Date: July 2001 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $2.25 Stats: 22 color pages, ads and The Spider’s Web letters page Writer: J. Michael Straczynski Artists: John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, Dan Kemp, Richard Starkings and Wes Abbot Notable Notes: Peter intervenes and saves lives during a school shooting
This issue of Amazing Spider-man tackles a social issue that is still disturbingly relevant today, 17 years after the book was published: school shootings. When I read this issue, I thought it was kind of prophetic since the only major school shooting at that time was the Columbine one… at least that is what I thought. Sadly, I was sorely mistaken. Here is an old article from U.S. News that lists school shootings (in the USA) up through 2008, and as you can clearly see there were many before this comic book came out in 2001. And just think how many more have happened in the last 10 years – it is terrible. Sigh.
But, don’t get too downhearted! This is still a great comic book, and there is plenty to cheer for as Peter Parker saves the day – on multiple accounts! Read the rest of this entry »
Date: October 1983 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 60¢ Stats: 22 color pages plus ads, Bullpen Bulletins and “Devil’s Advocate” letters page Writer: Denny O’Neil Artists: William Johnson, Danny Bulanadi, Bob Sharen and Joe Rosen Notable Notes: Daredevil battles ninjas… in Japan!
I am fascinated by Japan. Back in my first year of college I took a year of Japanese, then actually spent a few weeks in Japan with some native students. It was a truly wonderful experience! The ancient capital of Kyoto is one of the coolest places I have ever been. Now-a-days, China, and to some extent Korea, are the really big players from Asia, but when I was growing up in the 1980s the Japanese were the up-and-comers that were causing people here to worry about their jobs. But also there was a general fascination with ninjas, samurai, Japanese business practices and Godzilla movies! So it was with great pleasure that I read this issue – where my favorite superhero travels to my one of my favorite countries. And with the superb writing and art it certainly didn’t disappoint! Read the rest of this entry »
Date: July 1974 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 75¢ Stats: 20 black and white pages (Skull River story) Writer: Roy Thomas Artists: Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom Notable Notes: Conan gets a new horse!
What is the longest you have ever gone without water? I once went about 30 hours, and it was terrible! I am a big water drinker, even now, since it is suppose to be healthy , and I do prefer it to the overly sweet sugar drinks that are so prominent these days. But I wonder if we, like Conan in this story, had gone a long time without anything to drink, would be prone to blackouts or agreeing to take on stupid jobs. Hmm, hopefully I’d die before fighting a rich prick and then giving all his gold to manipulative villagers! 😉 Read the rest of this entry »
Date: June 2001 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $2.25 2018 NM Price: $6 Stats: 22 color pages, lots of Spider-Man themed ads and The Spider’s Web letters page Writer: J. Michael Straczynski Artists: John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, Dan Kemp, Richard Starkings, Wes Abbot, with J. Scott Campbell cover Notable Notes: A new writer and two new characters begin with this issue!
In 1999 I started reading the comic book series Rising Stars by J. Michael Straczynski and I totally loved it! There was a lot of hype, at the time, about the writer of the hit TV series Bablyon 5 writing his own comic series. Even though he had worked on a few comics in the 1980s, it seemed like it was Rising Stars that made him super popular in the comics world. Shortly after that he was tapped to write The Amazing Spider-Man , beginning with this issue. Again, lots of hype about him and the story he crafted. I figured it was high time I give his Spider-Man books a try – and this issue, at least, turned out to be really cool! Read the rest of this entry »
Date: March 1972 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 20¢ 2018 Price Range: $3 – $35 Stats: 21 color pages plus ads, Marvel Bullpen Bulletins and letters page Writer: Gerry Conway Artists: Gene Colan, Syd Shores and Jon Costa Notable Notes: DD battles The Gladiator in the sky (on a 747!)
Last year, as I was flying home from San Francisco on United airlines, I heard the news that the coolest passenger jet ever was being retired from service. I was a bit sad to hear that, because I liked 747s. I only flew on one a few times, but it was always fun to see them parked in terminals, with their big double-decker bubble heads. Anyway, this comic book was a blast to read because nearly the entire issue takes place on one of those iconic jets! I think it would have been cool if the last 747s left in service would have ordered a bunch of copies of this issue and distributed them to passengers – you know, as a kind of farewell gift! Read the rest of this entry »
Date: June – July 1997 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $1.95 each 2017 NM Price: $3 each Stats: Each: 22 color pages, Bullpen Bulletins, letter column and ads Writers: Dan Abnett and Ian Edginton Artists: Patrick Zircher, Greg Adams, Marie Javins and Janice Chiang Notable Notes: Non-logical Vulcans!
In the late 1990s Marvel briefly held the Star Trek license and published a few short-lived series, of which Early Voyages was arguably the most popular. The unique aspect of this series was that it featured Captain Pike – who, if you don’t know, was the original series captain in the un-aired pilot episode. (You can watch that episode on Netflix if you are interested.) He was replaced by Captain Kirk in the second episode and never seen again… until this series! Since I am a big Star Trek fan, and I only owned these 2 comic books from the series (which contain one story arc) I figured I’d give them a try and see if they satisfied both my comic and Star Trek geekiness! So, let’s see how they did. Read the rest of this entry »
Date: February 1986 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 75¢ 2017 Price Range: $2 – $15 Stats: 23 color pages, Bullpen Bulletins and ads Writer: Bill Mantlo Artists: Steve Ditko, P. Craig Russell, Petra Scotese and Kevin Nowlan Notable Notes: The last issue of the series!
Do you remember the Rom action figure from the late 1970s? I do. Although I didn’t own one I had a couple friends that did. I always thought the toy was super popular, but I guess it wasn’t. Parker Brothers licensed the character to Marvel in an effort to build interest in the toy. It appears they did a pretty good job, because the comic series outlasted the toy!
This was the only Rom comic I ever read, and then only because it came in a bundle of comics I purchased in the mid 1980s. I figure I’ve reviewed a lot of #1 issues recently, so I’d see how the last issue of a series stacked up! It is difficult coming into a series at the end, but thanks to Wikipedia I was able to get a sense of what the series had accomplished so far. So does this issue stand on its own as a good comic book? Let’s find out, shall we. Read the rest of this entry »
Date: November 1985 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 65¢ 2017 Price: $3 Stats: 22 color pages plus Knight Mail, Bullpen Bulletins and ads Writers: Jo Duffy and Chris Warner Artists: Chris Warner, Alan Kupperberg, Rick Parker and Christy Scheele Notable Notes: Moon Knight helps bring White Cobra to justice!
This is the first Moon Knight comic I have read. I may have read it when I was younger, but I didn’t remember anything about it. It appears that the titular hero gets his strength from the moon, and the more full it is the more strength he gets. Moon Knight’s first comic book appearance was to help take down a Werewolf, but he has been in many other series, and a bunch of his own series as well. Anyhow, I quite enjoyed this issue and am looking forward to more Moon Knight stories in the future! Read the rest of this entry »
Date: August 2010 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $3.99 2017 NM Price: $4 Stats: 23 color pages plus More About The Young Allies and ads Writer: Sean McKeever Artists: David Baldeón, N. Bowling, Chris Sotomayor Notable Notes: The first issue featuring the Heroic Age Young Allies
One cool and frustrating part of being a comic book reader is that there is so much history that sometimes ideas are recycled and you don’t even know it! Take this team of young super-heroes for example. I took a chance and bought the first issue of this series several years ago, and ended up loving it. I didn’t realize then that this was the third time there was a Marvel super-hero team named “The Young Allies”. Usually I don’t really like it when former ideas are resurrected and re-hashed into a newer version, but this book was an exception. See, I guess there is some value to not knowing history! 😉 Read the rest of this entry »
Date: March 1973 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 20¢ 2017 Price Range: $5 – $75 Stats: 20 color pages plus ads, Marvel Bullpen Bulletins and letters page Writer: Steve Gerber Artists: Jim Starlin, Mike Esposito, Charlotte Jetter Notable Notes: The origin of Ichabod Rasputin
My daughter is really into rollerblading right now. She even got me to go with her yesterday, and now I have sore legs! Anyway, I was telling her that when I was a kid it was roller skates that were the big thing. Why am I telling you this? Because this issue of Iron Man starts out with him zooming around NYC on his jet powered roller skates! Yes, it is quite ridiculous! Iron Man himself even admits that he feels like a kid. Heaven knows he sure looks like one! Read the rest of this entry »
Date: May 1988 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $1.50 2017 Price Range: $9 – $160 Stats: 40 color pages plus ads and house columns Writer: David Michelinie Artists: Todd McFarlane, Rick Parker and Bob Sharen Notable Notes: First full appearance of Venom!
I was a young, comic reading teenager in the mid 1980s, and I remember when Spider-man got his new black costume. I got caught up in the first, original Secret Wars series and thought Spidey’s new costume was pretty cool – especially given how it could read his thoughts and transform itself into different types of clothing. But then I became “too grown up” to read comic books, and so fell away for about a decade. When I came back, however, I was really surprised to see that his black costume was now a separate villain know as Venom. It took me a long while to piece together what had really happened (remember, this was back before Wikipedia!) and when I finally did I had mixed feelings about Venom. Anyway, I recently decided to go back and read this classic comic book and see the beginning of the villain known as Venom.
Read the rest of this entry »
Date: 1987 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $1.25 Stats: 43 color pages plus ads Writers: Jim Shooter, David Michelinie Artists: Paul Ryan, Vince Colletta, Rick Parker and Bob Sharen Notable Notes: Peter and MJ get married!
Hey, I’ll admit that my feet started to get cold before my wedding. It was a big commitment, and as the day got closer and closer I got more and more nervous. Luckily I had some good friends that helped me stay the course, and now I have been married for nearly 20 years! But I never thought of how a super hero would get nervous before his or her wedding – at least until I read this issue. It gives me a new kind of respect for those that are married. This issue deals with a lot of concerns that Spider-man has going into his marriage – and he ends up handling them pretty well I think!
Date: September 1987 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: 75¢ Stats: 23 color pages plus ads and Bullpen Bulletins Writer: David Michelinie Artists: Alex Saviuk, Vince Colletta, Rick Parker and George Roussos Notable Notes: Spidey goes to Pittsburgh!
I like to travel to new cities and places I’ve never seen before. And even though I’ve never been to Pittsburgh, it was fun to virtually visit that city as Peter and Mary Jane made their way past many of its sites! I think it is fun to see super heroes go to different places – as long as they don’t permanently stay there (I’m looking at you Daredevil in San Francisco!)
Date: August 1987 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: 75¢ Stats: 24 color pages plus ads Writer: David Michelinie Artists: John Romita, Jr., Vince Colletta, Rick Parker and George Roussos Notable Notes: MJ in Pittsburgh and the Spider-Slayer in New York!
For the most part I love older comics from the 1970s and 1980s. But I gotta admit that there are some really stupid ideas in some of them! This issue is a case in point, what with the stupid elongating robot and the stereo-typical angry villain. Oh well, I guess you gotta take the bad in order to appreciate the good, right? Right?!
Date: July 1987 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: 75¢ Stats: 22 color pages plus ads and Bullpen Bulletins Writer: David Michelinie Artists: John Romita, Jr., Vince Colletta, Rick Parker and Bob Sharen Notable Notes: Peter proposes to MJ!
There are many ways to view marriage in the real world, but I’m not so convinced that it is such a good thing in the lives of comic book super heroes. It seems like the only married couple that has gone over well is the Fantastic Four’s Sue Storm and Reed Richards. Yes, I know it has been almost 30 years since Peter and MJ tied the knot, and I didn’t follow their marital events at all, but does anybody think it was a good idea for them to get married? Maybe. I decided to look at the beginning of that comic event and see how I really felt about it.
