OK, I'll be the sour puss of the gang, but I've never read any DC/Marvel collaboration that I've really enjoyed. Spider-Man & Superman had nice art, but overall was decidedly "meh"; Batman & Hulk was completely forgettable; and Kurt Busiek's Avengers/JLA crossover was just eye-rollingly dire.

As for Amalgam, I have no interest whatsoever in the hybrid heroes that that spawned. Maybe some of the individual comics were good, but the basic concept of the merged heroes is just such a turn off to me that I'll never know.

So yeah, those new omnibuses won't be on my Birthday list.

I re-read Daredevil #1 for the umpteenth time last night...




It's a really great first issue, but I think my favourite thing about it is the Bill Everett artwork. It's just so good, with an appealingly cartoonish bent juxtaposed with a gritty, noir-like atmosphere (a tricky balancing act). Actually, the earliest of issues of Daredevil all had great art from the likes of Everett, Joe Orlando, and Wally Wood.

Issue #1 is such a strong debut, it's a shame that the book starts to lose its way a little after those first half a dozen or so issues (in my humble opinion, natch).

I generally dislike all sports, but the exceptions would be occasionally watching...

Boxing - there's something fascinating and watchable -- primal, even -- about two grown men beating the hell out of each other. I can't help it.

Snooker - the lush green of the snooker table, the gentle "click" and "clack" of the balls, and the understated expertise of the mastery of basic physics in the playing is fascinating and very relaxing to watch.

Baseball - I visited Fenway Park in Boston and watched the Boston Red Sox vs. the Chicago White Sox with my wife in 2018 and discovered a hitherto unknown enjoyment of baseball. I kinda feel you need to watch it live though really. Not sure I'd be into watching it on TV.

American Football - I used to play in an under-18s team in the late 80s. I was on the Defence: a Corner Back, actually. As a result, I still really enjoy watching the game on TV. I support the New York Jets, which is mostly a thankless task in recent years. As for today's Super Bowl, I'll nominally be rooting for the SF 49ers, because I still associate them with the glory days of Joe Montana as Quarterback in the '80s.

Not that I actually actively follow any of these sports really. But I do have a passing interest in them.

Anyway, real men don't like sport; real men like poetry and music.

I forgot about "10 Nights of the Beast". I absolutely loved that arc as it was coming out. Don't think I've re-read it since the mid-90s, so no idea how it would hold up, but it was great at the time.

It's NOT Bucky O' Hare, dammit! That's Jaxxon, the green carnivorous space-rabbit smuggler from Coachelle Prime, as seen in Marvel's original Star Wars comic.

More re-reading of J. Michael Straczynski's run on Amazing Spider-Man, with "The Other – Evolve or Die", which ran through issues #525–528 of Amazing Spider-Man, Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #19–22, and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1–4…




This big Spidey event wasn't written solely by Straczynski – sections of it were written by Peter David and Reginald Hudlin. Nevertheless, it is JMS who is credited as the "Story Architect" and basically came up with the premise and plot.

What happens in "The Other – Evolve or Die" is that Peter finds out that the blackouts and dizzy spells he's recently been suffering are the result of a weird cellular degeneration that is killing him – and not even the combined scientific knowledge of Tony Stark, Reed Richards, Bruce Banner, and Hank Pym can save him! Having accepted the truth that he's going to die, Peter decides to spend his final weeks on quality time with Mary Jane and Aunt May, but unfortunately the vampiric, Spider-Totem-hunting creature Morlun returns, intent on claiming Peter's life essence. After a valiant fight, Peter is beaten to within an inch of his life and later dies in hospital. Stark moves his body to Avenger's Tower and while it is there, something hatches from the cadaver and gestates under a nearby bridge. When it hatches, out walks Peter Parker alive and well!

Not only is Peter back, but he has a bunch of new powers, including organic web-shooters (like in the then-current Sam Raimi movies), "stingers" that extend from his wrists, night vision, and the ability to feel vibrations through his webbing. Meanwhile, in Avenger's Tower, thousands of pirate spiders begin to eat Peter's old dead body, before coalescing into a humanoid female form. Peter chases the creature and, once cornered, the supernatural being made of spiders (who is the "other" mentioned in the title) informs him that they are both parts of the same whole and she is his opposite. The "other" escapes and Peter is left to ruminate on its existence and what will happen in the future.

First up, let me just say that this comic story is pretty bat-sh*t crazy! But it's also a really entertaining read – a real page-turner, in fact. This is basically an evolution storyline in which Peter becomes more spider like and it is very much tied into the whole Spider-Totem thing that Straczynski introduced earlier in his run, though like earlier in the series, the legitimacy of this element of the story is very much left open to reader interpretation.

It's great to see Morlun again; he really is a fantastic and genuinely threatening villain. It's not often that a modern comic villain is as memorable as him. The big "to-the-death" battle that Morlun has with Spidey is brilliantly choreographed and drawn by artist Mike Deodato.

Actually, the artwork in "The Other" ranges from brilliant to dire. I'm a big fan of Deodato's work and the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man issues are all drawn by Mike Wieringo, who's work here is predictably gorgeous. In fact, I was reminded while reading this of what a huge loss to comics Wieringo's early death was. Unfortunately, the issues of Marvel Knights: Spider-Man are all pencilled by Pat Lee and his is some of the butt-ugliest art I've ever seen, which makes for a rather jarring reading experience as you transition from Deodato or Wieringo over to Lee.

Another small gripe would be that the ending has no big resolution. It just kinda fizzles out, which is a shame after such an epic, life-changing (for Peter) storyline. The ramifications of the events in this story, and particularly the fate of the "other", would be addressed later in ASM and over in the pages of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, which seems a shame, as a greater sense of dramatic crescendo would've improved the final part of "The Other" a lot.

Nevertheless, I did really enjoy re-reading "The Other". Straczynski, David and Hudlin weave a gripping and often creepy tale with big consequences for the characters, and there's some strong marriage moments between Peter and MJ too. This is definitely one of the highlights of JMS' run on Amazing Spider-Man, as far as I'm concerned.

As for Peter's new, post-The Other powers, I was never terribly keen on them, with the exception of the organic web-shooters. Luckily, the organic web-shooters were the only new power that was ever really referenced again and, of course, they were all entirely wiped away by the 2008 "Brand New Day" reset or reboot.

On a vaguely related matter, once upon a time, I used to buy a lot of comics from the U.S. because even with the overseas shipping it usually worked out considerably cheaper per issue to buy from there rather than pay the extortionate prices UK online comic stores ask for old American back issues. And best of all, there was no customs duty to pay on paper goods coming into the UK (and still isn't, as far as I'm aware).

Unfortunately, the price of shipping -- international shipping especially! -- has gone crazy in the U.S. over the last decade or so. Add to that the weakening exchange rate of the pound versus the dollar, and it's just not a financially sound option to order anything from the U.S. anymore.