Date: August 1988 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: 75¢ 2013 Price Range: $1.00 – $10.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus ads, Bullpen Bulletins and “Devil’s Advocate” letters page. Writer: Ann Nocenti Artists: John Romita Jr, Al Williamson, Joe Rosen, Max Scheele Notable Notes: Daredevil battles The Punisher!
Lucy once told Charlie Brown to quit being so wishy-washy – and the same line could be used here as well. Matt can’t seem to make up his mind over whether he likes Karen or Mary more. Daredevil can’t decide if the courts should serve up justice or if he should dish it out vigilante style. Mary can’t decide if she should sway the Kingpin or Matt Murdock. And The Punisher… aw, whom I kiddin’ – he just kills all the bad guys!
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Date: June 1984 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 60¢ 2013 Price Range: $2.00 – $15.00 Stats: 23 color pages plus ads and Bullpen Bulletins Writer: Tom DeFalco Artists: Rick Leonardi, Bill Anderson, Joe Rosen and Glynis Wein Notable Notes: 1st appearance of The Rose!
I am a fan of major league football – especially the Oakland Raiders! This issue of Spider-Man has a story about a quarterback with a (fake) major league team – and I think that is the first time I’ve seen such a story in a comic book! It turned out to be a pretty good story, and served nicely to get me in the football mood for this fall. If you’re a fan of football and comics then this is an issue you won’t want to miss!
Over the past year I have been searching for web sites where I can read comic books online for free . Guess what? There are loads of places to get free comics, and a lot of sites for online comic books too – but it has been difficult to find high quality sites which are legal. Nevertheless I persevered and have scoured the web looking for the best sites. (* See below for the criteria I used when searching for good sites) Anyway, I have finally come up with a list of what I believe are the 11 best sites for free, online comic books:
Date: March 1984 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 60¢ 2013 NM Price: $4.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus ads, Bullpen Bulletins and “The Hammer Strikes” letters page Story & Art: Walter Simonson Other Artists: John Workman, Jr., George Roussos Notable Notes: Thor battles an ancient dragon!
I used to love to watch the Godzilla movies when I was a kid. Yes they were kind of hokey, and I got great pleasure from making fun of the bad English dubbing – but there was something undeniably cool about the monster itself! That strange scream, its fire/electric breath and the way it stomped on Japanese cities were proof that Godzilla was different than your average dragon. Anyway, this issue reminded me of those old movies… well, except for the dubbing part.
Date: August 1983 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 60¢ 2013 Price Range: $2.00 – $18.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus ads, “Postbox: The Pit!” letters page and Bullpen Bulletins Writer: Larry Hama Artists: Mike Vosburg, Jon D’Agostino, J. Rosen and C. Scheele Notable Notes: 1st full appearance of Destro!
My collection of comics from the early ’80s has many holes in it, and sadly G.I. Joe is one of the titles that suffers greatly. After reviewing G.I. Joe #5 I found that this was the next issue I had – effectively skipping 9 issues! That sucks, especially since I realized that I’ve missed out on the little teaser appearances of one of my favorite G.I. Joe toys: Destro! Oh well, at least I have this book where he makes his first full appearance, and the story is actually pretty good too!
Date: September 1998 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $1.99 2013 NM Price: $3.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus “American Graffiti” letters page, Bullpen Bulletins, fold-out gate cover and ads Writer: Mark Waid Artists: Andy Kubert, Jesse Delperdang, Chris Sotomayor and Todd Klein Notable Notes: Cap gets another new shield!
The relationship between Steve Rogers and Sharon Carter is kind of weird. It very much reminds me of the one between Matt Murdock (aka Daredevil) and Natasha Romanoff (aka The Black Widow) – meaning that it is always on-again and off-again. I guess that’s the nature of long-term comic stories, but c’mon – those are 2 hot women and I think both men should just go for it! Anyway, here is another issue in which Sharon plays a big part in helping out her former lover.
Date: July 1988 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: 75¢ 2013 NM Price: $5.00 Stats: 29 color pages plus ads, Bullpen Bulletins and “Devil’s Advocate” letters page. Writer: Ann Nocenti Artists: John Romita Jr, Al Williamson, Joe Rosen, Max Scheele Notable Notes: “Blindspots” – where Matt has to make a lot of moral decisions!
Have you ever been attracted to someone when you know you shouldn’t be? (And if you say “no” I’ll think you’re lying!) I have – and yeah, its a strange feeling that’s for sure! How you act (or re-act) to that attraction is really the bigger and more important question, and in this issue we get to see Matt go through a roller-coaster of emotions as he tries to decide between the lovely Karen Page (with all her baggage) and the sweet, sexy Mary (with her crazy dual personalities!) Hmm… which one will win I wonder? I know who I’m rooting for!
Date: May 1984 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 60¢ 2013 Price Range: $5.00 – $70.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus ads, Bullpen Bulletins and “The Spider’s Web” letters page. Writers: Roger Stern and Tom DeFalco Artists: Ron Frenz, Brett Breeding, Joe Rosen, Glynis Wein Notable Notes: Spider-Man dons new black costume!
I remember when Spider-man got his new black suit. It was cool and I totally enjoyed reading about it when I was a young teenager. Then I took a long hiatus from comic books and years later I had a difficult time wrapping my head around the concept of Venom. It took a while, but I finally got it. Anyway, I really enjoyed the black costume while Peter had it – and here is the first appearance (at least in a comic book) of that mysterious, alien suit!
Date: February 1984 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 60¢ 2013 NM Price: $6.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus ads, Bullpen Bulletins and “The Hammer Strikes” letters page Story & Art: Walter Simonson Other Artists: John Workman, Jr., George Roussos Notable Notes: The end of the first Beta Ray Bill story arc.
I have long been a fan of both mythology and science fiction. Perhaps that is a big reason why the Thor comic series appeals to me so much – there are many elements of both genres within its covers. This issue is a great example as Thor and friends set out to do battle with aliens from another dimension. Ah… just one more reason to love comics!
Date: June 1988 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: 75¢ 2013 NM Price Range: $5.00 Stats: 31 color pages plus Bullpen Bulletins and ads Writer: Ann Nocenti Artists: John Romita Jr, Al Williamson, Joe Rosen, Max Scheele Notable Notes: Typhoid Mary begins her plan of destruction!
Here’s an issue of Daredevil (one of many, I’m afraid) where the technicalities of a high profile trial and all the legal planning that precedes it kind of gets in the way of the story. But hey – it’s Daredevil and Typhoid Mary so it’s gotta be good… right? Right?!
Date: April 1984 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 60¢ 2013 Price Range: $2.00 – $16.00 Stats: 21 color pages plus ads, Bullpen Bulletins and “The Spider’s Web” letters page. Writers: Roger Stern and Tom DeFalco Artists: Ron Frenz, Klaus Janson, Joe Rosen, Christie Scheele Notable Notes: Hobgoblin dies (or does he?) without his identity revealed!
Spider-man is a great character, but he sure does have trouble with the roller-coaster quality of his series! Here is another issue that I place on the “down side” in terms of quality and customer satisfaction. You decide if I’m over-reacting or not…
Date: January 1984 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 60¢ 2013 NM Price: $6.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus ads, Bullpen Bulletins and “Page O’Thor Stuff” Story & Art: Walter Simonson Other Artists: John Workman, Jr., George Roussos Notable Notes: Odin forges a new hammer!
When I was little I would carry around my dad’s hammer and pretend that I was Thor. I loved the whole idea of Mjolnir, especially how no one else could lift it – even the Hulk! Anyway, I consider Thor’s hammer to be one of his most defining characteristics, and so I find this issue to be very intriguing – seeing as how Odin crafts a new hammer which is very similar to Mjolnir!
Date: May 1988 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: 75¢ 2013 Price Range: $1.00 – $8.00 Stats: 31 color pages plus Bullpen Bulletins and ads Writer: Ann Nocenti Artists: John Romita Jr, Al Williamson, Joe Rosen, Max Scheele Notable Notes: Origin and 1st appearance of Typhoid Mary!
So, after reviewing Daredevil #168 (which includes the origin and 1st appearance of Elektra) I was in the mood to try another of Daredevil’s femme fatale firsts: Typhoid Mary! By the way, did you know there was a real Typhoid Mary? Yep, poor lady! I’m not sure how much she influenced this comic book version – but I’ll let you know as I get more into the storyline. Anyway, I remember when this comic book hit the stands – and although I didn’t read it then I figured it was high time to give it a try. I actually enjoyed it quite a bit! Here are my thoughts about it…
Date: August 1998 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $1.99 2013 NM Price: $3.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus “American Graffiti” letters page, Bullpen Bulletins and ads Writer: Mark Waid Artists: Andy Kubert, Jesse Delperdang, Jason Wright and Todd Klein Notable Notes: Cap battles the Lunatic Legion!
The opening scenes of this comic were reminiscent of a WWII labor camp – a lot like the opening of the X-men movie from the year 2000. It seems that Marvel comics and World War II will forever share a type of “bond”. This issue plays on some of the atrocities of WWII to emotionally suck the reader into the story. I’m not sure it worked so well – see what you think.
Date: March 1984 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 60¢ 2013 Price Range: $2.00 – $16.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus ads, Bullpen Bulletins and “The Spider’s Web” letters page. Writer: Roger Stern Artists: John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson, Joe Rosen, C. Scheele Notable Notes: Spidey tracks down Hobgoblin… old-school style!
This comic had a few amusing little mis-directions in it! Take the cover, for instance – there were several things that struck me as funny, and which I doubt I’d see now-a-days. Check out the Hobgoblin icon in the top left corner – he’s saying “It’s great! Steal it!” What? I’d like to see a modern publisher put that on their cover! Or how about the fact that Marvel announces this issue as a “normal-sized 250th issue!” But my favorite is that line “Behold the face of Death! Behold… Hobgoblin!” Why? Because, sadly, you don’t really get to see the face of Hobgoblin in this issue! You can tell Marvel was having fun stringing their readers along on this storyline. Oh well, it’s still a great comic!
