So ... is Hot Stuff a baby devil with a mommy devil and a daddy devil? Or was he a really evil baby who died very young and went to hell and became a devil that way?

I'm still reading Steve Ditko Spider-Man from Amazing Fantasy #15 to Spider-Man #38 (and I always include #39 and #40 because that finishes off the first act of the Green Goblin story).

#16 is always fun. Spidey and Daredevil fight the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime! Aunt May, the Bugle staff and the Midtown High cast get mostly sidelined for an issue that's all ACTION ACTION ACTION as the story focuses on the guest star and the Circus of Crime! I read this one very early when I was reading comics because it's in the old Lancer Spider-Man paperback that my grandma had on her back porch bookshelf for some reason. I read it over and over back in the late 1970s, but it's not an issue that I'm particularly obsessed with, so I don't read it EXCEPT when I'm reading all the Ditko Spider-Man issues. So reading it this time, well, it was pretty fresh! Awesome comic!

This next batch of issues, #17 to #19, is one of my favorite runs in all of comics history! It starts with #17, when the Green Goblin returns and attacks Spidey at the Spider-Man Fan Club meeting. Everybody is there! Jameson, Flash, Betty, Liz, as well as Johhny Storm and Dorrie Evans!

And, as many times as I've read this story, I just came across something I never noticed before. The Goblin, his face obscured, gets into his civilian clothes and steps out into the street … and the caption tells us - as he passes Peter Parker on the sidewalk - that the two foes don't recognize each other and its a whim of fate (or something). So … that means that the Goblin can't be Jameson or anybody else that Parker knows by sight. Now, maybe Ditko didn't come up with the idea that the Goblin would turn out to be Jameson until later. But this sequence in Spider-Man #17 is problematic for the whole idea.

During the fight, Spidey overhears somebody talking on the phone and finds out that Aunt May has taken ill, so he runs out! And of course he gets branded a coward!

Which is the premise of #18. he whole cast gets a lot to do in this one. (Well, except for Spider-Man!) Jameson is gloating! Betty is upset because she thinks Peter likes Liz better than her. Aunt May is recovering and she even manages to walk down the stairs for one of my favorite Aunt May moments of all time. Flash is defending Spidey all over the place. Liz is playing Flash and Peter off of each other as usual. And the Sandman chases Spidey around for a few pages until Spidey can ditch him. One of my favorites! This comics has no super-hero fights and is as interesting as any issue in the whole run of Spider-Man!

And it comes to a rousing conclusion in #19 with an issue that's nothing but fighting! Throw in the Enforcers - I love the Enforcers! - and the Human Torch, and this is another great issue!

I got as far as Spider-Man #20 a couple of nights ago. I love this one too! I think its the first time that Jameson actually puts his own money into a scheme to stop Spider-Man. He is crossing a line here, but it's a line that he crosses repeatedly over the next ten or twenty or thirty years, and I'm not sure that he ever paid a price for it. What do they call it? Affluenza!

I realized I had forgotten to read Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (it takes place between #15 and #17) and so that's next on my list. This is my favorite comic book ever!

I read Captain America #280-281.  I especially liked #280, where he battled the Scarecrow.  Some nice philosophical/moral internal debating by Cap in this one.  #281 features the 50's Bucky and Spider-Woman along with Shenanigans by Viper and is continued into #282, so I'd better get on that one.

Finished all of "DC" and "Marvel" superhero comics from 1938 and 1939 using mikesamazingworld's newsstand as a guide. Currently in 1940. Not my first walk in the park with Action, Detective, Batman, or Superman in order but now I have a better context and could compare them with other heroes.

I am 70 years old and started reading comics in the mid to late 1950s. Sadly I am not into much of the Golden Age so far outside of Superman and Batman, and many of their 1940 stories are skippable. I guess I was spoiled with the house style of Curt Swan in the 1960s+ and the Marvel Revolution. I'm beginning to think Sturgeon's Law applies to all decades.

Sub-Mariner started off with a great debut, but tapered off so far. Same with Human Torch, Captain America, Spectre, Green Lantern. Flash, Hawkman, Dr. Fate, All-Stars, etc. Johnny Thunder was always a comedy character, I see- like a comic strip act. In fact many stories in these anthologies are closer to comic strips than what we think as comic books.

Bored with the simple plots, no real characterizations/motivations, and no real super-villains (outside of the Joker, Ultra-Humanite, Luthor, etc.) Most stories involve gangsters, scammers, corruption, detective mysteries, damsels in distress, etc. not really the high sci-fi fantasy heroic action stuff. At least Superman has social issues he conquers although I wish Lois was be a little nicer to Clark.

So far most of the artwork has been bad, with inconsistent costumes and weird panel layouts and word balloons. It is a good exercise from the historical perspective, however. I understand these creators were the trope-setters, pioneers, etc. and worked for little money, and treated it as low brow entertainment. Hopefully each year I go will evolve and they stories will get better. As it stands at the moment I am getting a greater appreciation for The Silver Age and beyond in terms of artwork and storytelling. In fact, I am getting a little anxious for the 1960s-1980s already.

I don't mean to sound negative, but it's hard to hide disappointment when I am lucky to find a few good issues. Can't recommend it to the curious fan. Even when people get excited about Action #1...the story continues in Action #2, and it's a downer.

A few random reactions:

Good news, Corona (and welcome aboard): DC does become batter reading as the '40s progress. Plots stay simple, there is little episode-to-episode continuity, and charcterization is functional at best. Having said that, the art improves pretty much across the line, dialogue becomes snappier and wittier, and the storytelling becomes more exciting, particularly after the arrival of Simon & Kirby. There's no mistaking that the material is aimed at children (and handcuffed by the dictates of the company's Editorial Advisory Board beginning in '41), so if you're okay with that, they're a lot of fun.

Cei-U!
I summon the summation!

I thought Sheldon Moldoff's Hawkman in the early Flash Comics looked pretty cool, was always meaning to check out more than the bits I saw/read... other than that I'm thinking Quality Comics may have been the best heroic comics publisher in the earliest years with Plastic Man, Blackhawk, Dollman, Kid Eternity, and any of the characters Lou Fine worked on like The Ray and Black Condor.