NY ComicCon 2012

So, last weekend (as I write this) I attended the New York Comic Con and well, not only did I have a greet weekend (I hung out with a couple of new-found friends Bill Baker & Joel Meadows (Publisher/Editor of Tripwire Magazine). Turns out we were three Journalists, comicbook fans, and cinephiles having something of a great weekend together. Anyway, here are just some of the pics that I took over the weekend.

First up are The Avengers and some Patriotic Babes

This was the only Spider-Woman I saw

Spidey recently turned 50, and this is the birthday card that Marvel got him.

It was signed by numerous Spidey-Fans, with the hope of getting it into the Guinness Book of World Records (and of course, I signed it too!).

Naturally enough there were also a bunch of Spideys on hand (this one brought a friend)

This one stopped by Fay Felix’s Bronx Heroes Con table

Then he had to fight off none other than Wilson Fisk, The Kingpin!

Eventually though Spidey was apparently defeated by...who is this, Zero of the GI Joes?

Lastly, there was at least one Scarlet Spider (Ben Reilly) on hand to carry on!

And of course an Ultimate Spider-Man (Miles Morales)

Wait, they call this Continuity?

OK, So I’m reading Scarlet Spider #5, and apparently there is some sort of a nuclear device that is going to go off in Dallas (or is it Houston?), where the (new) Scarlet Spider (the clone of Peter Parker the One-True Spider-Man, and killer formerly known as Kaine).

Anyways, the specifics of the story aren’t so important for this post. What is important is the fact that at one point in the story the local authorities contact SHIELD and are greeted by the following sight (see below).

What you are looking at is the local cop talking to (on-screen) SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson (left), SHIELD Director Daisy Johnson (center), and Former Director of SHIELD Colonel Nick Fury (right).

WTF??

That guy all the way to the right isn’t so much the hard-charging Sargent that survived WWII to go on to become the head of the world’s most sophisticated intelligence organization, as it is Samuel Jackson (star of Pulp Fiction, Snakes on a Plane), and who recently appeared in The Avengers movie.

Seriously, WTF? We know and understand that the Sam Jackson Fury is part of not only the Marvel Movie Universe, but the Ultimate Universe, but it is the white WWII vet who is fury in the 616 universe (which is where Scarlet Spider is supposed to take place.

Anyone want to weigh in on this?

A cloning we will go...

OK, so I (finally) finished reading the six-issue Spider-Man Clone Saga and I have to say that I really enjoyed the conclusion of this six-issue tale. Which just makes me all the more upset that this is “an imaginary tale” so to speak. (Yeah, yeah, I know, they are ALL imaginary tales, but that’s entirely besides the point.)

According to the ramp-up to this event, this is how writers, Tom DeFalco and Howard Mackie would have ended the story had they been able to do so (without all of the editorial interference). If you haven’t read the book, I won’t give away the ending, but, well, if you (like I), an a fan of Ben Reilly and the (real) Scarlet Spider), then you will be very pleased with this tale’s conclusion.

Like I said, it is too bad that this is not cannon. Anyway, perhaps with the popularity of this title, we just might see the resurgence of Scarlet.

Regardless of that, the telling of the tale itself is a bit choppy as it is (by necessity), force-feeding some two years (and half-a-dozen titles), into a six-issue format. So if you have no knowledge of the original telling (something which I, myself have only a passing relationship, as this was during a time when I had stopped collecting comics), it might — in and of itself — might seem a tad convoluted.

Still, that aside, the telling and the conclusion of the story, offers up a far more satisfying (and interesting), conclusion, all the way around.

Cool Spidey Stuff

I recently acquired a couple of very cool Spidey stuff that I wanted to share with you all. First up is a Spider sticker for my car that actually got a while back and I showed you already, but it is a window cling that I attached to my car:




If you look close at the second picture, you'll see my reflection in the window behind Spidey.

Then then is a Scarlet Spidey Superhero Squad figure (very cool, as I hadn't been able to locate one of these — and wouldn’t have save for the magic of ebay). Now I just need to score an “Iron Spider-Man” Superhero Squad (as well as an action figure which I also don’t have).



And finally, here is a Spidey “wrist laser” that was available as a giveaway from Kellogg’s around the time that Spidey 2 was out (2004). I attempted to acquire the item at the time, but, well, CT Attorney General Dick Blumenthal forced Kellogg to pull the toy from cereal boxes due to the mercury battery inside the toy.

Kellogg Co. has stopped shipping cereal boxes with Spider-Man 2 premiums to Connecticut under pressure from the state's attorney general.

The Spidey-Signal toys have mercury batteries, which are illegal under Connecticut's Mercury Reduction Act and the Child Protection Act. Kellogg also stopped shipments to New Hampshire to comply with that state's environmental laws. Packages already on-shelf are being replaced now, says Kellogg spokesperson Celeste Clark.

I recall being very upset at the time, but, well, since I have one (and a second on the way), I’m feeling much better about it now.

Sometimes you just have to ask "why"?

OK, I'm as eager to read a new Spider-Man mini-series as is the next Spider-geek, but I really have to wonder just what the heck was going on in the minds of the folks who green-lit the Spider-Man Secret Wars comic. I mean, seriously, WTF? Why resurect a 20-year-old story that you can't change or amend to tell a story that who cares if it happened at all, because it doesn't affect the final outcome of the story.

I Mean, I can understand about the Spidey Clone War series because this is (presumably) what the original writers wanted in the first place (still, after three or four issues into this series, I'm not entirely sure that I'm following what the heck is going on, and the only thing that is helping me is that I read it the first time around).

Now I understand that when there is a Marvel-related movie coming out, the company will flood the market with related new series (though it would be nice if they could figure out a way to get some of those movie audience patrons into comic shops), but who has been clamoring for a Secret Wars (or Clone-Saga) storyline?

Well, to be sure I know that I (and my good buddy Chris Buchner) would love to see Ben Reilly return as the Scarlet Spider), but I honestly don't think that anyone is listening to either of us (even though we know that they should!).

Anyways, that's what I think, if anybody cares (and is listening)

Quit Monkying around with my heroes

First they were heroes, then we wondered “What I..” Next up we saw them as zombies, now apes? that’s right, Apes. No, this is not DC from the wild wacky ‘60s where they loved apes to death (ours, not theirs). Sure, sure Gorilla Grodd was fun and all, but I can’t help but to think that what set Marvel apart from DC is that while DC was filling their pages with silly “comicbookie” kinds of things, Marvel was setting their heroes in the real world and giving them real problems.

Now the reverse seems true. While I’m not entirely sure what is going on over at DC, we are getting stuff like this...

Simian Superheroes Coming to Comics With Marvel Apes

Marvel Comics will soon publish Marvel Apes, a mini-series set in a universe where heroes like Iron Man and Wolverine are hairier, toothier and infinitely more likely to check each other for body lice.

(via Underwire)

All of which brings me back to my original question. With all of the alternate Earths floating around the Marvel Universe these days, why did they have to go and screw around with the Mainstream Spidey? Wouldn’t have been simpler to have just spun a new Spidey off (resurrect Scarlet Spider, perhaps? Stan Knows that he still has plenty of fans and supporters!)

Ah well what do I know?

Spidey’s Identity Problem Solved!

That’s right, Peter Parker no longer has a secret Identity problem. It’s true! After outing himself at the start of Marvel’s Civil War event well over a year ago, Peter Parker has (quite accidentally) been relieved of the burden of having everyone in the world know that he wears his underwear on the outside and beats the crap out of crooks with silly names and powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men (and women).

You read all of that right. Spidey is back to his normal routine (that is until Joe Q. Screws it all up again with the contents of the Brand New Day storyline).


Yep, and the best part of this scenario, is that it didn’t happen in any of the on-going Spidey-titles. nor did it happen in a “special” one-shot spider-related title. Nor was it previously announced and/or leaked to the fan press to create a media-generated run on title in question. Nope, it happened as part of the regular incidents in an under-rated, on-going title. It happened in Avengers, The Initiative (issue #7, to be precise).

If you are interested, I’ll tell you here what happened, but before I do, I want to talk about it for just a bit, and give you the opportunity to stop reading the rest of this post if you so choose — you can keep reading for a bit, I’ll warn you before I actually plan on revealing the plot point). There have been those of us who have been wondering how the powers that be over at Marvel would fix this tremendously horrible idea. (yeah, it was good for a few stories, but as a long-term plot point, it is a bad idea and it surely needed to be fixed).

So now it is fixed, and not in a Deus Ex Machina sort of way, but in an organic, fashion. in such a way so that it is actually believable (both in the world of Marvel, and to us readers as well). There are those of us that felt that this “fixing” was going to require a spell by Dr. Strange, or some sort of Wanda Maximoff Hex-power incantation. But no, Marvel fooled us all and did it in a totally believable way that should satisfy all of us.

Well, I’ve been reading Spidey from the beginning, and I bought it. I was also very surprised and entertained as to how writer Dan Slott brought it about. Oh, and after having thought about it, I’ve decided not to reveal how it was done, at least not in this post. Now go and buy the book

It is a Spider-Man Day in the Neighborhood!

And yes, it is once again brought to us by Mr. Steve Ditko, courtesy of the NY Post whic is continuning to include 16-page reprints of The Amazing Spider-Man in their Sunday papers.

So, even as Spidey switches sides in the current on-going Civil War over in the current Marvel Universe (going from siding with Iron Man’s “Government” team to Captain America’s “Underground” team. While the switch didn’t come as any real surprise, it does mark the turning point in the Civil War.

I used this event to craft a webisode for SpiderFan which our nefarious leader, Jon Couper is choosing not to use (he hinted that he might use a version of this strip as re-scripted by him). Still, I enjoyed this version so much, that I’ve chosen to post it here. The art was clipped from the original web-strip (and then re-jiggered through Photoshop by me). The “South Park” images are from Chris Buchner.



Chris is also a member of CAG. and is something of a Scarlet Spider fan. (That’s him off to the right.) He’s actually an OK guy (for a Spider-Geek), but Hell, it takes one to know one, and I know ‘em all!

Well, tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and I still have to put up the tree, so I’m going to wrap this episode up. Catch you all in a couple of days!