Not familiar with that song, Rob. Who's it by?

I am, however, familiar with The Byrds' song "Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins", written by Zeke Manners and Scott Seely...


"Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins were launched away in space
Millions of hearts were lifted, proud of the human race
Space control at Houston
Radio command
The team below that gave the go, they had God's helping hand."

I didn't really have any near-misses -- I really struggled to get 12 spin-offs that I like together!

One that I did run past Kurt and which was allowed, but which I ultimately decided against was the evil Scarecrow from the '90s Caliber Comics "Oz" series. He had a three-issue spin-off series, but when I re-read it, the Scarecrow wasn't really the star; it was more like 3 supplemental issues of the main Oz series, rather than a mini focusing in on the Scarecrow himself. So, I decided it wasn't really a spin-off in the way that I remembered it.

Wow! That really is a blast from the past. Just the look of the forum really takes me back and there are so many usernames that made me think, "oh yeah...whatever happened to them?"

Chief among those that I still really miss are Lone Ranger (real name was Scott "something"), who never made it here due to ties with CBR, and Dan B. In the Underworld (dear ol' Dan Bailey, of course), who did transition over to this place but eventually left. I'm still friends with Dan over on Facebook, as are several others here, I know. I wish Ish Kabbible would come back too, though he did re-surface a while back, but not for long.

I'd also forgotten that I was "The Confessor" over there, rather than just plain old Confessor.

Thanks for posting those, shaxper. That really made me smile.

Ha! I just know this is gonna be good. I bet George lets us know exactly which choices he disagreed with!

Actually they did, yeah. I forget the exact words, so I'm paraphrasing here, but Gwen's inner thought process was that she found Norman handsome, but also troubled and surprisingly vulnerable. She was initially angry when she went to confront him about his treatment of Harry, but her heart went out to him and one thing led to another. Emotions were running high, I guess.

In my own personal headcanon, I rationalise it as Gwen having been raised by a much older father and having been surrounded by his older male friends as she was growing up, which made her more comfortable with the idea of being attracted to someone many years older than her (though clearly she liked boys her own age too). But that is just my own fan theory, it's not alluded to anywhere in the story.

Awww, that's a shame. I used to love watching him and Paul Glaser in Starsky & Hutch back in the 70s and early 80s. I've re-watched an awful lot of that show in recent years and it still holds up surprisingly well, but then it was quite gritty for its era and surprisingly progressive in a lot of ways too. Both Sgt. David Starsky and Sgt. Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson absolutely defined '70s cool for me in their iconic red and white Gran Torino.

Soul was also enjoyable as a bad guy in the film Magnum Force with Clint Eastwood. And, of course, I can remember him as a pop star pin-up and teen heartthrob in the late '70s too. He always seemed like a genuinely decent guy whenever I saw him being interviewed.

Carrying right on with my re-read of J. Michael Straczynski's run on Amazing Spider-Man, with issues #509 through to #518 + Spectacular Spider-Man #23–26…





Fair warning, this post principally concerns my re-reading of the controversial "Sins Past" storyline, in which it's revealed that Norman Osborn slept with Gwen Stacy and fathered two super-powered children named Gabriel and Sarah.

Now, I know that this particular story-arc comes in for a lot of flack here and elsewhere on the internet, but let me just say right up front that I really like it. I liked it back in 2004, I've liked it every time I've revisited it, and I still like it now. To me, these are some really well written and properly gripping comics.

That said, I do understand why some felt that it was a story that didn't need to be told or that it soiled Gwen's legacy, but as a huge Gwen Stacy fan myself, I found it anything but insulting to her memory. Quite the opposite; I thought "Sins Past" humanised Gwen and made her seem more like a three-dimensional teenage girl. She made a terrible error of judgement at a time when she was emotionally vulnerable – just like a lot of people do. That's life. I honestly felt that Gwen's actions (and Osborn's too) were very believable within the context of the story. To this day, given how well written it was by JMS and how beautifully drawn by Mike Deodato, I find it hard to understand why so many fans hate these comics. But there you go…one man's meat and all that!

Anyway, I don't want to dwell too much on these issues because I know I'm not going to change anyone's mind. There are a couple of points I do want to make though.

The first point concerns the often-shown panels of Norman's grinning mug, juxtaposed with Gwen's "o-face". It's important to note that these are not meant to be depictions of what actually happened when they were having sex, which is how they are often presented online. When you look at the whole page, you can see that these images are conjured up by Peter's angry and jealous imagination, as he reacts to the devastating news that Osborn had slept with Gwen (likewise, the "no…I can't…" dialogue is Peter's, not Gwen's).




The second thing that struck me on this latest re-read is that "Sins Past" explains why Harry Osborn was bed-ridden by the LSD he took in those early '70s issues of Amazing Spider-Man: it was cut with strychnine. This explains a lot because I'd always found it odd that Harry would end up passed out in bed from taking LSD – whenever I've indulged, sleep is totally out of the question! People do not become bed-ridden and unconscious from ingesting LSD, but poisoning by strychnine would certainly put a person through agonising spasms, sweats and unconsciousness (and quite possibly death). Anyway, I thought this was worth mentioning because Harry taking to his bed after the LSD has always bugged me.


Anyway, moving on, I re-read the follow-up "Sins Remembered" storyline in Spectacular Spider-Man #23–26, which was not written by Straczynski, but by Samm Barnes. The story sees Peter travel to Paris, France in order to keep an eye on Sarah, who we learn has gotten herself tangled up with drug pushers. This is certainly a less essential story than "Sins Past", but it manages to flesh out the details of Sarah and Gabriel's accelerated aging and their prisoner-like upbringing in Paris, under Osborn's watchful eye. The art is serviceable without being amazing – Scot Eaton really can't draw Peter Parker properly.

The "Skin Deep" storyline that runs through issues #515–518 of Amazing Spider-Man feels very much like filler – especially coming on the heels of the jaw-dropping events and revelations of "Sins Past". It concerns an old High School friend of Peter's named Charlie Weiderman, who asks Peter for help with a dangerous Vibranium experiment, but Peter refuses. Charlie is a gifted scientist, but lacks Peter's moral code and while experimenting with the Vibranium an explosion coats him in an indestructible layer of the stuff – giving him the appearance of a knock-off Molten Man. Peter manages to stop Charlie's ensuing vengeance-filled rampage, but not before the troubled scientist has set fire to Peter and MJ's apartment and burned down Aunt May's house too. Having Peter, MJ and Aunt May lose their homes is probably the most important thing about this story-arc because it sets the stage for their having to move into Avengers' Tower with Tony Stark, which begins the build up towards the Civil War mega-event.

Anyway, I really enjoyed re-reading "Sins Past", like I always do, but the "Sins Remembered" and "Skin Deep" storylines are much more mediocre.