Tags Matching: spiderman

When Stickers Were Awesome.

By morgado | Published June 15, 2010

There’s a great Patton Oswalt bit about Tivo, in which he compares Tivo to a special needs child who desperately wants the scratch n sniff “Grape Job” sticker.

Now, I was never a special needs child (yes, I know it’s hard to believe), but as a little kid, I too was often rewarded with stickers. We’re talking like 1st and 2nd grade here. And while I got my fair share of scratch n sniffs, a lot of the stickers I got were more akin to these:

A 4 inch high Spider Woman makes for a grand reward. But even better than that would be if the sticker was one of the cherished PUFFY STICKERS:

Don’t pretend you don’t know the awesomeness that was puffy stickers. Stickers today just don’t measure up. I was in a store the other day, and the stickers I saw were going for some sort of 3D thing… it was the suck.

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Skinhead, Skinhead, flapping through the night…

By morgado | Published April 15, 2010

I know skinheads got a bad rap in the 80s, what with getting slapped with the neo-nazi tag in every aspect of the media possible.

But this is ridiculous.

A skinhead who can turn into a featureless, amorphous blob of flesh… YET HIS SWATZI TATTOO REMAINS!!!

Nazis/neo-nazis make great villains, and I understand why the punk rock look gets used in comics on street thug types, but come on, this whole concept is just silly. He’s a skinhead so he can turn into a great big flapping pile of skin? Really?

There’s a reason this guy only showed up twice, and it wasn’t because the closest thing he had to an arch-enemy was the Rocket Racer.

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Spider Man vs Wolverine.

By morgado | Published April 15, 2010

One thing 1980s Marvel was good for was pitting their top characters against each other in mini-series and one shots. Fantastic Four vs X-men and Avengers vs X-men we’ve already discussed. And then of course there was this:

Spiderman vs Wolverine.

The old face of Marvel vs the new, so to speak.

On the surface, it’s a weird set up, with Spidey somehow ending up in Berlin mixed up in KGB shenanigans alongside Logan. 1980s style KGB assassins (in other words, guys with uzis) and Spiderman… not really a combo you’d think of right off the bat. But it works, because the story spends so much time working on characterization and on the moral dilemma Spidey finds himself facing. It’s not just a Wolverine snikts everything in his path story. In fact, Wolverine is basically just a supporting character; this is a Spidey story through and through. It also sets up the reveal of the Hobgoblin’s identity over in the Spidey books, as number one suspect Ned Leeds bites the dust (boy what a mess that turned out to be. That’s a post all in itself).

And yes, Spiderman and Wolverine have a knock down drag out brawl. Obviously.

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Did I click the wrong link?

By admin | Published April 9, 2010

“Wait. Is this my daughter’s blog feed?

Why is there a box of rings on this comic blog? 

I am not interested in this. BAH.” 

But wait… let’s pop the hood on this “fashion rings” disguise.

BOOM! Marvel hero rings. I wish I could find a better image somewhere online but no luck. Looks like a big selection, with Spider-Man, The Hulk, Captain Marvel, Spider-Woman, Ghost Rider, and Dr. Strange.

Overall the selection makes some sense, considering the time frame this likely comes from. I’m actually shocked NOT to see a Power Man and Iron Fist ring, but hey, the 70′s was unpredictable like that. (Not that I’d really know, I’m an eighties baby). Spider-Woman was basically the female Gambit of the 70′s – came out of the gate raging, but eventually fell out of popularity. I would bet money on a Gambit resurgence in 2015-2020. Bank it. Captain Marvel was big, Ghost Rider was huge, and the Hulk and Spider-Man both had bigger mainstream success. Dr. Strange also somehow found his niche – I’ve always really liked Dr. Strange but never really understood his popularity. Time to pull out the long boxes because my father was a huge Dr. Strange head – the only book he would buy old issues of. 

 Can’t see this being purchased for the price tag, but who knows. Maybe the Mandarin has a lot of kids with a whole lot of fingers…

Spider Car, Spider Car… why the eff is there a Spider Car?

By morgado | Published April 6, 2010

I never got the Spider Car.

I don’t mean that I didn’t have that toy as a kid, cuz I did. What I mean is, even at 4, I never understood why Spider Man needed a car. Aside from the whole crawling up buildings and swinging across town on webs thing, there’s the fact homeboy lives in NEW YORK CITY. Have you ever tried to drive in NYC? I have. In everything from a 2 door coupe to a 25 ft moving truck. It’s not pretty. You know how the Green Goblin dropped Gwen Stacy off the George Washington Bridge? If Spidey had been driving the Spider Car, she’d still be alive, because puny Parker would have straight up never gotten there, and the Goblin would have gone home out of boredom.


EASTER!

By admin | Published March 18, 2010

Missed the chance to yuck it up for St. Patrick’s Day. Honestly, as an Irish who doesn’t drink, I think it’s kind of a bummer (understatement) what St. Patrick’s Day has become. Anyways, off the soap box. 

And into the easter eggs. And candy. Especially peeps and reese’s eggs. 

On top of that, I’m just going to leave you with quotes from the actual auctions on these. If you didn’t know, sometimes people selling this stuff have interesting stuff to say, both with specific items and their general rules and miscellanea. 

“This is our 3rd year doing Easter Baskets on eBay! We have a 100% customer satisfaction rating, and we aim to keep it that way! All items included are new.  Items come from a smoke-free house.  We do have a dog (17 yrs), which is not around my e-bay stuff. “

Item Listing: Spiderman Carry Basket EASTER Basket NEW Lined Red

Description: “This is a great basket / Carry all for a Spiderman lover.  Use as Trick or Treat or for Room Organizer.”

Translation: Multipurpose holiday carry all. Or room organizer?

“Shop Ebay and save on gas!”

“EASTER STORY #1 Good Comics Book”

The Deadly Foes of Spider Man.

By morgado | Published March 16, 2010

One of the best early 90s miniseries that Marvel put out was The Deadly Foes of Spider Man.

I say it right out like that because it’s just a straight up fact.

The great thing about this mini was that rather than have Spiderman be the main character, he served more of a background player. The story itself was focused on the B grade villain team of the Sinister Syndicate.

It’s actually a pretty bad ass line up. Hydro-man, Rhino, The Beetle, Speed Demon, and Boomerang… those are some pretty rad B-listers there. All the potential in the world with those guys, and this mini capitalized on it, giving them all some well needed characterization. The mini then proceeded to throw in perennial Spidey punching bag the Shocker, and threw in a dose of A list Marvel villainy via the Kingpin serving as puppet master, manipulating everything from behind the scenes as the Syndicate members plot and scheme against and with each other to achieve their own individual needs.

Unfortunately, the 1993 follow up succumbed to the worst excesses of the time period, dropping the tightly wound storylines of Deadly Foes in favor of an “every villain but the killer Kitchen Sink” approach. I mean, we’re talking what’s left of the Sinister Syndicate PLUS Doctor Octopus, The Vulture, The Answer… even STEGRON makes it in to this one.

Stegron. That’s a post of all it’s own. Yeesh.

Trouble, Galactus, and just who is this Aunt May?

By admin | Published March 3, 2010

Aunt May. I mean, here’s the real deal. 

She looks OLD. I mean, she always looked REALLY old. Shouldn’t they have called her “Granny May”? Depending on the artist, she never looked younger than 65 and sometimes looked as old as Methuselah. John Romita Jr. would sometimes throw down an Aunt May who looked like she might’ve scared off the Roman invaders, yknow? 

But in 2003, Marvel decided to attempt an Aunt May (and therein, a Spider-Man) origin story written by heralded writer, Mark Millar.

What resulted was a somewhat mature take on Aunt May and her sister, Mary, on a summer romp where they just so happened to meet a couple guys named Ben and Richard. Shenanigans commence and… well I won’t spoil the story. However it had some MAJOR ramifications on the  Spider-Man world, and readers were not really happy about it. The series itself was considered a risky move, the combination of photo covers (featuring teenage girls in bikinis) and the borderline cheesecake style of Terry Dodson (one of my favorite comic artists, as it is. I’ll go into it some other time) made for some really heavy-handed discussions about the place of this in comics. And that led to what the place of this particularly story held in the Marvel cannon. Well… *SPOILERS*

The 2003 limited series Trouble was marketed as the “true origin” of Spider-Man. In that story, teenagers named Ben, Richard, May and Mary met while on summer vacation, and May became pregnant with a child she named Peter. None of the characters’ last names were revealed. The story did not become canon because of its negative reception.  *END SPOILERS*

And so what we do know is – She’s Spider-Man’s aunt, she’s OLD, and she’s died about 40 times. Here’s a notable one from the 90′s. Note to self – remember this cover for your “worst use of diecut covers ever” post. 

Oh… and this one time she apparently bronzed herself, kidnapped a child and defeated the world eater, Galactus. And that’s pretty much all you need to know!


Secret Wars

By admin | Published March 3, 2010

As a kid one of my favorite comic series was Secret Wars. 

A mega-Marvel crossover that pitted the biggest heroes vs. the biggest villains for the whole shebang. 

It didn’t really make much sense… but that’s because it was primarily a toy-selling vehicle. 

Which makes sense, because the toys were AWESOME. 

My favorite of all the secret wars figures, and my favorite Cap action figure ever. Please note the attention to detail, including the wings on the head. Perfect. USA. This one is apparently affordable compared to this other recently posted figure.

Two separate sets posted above, the first being more impressive than the second. Zemo, Hobgoblin, and Falcon trump the very cool and rare appearance of the Constrictor figure. Note how the top set has Kang with his… utility belt- I don’t know what to call it… that damn thing ALWAYS went missing. I had at least two Kang figures (why? who knows.) and neither had that accessory within weeks of owning it. 

Nothing says Doctor Doom like a DOOM ROLLER. This is where you start to realize you are not a 5-10 year old and this doesn’t make sense. However…

I can’t think of Captain America without picturing him sitting behind some sort of pivoting satellite dish. And obviously this has Spider-Man in his classic “behind a laser gun” stance. Iconic right here.

And here we have a more recent twist on the marketing gem of Secret Wars. I think this basically separates comic fans into two groups – those who will wear an all-over print comic themed sweatshirt and those who will not. 

[ ] will

[x] will not

Mug, Mug, Mug, Mug

By admin | Published February 16, 2010

Sometimes, you want to go incognito.

You don’t really want to wear your Spider-Man pajamas in front of that new lady who came over. 

You’d rather your coworkers ask about your DVD collection, not your Moon Knight collection. 

And you certainly don’t want to wear your THE MAXX t-shirt to meet your in-laws. 

How do you represent your interests in a toned down, easy does it way? 

Mug.

The home of coffee before the belly but after the coffee maker, perfect for expressing an interest without screaming from the clock tower. No one is going to get weird with you about it, and it’s perfectly acceptable (well, exceptions are the rule…) to bring to the workplace. 

Classic. An intro level mug. No one would question this one. Suitable for any and all workplaces. 

Another iconic image, this one a bit more… brutal? I’d say you should probably leave this one at home if you work at a daycare. Now if you work as a day trader, or some sort of corporate lawyer, perfect. Cutthroat to the bone.

My personal favorite, a circa ’89 Uncanny X-Men mug. The unforgettable Australian excursion team, consisting of Dazzler, Havok, Psylocke, Storm, Wolverine, Rogue and Colossus. (Not featured here – Longshot. What gives?!) This one will actually bring up some nerdtastic questions, so maybe keep this one for yourself unless you work at MIT or somewhere else where bunsen burners and beakers are the norm.

This one says “I like comics, but I’m not just some ding-a-ling who reads Spider-Man.” I think this would be perfect for a community college professor. Good talking piece for those arduous student hours.

Another appropriate for all mug. Batman is pretty easy, but this at least showcases a sophistication to scoff at Christian Bale’s batman voice and espouse love for the recent Frank Miller / Jim Lee work. 

OR… you can just go with a tried and true classic. 

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