The New Index is in!

That’s right kiddies, if you haven’t already acquired your newest The Official Index to the Marvel Universe #9 (with portions of the Amazing Spider-Man section written by your humble narrator), then you need to rush out to your local comic shop and do just that!

As it looks now, we will continue with this volume to around issue #12 (capping Spidey’s ASM run at #600), and then begin anew with a trio of new titles. At this moment we haven’t heard back what issue number will be the final one for this volume. As soon as I learn, I’ll let you all know.

Now I’m off to write the cover copy to yet another marvel hard cover collection.

Have a happy (Spider) Mother’s Day

OK, OK, so I’m running a tad late with this particular post, but Hey, I still got it up here (and I did spend the day with my actuall family, my mom, and the mother of my kids), so give me a little slack!.



HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY, LADIES!

And now, for something completely different...

If you were to have been following this blog for the past week or so, you might think that I only read Independent comics (written by my friends). Truthfully, I tend to read more Marvel Comics (sorry kids, it is a long-standing addiction that I’m simply unable (and unwilling) to completely kick). I’ve been reading them since ‘62, and regularly purchasing them since ’71. Unfortunately, these days, I’m admittedly not having as much fun reading them as I did even a few years back. Still, there are (every once in a while) comics that do rise above the fray, and are worthy of mentioning. Off the top, I want to mention Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man which I regularly review for SpiderFan.

Another comic that always gets me smiling, is anything by Chris Giarrusso. in addition to his own work (G-Man) Chris produces the Mini Marvels. These are usually one-page humorous takes on the heroes from the Marvel Universe. As a rule, they tend to follow a theme for a period of time, and then are collected in a digest-sized comic. With the recent release of Mini Marvels Secret Invasion, Chris tells an alternate version of the Secret Invasion. All things considered, I prefer Chris’s version. In addition to the Secret Wars are broad swipes at Civil War, Spidey, and the whole Green Hulk/Red Hulk (Blue Hulk) storyline.

Chris also likes to pick on Hawkeye, and does so with gleeful abandon. As stated, another favorite target is Spidey himself, whom Chris loves to posit a young Spidey who is a paperboy for The Bugle, and regularly goes up against the Osborns (who are customers) and Venom (a competing paperboy). Again, all of this is done in good fun, and it never fails to bring a smile to my face. I strongly suggest that — even if you have read all of the Mini Marvel stories in the various Marvel Comics in which they have appeared, you spring for this collection. You’ll be very happy that you did.

Here is a fun Spidey comic that my buddy James Rodriguez brought back with him from his trip to South America. It is a copy of Spidey in , well, Spanish. I have a few of these foreign language comics in my collection, and I always love getting them.

I want to also talk about The Amazing Spider-Girl. This comic ran a single issue of What If, 100 issues of Spider-Girl, 30 regular issues of Amazing Spider-Girl, plus a 0 issue and an annual, not to mention assorted issues of various other “M2” titles. I went on record several times (once in person to writer Tom DeFalco) how much I enjoyed this title. It always reminded me of being 15 again and the thril I got every month reading Spidey at that time. I’m sorry to see the series go, but I understand that it will continue in Amazing Spider-Man Family and on-line ion Marvel’s ecomics. Now while I’m not so happy about the ecomic version, I am pleased that it will still continue in print in ASMF.

Anyway, Issue # 30 of ASG was easily one of the most moving issues of this series. I could tell that DeFalco really loves this title and these characters, and really pulled out all of the stops to deliver one of the most emotionally moving stories that I have ever read. Too bad all the Spider-titles couldn't be written this consistently well.

This story proved to be quite a nice coda to the run of this title, as well as a delightful wrap-up to the final arc of this series. I truly enjoyed what Tom did in this story, and I truly have to say that I completely didn’t see the big reveal coming, even though I was looking for it.

Personally, I’m looking forward to reading the new series.

Spider-Girl has been canceled!

Just recently I have been informed that The Amazing Spider Girl has been candled and that issue #30 will be the final issue of the series. I have to say this news totally sucks. I happen to think that Spider-Girl is easily the best Spider-series that is being produced by Marvel today.

Some time back I happened to be in the same place as writer, Tom DeFalco, and spent five minutes bending his ear telling him that I really loved the series. I told him that it had the same feel to me as Spider-Man back when I was a teenager (when Stan was writing the series). My reasoning for this was that — since the series wasn’t technically part of the “real” Marvel Universe, that Tom was virtually left alone to do whatever he wanted to do.

I’m really not very happy that the series is being canceled; although (according to Tom), there is a possibility that it might be continued in Amazing Spider-Man Family.

If you all recall, I spoke about this recently in a post where I discussed that I had won a (third) No-Prize with a letter printed in Amazing Spider-Girl #20

Spidey, Spidey, Spidey Everywhere!

So, this past week I picked up my comics (as usual), and I was surprised by the presence of not one, but two over-sized Spider-Man anthologies. King Size Spider-Man Summer Special and (Brand New Day) Amazing Spider-Man Family #1. Both of these comics give us several new Spidey stories (that take place both within and outside of continuity) as well as a reprint of an older Spidey comic.

First up is King Size Summer Special; which delivers a couple of cartoony Spidey episodes Un-Enchanted Evening and Take a Seat (both by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover). The first one deals with Mary Jane Watson-Parker (yes, they are married in this story) where MJ, & Millie the Model (along with Patsy (Hellcat) Walker, Marvel Girl, She Hulk, Clea, and the Scarlet Witch) are all drawn into a throw-down with the Enchantress and Thor. The second one is a two-pager that has Spidey going up against MODOK. The next story is a continuity implant that has Spidey hooking up for (apparently the first time) with The Falcon. Finally there is a Chris Giarrusso Mini Marvel story (reprinted from Giant Size Mini Marvels #1.

The Tobin/Coover stories are very entertaining (especially the first one) and I really don’t care if they are considered as part of continuity or not, as they are so clever. The Falcon team-up is also quite good and (I assume) occurs in-continuity (even though it seems to contradict Captain America #’s 137 & 138). Again, the story here seems saturated with old-time Marvel spirit, that I’m willing to overlook any possible discrepancies. Finally we are presented with Giarrusso’s Mini-Marvel tale, which is always a welcome event, especially when presented in long-form as it is done here. I personally think that Giarrusso is under-used, and would look forward to regular appearances of his work in stand-alone form as Marvel currently does with the on-going series of Franklin Richard one-shots).

Spider-Man Family, which started as a series of one-shot, was re-launched as an on-going title, has now been re-imagined in a post Brand New Day world. This title delivers an Untold Tale form our hero’s past, a prelude look into the upcoming Marvel Apes title, Mr. & Mrs. Spider-Man (Peter & MJ in the M2 Universe while May is an infant); a story about Aunt May working at the F.E.A.S.T. Soup Kitchen, and a reprint from Amazing Spider-Man # 300 (the first Venom story).

The untold tale relates the first 48 hours after the death of Ben Parker; The Marvel Ape story has Spidey re-enacting that classic sequence from ASM #32, Mr. & Mrs. Spider-Man has Pete and MJ helping out the Connors; while the Aunt May story gives a glimpse into a day-in-the-life of May while working the soup kitchen.

Here again, the untold tale reads quite well, and — given how throughly this area has recently been mined (in With Great Power) and elsewhere, it comes off exceptionally well. The Ape story is goofy but fun, so I’ll let it slide (for now). The Mr. & Mrs. tale is told by Tom Defalco & Ron Frenz, so it reads like a cross between their classic Spider-Man stories and their Spider-Girl stuff, so that it is most excellent is a given. Seeing Aunt May walk alone is always fun, and I hope to see more of these type stories as this series progresses. Then there’s the Venom reprint which serves as a great jumping on point for the new Venom Dark Origin series.

If you are a Spider-Fan looking for some fun episodes, an old-time who has fallen away, or someone who just wants to see what all the fun is about, check out these two very fine issues.

Third time’s the charm!

So, a while back I mentioned that I had earned myself a pair of Marvel No-Prizes. Well, it seems that I have been awarded yet another one, but not for the one for which I was attempting to acquire. As you can read in that previous post, I was attempting to get one for events that took place in Amazing Spider-Man #555. Well, I didn’t get that one (yet), but it seems that I did score one from Amazing Spider-Girl #20.

Yep, that’s right I was awarded my third No-Prize, this time by none other than Tom DeFalco himself. You can read the letter in ASG or you can read it here.

Hey there Spider-Fans, I wanted to drop you a line to let you know how very much I’ve been enjoying not only Spider-Girl, but the various other heroes of the M2 –verse as well. I’ve been reading comics in general (and Spider-Titles in particular) for a very long time (since 1962 when I first got my hands on Amazing Fantasy #15). In fact, I’ve spent so much time pouring over Spidey’s extended family of related titles, that I’m a regular contributor to SpiderFan.org.

A couple of years ago I had the chance to buttonhole Tom DeFalco and bend his ear for about five minutes about how much I truly loved reading the adventures of Spider-Girl. I told him then, and I’ll tell you all now the it fills me with the same type of wonder and excitement that I remember having when I was a teenager and reading Spider-Man.

One of the things I really enjoy about this title in particular is that, because it takes place outside the purview of the “standard” Marvel Universe, that there seem to be no rules governing it. Anything can happen. Back in the ‘60s comics were still largely unproven ground, with the ability to explore any topic, build any storyline, morph any characters whichever way the writers and editors chose.

As comics have seem to become more and more about the licensing and ancillary rights then the comics themselves (no recriminations, that is simply the way things have evolved) a character like Spider-Girl that exists in an alternate version of the mainstream Marvel Universe is less restricted in what can happen. It is wild, wild west all over again, and what can be more fun than that?

Plus, while it was fun seeing an adult Arana popping up in M2U (I did so enjoy her adventures as well), I wanted to mention, (and I’m sure you have spotted it by now) that issue 19 (Spider-Girl vs. Arana) was, for some reason, covered-numbered 17 rather than 19 (the indicia had it correct). I can only suspect that this is part of some fiendish other-worldly plot by those dastardly Skrulls, who somehow have managed to secretly slip over to invade the M2 Universe as well.

Hopefully our Spider-heroes can adequately deal with this new threat.

Sincerely,

Robert J. “Bob” Sodaro

Unfortunately, it seems that Marvel no longer sends out “actual” No-Prizes any more. Ah well, I guess I’ll just have to suffer, eh?

Can you say Whoopsie!

I’ve been reading comics for quite some time, and while I haven’t (obviously) read (or seen) all of them, I have seen quite a few. Until today, I never saw what I’m about to show you (unless it occurred as an April Fool’s joke). If you look close, you can see that there are (apparently) not one, but two issue # 17s of Amazing Spider-Girl. (The Real ASG #17 appears to the left)

That’s right, two. (ASG #18 appears to the right)

No, not a single issue with a variant cover (a practice I have always hated, you know how many times I’ve purchased the “variant” thinking it was a new issue? Too many) be two separate issues.

Also, this is not a volume 1/volume 2 scenario, it is a flat-out typo. The wrong number is on the cover (I can tell because the issue is correctly numbered in the inside indicia. Will that make this a valuable collector’s item or just an interesting oddity is anyone’s guess (also, will Marvel choose to reprint it with a correct number on the cover?) Don’t know. (The “fake” ASG #17 appears to the left)



Anyway, it is kind of fun, and helped brighten my day a bit. (right after it made me crazy for 10 or 15 minutes while I attempted to sort out what was going on with my collection accounting practices.