Nostalgic Spidey Time

It's difficult to review a couple of these comics from 1983 as re-reading them is quite nostalgic for me. This is because I bought both Amazing #247 and Spectacular #85 from WHSmith in Nantwich as an impluse buy. I'd not bought any comics for a few years but when I saw these issues I decided to check in on my favourite character. Although it would be a fewmore months before I finally secumbed and started buying comics regularly again - these were the issues that renewed my interest.

Amazing #247 by Stern and the Romitas is a good issue. Spidey is looking for the Hobgoblin and thinks he's found him - only it's Thunderball whose in the Hulk's strength class.




The story concludes in issue #248 with Spidey using his scientific knowledge to defeat Cannonball but it's the back -up story by Stern/ Ron Frenz and Terry Austin which is the real highlight of this issue. It's a really moving story entitled "The Kid Who Collects Spider-man" brilliantly written and illustrated.

Rating # 247 = 8/10
Rating # 248 = 9/10


Spectacular # 85 is a return to form for the title with Milgrom back on the art and Spidey and The Black Cat taking on the now super-strong Hobgoblin. The couple don't work too well on their first outing and Hobby nearly wins before yet another mix-up between the two heroes allows him to escape.

Hobby is such a great villain and I really enjoy the Black Cat in this issue that, coupled with that nostalgic feel, this issue gets good marks.

Rating 8.5/10

Grendel - Behold The Devil issue 1

It's been some time since I've read a Grendel story and it's nice to be back.

It would be nice to say it was a gentle re-introduction but as the issue starts with the murder of 20 men, you can't really say that.

Actually there's a six page issue #0 which does re-introduce us back to the character and reveals that there are some missing pages from his private journals. What this 8 part limited-series will tell us is what happens in those 2 weeks that even Hunter Rose doesn't want revealed.

A good start to the series.

Rating 7/10

The Origin and Fate of the Punisher (well in 1983 anyway)

Issue #83 of the SSM was by Mantlo and Greg Laroque. His art wasn't quite as good as Milgrom's run on this title.

The overall issue wasn't too bad though. We got the Black Cat back in action, Spidey's concerns over her wellbeing and the origin and trial of the Punisher. As you will know, the Punisher is not one of my favourite characters and it wasn't until Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon did him that I enjoyed any of his stories. As a supporting character he was good for Spidey as their respective methods were so different.

Rating 6.5/10


After recent dramatic events concerning the Hobgoblin, Stern and Romita Jr. take a breather with this issue and take a look at the daydreams of some of the main characters in the Spidey mythos.

We get to see Black Cat wishing Spidey would join her as a glamorous secret agent, JJJ fantasing about defeating Spidey, exposing him for the fraud that he is and becoming a hero to the nation, Mary Jane as a film star and Spidey as a member of the Avengers and finally getting the respect that he deserves.

It was an entertaining issue. Rating 8/10



Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy much of Spectacular # 84 by Bill Mantlo and Dave Simons. (He is clearly not as good on full art as he is on inks) This was probably due to the art but the story was quite boring as it lacked much drama. Or that the characters involved were very unsympathetic.

The issue had "Filler" written all over it and at least I know thing improve next issue when Milgrom returns.

Rating 4/10

What I bought on 22 Nov 2007

There were quite a few comics waiting for me in my box at Forbidden Planet this week even though it was only a couple of weeks since my last visit.

I'm waiting to read Powers #27, Wolverine #59 with other issues in the respective story arcs as I'm guessing they will be more enjoyable that way.

I also bought Grendel: Behold The Devil which I'll review separately. But for the moment I thought I'd get straight to it and review my latest Marvels.


Now I know I should read all the issues of each Captain America storyarc in one sitting as well, but it's so good, I can't wait.

This issue was by the regular team of Brubaker and Epting with Jackson Guice on inks. The art does look great and I attribute some of that to the colourist. The cover is nice as well.

The story is up to the usual high standards. I'd like to know how Bucky manages to resist Dr. Faustus' mind control but it's a minor quibble and I've sufficient faith in Brubaker to explain things. What I most like able the plot is the interaction of all the many characters in the story. Each get their own time in the spotlight but the complicated storyline does move along at a good pace.

Rating 8/10


She-Hulk # 23 by Peter David and Shawn Moll.

It's not as good as Dan Slott but it's not bad. A surprise reveal at the end of the issue certainly makes things interesting enough to hang around and see what develops and Peter David's characterisation of Jennifer is fine.

Shawn Moll's art is good too - very reminiscent of Gary Frank to my eyes.

Rating 7.5/10



This issue of New Avengers is an improvement on previous issues as quite a lot happened. In fact the whole Venom virus thing was very bizzare and I assume all will be clearer after reading Mighty Avengers when it ever comes out.

The Skrull invasion is the main topic of conversation in this issue and Bendis is certainly making the situation tense by constantly reminding us readers that anybody could be a Skrull. All the characters are certainly jumpy.

Bendis does what he does best with the dialogue but I'm still not convinced by Leinil Yu even though he gets to draw most of the female Avengers in their underwear in this issue.

Rating 7/10


Avengers: The Initiative #7 was by Dan Slott and Stefano Caselli.

It featured what could be quite a major event for Spider-man and as Dan is taking over the book in the near future, I'm hoping that it will explored. Will the actions of the Scarlet Spiders result in Pete getting a normal life back?

I quite enjoyed the story and, of course, the above event was interesting but my overall enjoyment of the issue was affected by, in my opinion, poor art by Caselli. I had difficulty following exactly what was going on which it never a good sign.

This title also suffers from it's very large cast. There are still characters in it who I don't recognise if they have been introduced. I would like to see more a more focused cast in future.

Rating 6/10





Oh dear.

I thought both of these issuing were shockingly bad. Especially Hulk #111 by Greg Pak, Jeff Parker and Leonard Kirk.

Everything was wrong with it. This book is now officially dropped until Pak is no longer writing it and a decent artist takes the assignment on a regular basis.

The only thing I liked about the outcome of World War Hulk #5 was that it looks like the end of the Sentry who has been quite a boring character for some time now. What has always bothered me about him is how powerful he is. Way too powerful.

The overall story was poor, the dialogue and characterisation crap and it was such a waste of John Romita's art talents.

For some reason WWH has had good reviews. I think this has been a bit of a case of the "Emperor's new clothes" but it's certainly hasn't worked for me.

If I want to read the Hulk again in the future I'll just pick-out some of Peter David's issues out of my collection.



Rating 2/10

The Hobgoblin returns!

Woo hoo. More comics featuring my favourite spidey villain in the 1980's - The Hobgoblin.

In these two issues of the Amazing Spider-man Roger Stern with help from regular artist John Romita Jr. show us just what a great villain he is - and he never even meets Spidey face to face. Instead he manipulates another crook (obviously not the brightest fella) and gets him to test out the potion which originally gave the original Green Goblin his super-strength.

It's a good job he did test it too as the potion explodes and even though the sap survives and gains some semblance of super-strength he's very unstable. The Hobgoblin learns from this experience and moves on.

Some nice sub-plots develop as well regarding Pete's love life and all in all two great comics.

My only nitpick would be that neither Klaus Janson or Dave Simons seem to ink JR Jr very well giving the art a bit of a rushed look.

One other, historical point to note that September 1983 was the last month to see the Marvel Comics Group banner spread across the top of the cover. Although the replacement in the corner box is certainly neater and allows more room for the art, I still miss that banner for nostalgic reasons.

Rating for issues 244 and 245. 8/10 (due to the inking)

Spidey in the middle

After that brief interlude to catch-up with a few new comics it's back to 1983 and re-reading my Spider-man collection. I'm trying to read them in some semi-logical order and so the next few are all Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-man.


Issue #80 is by Bill Mantlo (as usual) with guest artist Ron Frenz.

It's a special sort of issue as it concentrates on J.Jonah Jameson - the crusading journalist and people's champion. It's a bit of an origin issue for him and it's a nice little insight into what makes him tick. Unfortunately we still don't get a good explanation as to why he hates Spidey so much (that comes later).

What I really like about this is that JJJ goes on the hunt for a story that none of his best journalists can get to prove himself to Dr. Marla Madison. He gets himself into deep water and if it wasn't for Spidey following him he would have been in serious trouble. There's a nice scene at the end when he realises this fact but can't bring himself to actually report that element of the story. Thus showing how economical with the truth even the most righteous media people can be. I really don't like the press and am often misquoted in the papers. Bastards.

Anyway, it's a good enjoyable "filler" type issue and I like Frenz's art although I know it gets better with good inkers when he takes over the art chores on Amazing in a few issues time.

Rating 7.5/10

Issues 81 and 82 again feature Mantlo's favourite supporting characters, Cloak and Dagger.

However, re-reading these stories like I am I'm getting quite bored of them. At least Mantlo throws the Punisher into the mix but for me the most enjoyable elements of the story were the scenes in the hospital with the Black Cat and Spidey trying to warn the Kingpin of C & D's attack.

Only an average rating for me as C & D's stories seem a little bit samey. 6/10

New Comics - With reviews!

An afternoon off to visit the gym and get ready for the Heaven and Hell concert that evening meant that there was just time to visit Forbidden Planet to see what was waiting for me.

Well there was only four comics and as I've just read three of them I'd thought I'd review them straightaway. The fourth was Astonishing X-Men #23 - but I'm waiting until the story finishes in issue #24 before reading that one.

The three that I have read were all good and enjoyable.

The first Fantastic Four # 551 by McDuffie and Pelletier has all the ingredients of a classic FF story. However saying that, other storylines have promised a great deal and not quite delivered at the very end.

In this issue Namor, Black Panther and Doc Doom come back from 70 years in the future to stop present day Reed from making a terrible and disastrous mistake. It was well told with a few surprising twists and turns. After finishing it, I re-read the prologue and it seemed far more ominous on this subsequent reading. Good art yet again by Pelletier makes this a top issue.

Rating 8.5/10

It was trepidation that I began She-Hulk #22 by Peter David and Shawn Moll. Dan Slotts run had been just so good that it was always going to be a difficult act to follow.

The way David has approached things is by moving Jen away from the law firm and put her in a new situation. It works quite well as one or two little mysteries are unveiled.

Moll's art was also a nice surprise. He's a new one to me but his style is very similar to Gary Frank which is not bad at all.

Rating 7.5/10.



The New Avengers: Illuminati (5 of 5) by Bendis/Reed and Jim Cheung was the most welcome surprise. You could tell that the whole series had been leading up to this point and so it's a shame that we had to endure a few poor issues between No. 1 and this.

The issue ties in to the Secret Invasion of the Skrulls which was begun in recent issues of New Avengers. Again there are a few surprises in this issue including the revelation that one of the Group is a Skrull.

I thoroughly enjoyed the issue and am looking forward to the limited series.

Rating 8/10

Is that Black Sabbath?

No it's offically Heaven and Hell who are actually Black Sabbath with Dio on vocals circa 1980.

They are touring under the moniker Heaven and Hell and I went to see them at the NEC last night.

Set list

E5150/Mob Rules
Children of the Sea
I
Sign of the Southern Cross
Voodoo
Computer God
Falling of the Edge of the World
Die Young
Heaven and Hell
Neon Knights (encore)

Whilst it was good, it was a little disappointing that the set list was quite a bit shorter than their earlier concerts in the US.

Not as good as Y & T that I recently saw in Nuneaton.

We were only there in time to catch the second support band, but we could tell from the sound check that they were going to be awful! So we left the main arena to save our ears - and were passed in the concourse by a few footie celebs and their WAGS.

A Parker Love Triangle!

After the hectic pace of previous issues Roger Stern and John Romita slow things down for Spidey a tad in these issues, but Pete's life gets more complicated when a young lady named Amy Powell tries to use him to make Lance Bannon jealous.

Spidey still manages to have a workout against The (Mad) Thinker's android but it's his predicament at the end of the issue which is the highlight. Especially when Mary Jane turns-up!


The focus is still on Pete for issue 243 as well as he tries to sort out his private life and makes the big decision to quit school. Quite a step really as Pete has been in education since the series started. Time to move on.

It was great to see MJ back and the focus on Pete for these couple of issues made a refreshing change of pace.

Rating 8/10

The Final Battle With Doctor Octopus

Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-man #78 & #79 by Bill Mantlo and Al Milgrom.

Of course it isn't the final battle - Doc Ock returns in a year or so, but it's a good story. What makes it slightly unusual is that Pete knows this big fight against Doc Ock is coming-up and so spends some time making sure that his affairs are in order and he's on good terms with everyone.

All this means that the tension is building throughout the issue until the inevitable battle in issue 79.

Mantlo manages to make that issue interesting even though its one big long battle. Spidey and Ock slug it out through the hospital, onto the city streets, a rail freight depot and finally into an old abandoned building (there's always one around when you need one).

This is the issue where Spidey convinces Ock that he'll always beat him and so there's no point in Ock trying.

A enjoyable conclusion to the Doc Ock storyline. Rating 8/10.

The Origin of the Vulture

More top-notch comics from Roger Stern and John Romita Jnr.

Amazing Spider-man issues 240 and 241 finally tell the origin of the Vulture. It's astonishing that although he first appeared in issue No.2, it still hadn't been told.

Of course, Stern comes up with a good one - and explains why such an old man can make it as a super-villain. It's a dramatic tale and Romita's art is great as well.

Rating 8.5/10

The Gladiator relapses

You've got to agree it's a cracking cover to Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-man #77 by Bill Mantlo and Al Milgrom.

Although, it's certainly not a bad issue - the covers the best bit for me. The story is a little bit of a let down after the major four parter which finished last issue. Although the cover features the Gladiator, the best bit again features Doc Ock as he warns Spidey that he's coming for him and the Cat the next day.

Rating 6.5/10

Shadows of Evils Past - It's the Hobgoblin!

These are two great issues. Both by Stern and Romita Jr.

A mysterious figure learns of an old Green Goblin hideout and from there finds more of GG's equipment. The man decides that Norman Osborn must have been insane not to make money from his fantastic inventions but after trying it all out realises that the lure of the power it gives him is too much and decides to follow a similar path and become the Hobgoblin!

However, his first encounter with Spider-man in issue #239 does not go well and Hobby only just escapes.

These were such a good read. Super-hero comics at their best.

Rating 9/10

The Sad Case of the Stilt Man

This was a fill-in issue by Mantlo and Bob Hall from a plot by Roger Stern.

As fill-ins go it was a fun issue. Yet again Roger Stern's plot spends a great deal of time providing motivation for the bad guy. In this case, he's a loser named Stilt Man who's fed-up of being a laughing stock.

Another thing that I liked about this issue was the surprise ending.

Not a bad effort at all.

Rating 6.5/10

The New Captain Marvel

Amazing Spider-man Annual #16 by Roger Stern, John Romita Jr. and John Romita Sr.

The first thing to say about this comic is that the art by the two Romitas is terrific.

And it's a story by Roger Stern - so why didn't I enjoy it as much as I expected to?

The story is the introduction and origin of the new (for 1982) Captain Marvel. In fact Spidey plays mostly a supporting role. I think the main problem I have with the story is that I can't get my head round CM's origin and why she subsequently came to New York to meet Spidey and various other heroes (she later joins the Avengers). It doesn't really make sense and, that, along with other details, such as her getting a costume made from unstable molecules for example meant that the issue didn't work for me.

Oh well, you can't win them all. At least with hindsight, I know that Stern goes on to develop CMs character in the Avengers and she's a main character in a lot of good stories from that period.

For me though, her first appearance was not the best.

Rating 6/10

New Purchases

It's been a few days since I last found time to add to the blog so I've a bit of catching-up to do.

I've started with the review of a few Spidey back issues but I should also mention that I've received via Amazon the next Daredevil trade by Brubaker; "Hell To pay Vol.1" and a couple of CDs.

"Premonition" by Survivor. This means that I've got all their CDs now.

"Edens Curse" by Edens Curse. A recommendation from Melodic Rock.com. I've listened to this a couple of times now and it's good especially the first few tracks. But it sounds like it will be a "grower" as all the best albums are.

I'm also enjoying watching "Californication" on Channel Five.

Doc Ock, The Owl and the Black Cat

I consider issue 73 of Spectacular the first part of a four-part epic by Bill Mantlo. It's a top story. So much happens!

In this issue with art by Al Milgrom#, Pete notices some goons hanging around during Boomerangs trial. He suspects something and later traces them to The Owls lair (or his eerie I guess). As luck would have it, the Owl was just meeting Doc Ock, they argue as all good villains do, and start to fight.

Spidey jumps in to save the Owl but in the confusion, both escape.

In #74 (art by Bob Hall), Pete agrees to help Deb Whitman who's thinks she knows that Pete is Spidey but her Doctor thinks that's she's confusing fantasy with reality.

We actually get a resolution to the whole Deb story as Pete reveals himself as Spidey which shocks her back into reality. Deb realises what's she's been doing and decides to go away and sort her life out. At last - she was a bit pathetic.

Meanwhile, The Owl and Octopus continue their quarrel little realising that their plans are being meddled with by the Black Cat!

Talk about good luck. He gets rid of sad Deb to fall into the arms of the hot Black Cat. Lucky man!



Al Milgrom takes-up the art chores again with the double-sized issue 75. It's a great issue where Spidey and the Black Cat start going steady and take on both The Owl and Doc Ock.

It's a big battle issue, but Spidey has to watch out for the Cat at the same time and when Ock harts her he rips his metal arms off. Ouch.

Disaster strikes in the final part as the Cat gets gunned down by Doc Ocks henchmen. Spidey rushes her to the best hospital in New York but it's touch and go if she will pull through.

Somehow, he manges to take his exam whilst he waits for the Cat to wake -up after the emergency operation. Fortunately, she makes it. Well we knew she would - but it's a well written issue and Pete's despair at not being able to help her when she's hurt really comes through in the writing.

In fact, all four issues are top work by Mantlo (and Milgrom for the most part). Bringing back the Cat was a masterstroke and the Owl/ Octopus war well done.

At the end of #76, Dock Ock is seen getting his arms repaired and swearing revenge. Things don't look good for the new couple!

Rating 8/10