teen Titans #1. Cei-U! I summon the clockwork Cortez!
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Post by Cei-U! on Mar 6, 2019 10:26:27 GMT -5
hoosier, I'm surprised you didn't mention the one thing I remember most of all about Amazing Spider-Man #30: the serious miscommunication between Lee and Ditko over the plot. Stan the Man seems to think that the burglar called The Cat is also the leader of the masked and costumed tech thieves! Ditko, of course, meant the gang to be Dock Ock's henchmen (as revealed in #31) all along, but Stan clearly missed that. I can't help wondering if this was when (and possibly why) the realationship between the two creators finally went sour.
Cei-U! I summon the kerfluffle!
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