This is Entry 285: The Non-Review of Superior Spider-Man!

This started out differently but I’m trying something else. To be mememetic for a moment: I can’t. I just can’t.

Recently I got the idea in my head to read Superior Spider-Man to see what it was all about. Was it bad as I had heard? So… I picked up the first trade paperback. Before reading it I also picked up the last trade paperback for Amazing Spider-Man, just to see how they closed out that chapter of the Spider-Man mythos before going into the “bold, exciting new direction” with the character. I read them.

I formed some thoughts, started to write out a “review” similar to the style I used for my look at Age of Ultron. Got a few paragraphs into it & then left alone for a few days. This was only after writing for a half hour or so. I went on to other things but kept it in my thoughts. This is why I’m doing this instead of that. My thought eventually end up with this: Why am I doing this? What does it matter? and Who cares?

As I have stated in the past: I don’t much care for Spider-Man. I find him boring for the most part. I went & counted how many comics I actually own that star the webcrawler & I barely got past over a 100 issues. For a character that has been around for over 50 years that’s basically nothing. Looking over the issues, most of those issues were either because of guest stars in appearing that month or who he’s facing off against. I have a few milestone/anniversary issues because I’m a sucker for those things, especially if I can find them cheap. I could easily get to 150, maybe a bit past that if I included all my Spider-Man adjacent books BUT a number of those don’t star Spider-Man himself.

Also, there isn’t all that much to say about the issues I read. Yeah, there are a bunch of things to nit pick about & was going to do in the original form of this post. There were a few paragraphs devoted to just the text on that back of trade paperback of Amazing Spider-Man trade. I came with a few jokes that I could have made. I’m sure as I went back over the issues as I doing the review I would have come up with a few more.  But what’s the point?

I really don’t see much to give a flying flip about in the comic. I don’t care about Spider-Man so why should I care about what is going in the book? Yes, there is some stuff that was kind of interesting presented to me but was just it: it was “kind of interesting”. Not good, not great, just kind of interesting. If what I was reading was horrible, rage inducing, down right bad: then I would have something to write about. Maybe it is? I just don’t know but that’s because as I’ve said: I don’t care about Spider-Man.

I don’t mind trudging through issue upon issue of “bad” comics. I read all of Brightest Day: 26 issues long & only about every 7 issues of that series did something kind of interesting happen. I read all of Futures End, that was 48 issues long! Most of it was not good. It had “good” bits but could have been so much better. Why was I willing to push on through those series but I can’t get through 8 issues of Spider-Man. Might be 9 issues, one issue was Issue 700, so it had some more content then the other issues. I guess it’s because I cared about Brightest Day & Futures End where as I don’t about Spider-Man. All three aren’t that great of books but I at least cared for BD & FE in some small way. Superior Spider-Man? not so much.

To answer my questions:

Why am I doing this? I thought I'd try something new. Try out a series I hadn’t read before & see for myself if I’d like it or not. I came out ambivalent on it. There were thinks to dislike about it but not enough for me to actively devote time & energy to.

What does it matter? It matters, just not to me. In reading those issues there were things that I could easily see that were “wrong” with it.

Who cares? This was more about my posting of my review of the book.I could have easily let this pass on by, as I have let other books I could have reviewed. But I did announce elsewhere online that I was going to be “reviewing” the series & I felt that I at least owned those interested a post of some kind. It’s not much of a post but a post none the less.

One last thing: I might not care for Spider-Man, Superior or otherwise. But I would suggest to search out The Superior Foes of Spider-Man by Nick Spenser & Steve Lieber. It’s not very long, only 17 issues but well worth your time. It was one of the better Marvel books I was reading when it was coming out. It almost alway near the top of my “good comics I read this month”. It also doesn’t feature Spider-Man in it, just Villains doing villain things! If you want a fun team book, Superior Foes is a good choice! I’ve also met artist Steve Lieber a few times, nice guy.

Until next Stay Jazzy everybody!

- Brian

This is Entry 280: Falling off the Edge of The Spider-Verse!

Back in August, I did a break down of the prologue to the prologue of the Spider-Verse event (which can be seen here) & now that we are firmly in the trenches of the event I thought I’d give an update on what has been happening.

By the checklist that is in the back of most of the Spider-Verse books, there are 14 tie-in books to the series proper. There is also the 5 issue “Edge of Spider-Verse” series, the 2 issue of Amazing Spider-Man that lead up to the event, a lead up issue of Spider-Man 2099, 2 issues of Superior Spider-Man. So… 23 tie-in issues. Then the main series it’s self which is 5 issues. That’s 28 issues & I think I might of missed some stuff. That is a lot of stuff. Before you even get to the main series there are at least 12 issues, many event comics are dead & gone by that point. I’m not even counting any sort of epilogue issues or spin off series (there are going to be at least 2 that I know of).

1 thing before I go on: the guy in the cool looking diving helmet that I kept on calling Morlun last time wasn’t Morlun but his brother Karn. Morlun & Karn are members of a family called The Inheritors. What do they inherit? I don’t know. I still don’t know after reading a dozen or more comics. I’m guessing power of some kind. They seem to work on a Highlander principal: Kill every Spider-Person you can, absorb their life force until your the only one left standing which will lead to a crappy sequel. BUT given that I don’t regularly read Spider-Man comics, the only name I knew was Morlun & the character I was unfamiliar with shared a similar MO to what I had gathered about Morlun: it’s easy to get confused. I did say last time that it might not been Morlun but someone working with him. So…. I was close.

But… getting to the comics….

Karn & his cool looking helmet

Where to start? Let’s start with the issue following the one I talked about last time: Superior Spider-Man #33. We got what we’ll be getting in a number of Books so far. Let’s go to a random universe with a Spider-Man. He’s being chased Karn because he wants to have them for dinner literally.  A portal opens to show various other Spider-People show up to help out. FIGHT SCENE! This is the formula for many of comics leading up to the main event where we change gears to a slightly different type of set up. Spider-Verse is almost all set up with very little pay off.

In this issue Karn is helped out by 2 members of his “family”, fraternal twins Brix and Bora. I am having to look online what a number of these people’s names are. The books really like to tell you who each & ever Spider-Person is & what world they came from but the names of anyone else: you are on your own for the most part! Sometimes people will say the other names but most times they won’t. If I gotta do extra work to understand your book: your doing a crappy job.

The Family’s driving force is to kill various Spider-People across the multiverse. Not sure what happens after they kill one.  Sometimes they seem to just leave the Spider-Corpse in their home universe, where in other books it shows The Inheritors taking the body back to their home world called Loomworld (for all you Loom needs, right off the freeway) or Earth-001 to be “eaten” later. This also confuses me. Sometimes they seem to only suck the life force from a Spider-Person & at other times it seems like they are going to consume the actual person to give the life force from them. We never actually see them eating the person (I think). Maybe it’s different from Spider-Corpse to Spider-Corpse. The Inheritor’s keep mentioning the different smells & tastes of the Spiders, maybe some they wanna save & savor the taste?  Or at least gloat over back at home. The Inheritors also seem to be working off not just a Highlander principal but some sort of honor/dibs system. Honors/Dibs is like super important & stuff!

On Earth-001, there is the Master Weaver. Sadly I have yet to see a Dream Weaver anywhere in any of the comics which given the lyrics of that song I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not referenced somehow somewhere. The Master Weaver sits in the middle of the Web of All Realities… uh… the Great Web of Life & Destiny. At least it looks like he does in every picture I see him in. He “spins” the portals the Inheritors use to travel via the Multiverse & he seems to be somehow connect to every Spider-People (maybe he cause he’s a spider-person himself?). The Master Weaver looks kind of cool & his gimmick is also kind of cool. The weaver is half robot which depending on the book & artist can look cool.

What is the issue actually about? I told you. Random Universe with a Spider-Man. He’s being chased Karn.  A portal opens to show various Spider-People show up to help out. FIGHT SCENE! Some of the less important Spider-People die. There is bickering between the Spider-People & between the Inheritors. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I’ve only read 2 of the Spider-Man 2099 tie in issues & 1 thing I noticed in regards to Spider-Verse: only one variation on a character gets to be in the main story. In Spider-Man 2099 #5, there are seen a few versions of Spider-Man 2099 & one of his dopplegangers (that’s 1 version of Spider-Man I have yet to see pop up in this series) contacts the one we are accustomed to seeing. It seems by the “luck” of the draw, He gets to be in the main event. Another thing most universe are only repressed by 1 person where as the 616 universe (the “main” Marvel Universe”) is represented by at least 6 people: Superior Spider-Man, regular Spider-Man, the original Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew), Spider-Girl (Anya Sofia Corazon), Scarlet Spider (Kaine Parker) & Silk.

*disgruntled sigh*

Silk. Why you even a thing? My first time seeing you (in Amazing Spider-Man #7) you go out to fight crime in what might be the stupidest costume: nothing but webbing! She does have a pink crop top & matching shorts on under it. BUT unless you saw her web up you don’t know that. Also, doesn’t webbing fade away after awhile? so… she could be left outside during a fight without a costume. “Halt, base villain! It is I, the Pink Panties Avenger!”

Also in Issue 7 I see Peter Parker is hanging out with a little girl, who I have come to find out is the basis for the holographic helper Octo-Spidey (the Superior Spider-Man) uses. There is some story there which I don’t know. Not sure what it is. I could look it up but that might take more work then I wanna do. The girl does seem super smart for a child her age.  Silk does get a vasty better costume in Issue 8. But as a character just seems to be an inferior copy of other people. Other better Spider-People. Her back story (from what I’ve gleamed from the issues) is she’s a female Peter Parker which we don’t need since we have ACTUAL Peter Parker! We also don’t need another Spider-Woman running around New York: we already have a few & are getting more! Especially one with black hair: We already have one! If we wanted a young, untested female with spider based powers we already have one in Spider-Girl. Any reason for Silk to exist is already being filled by someone else & has been doing that job for a while.

Then we get to Issue #9. Oh, Issue 9. Marvel, how much did you not want me to like Silk? A lot? Well you succeeded! Big emphasizes on the Suck part! I’ve read 2 issue with her in it & she didn’t seem that bad of a character,  just kind of pointless. Then Issue 9 sent me over the edge (of the Spider-Verse). It’s morning in the 616 & Peter Parker is asleep. He might be naked. In comes Cindy Moon.  yeah.. that’s Silk’s real name. Not sure if that’s as bad a name as Future’s End Fifty Sue but it’s up there.

Cindy breaks into Peter’s apartment (?) to first stare at the maybe naked Peter Parker sleeping but to also talk to him about something. They have a problem! When ever they are close to each other their “animal urges” take over & they, to quote issue 9 “both feel the urge to mate. Like Spider-Bunnies.”  So far I have not seen any Spider-Bunnies in the event. There has been a Spider-Monkey & a Spider-Pig. This “problem” doesn’t seem like a problem to me because Issue 9 is the last time it’s brought up. The two of them interact in various situations after this & the “OMG I toats gotta have hot & sweat Spider-Sex with you!” never comes up. Maybe they are just good at keeping it in check THEN there isn’t a problem then, is there?  BUT Cindy has been thinking about this & has come up with the most ingenious plan to fix the whole darn thing: Peter should move!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Screw you, Cindy Moon & the irradiated spider you came in on! You don’t get to even suggest that sort of thing. If anything it’s her who should move! It would be the easier thing for her to do. She’s been spending the last few years/some period of time in a bunker/cave/hidden place somewhere & has no real ties to New York or the outside world. She doesn’t seem to have any family. She doesn’t have any friends beyond a little girl & Peter.  She has a job but hasn’t had it not for long. She could easily quit & move somewhere else. The Midwest! Silk, Iowa’s own Spider-Woman! She could go join the Great Lakes Avengers up in Minnesota. No… wait… I like the GLA & wouldn’t wish the plague of Silk on them. Silk could move to… the… The West Coast! yeah… The West Coast! That’s where most Marvel Super Heroes go if they don’t wanna be in New York!  Peter has way too many ties to New York for him to just pack up & leave. Plus, you think the rest of the super hero community is just going to except Cindy right into the club. “Hey! I have no idea who you are & you seem really untested in a fight. But if Spider-Man says your ok, I’m ok with you! Since when has Spider-Man’s word ever been untrustworthy?”  Plus in her further appearances in the event she really does not seem to have things together. There are many a “Damn it, Cindy!” moments in the event.

Before I get to the rest of Issue 9 which is the 1st part of the main series Let’s go back & talk about some of the stuff that lead up to it.

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The Prologue tie-in series “The Edge of Spider-Verse”

ISSUE #1: I think this issue could have gone to a different character.  It revolves around the Spider-Man from the “Spider-Man: Noir” books. The other 4 issues of brand new, never before seen characters. Noir Spidey has been around since 2009.  Plus a person is going to be a bit lost without past knowledge of who he is or what has happened in his past outings.  There is a recap page on the first page (the only Edge book to have one) but even with that I was a bit lost. I had read some of the Noir book back in ’09 but hadn’t since then. It wasn’t a bad story. Just was a bit lost & though the spot could have gone to someone else.

ISSUE #2: Most likely the most talked about & looked forward to issue of the set. The issue with Gwen Stacy as Spider-Woman. It’s also of the most fleshed out worlds & most fun. She’s a fan favorite online & Marvel seems to be giving in since they have already announced that after the Spider-Verse she’ll be running around the main universe for awhile. When she is introduced in Issue 9 along with her name & what world she is from , the issue says “your new favorite”

ISSUE #3: Another cool issue. This take a more scientific angle to Spider-Man. Aaron Aikman (who I don’t think will be showing up elsewhere since I think he died at the end of the issue) is a scientist who gave himself spider powers & created a cool suit to go with it. I’d read more about him (if he didn’t die at the end of the issue) & his world! Maybe a prequel series?

ISSUE #4: Creepy for the sake of being Creepy! I did not like this issue since that’s what it felt like it was doing. What if…. a Peter Parker like character was a sadistic jerk who lived with an equally Jerky Uncle Ben stand in & then the Parker stand in gets bite by a radioactive spider? OH NO! He’s still a Sadistic Jerk!  He thankful died at the end of the issue so we never have to see or hear from him ever again.

ISSUE #5: Has a cool Pacific Rim/Giant Robots feel to it. I’d return that world also but sadly I don’t think anyone for this issue appears elsewhere.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Check out Issues 2, 3 & 5. #2 might be a bit harder to find due to it’s popularity but it’s also the only book with a character that is going forth after the  event.

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The Spider-Verse Team-Up book is a lot of fun. Small groups of Spider-People all team-up to do stuff but is also by Spider-Writers & Spider-Artists from the past & present. Some fun stories but nothing really essential to the event at large!

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We now inch closer to the actually event with the first two of the Amazing Spider-Man tie-in issues. I got a problem with these. well…. mainly what is the last page of #8 as part of “The Amazing Spider-Mail” section which: contains no mail until you consider what is written there a letter from Senior Editor Nick Lowe. About 5 paragraphs in is this sentence:  “The main Spider-Verse story runs in the pages of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN starting in two weeks in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #9!”

uh… what?

“The main Spider-Verse story runs in the pages of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN….”

what?

“The main Spider-Verse story runs in the pages of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN….”

If the the “main story” is in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man then what runs in the pages of… oh.. you know… the page of the comic actually titled Spider-Verse? Oh… extra stuff. Issue #1 was just further set up stuff that seems like a retread of what was in Superior Spider-Man #33 & Amazing Spider-Man #9. Issue #2 was basically another issue of “Spider-Verse Team-Up”. If anything else Issue 1 should have been part one of the main event with Amazing Spider-Man #9 part 2 & Issue 2 of Spider-Verse should have been the final part of the event with the 5 center parts of the event be in Amazing Spider-Man. The way it has been handled both issue were rendered useless/pointless.

Team-Up depicted here is not
contained in this comic.

The main story in Issues 7 & 8 is skippable event wise as they don’t apply to anything Spider-Verse related. It’s a 2 part team up story between Spider-Man & the new Ms. Marvel. Now the cover to Issue 8 might tell you otherwise. It would have to believe that Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel & Spider-Girl have an adventure which happens to be “Spider-Girl’s Last Stand!”  NOPE! Spider-Girl does not interact with Spider-Man or Ms. Marvel at all. This isn’t even her last stand: she continues on after this issue & her tale here only takes up the last 8 pages of the issue. As for most of his loved one’s this is there last stand. Spider-Girl’s family (save for her infant brother) are killed in this story. Who by? If you guessed Morlun, you’d be wrong. It’s his brother Daemos, which I had thought was Morlun & he was just wrong really huge. Most of the Inheritor men all look very similar to each other.

This also reads like half a story. The last half of a story. Like it was going to be 18 pages but they didn’t have space for it all so they cut out all the set up (something I wish they’d do elsewhere in this event) & just give you the end part. You don’t need to set up why people are dying just how they died but don’t spend too much time on it. It’s not like these are important characters like the Spider-Girl’s parents! Who are PETER PARKER and MARY-JANE WATSON! Or her boyfriend, which she did not in the Spider-Girl comics I had read BUT I only read the early Spider-Girl with any regularity. Still, that’s her boyfriend! He’s an important person to her! There death scenes are just brushed aside. They happen, moving on.

The back up story in Issue 7 involves Spider-UK, a Captain Britain counterpart who also happens to be Spider-Man. He notices that various Spider-People are dying in the multiverse (like those from a universe that looks a lot like the old “Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends” cartoon). He goes to the inter-dimensional HQ for the Captain Britain Corps but is given the brush since that “That’s a Spider-Man issue, we are the Captain Britain Corps. We have more important things to worry about”. He is then sent off by himself to search out a solution to the problem.

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And I think that’s enough for now. I’ll make another post talking about the main event it’s self. 

Until then: Stay Jazzy Everybody!

- Brian

Sliding to the Edge of the Spider-Verse

As has been stated in a pervious post I don’t much care for Spider-Man. It’s not that he is a bad character, it’s just that I find him boring. There isn’t much to get me invested in him. This is not to say there has been things that I have not liked involving Spider-Man. I own a number of Spider-Man comics. A large chunk of those are from the 80’s but that’s mostly because they feature the character Black Cat in them. The 1990's Spider-Man cartoon is awesome & I'll gladly put it up there on the lists of great comic book adaptation cartoons. Heck, even the current Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon is half way decent (At least the few episodes I've seen have been half way decent). The Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends cartoon can be good for a laugh.

But why am I bringing this up? I’m going to talk about a Spider-Man comic. One that does feature something I do like: alternate realities. This should be no surprised. I just posted a post celebrating the 20th anniversary of Zero Hour, a series with an alternate reality element. I’m half of the way through an issue by issue review of Age of Ultron that has at least 1 alternate reality contained in it.

What am I going to be talking about? Superior Spider-Man #32, the prologue to the prologue series (Edge of Spider-Verse) to the main event (Spider-Verse). But didn't that book finish it run? Yes but the event of this issue & maybe other parts of the series take place during the run of the series. 

Imagine it’s October of last year. Ok, you got it? Well… forget all that since it being last October has no baring on the story. But there is some backstory you need to know which the first page fills you in on just in case the readers of said issue didn’t know what was going on. I did... sort of.

BACK STORY TIME: Otto Octavius, the villain also known as Doctor Octopus, was dying of something. Let’s say Butt Cancer. Otto doesn’t want to die so he figures out a way to go all freaky friday on Spider-Man. They swap bodies. Not sure what happens to the Octavius body but now Doc Ock in Spider-Man's body (who I'll be calling Octo-Spidey) changes to a darker kind of cool looking costume & proclaims himself to The Superior Spider-Man. This of course sets up the formation of an awesome comic book “Superior Foes of Spider-Man” If you haven’t reading it: correct that & do so. It’s awesome & you don’t have to worry about any of the Octo-Spidey stuff. You just get a fun team book.

Getting back to Octo-Spidey, in his *new* secret identity Otto-as-Peter works at a company called Horizon Labs where science happens. According to the recap page, There was a “temporal distortion” which I’m going to blame on Wolverine (see Age of Ultron #10 for more info on why). The distortion brings Miguel O’Hara, the Spider-Man of 2099 to 2013. He had a mission & not sure if he completed it or not (the comic doesn’t say). I guess he decided to stick around since he’s now hanging out in the present doing thing in his own series (which ties in the Edge of Spider-Verse event).

During the distortion, Octo-Spidey went missing for 24 hours & this comic tells of what he did. He did a lot. It all starts with with Octo-Spidey going to THE FUTURE! How? Giant explosion!  As he travels through time he apparently travels through Hypertime, the not much used but liked by Me DC Comics concept from the early 2000’s. He’s falling through a whirlpool which one can see reused art work from such past alternate reality stories as: 1602, Earth X, Future Imperfect, something involving Deathlok, Days of Futures Past & Old Man Logan.

Octo-Spidey falls out of the whirlpool & lands on a rooftop. He’s a bit woozy & stands up to find out that he’s 5 years too late!  No… wait… wrong comic book. That’s Futures End.  Octo-Spidey stands up & then crouches down in an odd pose to find out he’s in 2099! You can tell that’s 2099 since a reader board in the back says so & there is a billboard with the word Alchemax on it. 

On the next page I think there is a minor Blade runner reference in the background. If I remember the old Spider-Man 2099 comics they seemed to be very Blade Runnery. Octo-Spidey is web slinging around. What is that web connected to? I don’t know. The top of the panel I guess! While he slings around Octo-Spidey thinks to himself “Gotta get some some sweet future tech. Just think of what my giant brain could do with all that sweet future tech!”

About here I came to 1 conclusion:  Octo-Spidey is a giant Douche! He continues to be a big one through out the rest of the comic. I would assume that this was a theme in the book: Spider-Man is a giant Douche Bag! But apparently no one caught that he had been brain swapped. Or at least I heard about that being the case in a number of comics. As I have said: I haven't been reading Spider-Man but I hear things.

Back to the comic: I guess being in a costume is a no no since the police or what I guess passes for it in THE FUTURE tells Octo-Spidey he’s under arrest. Possible reason: First Degree Douche Baggery.

We have a minor fight scene (it’s 1 panel) & then Octo-Spidey meets up with the brother of Spider-Man 2099. He has a flying car. Flying Cars are cool. There is a bit of “I’m not who you think I am? You are exactly who I think you are?” but not really. Brother Guy (Gabriel O’Hara) assumes this is still Peter Parker & not the body swapped Otto Octavius. The reason Gabriel knows Petter Parker is the 2 Spider-Men had met before. Gabriel flies off in his cool car back to Spider-Man 2099's apartment. There they met up with a “holo-agent”, a hologram that is the user interface for the computer. Gabriel says the holo-agent use to have a personality but had been reset back to it’s baseline form (vaguely male & is colored yellow or green depending on the panel).

Shortly there after Octo-Spidey kicks Gabriel out of the apartment so he can do science. Octo-Spidey asks the hologram where he can get him some sweet future tech so he can himself a time machine. There are 2 choices: 1 from Stark/Fujikawa & the other being from Alchemax (which I guess is the company that Horizon Labs becomes). Octo-Spidey also wants hologram man to call him “Doctor”. I guess his ego isn’t big enough to have it call him “Master”. 1 quick 2 page spread of a montage later we see a bit more douche baggery (actual line of dialogue: If this is the future, I am not impressed). 

We next find Octo-Spidey is hard at work in the surprisingly still mostly intact but abandoned Empire State University campus. The lab he is in looks surprisingly clean given how things look outside. Also why is the campus still there? There are clearly more futuristic buildings built up around it. Why is it still there? Also, why is he there? He had the usage of the apartment. He didn’t need to go there. But he is & is hard at work at the machine Quinn Mallory made in the show Sliders. 

As Octo-Spidey works on what the holo-agent calls a “portal” we see that he has changed it’s form into that of a little girl who is colored yellow here but later on is colored pink. Why? I don’t know.  I might if I read the comic before this but I didn’t so it’s just something kind of weird. He turns on his portal & has the holo-agent girl download themself into his gauntlet. Not sure how a computer program from 86 years into his future downloads herself into his wrist gauntlet. Maybe she is backwards compatible?

They walk through the portal & end up in… an alternate universe first shown to us way back in 1977 in the first issue of What If. Here we see a world where Spider-Man joined the Fantastic Four (they became the Fantastic Five) but we see the four members (yes, four. It doesn’t show where the Invisible Woman is & given the story she might not even be there) are found dead amidst a destroyed building of some kind.  Alternate Spider-Man is found dead with 2 big holes in his chest. On finding the dead spider-man, Octo-Spidey figures out that this is not his home time period. Even Holo-Girl confirms this. They are at the wrong “vibrational frequency”. So we are working on the same level of science that 1960’s DC Comics did for dimensional travel which is the best kind of science for made up dimensional travel!

On the next 2 pages we see Octo-Spidey travel to 3 other worlds. The opening monologue for early seasons of Sliders is basically this issue so far: What if you found a portal to a parallel universe? What if you could slide into a thousand different worlds? Where it was the same year, and you’re the same person, but everything else is different. And what if you can’t find your way home?

In those 3 worlds we see 2 worlds based of House Of M & Civil War. The third has flying police cars & a Spider-Man is a suit of armor (like the one he got in Web of Spider-Man #100). All 3 are dead, all 3 have chest wounds. All 3 are also surround by destruction. Octo-Spidey has started to collect data on the dead Spider-Men. He & Holo-Girl find out that each have been “suffused with the same exotic energy” but that energy is not native to any of the universe they have visited. We flip the page to see the Spider-Man (from the Spider-Man: India comics) fighting with some masked man who is wearing a kind of cool (minus the stupid looking helmet) retro looking outfit.

It’s Morlun. This “big mystery” was ruined in the images & text released to hype the Spider-verse event. They sold the series as: Morlun travels to alternate realities to kill the Spider-Man of that world but the various Spider-man team up to stop him. If this masked man is not reveled to be Morlun, it will be someone working for him.  As Indian Spider-Man fights Morlun, Octo-Spidey comes into help. While Morlun is distracted, He is trapped under a building that Indian Spider-Man pulled down on to him.  Instead of finishing the fight, Octo-Spidey takes Indian Spider-Man away. Morlun frees himself & knows Indian Spider-Man is gone. Where have they gone? Octo-Spidey is collecting Spider-Men across the multiverse to fight against Morlun.

We end this story with Indian Spider-Man & Octo-Spidey meeting up with other alternate Spider-People. Presented there are a six armed Spider-Man (which could be from the Mutant X universe or a few other places), Ashley Barton (Spider-Man’s grand-daughter & Hawkeye’s daughter from Old Man Logan), Spider-Man (from the What If? one shot “Spider-Man vs. Wolverine”), Spider-Monkey (from Marvel Apes) and the Spider-Man from the Spider-Man: Noir books.

There is a second story in the issue but it’s how Octo-Spidey recruited the Spider-Man from the What If? one shot “Spider-Man vs. Wolverine” from 2008.

FINAL THOUGHTS: A part from the general doucheness of Octo-Spidey it’s a good issue. I look forward to the rest of the event.

This is Entry 274: The 3 Questions

Being a reader & enjoyer of comics I feel there is 3 questions one is bound to be asked when interacting with those who don't read comics in a social situation:

- What's your favorite comic book?

- Who is your favorite super hero?

- Marvel or DC?

These seem like great conversation starters & I don't mind this questions. At least they are about comic the books themselves. I have been in way to many conversation where when I bring up or someone mentions I read comic books, people want to talk about comic book movies. I get why. They might not read comics but they might of gone & seen the latest movies based off one. BUT if you tell me you like sports, I'm not going ask you about the latest video game based off that sport. Related: Yes. What you said: No.

Getting back to the topic at hand: the 3 questions. Given that comics are more in the spotlight due to the  big budget blockbusters (there are like 3, 4 coming out this summer) & people just grow up around them. In this day & age it's hard to not have some basic knowledge on the topic. A few years back the "Marvel or DC" question wouldn't be an as asked a question. For some people all characters came from the same place/company. At least most people now know the reason why Batman doesn't normally team up with Spider-Man.

What are my answers for these questions? I don't have easy answers or answers at all. One would think that after reading comics for 20 plus years I have nicely prepared answers for these things. Growing up I didn't exactly make it well know that I read comics & really it wasn't that big of a deal since most kids did that for some period of time. All my "not having a lot of friends" as a kid tended to keep conversation like this at a minimum.  These 3 questions started to pop up more as a entered high school & beyond!  This is partly due to the fact that I got way more into comic during that period & I started to attend more & more parties (why? I because I was invited to such things). Given that I had spent years not thinking hard about such things when confronted by these questions it's hard to choose.

I've responded to the "favorite super hero" question with saying it's like choosing your favorite kid. This gets some laughs & the conversation moves on. I don't have that one true hero (my OTH if you will) that I like. I have many heroes that I like for various reasons. I could easily say some well known hero but then that runs the risk your talking to a person who really that character & you end up showing you don't know about then (this can also happens with the person who really likes the character). I feel that choosing 1 character is very limiting. The world of comics so wide & vast, why choose just 1 person? BUT then that sounds (even to me) like I'm trying to avoid the question which I guess I am. I do have more firm answers for sub-genres of this question: Favorite Avenger? Demolition Man. Favorite super hero team? TIE: JSA & Great Lakes Avengers. Also, I have a tie for my favorite super villain? Doctor Doom & Kang the Conqueror. Yes, I have no idea who my favorite hero is but I know which villains I like. Take that how you will.

The "favorite comic book" question I dread more then other questions. This can lead to rambling answers that the person isn't interested in listening to. I have felt like this in a number of conversations (Shut up, Brian. They don't care anymore. Just stop talking. They are only continue to listen out of politeness. If you stop talking they can go talk to someone more interesting).  A lot of the comics I truly enjoy I either find hard to put into words why I like it or I feel like it would take to long to explain what it is. A related question is "what are you reading now?" If I say I'm enjoying the comic Superior Foes of Spider-Man (which I totally am & you should totally pick it up) I feel like to properly explain it I have to also explain the book/events of Superior Spider-Man which I only vaguely know about. After explaining it, I then have to say "well... none of those things really matter for this book." Then why did I just spend the last 5 minutes explaining it to them? context.

Many of these question I feel don't work without context & I think a number of people don't really want to listen to me poorly explain the full context. This is partly because comic book are confusing in general. When you bring together alternate pasts, futures & timelines. Add in multiple books written by multiple people over the period of decades. What is in & not in continuity: it can all be confusing by even people in the know.  Even if I mentions words they might recognize: Superman, Batman, Justice League, Avengers, X-Men, etc. What is happening now in the comics might be hard to explain to someone who isn't in the know. Gaining more knowledge might just confuse them more.

The great debate question up there with Kirk or Picard? Who is your favorite Doctor? Which house are you from? Pirate vs Ninjas? Jacob or Edward? is Marvel or DC?  I've been known to answer this with another question "which era/time period?" I feel that both companies are good but some times in their histories one is better then the other. I have an answer for my favorite time period in comics but that's a topic for a whole other post.

Another question: In a fight between HERO A & HERO B who would win? The answer is always: The Fans. Depends on who is relating the fight there will always be a bias to one hero over the other. There will never be a "fair fight". Also if you start putting limits on the heroes (Superman can't use any of these powers in the fight, what Batman can & can not pull out of his belt, etc.) then the fight won't work since you'll spend more time debating what you can bring into the fight then the fight it's self. That's sort of the point I think: not really the answer but the debate. You can play the fights a dozen times & come out a different answer of who won each time.

I think I've rambling on long enough. So until next time (maybe the next part of my Age of Ultron review?): Stay Jazzy Everybody!

- Brian

Age of Uh... Tie-In Issues, Part 1

An "Age of Ultron" review

Since the last post in this review series was a recap of the entire 1st half of the series there will be no "last time" recap for this entry. Plus, this is the 1st part in a 2 or 3 part review of the tie in issues.

With The Age of Ultron, there are 8 tie-in issues. 7 of them "tied into" on going series & was was a one off comic. The interesting thing with the AoU tie in issues is that they didn't directly tie into the events of the on going series. When the AoU tie in issues came out there re 2 different issues of that series that came out. 1 marked with the normal numbering & a second with the number & an added 2 letters: AU.  Get it?AU meaning Age of Ultron but it could also mean Alternate Universe! This was kind of nice since if you had no interest in reading Age of Ultron, you didn't have too! BUT…. I did & picked up all the tie in issues so I might not sure if what I liked about the tie in issues has as barring on the main series.

One more thing before I get into the tie in's themselves, here are my feelings regarding Tie-In issues: you should never, ever, ever have to read the tie in issues to an Event comic. You should not have to read every issue that has the event's logo plasters on the cover to fully understand the story they are trying to tell. All major plot points should happen in the main book (sadly this does not always happen). If a major plot point happens in a tie-in book then it's not a "major" plot point. The tie-in issues are just side dishes to the main book's main course.

This is not the case with of Age of Ultron but if an ongoing title does have tie-in issue(s) to any event: they should not drop all their personal story lines, plot points, cast of characters to tie into the event. That is a major pet peeve of mine. Want me to loose interest in a book real quick? Drop everything you had been doing for the last few months to do some drastically different. A writer should be able to weave in the tie-in story points with what they are already doing in their books so they please the readers they already have & maybe gain new readers who are only reading the book because it's a tie-in issue to something else they are reading. Also, if I'm not reading the event the writer of the book should be able to tell in a few text boxes, some exposition dump or lines of dialogue all I need to know to understand why things are happening.

Now… onto the Tie in's!

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First off: Fantastic Four #5 AU, the only ongoing title that I was following that had an Age of Ultron tie in issue.  The events from the AU issue & the "normal" issue kind of crossed over. Both take place IN SPACE! During the recently concluded Matt Fraction run on the series most of it took place IN SPACE! It's also sadly one of the less good runs I've read of the Four. Something was just off about it with me. I've noticed that with a lot of stuff that I read by Mr Fraction: It's either really good, ok or just not for me. The Hawkeye series that everyone seems to say is really, really good just didn't do much for me. I read the 1st collection (which collects the 1st 5 issues). I haven't bought the 2nd collection & not sure I will. Nothing really grabbed me in the first collection so why read the 2nd? Also, I've noticed that in a few series mr. Fraction doesn't do ending all that well (His Defenders run was a good book with a lack luster ending). His run on the Fantastic Four suffers from the same problem. It's also a bit confusing. BUT… the issue it self leaves with some questions: mainly what happens to Franklin & Valerie Richards? In this tie in issue is the only time were see the kids in the series. As shown here & in the main series it self: Sue Richards (the Invisible Woman) is the only surveying member of her team. Nowhere in the main series does she comment about going back up into space to get her kids. Maybe she feels it's safer up there? But they are eventually going to run out of food, air, something! Does she leave them to die?

The issue starts out sometime after the Four have left the ship. It gives as a specific timestamp on the 1st page: 288 hundred thousand light-years from Earth. 634 years, 8 months, 3 weeks, 4 days ago. The main series has the six of them (The four & 2 kids) traveling time & space but what does this timestamp really mean?

As I've brought up in my review of the main series the time scale isn't exactly stated for us the reader. I'm not even sure if the series takes place in the future or an alternate present? Then we get this massive time stamp dropped on us. So… the ship is in the past but has does it match up to the event at hand? They do countdown the 4 days in the first couple of pages & after those 4 days the Four arrive after Ultron has taken over (it does take 4 days to get there from where they are in space/time). BUT 4 DAYS?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Ultron takes over the world in 4 days?

In our first flashback of the main series (which takes place in issue 2 & this tie in came out after Issue 2) to how the Age started Spider-Man gives us some of the events of the take over & then was captured. When the Four reach earth it looks like how we see in the series. So… in the space of 4 days Ultron took over? This still bring up the questions: Why & How? Why was this time so different? Also, How did he do it? The series never fully answers this. You only get glimpses of how the Age started. Plus Ultron never fully shows up to give as his grand "villain explains everything" speech.

The next day (it looks like they leave during the night) the Four leave, Franklin & Valerie find the holographic "note"  her parents, uncle & other "uncle" left them. They all loom sad & mopey (Franklin is wearing Human Torch pajamas). The rest of the issue intercuts between the kids getting the holonote & the Four trip back to earth.

We see the four leave the ship & using what The Thing calls a "Chronostellar Whatchamadoodle" they leave for Earth. If their mini-ship has what probably amounts to a flux capacitor then why didn't they arrive earlier? They got a message from earth to come back because it's "the end of the world" as Black Panther tells in a distress call. Use your science to travel to the time he sent it, not 4 days later!

They get back to Earth in a much more brightly colored ruined New York City then the one Bryan Hitch presents to sin the main series. They find a dead(?) Medusa on the ground & they go looking for the rest of the Future Foundation.

In the main series they have a companion book called FF which follows the exploits of the Future Foundation, the school Reed Richards has setup for really smart kids. While out IN SPACE,the four appointed an interim Fantastic Four: Medusa (of the Inhumans is Sue Richards' replacement), Ant-Man (Scott Lang is Reed Richards replacement as leader), She-Hulk (is The Thing's replacement) & Miss Thing (Darla Deering, Johnny Storm's "girlfriend" & last time replacement). The Four go to see if "The Omega Room" had been actives. It's like some super science panic room & it has not been. So… since we never seen anyone of them else where in the series what they are saying is: Everybody's dead, Reed. They are all dead. Leech, Artie Maddicks, Bentley-23: their dead. Ahura, Luna, Onome: Dead. Vil & Wu: Their are Dead. Mik, Korr, Turg, Tong: Dead. Dragon Man? Dead. Everybody is dead. 

Then before they really mourn the loss, The Ultron Bots attack.  I will say this : the bots here seem to be more "lively". That they have more personality then the other bots we've seen.

Then we cut back to the ship, Johnny says goodbye to the kids. Then, we go back to Earth & the Four are fighting the Bots. Johnny flies to take on the bots & explodes! Bots: dead. Johnny? probably dead. He isn't seen for the rest of the series.

We cut back to the ship & "Unca Ben" says goodbye. I'm skipping over most of the goodbye parts since I don't got much to say about them then it's nicely done & sad. In a narrative panel. Yup, 1 whole rectangle (white text on a black background) to tell use the read the fight is still going on 17 hours later.This might be the longest fight in the series. The Thing  spies a man in a hooded green cloak walking around with some Ultron bots. He jumps up from his hiding spot, says his catch & pounds the ground. When he looks up, it's not Doom but an Ultron Bot wear his cap & mask. Why? This is the only bot I've seen in the whole series to personalize it's self.  After the bot taunts  him a bit (something the other Bots don't do): "you were expecting someone else? Doom Fell. They All Fell."  The Thing then promptly knocks his block off & then he swarmed by a massive amount of Ultron Bots. The only other times I see that many Bots is on the covers. We are then to assume that The Thing has fallen.

 We cut back to the ship & get Reed's goodbye to his kids. He is silent for most of it. He writes it out on a notepad & shows it to them. We cut back to Earth where Reed & Sue are being chased by Ultron Bots. Reed tries to stop the boots by rolling them in a ball, they then start their self-destruction function & EXPLOSION!!!!!! Reed is dead & the only thing that save Sue is her force field.

Sue is found sometime later (what? no waste a panel to tell us something that could have been told in a small text panel). She is found by She-Hulk, the sole surviving member of the interim Fantastic Four & nothing about this is ever said! They do talk about how they "lost everything". Sue says "No… Not Everything…" As she looks up to the sky.

As cut back to the ship where Franklin comments there wasn't a goodbye from his mom but then he thinks to something I skipped that was earlier the comic when she said said good night to him before they left. Then Valerie questions her brother if they are going to see their parents again. He doesn't answer her. The comic ends with a zoom out on the ship & as I mentioned earlier are never mentioned in the the rest of the series. So… the kids are stuck back in time & out in space. Now it has been stated that the kids are smart (They are members of the Future Foundation after all) but do they know how to fly the ship? I know a whole bunch of the ship seems to be automated but can they override that stuff? All these questions & more from the series are left unanswered which is general theme to Age of Ultron.

One last thing: Sue plays a major part in the later part of Age of Ultron but as far as I can remember she doesn't mention anything about her kids in the series. Anywhere. They could of dropped in a line of dialogue here or there about her wanting to get back to her kids but no. They are not such lines in the series. They might as well be dead.

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The next tie in issue that was released was Superior Spider-Man #6 AU. What to really say about this issue? not much. I frankly think it's one of the weaker ones of the bunch. It's not that it's written by a bad writer. I have many issues of comics written by Christos Gage (who is not the normal writer for the book, Dan Slott is). It's not that the art is bad. It's my favorite art style but Dexter Soy does a good job (not sure if he is the artist for the "main" title but I doubt it). The cover by Marco Checchetto looks cool. It's that nothing of any real importance happens. One could easily skip over this book & be none the worse for wear. Frankly, one could skip over all the Age of Ultron tie-in books & not be missing out on anything. BUT I didn't since I have I'm reviewing them! :)

Before I get into the book it's self. Let's talk about the Wall Crawler for a moment. I've brought up my feeling in regards to him in a past post but I feel that Spider-Man to be boring. I have a general apathy towards him. Nothing about him really grabs me like other characters do. This does not mean I don't own Spider-Man comics. It's kind of hard to not own any but most of the comics that I have of his were bought for other reasons. Mostly it's either I heard the story was good & it features a character or characters that I enjoy. I have a whole swath of Spider-Man comics from the 80's. Why? Black Cat was featured prominently in them. I've liked things that feature Spider-Man. The 90's cartoon: awesome! The Sam Raimi movies: those were good (yes, Even the 3rd one. It wasn't that bad). I caught a bit of the Andrew Garfield helmed Spider-Man movie on TV & thought was pretty good. But in the comics I'm just apathetic on the character. I'll flip through the comics at the coif book store every so often but I'll rarely pick it up.

It's also a weird time in the Spider-Man comics at the moment. Spider-Man isn't really Spider-Man, He's Doctor Octopus!

Yeah!

He was dying of something & as a way to cheat death he went all Freaky Friday on his foe. They swapped bodies & "Doc Ock" died. But the mind of Peter Parker was still around some how. Otto has tried to purge it from the body which looked to have worked. But then there is a soon to be relaunched Amazing Spider-Man which looks to have Peter Parker back in control but I'm not sure if Superior Spider-Man is being cancelled. As I've said I don't follow the book. It's confusing.

BUT… getting to the issue it's self.  This tie in takes place after Issue 2. The sort of confusing part is that in the main series it's never established or hinted if the events of Superior Spider-Man (the body swap) has happened. Maybe Otto is really good at playing along & fooling everybody OR the writer of the series just didn't feel like doing all that stuff. He used "classic" Spider-Man. In this issue you actually get Octo-Spidey's inner monologue so you know it's Otto in there.

We start off with him being mopey. Why? Everybodys dead. He thinks he should happy since all people who hated him are also dead but then so is his at one time wife Aunt May (yeah, Doctor Octopus was married to Aunt May for awhile) & Mary Jane are dead. As mentioned in the main series, Octo-Spider-Man slept through the start of this age. He felt he should have been able to avoid this since it was Ultron who did this. Why? Because Ultron is a Robot & he's "a Master of Machines!" Uh… no. I think that's another guy.

Iron Man comes by in a armor less Tron inspired suit & tells him that he might be able to help out. Tony Stark doesn't have much hope in the plan Luke Cage is planning (the plan they come within & use in Issue 3). So… he bring up that while he was head of SHEILD he had planned out various countermeasures. One being a bomb thingy which when turned on would open a portal & would push a whole area into the Negative Zone!

1 Problem: They don't have a controller to the one they have. Why not? You think the controller would be near the device so you could pick both up & run with it. Maybe that's why they don;t have a controller? So you just can't run off with it? What Stark need is some "negative zone tech" & says that that stuff is hard to come by since the Fantastic Four's HQ is gone. No… I'm pretty sure it's still there. There is a building in Issue 1 that looks a lot like the lower half of the Baxter Building. I'm sure you could scrounge up some tech from that. Plus, this is a post apocalyptic Marvel story! The Baxter Building has got to still be around! It's an at least 30+ year transition to have it factor into your story!

Stark has "heard" that a guy at Horizon Labs (Octo-Spider-Man's day job) has some of that stuff. Stark wants Octo-Spider-Man to:

A. Go to the Lab

B. Find the pieces for bomb thingy's controller

C. Put it together

 Then Quicksilver will run around Ultron's base, place a bunch of the bomb things around it. They push Ultron's base into the Negative Zone & hope he in there at the time. Which as revealed later on in the series: He's not even in this time period. Octo-Spider-Man things this a risky plan but goes along with it anyways!

Octo-Spider-Man goes off to Horizon. Thinks he'll be hard to get in but since we can see the building has massive holes in it: That shouldn't be a problem. We also few skeletons skittered around. This would be the first time we've seen any dead bodies about in New York. On the next page we get a nice close up on one!

We also find out that Octo-Spider-Man only went with the plan so he could get to his lab. He then starts to going about how he'll turn Ultron's forces against him since as has been brought up: HE IS THE MASTER OF MACHINES!

What's the first thing he does when he gets to his lab? Turn on stuff which of course alerts 3 floating Ultron bots. This of course has the bots come into the Lab & they says the series tagline which leads us to a fight scene. He takes down 1 bot which cause them to bring in more Bots. With those bots there he attaches a… uh… thingy. It's some Spider-Man themed bot that attached to the Ultron bot chest & overrides it to be come a Ultron Bot with Octopus arms sticking out of their back. The "infected" Ultron Bots start to the other Ultron Bots. In a text box it says that he is mentally controlling the infected Bots with HIS MIND! I will say this: they do look kind of cool but don't appear anywhere else in the series.

He then sends one of the Octo-Ultron Bots to Ultron's base. The bots basically walks into the base & almost reaches who we find out later to be the top of Vision (controlled by Ultron from the Future) but is stopped. By what? Ultron of course! This stop cause pain to Octo-Spider-Man. Vision must have better anti-virus software then the Bots do. This also cause Octo-Spider-Man to release control of the Ultron Bots.

Since he has been defeaten He goes back to the original plan of getting the controller for Stark. This a mid of Ultron Bots shooting lasers at him. He run over to a cabinet. He either finds a part of a controller, or the controller it self just sitting there. BUT then it blows up after being hit by a blast from the bots. Then like in Issue 1 everything starts to shake & we cut to outside with a bunch of Ultron Bots doing their best Sentinel impressions agian. They once again do their best Care Bear Stares which cause the building to blow up!

And he dead right? No. Not sure how he surveyed that explosion. Last time it clearly showed him outside when it happen. This time he was clearly shown as being inside. He gets outside (somehow) and sadly walks back to tell Stark that he didn't get the controller. BUT he could have if he wasn't being self centered.

He lies to Stark about there "not being enough time" . Stark tries to tell him that it was a longshot & wouldn't have worked anyways. Octo-Spider-Man said that it would have. But didn't say "it would have worked if I wasn't be a self centered jerk". There is some final thoughts by Octo-Spider-Man about that friendship is magic & can over come death.

Where does this issue leave us? Where we were at the beginning. Not was gained with this issue. At least with Fantastic Four we got to see what they were doing before the age started & saw where the kids are. But this issue I'm not sure what to make of it. I have no "good" take away from it. All the the other tie in books I can thing of at least 1 good take away or a way to make it batter but with this one I don't.

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That's the first 2 tie in issues before we jump back into the main series next time I'll be review the 1st actually enjoyable tie in issue. We also see what Ultron's older son is doing in this age. Until then: Stay Jazzy!

This is Entry 261: The Day I found Gwen Stacy in New Zealand!

For about a month back 2009, I got the chance to go to Australia & New Zealand as part of tour group. Among the things I wanted to do while I traveled abroad was to get some local comics to add to my collection. I already owned a few international comics, most of those comics I got from my Sister who had traveled the world a bit more then I have. This was my first chance to get some myself. Sadly, Australia nor New Zealand does not produce their own "home grown" comics (I was told it was just easier to ship in comics from either the U.S. or Europe then to make their own). This saddened me a bit but did not stop me for buying some comics while I was there. The best comic purchase of the whole trip was Amazing Spider-Man #121, the story there in is entitled "The Night Gwen Stacy Died!"

I found the issue on our 1st stop in New Zealand. We were in Christchurch & would be there for a few days. While in the city we would have some planned out activities & we would also have free time to fill as we wanted to. I'm not really sure what part of Christchurch were were in. We were pretty centrally located & we're walking distance of a number things.

Among the things I found as I wandered around was a comic book store Comics Compulsion, a nice little shop. I bought a few books from their clearance bins. Comics Compulsion was not where I got Amazing Spider-Man #121, that was down the street a bit.

I found it at Smiths Bookshop. As the sign out front of the store said they had "3 floors of books". I would have just stopped in just because of that but another sign outside their store listed a whole bunch of things they sold beside Books: Vinyl Records, Sheet Music, Maps, Charts, Posters, Cigarette Cards, Trade Cards, Old Newspapers & Magazines. The Magazine thing caught my eye because I've come to find out a number of books stores will consider Comic Books to be magazines.

So... I walk in the place, not really planning on buying anything. The place is packed with books. Books as far as the eye can see. Books on shelves, Books on tables, Books under tables. Basically ever inch of the walls are cover in shelves holding books. A few feet into the store on the corner of a table is a pile of comic books & other magazine. Just sitting there in a big, neatly stacked pile. I made a note to return to that pile. I walked up the stairs (which were lined by with shelves of books). On each floor were books. I wondered the narrow aisles of book cases, stopping ever so often to look at something.

On the 3rd floor I there was a room where they kept their sheet music. I poked my head to see a man seated at a table. The table was covered in sheet music. He looked up at me as a poked my head in & then went back to what he was boing before.

I walked back down to to main floor to check out that pile of comics. Midway down the pile of comics, I found a book that registered in my mind: Amazing Spider-Man #121. At the time I wasn't sure why it registered in my mind but I knew I recognized it from somewhere. I took it out of the pile, along with a few other books. I flipped through the other comics to see if I wanted to buy them. I didn't with Spider-Man, I just knew I was going to get it. The was the most interesting thing in the pile & I didn't even look at it.

I took what I was going to buy up to the counter: Amazing Spider-Man #121, Planet Comics' Giant Superman Album #24 (a reprint of a number Silver Age DC Comics in black & white) & Survival in the Atomic Age (a book from 1958 by a naturopathic nutritionist about.. the future or something. I've never read the book fully, I just thought it looked cool.) I payed my 22 New Zealand dollars (5 dollars for Survival in the Atomic Age, 8 dollars for the DC reprint & 9 dollars for Spider-Man). I put the books in my travel bag & left the store to wander around a bit more.

Once I got back to my Hotel room, I got all settled in to read my comics. I think I left Spider-Man for the bottom of my stack. But when I got to it I couldn't believe what I had & how little I paid for it. I'm not sure what the exchange rate is between U.S. & N.Z. dollars. But I knew that if I was to find that books at a comic book store or a comic book convention I was going to pay a whole lot more then 9 dollars for it! The comic isn't in the best condition but I didn't care. The comic is exactly the same kind of comic I would have found at home. It's wasn't a special foreign edition. It was a U.S. copy, I just found it in a foreign country.

As I continued the rest of the trip I continued picked up some other comics at a number of different places but none matched up to what I found that day at Smiths Bookshop. The day I found Gwen Stacy in New Zealand! :)

Until next time: Stay Jazzy everyone!

- Brian

This is Entry 259: That's Amazing, Spider-Man!

Last time, I made a post regarding the forth coming Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises & why I'm not going to see it. I thought it would behove me to make a similar post regarding the Spider-Man movie & just Spider-Man in general.

What's my feeling towards the movie? A little more favorable then my feelings towards TDKR. Yeah, it's a reboot but so are the Nolan Batman films. Do we need another origin story for Spidey? No. But I don't see how they could gotten away without having some origin story elements in their movie. It's not the origin, everyone already knows it or the basics of it. It's what you do with it/how you show it that matters. People might be complaining about it being there but they'd also complain if it wasn't there. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

What's my feelings towards the Sam Raimi/Tobey Maguire Spider-Man trilogy: They were good movies (I even kind of liked the 3rd one). There were good parts & bad parts like most any movies. I think I read that Raimi didn't want to do a 4th movie so I reboot was bound to come around.

Full Disclosure Time: I've never been all that hot on Spider-Man, He's never been a favorite character of mine. All & all I can find him to be kind of boring at times. But that doesn't mean I haven't found things involving him that I haven't enjoyed. I have quite a number Spider-Man comics from the 80's that I really like (That might be because Black Cat, a character I really like, is in a number of them). The 1990's Spider-Man cartoon is awesome & I'll gladly put it up there on the lists of great comic book adaptation cartoons. Heck, even the current Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon is half way decent (At least the few episodes I've seen have been half way decent). The Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends cartoon can be good for a laugh.

I know this isn't much of a post but I just thought I'd put my feelings down on screen. Just to get them out.

- Brian