jtrw2024
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Post by jtrw2024 on Aug 29, 2024 18:36:29 GMT -5
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 28 (reprinted in Marvel Tales 166) The Menace of the Molten Man!” Credits (as they appear in the comic): Written and Edited with Loving Care by Stan Lee Plotted and Drawn with Talent Rare by Steve Ditko Lettered and Bordered with Unmatched Flair by Sam Rosen* Colored and Coded with a Vacant Stare by Andy Yanchus *I recall reading this in an article about lettering from a late 80s Archie comic. It stated that the letterer was also the person who inked the panel borders? Is that right? Any idea why? Seems like something that an inker could do just as well as a letterer. First time I’ve ever noticed it actually noted in the credits of a comic though. Plot Synopsis: Peter Parker may not live to finish High School, because first he has to survive the Molten Man! Comments: This issue introduces the menace of the Molten Man. A lab accident involving a liquid metal alloy transforms the man named Raxton, into a super strong bad guy with unbreakable metal skin. He’s an okay villain to fill up a few pages, and the action is good, especially the scenes with the characters fighting in the dark. He'll reappear a few times over the years, eventually with some changes to his powers. He'll also get a first name, and we'll find out that he's related to one of Peter's classmates (actually the same cast member who departs this very issue) In case readers didn't get enough of them in Amazing Spider-man 25, Smythe, and the spider-fighting robot he invented make a brief appearance here. His first name is Spencer by the way, as we learn in this issue. His role in this story is to help resolve the plot of Spidey’s other missing costume and to set-up the Molten Man’s origin. Though both Smythe and the Molten Man will re-appear over the years as villains, I don’t think they’ve ever had reason to interact again. Although this issue seems like it's going to be all about Spider-man and the Molten Man, there's not much substance to that plot. He gets his powers, goes on a bit of a rampage, rips up his suit and eventually Spidey stops him. Of course, this is all mainly an excuse to fill up a bunch of pages until we get to the event everyone has been waiting for. The real big deal in this issue is Peter Parker’s High School graduation. Flash and Peter are both awarded scholarships to Empire State University. Even though these two made some progress towards resolving their differences in the last couple issues, we'll soon get to see the classic rivalry play out again in a new way, in a new setting. Although one member of Peter’s Midtown High supporting cast will be sticking around, it’s time to say good bye to another. Liz Allan returns briefly for one more appearance a couple issues from now, but other than that, she doesn’t re-appear for quite some time. Betty Brant is noticeably absent this issue. The last time we saw her, she and Peter had a big argument, which is the reason Peter assumes she didn't attend his graduation. Aunt May is there of course, along with Mrs. Watson. Of course, no High School graduation could possibly be complete without a special guest-speaker like J. Jonah Jameson to provide a few words of wisdom! Did Aunt May really say "To know him must be to love him" Notable differences in the reprint: The original cover was from the brief period when Marvel was calling these comics Marvel Pop Art Productions! The cover is flipped, but otherwise looks the same as the original. Not too much you can change, at least as far as the colours go. Some changes to the text, removing "you won't want to miss" before "Peter Parker's Graduation" There's also a caption missing from the splash page and some cropping of the lower part of the image to accommodate the indicia. The last panel has a caption announcing the next story. In the original Amazing Spider-man issue, this caption is a short blurb about the upcoming issue 29, while Marvel Tales replaces it with an announcement for the story from the second Annual which will be reprinted in their next issue. The Doctor Doom pin-up from ASM Annual 1 is reprinted here. The usual two pages shared by Marvel Mails and Post Office of the Past. Danny Fingeroth, Editor. Bob DeNatale, Assistant Editor. Personal anecdotes: This is another issue I somehow managed to miss and never saw on the stands. I skipped right over Marvel Tales 166, but would get 167. I did read the next issue box from the previous issue which announced that the Molten Man would be the villain, but I didn’t actually know who the Molten Man was so that didn’t mean anything to me. I was familiar with the Mole Man from reruns of the 1960s Fantastic Four cartoon which had been airing weekday mornings around the time this issue would have come out. I somehow thought the Molten Man was actually the Mole Man and even briefly thought the villain with the green cape and costume who appeared in MT 167 was what the Mole Man looked like in the comics. I actually didn’t know what “molten” meant in the first place, so that didn't help matters. Around this time, I saw an episode of Super Friends which had some scenes with molten metal or lava, so I eventually came up with my own thoughts on what type of villain the Molten Man might be. I finally got this issue probably around 1989 from the time when I was picking up other back issues I’d missed. I’d seen at least one panel showing the Molten Man from a later Marvel Tales issue which I got new and also saw covers from other appearances when I was flipping through back issues, so I did kinda know what he looked like. If I hadn’t already seen the Molten Man’s profile in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe ’89 update before I read this story, I would soon after.
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Post by tarkintino on Aug 29, 2024 19:19:41 GMT -5
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 28 (reprinted in Marvel Tales 166) Indeed. Liz would not make a full reappearance until TASM #132 published in May of 1974, which would also mark the return of the Molten Man in the story, "The Master Plan of the Molten Man!": Samples: The original run of TASM in Marvel Tales did not reprint TASM #28, skipping to TASM #30 (November, 1965) in Marvel Tales #23 (November, 1969).
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Post by Cei-U! on Aug 29, 2024 23:45:21 GMT -5
Yes, traditionally the letterer has been responsible for inking the panel borders. This makes sense, as the line width for borders is almost always the same as the outlines of the captions and balloons, plus the lettering (including sound effects) often extend outside the edges of a particular panel. It's also more efficient from a production standpoint than having the inker, who may prefer brushes over the pen usually used, do it. In fact, the only comic strip or book I can think of that used a brush for panel bordering is Pogo.
Cei-U! I summon the straightedge!
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Aug 30, 2024 6:48:19 GMT -5
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 28 (reprinted in Marvel Tales 166) I love that cover. Such an inventive use of negative space by Ditko. It's very striking and must have stood out from the other comics on the spinner rack that month. Here's the original cover to savour… I have to say, I think the image actually looks better flipped on the cover of Marvel Tales #166, with Spidey on the left-hand side. Also, note that this is the first "Marvel Pop Art Productions" issue of Amazing Spider-Man… This rebranding went across most of Marvel's superhero line and was an attempt on Stan Lee's part to move Marvel away from any childlike connotations associated with the word "comics". By aligning Marvel with the then-fashionable pop art movement and the likes of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, who were both revolutionising fine art and popular media at the time, Lee hoped to make Marvel seem like a much more serious and fashionable proposition. Apparently, reader reaction to the "pop art" rebranding experiment was extremely negative and, as a result, it only lasted four months. This issue introduces the menace of the Molten Man. A lab accident involving a liquid metal alloy transforms the man named Raxton, into a super strong bad guy with unbreakable metal skin. He’s an okay villain to fill up a few pages, and the action is good, especially the scenes with the characters fighting in the dark. He'll reappear a few times over the years, eventually with some changes to his powers. He'll also get a first name, and we'll find out that he's related to one of Peter's classmates (actually the same cast member who departs this very issue) I quite like the Molten Man as a character. In subsequent appearances he gets much more fleshed out and made into much more of a sympathetic figure. But here, in his first appearance, he's a pretty formidable foe for Spider-Man, even if he's decidedly C-list compared to the likes of the Green Goblin, the Vulture, Doctor Octopus etc. Molten Man's origin always makes me roll my eyes though: the way that the chemical formula gets spilled over him absolutely evenly, so that it can adhere to his body all over – even penetrating through his suit! – stretches credibility for me. I mean, I know that utterly unbelievable things happen in these comics all the time, but for some reason I find it particularly hard to suspend disbelief enough to swallow the Molten Man's origin. The real big deal in this issue is Peter Parker’s High School graduation. Flash and Peter are both awarded scholarships to Empire State University. Even though these two made some progress towards resolving their differences in the last couple issues, we'll soon get to see the classic rivalry play out again in a new way, in a new setting. Although one member of Peter’s Midtown High supporting cast will be sticking around, it’s time to say good bye to another. Liz Allan returns briefly for one more appearance a couple issues from now, but other than that, she doesn’t re-appear for quite some time. I'd kind of forgotten that Liz Allan disappears from the comic so early. I thought she hung around for most of the Lee/Ditko run. Obviously not. Also, there's a goof here where Stan calls her Liz Hilton, instead of Allan. Of course, no High School graduation could possibly be complete without a special guest-speaker like J. Jonah Jameson to provide a few words of wisdom! Did Aunt May really say "To know him must be to love him" Aunt May is such a bad judge of character – first Doctor Octopus, now J. Jonah Jameson! That woman is an idiot! Overall, this is an enjoyable comic, but it's not a patch on the last few issues. Ditko's art is really good – especially during the "lights-out" fight between Spidey and the Molten Man. EDIT: By the way, when were you planning to review Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2, jtrw2024? In terms of published order, it came out between ASM #27 and #28, but for chronological reading order, I always put it after ASM #28 (as the '80s Marvel Tales reprints do).
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Post by driver1980 on Aug 30, 2024 6:50:50 GMT -5
I’d say The Molten Man is an underrated Spidey hero. I enjoy his appearances.
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Post by Rob Allen on Aug 30, 2024 12:01:13 GMT -5
“Bring Back My Goblin to Me!” I always felt like this strange, slightly nonsensical title was a reference to something else…like a song or something. For me, the song that it always brings to my mind is the traditional tune "My Bonnie", with its line: "Bring back my baby to me." I have no idea whether that's where Stan Lee got the idea for the title, but the song had been recorded in a rock 'n' roll style by Tony Sheridan & the Beatles in 1962, and it was re-released once Beatlemania had hit in America and peaked at number #26 on the U.S. charts in March 1964. However, I think it unlikely that Lee was aware of Sheridan and the Beatles' recording. But that's always the song I hear in my head whenever I see the title of ASM #27. Does anybody know if "Bring Back My Goblin to Me!" is alluding to anything in particular? The song was well-known even before the Sheridan/Beatles record. I remember learning the song from my parents a few years before the Beatles arrived. Wikipedia says that Ella Fitzgerald recorded the song in 1952, Ray Charles in 1958 and Duane Eddy in 1960.
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jtrw2024
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Post by jtrw2024 on Aug 30, 2024 16:01:56 GMT -5
EDIT: By the way, when were you planning to review Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2, jtrw2024 ? In terms of published order, it came out between ASM #27 and #28, but for chronological reading order, I always put it after ASM #28 (as the '80s Marvel Tales reprints do). Amazing Spider-man Annual #2 will be after 28, sticking to the order that Marvel Tales reprinted it. It's the same order that all the collected versions I've got use as well
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jtrw2024
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Post by jtrw2024 on Aug 30, 2024 16:03:16 GMT -5
Yes, traditionally the letterer has been responsible for inking the panel borders. This makes sense, as the line width for borders is almost always the same as the outlines of the captions and balloons, plus the lettering (including sound effects) often extend outside the edges of a particular panel. It's also more efficient from a production standpoint than having the inker, who may prefer brushes over the pen usually used, do it. In fact, the only comic strip or book I can think of that used a brush for panel bordering is Pogo. Cei-U! I summon the straightedge! Thanks Cei-U. It's something I hadn't really considered, but that actually makes perfect sense!
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Post by chaykinstevens on Aug 30, 2024 16:20:56 GMT -5
I’d say The Molten Man is an underrated Spidey hero. I think you mean villain.
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Post by driver1980 on Aug 30, 2024 16:23:11 GMT -5
I’d say The Molten Man is an underrated Spidey hero. I think you mean villain. Thank you. A deliberate mistake. I like to throw them in there now and again. Well spotted.
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Post by Ricky Jackson on Aug 30, 2024 17:51:13 GMT -5
I think you mean villain. Thank you. A deliberate mistake. I like to throw them in there now and again. Well spotted. Well, there was this issue of Web
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Post by jtrw2024 on Aug 30, 2024 18:54:45 GMT -5
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN Annual 2 (reprinted in Marvel Tales 167) “The Wondrous World of Dr. Strange!” Credits (as they appear in the comic): Written and Edited by the Toast of Marvel Stan Lee Plotted and Drawn by the Boast of Marvel Steve Ditko Lettered and Bordered by the Provost of Marvel Sam Rosen Colored and Coded by the Ghost of Marvel Andy Yanchus Plot Synopsis: It’s Spider-man’s strangest adventure yet! Guest-starring Dr. Strange! Comments: Spider-man and Dr. Strange are probably the Marvel characters that Steve Ditko is most associated with, so a team-up between the two was inevitable, and there's no better place than Spidey's second Annual. The story is the same length as the regular monthly Spider-man stories, but that's still more pages than Dr. Strange is used to getting in his usual feature in Strange Tales. Spider-man is in costume for the entire story. There's no Peter Parker, or any of his supporting cast, just Spidey, Strange and Ditko doing what he does best (with some help from his usual collaborators, of course). Xandu might seem like a one-shot villain, but he makes a few more appearances over the years. I don't know if he'd necessarily make it into anyone's top ten list of Spider-man's foes, nor Dr. Strange's, for that matter, but he does pretty well for himself in this story. He's already got one half of the magical MacGuffin called the Wand of Watoomb and with just his own mystical skills and a couple of mindless thugs he's able to invade Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, get the drop on the Doc, and acquire the remaining part. . Spider-man stumbles onto the whole thing by accident, and even though magic isn't really the type of problem he's used to dealing with, he handles it pretty well. His usual powers and gimmicks, like his webbing, and even his Spider-tracers, actually work just as well with mystical bad guys as they do with regular super-villains. Even when Xandu banishes Spider-man to some weird dimension, Spidey still acts like Spidey and manages to maintain his sanity til a way home presents itself. Dr. Strange shows up in time to help Spidey out, and between the two of them, they manage to thwart Xandu's plan. There’s an episode of the 1990s Animated Series which uses elements from this story, notably the Wand of Watoomb as well as Doc and Spidey’s parting words. The Spider-man figure from the cover will be flipped and used for the corner box image starting with Amazing Spider-man 48. Eventually this will be replaced with a redrawn version that lasts up until issue 199. Peter encountered Dr. Strange briefly in the first Amazing Spider-man annual, but this is their first actual team-up adventure. There’s a comment from Spidey “This is beginning to feel like old times!”. Is that a reference to Doc talking to Spider-man in his mind a page earlier? Some Untold Tale of Spider-man maybe? Or just Spidey talking nonsense like he usually does? There would actually be an Untold Tale of Spider-man story featuring Dr, Strange and Spidey’s first meeting set prior to the events of ASM Annual 1, but obviously that wouldn’t come out for a few decades! Notable differences in the reprint: The cover looks the same at first glance, but there are changes to the angle of the big floating Spider-man head, as well as the positioning of the smaller Spidey figures. The colour scheme is mostly the same, however I think the reprint makes better use of the hi-lights on the standing Spider-man figure. Also, the caption box announcing the Annual’s three reprint stories is completely replaced by the UPC box which makes sense since this issue of Marvel Tales only contains the main story. The reprint credits are slightly altered as well. In the original, the “Ghost of Marvel” title went to Letterer Sam Rosen, but now it’s shifted to new colourist Andy Yanchus. I’ve noticed some changes like this before, but not sure exactly which earlier issues did anything like this, because I wasn’t paying attention till now. The colouring on one of Xandu’s goons (the one with the striped shirt) is drastically changed, probably since the original colouring had him dressed exactly like Sandman. This issue includes a pin-up of The Lizard reprinted from the first Annual Of course, two pages of Marvel Mails and Post Office of the Past. Danny Fingeroth, Editor. Bob DeNatale, Assistant Editor. Not reprinted here are the original backup features from Annual 2. For the record, here’s what missing -Reprints of the first story from ASM 1, the second story from ASM 2 and the full story from ASM 5 -pin-ups featuring the villains introduced in ASM 16 to 26 Personal anecdotes: A classmate had a copy of this issue when it first came out and let me read it in class since he knew I was a big Spidey fan. I’d get my own copy soon after, fresh from the stands. Not too long after that, my Father also picked me up a pocket book reprinting this story along with a couple Spidey team-ups with other heroes. The pocketbook also contained a team-up with Quicksilver from an ASM issue which we’ll get to eventually and a Spider-man/Hulk story from Marvel Team-up There’s a house ad at the bottom of the letters page announcing “The Transformers Are Coming!”. Little did I know at the time that this would lead to a temporary lack of interest in Marvel Tales for me. Somehow when I was a kid, I'd lose interest in certain things from time to time. I'd still read Spider-man when I got the chance, but I hadn't yet learned to juggle multiple interests at the same time. Don’t worry, it all worked out fine in the end of course!
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Aug 31, 2024 6:50:26 GMT -5
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN Annual 2 (reprinted in Marvel Tales 167) I love this cover. It's an unusual one for the time because it's a somewhat generic "pin-up" cover, which of course are much more common nowadays, but were much less so in the '60s. Those are some great depictions of Spider-Man though: this should've been licenced as a poster. Spider-man and Dr. Strange are probably the Marvel characters that Steve Ditko is most associated with, so a team-up between the two was inevitable… "Probably"? They are definitely, 100% the two characters that Ditko is most closely associated with – Marvel or not. Myself, I'm a big fan of both Spider-Man and Dr. Strange, so you won't be surprised to hear that this is one of my favourite comics from this period. I mean, it's a story that is plotted and drawn by Steve and features the two characters he is most closely associated with – it's a total Ditko-fest! Spider-man is in costume for the entire story. There's no Peter Parker, or any of his supporting cast, just Spidey, Strange and Ditko doing what he does best (with some help from his usual collaborators, of course). The lack of any of Peter's supporting cast is a shame, but I can also totally understand why they're not featured. After all, this is a magical story and perhaps Ditko felt that the more grounding influence of Peter's civilian dramas would seem out of place? This story is right in Ditko's wheelhouse and, as you say, it allows him to do what he does best. The artwork is superb, with lots of pleasing background detail – especially in Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum – and, of course, there are those glorious, psychedelic depictions of magical dimensions that Ditko draws so well in the Dr. Strange stories. Xandu might seem like a one-shot villain, but he makes a few more appearances over the years. I don't know if he'd necessarily make it into anyone's top ten list of Spider-man's foes, nor Dr. Strange's, for that matter, but he does pretty well for himself in this story. Yeah, Xandu is a perfectly fine protagonist and adversary for this issue – I actually like him and his costume quite a bit – but I'm not sure he needed to ever re-appear. He definitely pops up again in a mid-70s issue of Marvel Team-Up, where he once more troubles Spider-Man and Dr. Strange. Peter encountered Dr. Strange briefly in the first Amazing Spider-man annual, but this is their first actual team-up adventure. There’s a comment from Spidey “This is beginning to feel like old times!”. Is that a reference to Doc talking to Spider-man in his mind a page earlier? Some Untold Tale of Spider-man maybe? Or just Spidey talking nonsense like he usually does? I interpret this as Spidey making a sarcastic reference to the battle that he and Strange had against Xandu just a few pages earlier. But it could equally just be a case of Stan Lee mistakenly thinking that the two heroes had previously met and fought side-by-side. I'm gonna assume that this throw-away comment of Spidey's bugged Kurt Busiek too and that's why he penned an earlier encounter between Strange and Spider-Man in 1998's Untold Tales of Spider-Man: Strange Encounter. As I said earlier, I'm a big fan of this annual and it's one of the Spider-Man comics from the Lee/Ditko run that I've re-read the most. I'm guessing that most fans would consider it a bit of a come down from the standards of Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 – just from the point of view of its diminished page count, if nothing else! But I actually prefer it to annual #1. It feels less like a flashy showcase for Marvel's other superhero books, which annual #1 definitely was at times. I assume that this lack of crossover cameo appearances is down to Ditko, who apparently disliked such things. Story-wise, the way Xandu steals Strange's half of the Wand of Watoomb, with help from two brainless thugs, feels similar to the way that some of the Dr. Strange stories in Strange Tales began…and from there it reads like an issue of Marvel Team-Up. But the plot and story structure work well, resulting in a hugely enjoyable, magic and action-infused romp. The supernatural elements also make for a nice change of pace to the slightly more grounded stories we usually get in Amazing Spider-Man.
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jtrw2024
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Post by jtrw2024 on Aug 31, 2024 7:51:22 GMT -5
Peter encountered Dr. Strange briefly in the first Amazing Spider-man annual, but this is their first actual team-up adventure. There’s a comment from Spidey “This is beginning to feel like old times!”. Is that a reference to Doc talking to Spider-man in his mind a page earlier? Some Untold Tale of Spider-man maybe? Or just Spidey talking nonsense like he usually does? I interpret this as Spidey making a sarcastic reference to the battle that he and Strange had against Xandu just a few pages earlier. But it could equally just be a case of Stan Lee mistakenly thinking that the two heroes had previously met and fought side-by-side. I'm gonna assume that this throw-away comment of Spidey's bugged Kurt Busiek too and that's why he penned an earlier encounter between Strange and Spider-Man in 1998's Untold Tales of Spider-Man: Strange Encounter. Untold Tales of Spider-Man: Strange Encounter also managed to explain why Peter and his friends could see Dr. Strange in his astral form back in ASM An1. Sometimes a throw-away-line, or minor continuity glitch are all it takes to inspire some writers to come up with a fun story
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Post by jtrw2024 on Aug 31, 2024 8:05:51 GMT -5
I remember really enjoying untold tales as it was coming out, even though I hadn't read any of these at that point. They kind of fit into the margins of alot of these early stories, don't they? Untold Tales of Spider-man was a good series. I'm kind of on the fence though when it comes to whether or not I should consider these stories canon, since I like the original Lee/Ditko stuff fine the way it is, and don't necessarily think there's necessarily a need to fit a whole bunch of untold adventures between the cracks. I do like how Untold Tales manages to offer up some explanations for certain details which were glossed over in the original stories. I suppose Kurt Busiek probably could have taken a similar approach as he did with Marvels and retell the existing stories from the point of view of other characters, or maybe they could have just done short stories, as backups to run alongside reprints of the classics (similar to what was done with X-Men), in order to achieve this, but the way they went about things was definitely the smart move. The end result succeeded in maintaining and recapturing the spirit of the classic Lee/Ditko run, and told mainly self-contained adventures in an era when that type of storytelling wasn't really the norm
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