Comics Amazing from Beginning to End

[iloveclones]

Something just works in these classic tales...I dare you to find another superhero whose first adventures are as readable as the Amazing Spider-man. They have aged better than any other book I know of.

True dat! Although they are soooo easy to make fun of, the truth is that they hold up very, very well. I think a lot of people get hung up on the art, which doesn't have the production quality behind it that today's does. That's sort of the reason that I post a lot of the images without the word balloons. Because, I think if you look at some of his work in isolation, you'll see how good it is.

 

[iloveclones]

Immature JewishHobbit is about to come out...

[blackout]Spidey and Sandman's junks are touching in that last picture, though that could be Sandman's elongated junk and scrotum pouring over Spidey's leg [/blackout]

Thank You, Lord, for blackout tags.......No thanks for the ability to utilize them.....

 

[runawayboulder]

immature jewishhobbit is about to come out...

[blackout]spidey and sandman's junks are touching in that last picture, though that could be sandman's elongated junk and scrotum pouring over spidey's leg [/blackout]

[blackout]swordfiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhttttttttttttttttt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![/blackout]

 

[iloveclones]

Amazing Spider-Man # 5 Marked For Destruction By Dr. Doom

Capsule Review -

So, this is the first issue without the introduction of an original villain. Instead, it features one who will go on to become one of the greatest villains in the MU: Doctor Doom.

After seeing Spidey being lambasted (once again) by JJJ on tv, Dr. Doom gets the bright idea that Spidey might just be the perfect henchman for him. So, contacting him via his own personal spider-XM, Spidey and Doom meet!

Let's hug it out, dude....

Needless to say, Spidey turns down the job offer, thus making an enemy of Doom. They fight, Spidey gets tossed out of the building, and it blows up before he can come back.


Is that the new Playstation behind you?

But Doomsy has never been one to take rejection well. If he can’t have Spidey, no-one will. And, if I’m gonna destroy the insect, I may as well use him as bait to lure the accursed Fantastic Four to my lair...It's the perfect plan....Nothing could possibly go wrong....Bwahahaha….

Unfortunately, Doomsy ends up kidnapping Flash in a Spidey suit by mistake ( not so much the Evil Genius after all, I guess).


Olly Olly Oxenfree....

After pondering life without Flash, Spidey decides that he’s not THAT guy, and goes to his rescue.


Channeling Dr. Evil yet again....

I know what will defeat Doom…..my specialized flashlight….he’ll never know what hit him!

More Spidey vs. Doom and Doom Contraption (including the whirling balls of death). They basically fight to a draw until Doomsie spots the FF coming and decides he can’t fight them both (DD hadn’t really developed his complete and utter arrogance yet….I mean, wasn’t that the whole point, to lure the FF?????)


Dance, Dance Revolution, Baby!

So, Doom runs away, Spidey runs home to Aunt May, Flash almost gets beat up by the Thing, and Pete gets to listen to Flash brag about single-handedly defeating Doom.


Dammit, why can’t they put signs on buildings??! Where's the ****ing phone company? My cell phone bill is due, and I have to get to the next level of Angry Birds!!!

Ha!! I can sense my way in the dark, but Aunt May will be tripping all over the place!

For a real review….
Links:
Sam Ruby: http://www.samruby.com/AmazingSpider-ManA/amazing_spiderman_005.htm

 

[JewishHobbit]

Okay, I love the big phone.

 

[iloveclones]

Okay, I love the big phone.

Yeah, Ditko must have been reading old Batman issues and gotten a case of Giant Penny envy....

 

[Themanofbat]

I know what will defeat Doom…..my specialized flashlight….he’ll never know what hit him!

I love it when Spidey says "mask on securily".... Bendis must have missed the memo...t:

 

[iloveclones]

He's getting training from the Ultimates now.....

Day 1, Lesson 1:

Secret Identities: What they are, and why they're important. (or Keep the ****ing Mask on...)

 

[iloveclones]

I know what will defeat Doom…..my specialized flashlight….he’ll never know what hit him!

Mask secured....check! Double AAs for flashlight.....check! Web Fluid...Check! Spider Emblem for chest.....awwww crap!

 

[JewishHobbit]

Hah!!!

 

[iloveclones]

I made a stab at deciphering that Timeline that JH directed me to, so I'll try to give an update as to where other issues may have fallen in (mostly, this is for where Untold Tales fits in, but you can jump in with other assorted flashbacks, etc.)

I'm not sure if I'll add other titles in later or not, but if I don't, I'll try to do the same thing, and say what issues fit in where.


That said: some of the "missing" issues to this point are:

Amazing Fantasy 16, 17, an 18 which were published years after the fact. I'm not sure how much fans count them into continuity, but there it is...

 

[Themanofbat]

I hold them into continuity... the fir real nice in between AF #15 & ASM #1...

 

[iloveclones]

I only sorta remember the story, something about a teenage girl. I'll have to look them up...

 

[Themanofbat]

After some trials & tribulations... I finally got the Marvel Digital subscription for one of my X-Mas presents this week... I'm gonna go see if I can read some of these oldies on-line... so far, I've read a few DareDevil Miller stories from the laye 70's... I have the comics, but they look really nice on the screen... especially when you consider the old newsprint paper stock they used to use...

 

[iloveclones]

They look great. I've had a sub almost since the beginning, and my only complaints are:

The glacial pace at which they add titles, and the haphazard way in which they do it. I mean, it's cool that they added 1-100 of Amazing, but it's so spotty after that. If I were them I would concentrate on runs,either by writer/artist eras, or the more modern story arc/TPB way of doing things.

Not making them available for portable devices. Previously, I didn't have a problem with that. But now that I see how great they look on my phone, it's a real lost opportunity.

But overall, I like the experience.

 

[Donald Thomas]

They look great. I've had a sub almost since the beginning, and my only complaints are:

The glacial pace at which they add titles, and the haphazard way in which they do it. I mean, it's cool that they added 1-100 of Amazing, but it's so spotty after that. If I were them I would concentrate on runs,either by writer/artist eras, or the more modern story arc/TPB way of doing things.

Not making them available for portable devices. Previously, I didn't have a problem with that. But now that I see how great they look on my phone, it's a real lost opportunity.

But overall, I like the experience.

Aloha,
It took Marvel a few years to fully realize that there was a market for digital back issue comics.Without going into any talk about scans. The fact remains, if the comic book digital underground didn't exist, the Comic book industry would have taken much longer to pay for research to see if it was marketable.
Eventually, they will have to make the comics available for portable devices because, just as you've indicated-THERE'S A MARKET for IT!!Marvel is losing money everyday they don't have a way of people downloading on their iPads, Androids, Kindle Color Nook, etc, Marvel comics.Digital comics are an adjunct to the paper, and it's what happening Now!
The fact that you figured out a way to read you Spidey's on your Android, before Marvel has officially made that available shows you how they are always a few steps behind in what the current Comic book reading market is into.
Spidey rules

 

[iloveclones]

There was a time that I might have made an argument for controlling their content tightly, when the publishing part of their business was their primary income. But licensing is the name of the game now. And in that arena, getting buzz for your characters by getting them into in as many hands as possible, is the way to go.

Imagine, when Runaways was hot, that you could have downloaded the first issue for free, and the first "season" for less than the cost of a TPB. How many more hands would that have gotten into that would have created demand for a movie, cartoon, lunchbox, etc, etc. Same with Young Avengers, Avengers Academy, Gravity, Spider-Girl, etc.

If I were made comic emperor, here's the pricing structure I would recommend (wait a second, I'm Emperor; I'm not recommending, I'm commanding):

1) You already made money on these comics many times over, so everything is gravy. Tell your fans that you will sell the digital version at their cover price up to $1.00. One dollar is the tipping point for me, that I doubt I would go over.

2) Sell runs. A few years ago you were selling DVDs of the entire run of Amazing for less than $50. I would do the same for any title. For Amazing, and all the ancillary Spidey-titles, I myself would pay $100 or more. I know that sounds like the bargain of a century, but again, they have already profitted from this title. Listen to that Marvel, I have paid for the issue, the DVD, the Online subscription, and am STILL willing to pay for a nice portable version. But, you have to be reasonable.

3) I would sell the digital version before the physical one ships, but for $1 more than the cover price. On Comic Book Day, I would decrease that to Cover Price. Once sales on that title drops off, I would knock $0.50 off, and continue discounting until it reaches the one dollar point.

I honestly believe that the first company that figues this out (whether it be Marvel, DC, Image, or the smaller ones) is going to profit Big Time (pun intended)

 

[Donald Thomas]

There was a time that I might have made an argument for controlling their content tightly, when the publishing part of their business was their primary income. But licensing is the name of the game now. And in that arena, getting buzz for your characters by getting them into in as many hands as possible, is the way to go.

Imagine, when Runaways was hot, that you could have downloaded the first issue for free, and the first "season" for less than the cost of a TPB. How many more hands would that have gotten into that would have created demand for a movie, cartoon, lunchbox, etc, etc. Same with Young Avengers, Avengers Academy, Gravity, Spider-Girl, etc.

If I were made comic emperor, here's the pricing structure I would recommend (wait a second, I'm Emperor; I'm not recommending, I'm commanding):

1) You already made money on these comics many times over, so everything is gravy. Tell your fans that you will sell the digital version at their cover price up to $1.00. One dollar is the tipping point for me, that I doubt I would go over.

2) Sell runs. A few years ago you were selling DVDs of the entire run of Amazing for less than $50. I would do the same for any title. For Amazing, and all the ancillary Spidey-titles, I myself would pay $100 or more. I know that sounds like the bargain of a century, but again, they have already profitted from this title. Listen to that Marvel, I have paid for the issue, the DVD, the Online subscription, and am STILL willing to pay for a nice portable version. But, you have to be reasonable.

3) I would sell the digital version before the physical one ships, but for $1 more than the cover price. On Comic Book Day, I would decrease that to Cover Price. Once sales on that title drops off, I would knock $0.50 off, and continue discounting until it reaches the one dollar point.

I honestly believe that the first company that figures this out (whether it be Marvel, DC, Image, or the smaller ones) is going to profit Big Time (pun intended)

Aloha,
I completely agree with your digital marketing plan Oh great Emperor!
Spidey rules

 

[iloveclones]

Amazing Spider-Man # 6 - Face to Face With the Lizard

Capsule Review -

So we start out right in the thick of things with the mysterious creature appropriately dubbed the Lizard terrorizing the denizens of the Florida Everglades (why do the characters of The Waterboy come to mind when I say that&#8230 Spidey reads about it because JJJ basically calls Spidey chicken for not tackling him. Pete actually thinks he’s serious, and tries to get a free flight out of him, little knowing that JJJ was only trying to sell papers. Undaunted, Pete thinks he should still learn some fake pseudo-science about Lizards. While researching, he rescues Liz Allen during a robbery at the museum (I guess all the banks were closed).

Hearing about Lizzie again on a radio, Spidey goes back and convinces JJJ to send a photographer to Florida for Spidey vs. Lizard, Rumble in the Jungle I.

Lucky for Pete, JJJ will be providing the in-flight entertainment.

Would you like to come to my Spider-Cave and see my etchings….

Wheeeeee…bungee time!

300 miles I’ve been studying the same map. Take a hint dude!

Down in Florida, Pete sneaks away from JJJ, and gets his first look at the Lizard. And he doesn’t like what he sees, getting tossed around (literally) by Lizzie. He hooks up with the family of the local reptile expert (every town should have one) Curt Connors. And as shocking as it is to discover: the local reptile expert has gone and turned himself into…..a reptile. Which probably makes him grateful that he wasn’t the local sewage expert.

Honey! The new Hair Growth formula worked. It does have a bit of a side effect, though….

Working off his formulae, and utilizing his own scientific ability, Spidey makes an antidote. He even tests it by turning something else green. Because that’s how science works!

So, off our hero goes to do battle, this time in a Spanish Fort (because, why go all the way to Florida to fight in a plain old building.)

Eventually, Spidey gets Lizzie to cannonball some antidote before he is able to institute his master plan of turning all humans into reptiles. Which, I guess is an all right plan, but there’s no money in it. Fail.

Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!

Not to be a ball-buster, but it’s “arm”, not “arms”

Pete tries to sell JJJ some pics, but has to pass them off as buying them from an Indian Guide (he can make a Lizard back to Human antidote, but can’t come up with a story for how he took the pictures&#8230 JJJ rips them up as fakes.

Pete gets home and gets blown off by Liz, who’s waiting for her dream-man: Spider-Man.

Uh, I thought we agreed to certain rules? That came very close to below the belt.

Ohhhhh…when you said you wanted me over for dinner, I assumed that, you know…YOU WEREN”T GOING TO EAT ME!!!!

Links:
Sam Ruby: http://www.samruby.com/AmazingSpider-ManA/amazing_spiderman_006.htm

 

[runawayboulder]

One of the things I noticed with this issue was how Ditko got more comfortable or experimental with Spidey. He didn't look as stiff as he had in the previous issues swinging around. Spidey started to take on the more flexible look that is commonplace today.



Another thing I saw is quite possibly Marvel's first ever potential nominee for a No-prize.

 

[imdaly]

not to be a ball-buster, but it’s “arm”, not “arms”

hahahahahaha!!!!

 

[iloveclones]

Amazing Spider-Man #7 - The Return of Vulture

Capsule Review -

So, Spidey does his part a little while ago, and captures the Vulture and hands him over to the authorities. And what does our Penal System think is best suited for a guy who crafted a Magnetic Harness all by his lonesome.... you guessed it: Put him to work in a machine shop. Vulchie makes a temporary harness and flies over the walls.

Yeah, I hear Dahmer is working the kitchens now, too!

Vulchie resumes his life of crime, robbing where no other criminal dare go...the second floor!!! Pete hears about it over the radio, fakes sick (to the taunts of Flash et al), checks his equipment, and off he goes with his handy dandy Magnetic Inverter...because villains never adjust their game plan at half-time. Spidey even has enough time to get his camera ready in one hand, while he presses the button of his Inverter in the other. Vulture fakes a death spiral and comes back to clobber the webslinger. Thinking he left him for Dead, Vulchie flies off on his merry way.

Why doesn't he say what he's really thinking: ****ers!

Available from Ronco for 3 easy payments of 19.99.....

I think Ditko had a lot of fun drawing the Vulture. I really like this sequence:

Yes, they'll never think to look for you...IN YOUR OLD HIDE-OUT!!!!

Pete wakes up (not being dead) to discover his arm is sprained. So he has to make excuses to Aunt May, and suffer the torments of his peers. Meanwhile, Vulchie decides that J Jonah Jameson has scads of money, so he may as well rob him. Which sets up a fun little romp through the offices of the Daily Bugle. After making a mess of every room they can find, Spidey gets the Vulture to follow him outside, and gets taken for a ride high up where Vulchie thinks he's in his element. But Spidey webs his wings together (I have no idea why that defeats the magnetic doohicky), and they drift down together before Spidey cuts him loose (hopefully into the arms of the waiting police)

This will work....I saw it in a movie before....

I love how cheap JJJ is. Stan must have loved writing scenes like this.

What the hell were the two of them doing just previous to this....?

I always liked this sweet little ending, with papers still flying around the office...

 

[iloveclones]

The first two issues of Untold Tales of Spider-Man (featuring Scorcher and Bat-Wing respectively) take place between the last two issues, Amazing 6 and 7. I'm not going to do reviews, but I'll throw up the covers.

If anyone else wants to do a review or discuss, have at it. If there's a specific pic from those issues that you'd like me to post, just ask:

 

[iloveclones]

Amazing Spider-Man #8 - The Terrible Threat of the Living Brain

This is an odd little tale for our favorite Webspinner. The Living Brain...the latest gadget from the ICM corporation...has come to Midtown High on it's cross-country tour. As it makes it's way into Pete's classroom, Flash pushes Pete, breaking his glasses. That's the last straw for Pete, as he decides that he's finally gonna show Flash a little What For... But before the main event, the class decides to ask the Living brain to figure out Spider-Man's identity. It gives it's answer in coded form, which Flash and Pete fight over, so Teach sends them off to the gym to beat on each other...obviously a tale told in the 60s, long before conflict mediators were installed in schools.

Wait 'til those ****ers see what I can....oh, here comes the teacher....never mind.

In retrospect, I guess the full body paint wasn't the way to go...

Omigod!!...if my identity is revealed, Aunt May will shack up with The Vulture and JJJ!!!!?!?!

In the boxing ring, Pete spends most of his time avoiding Flash's blows, and trying to figure out how not to kill him.In the end, there's no doubt about the outcome, and Pete knocks Flash out, but it looks like he fought dirty!

Durrrrr......

Meanwhile, some janitors with delusions of grandeur accidently turn on The Brain and Spidey has to turn it off...which he does eventually. What can you really say about this fight...he's tussling with a big robot who flails his arms around a lot...not the best robot villain ever created.

One of my greater moments in Crime Fighting...

Pete eventually turns off the brain, and manages to implicate Flash as being Spidey.

Back-up Story - Spider-Man Tackles the Torch
The back up, drawn not by Ditko, but by Jack King Kirby, involves Spidey seeing the Human Torch showing off for his friends, and wanting to take him down a peg or two. this draws him into a small fracas with the FF.

Can you say melanoma, Sally?

 

[iloveclones]

Aloha,
I completely agree with your digital marketing plan Oh great Emperor!
Spidey rules

My computer at home is blown, so until I get a new one up and running, I'm kind of limited. It's way too hard to type that much on a phone and there's no way I can edit and post pics except at work.

So, in the meantime, I thought I'd respond with one (or two) more Imperial Decrees.

I would start printing a barcode in each comic that would allow you to view that comic online. I mean, if you're actually shelling out the $$ to buy a paper copy, I don't see anything wrong allowing you to view it through Digital Unlimited. Now, I realize that would come with it's own pirating concerns, but I believe in playing life on the offensive side of the ball, not the defensive. Trust in your product enough that people want it and are willing to pay for it (they are). And the name of the game of DU is to draw a lot of people in. I see they were advertising Age of X like that, and I think there's a lot you could do along those lines with individual comics (extra material, Writer/Artist commentary, etc.) And you get a synergy with Digital Unlimited, rather than it seeming like some kind of separate division.

I would also give free subscriptions to Digital Unlimited to anyone that subscribed to, say, 5 titles. I don't know many people that would do that JUST to get DU, but I think if you were willing to get 2 or 3 titles though the mail, it would incentivize you to get a few more. Again, that synergy thing.