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| Amazing Spider-Man Masterworks vol I | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 10 2006, 12:19 AM (886 Views) | |
| Erick Von Erich | Feb 10 2006, 12:19 AM Post #1 |
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I'm Big E and I tell it like it is
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From the nifty Barnes & Noble "Marvel Masterworks" series. For 12.95 you get high quality, trade paperback collections of early Silver Age Marvel stuff. Considering that the usual "Masterworks" have the exact same content and retail for about 40 bucks each, these suckers are a steal. (Furthermore, I got this at a B. Dalton going-out-of-business for 40% off). They're good reference material and make terrific reading copies. I've only thumbed through my copy of Spidey #1 once in the past 18 years, but this Masterworks book is now sitting in a drawer in my shitter for easy, constant reading. This collects the first 11 Spider-Man stories. The famous "Amazing Fantasy #15" and issues 1-10 of "Amazing Spider-Man". A couple issues have two stories, but for the record you get: Amazing Fantasy #15- "Spider-Man!" Amazing Spider-Man #1 "- Spider-Man Freak! Public Menace!" and "Spider-Man vs. the Chamelon" Amazing Spider-Man #2- "Duel to the Death with the Vulture!" and "The Uncanny Threat of the Terrible Tinkerer!" Amazing Spider-Man #3- "Spider-Man versus the Strangest Foe of All Time...Doctor Octopus" Amazing Spider-Man #4 - Nothing Can Stop..the Sandman!" Amazing Spider-Man #5- "Marked for Destruction by Dr. Doom!" Amazing Spider-Man #6- "Face to Face...with the Lizard!" Amazing Spider-Man #7- "The Return of the Vulture" Amazing Spider-Man #8- The Terrible Threat of the Living Brain!" and "Spider-Man Tackles the Torch!" Amazing Spider-Man #9- "The Man Called Electro!" Amazing Spider-Man #10- "The Enforcers!" It'd take me a couple weeks to recap every story, but they're all fairly similar: Spidey meets/fights new villain. J. Jonah Jameson tries to kncok down Spidey in his magazine and newspaper. Repeat. Instead, I'l just cover some of the basic themes, weird shit and major topics . Villains Most of the villains gain their powers from a freak accident. Thus, Doc Ock, Sandman and Electro all have the same basic origin. Chameleon and Vulture just appear and start doing their things. The Tinkerer is actually an alien as that particular story reads very awkwardly. Dr. Doom mistakes Spidey for a villain and wants to team-up with him to fight the Fantastic Four. The Lizard is probably the best story of the bunch. It's based closely on the movie "The Fly", even right down to the doomed scientist's farewell note to his wife. The Vulture appears twice and was the early favorite for "Spider-Man's Arch Enemy". But in both stories, the Vulture's defeated quite easily. The second time, Spidey simply webs him up. The final story of this set introduces the Enforcers and has a little mystery with the Big Man. The Enforcers were, arguably, the lamest Spidey villains ever, but the story itself is a nice break from the previous 10. Characters Right off the bat, we meet Peter's main rival, "dreamboat" Flash Thompson. He's a dumb jock, sort of like Reggie from the Archie comics. We also meet Flash's endless date, Liz Allen/Allan. Peter and Flahs have numerous confrontations, with each trying to gain the approval of Liz. Around issue 4, Liz decides that she's in love with Spider-Man, but that subplot is quickly shuffled away. Probably because the "girl who dislikes hero's secret ID, but loves the masked hero" schtick had been going on for decades over in Superman. It proved to be a good decision, as Daily Bugle newsgirl Betty Brant appears in issue 4 and soon becomes Peter Parker's/Spider-Man's main love interest. In this volume, things are just starting out between the two, but it gets really hot n' heavy around issues 20-30. The Peter-Betty relationship is one that's been forgotten...as most modern fans believe that Mary Jane Watson has always been Spidey's main love interest. MJ was still YEARS away at this point. Peter, himself, acts quite differently from what we're used to. While he wears glasses and loves science, he's not exactly shy. He fires back at Flash's verbal jabs and consistently calls him a "loudmouth". Peter seems more like a prick than the lovable nerd we know him for. In his first romantic scene with Betty, he quickly takes to calling her "baby". The shyness was played up in subsequent years and even played a part in Spidey's mask and wisecracks. But here, Peter's not shy at all. He refers to himself as "Pete Parker" for a bit. That doesn't last long, though. Peter's glasses are broken by Flash in issue 8..and Peter never wears specs again. Of course, the final important charcter in the early Spidey yarns is Aunt May. It's not until issue 9 that Aunt May receives her first "life threatening operation". 40+ years later and she's been in the operating room more times than Dr. Hardy (Ha! General Hospital bitches!) Spidey's actions Today, we all think of Spider-Man as crawling along the ceiling or sitting in some weird contortionist position. In these issues, Spider runs, leaps and walks most of the time. Alot of people attribute the slinky, scrawny Spidey look to artist Steve Ditko, but in these issues Ditko draws Spidey as he would any other "upright" hero. Spidey only occassionally uses his webs to swing through the city. Most of the time, he uses his webs to create "swamp shoes", parachutes and other objects. Sort of like a low-budget Green Lantern power ring. The one-hour webbing time limit isn't detailed, either. The only allusion to this is when Spidey webs up Jameson's mouth and says "oh, that should wear off in about an hour". The webbing isn't as strong as it would be in later years, either. Several villains tear it off easily. The seldom-used "Spider-Symbol" belt buckle is used extensively, however. In almost every issue, Spidey uses it to announce his arrival. One annoying thing is Marvel's consistent love of the Fantasic Four. In all of their old Silver Age stories, the dialogue and tone seemed to indicate that every other hero was below the FF. Prime example: Dr. Doom isn't going after Spider-Man..he just wants to use him in his fight against the FF. Spidey isn't allowed to defeat him, but the FF arrive as calvary and Doom escapes. This same secondary effect popped up in both Dardevil and Avengers, later on. There's the FF and everything else is secondary. Why'd You Buy This? Every comic fan should have this, even if they don't particularly dig Spidey. Spidey's origin story isn't as fleshed out as it is now, but all of the elements are there....even Crusher Hogan, the pro wrestler! I've sung the praises of Spidey's origin story as the best single comic story of the 20th century...but in this Cliff Notes version it's not as engaing. It has the corny 60's dialogue (Spidey asks Vulture, "were you vaccinated with a phonograph needle?"), but still delivers. You also get two rare promotional pin-ups by Steve Ditko, as well as two unpublished Ditko covers (it's perplexing why Ditko's original cover to issue 10 wasn't used). Jack Kirby steps in for issue 8 and one of the most copied covers in Marvel's history-- the famous "Tribute to Teenagers" cover. But where else can you get in on the ground floor of Spider-Man's career for under 14 bucks? |
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| Scrooge McSuck | Feb 10 2006, 12:25 AM Post #2 |
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I'll get you next time, toilet!
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To quote that bitch guy from the Princess Bride, as you wish. (moves topic to Random Stuff) OOOH... Spider-Man comics! |
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12:22 PM Jul 11