Comics Corner: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man 125

    

Title: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man
Issue Number: 125
Release Date: April 1987

Highlights

• First appearance of Mrs. Deacon
• Jameson wants to know what the connection between Spider-Man and Spider-Woman is, and send's Peter to Denver to get photos
• Reference is made to Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars 7 - 12, The Amazing Spider-Man 246, 247, and "current issues" of The Amazing Spider-Man and Web Of Spider-Man
• Spider-Woman breaks into Dexton Labs, searching for a computer disc, but the Wrecking Crew busts in just as she's in the process of it
• Thunderball finds the disc they're searching for, and it turns out to be the same one Spider-Woman was there to get, she nabs it from him
• Though she almost bests them in a four on one fight, the Crew eventually take Spider-Woman out, and retrieve the disc from her
• Peter wakes up to hammering on his door, only to find it's Mrs. Muggins nailing an eviction notice to it
• Peter is four months behind on rent
• On the stolen disc is a design for a super bomb, which the Wrecking Crew will use to blackmail the federal government, and afterwards, head to New York to join up with Zemo and the Masters of Evil
• Wrecker calls his dying mom in New York, just to check in
• Thunderball secretly plots to take the powers of the other three Crew members
• Spider-Woman arrives in Manhattan, only to find that the Crew were already captured by the Avengers, with exception of Wrecker, who escaped
• She also learns that in the process, they lost their powers
• Spider-Woman finds Wrecker hiding on the rooftops outside his mom's house
• He wants to see her before she dies, but he can't get past all the cops outside waiting for him to show up
• Spider-Woman follows him to the place he's staying, and retrieves the disc from him, a battle of course erupts
• As Peter heads to the airport to leave for Denver, the radio in the cab informs him of the spotting of Spider-Woman and the Wrecker downtown
• Wrecker tells Spider-Woman that he has the powers of the entire Wrecking Crew
• Spider-Man catches up to Spider-Woman, and in an attempt to stop her, knocks her temporarily unconscious
• Her mask falls off, and Spider-Man snaps photos of her face
• Wrecker shows up, and the fighting continues until the cops show up
• Wrecker grabs the disc, and retreats
• Spider-Man destroys his camera film to save Spider-Woman her identity
• In a cliffhanger ending, Wrecker returns, angrier than ever because the disc was destroyed during the fight

Low Points

• The backstory of Spider-Woman, a woman who became a fugitive, but in a plea deal opted to work for Mike Clemson, and conduct operations to earn her freedom, that appeared criminal, but ultimately were for the good of the country, sounds like the entire premise of The A-Team season five
• Peter needs to be more responsible with his money, and pay his rent
• Worse, he feels that she's being unreasonable demanding all sorts of money during his driest work season
• Like the previous issue, this story appears to take place in the past, within events occurring between multiple titles and issues include The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Uncanny X-Men, and X-Factor

Oddities

• Editor's Day Off: As Spider-Woman attempts to get away from the Wrecking Crew, she says, "Gotta gotta escape through that vent!"

• Editor's Continued Day Off: While regaling the tale of her backstory to the reader, Spider-Woman says, "It meant there was a chance I could get back together with Rachel relatively soon. So it took it."

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Retro Spins: Toto - Fahrenheit

 

Toto was formed in 1977, and brought with them a combination of pop, rock, soul, funk, hard rock, R&B, blues, and jazz. Their style led a storied history, consisting of fourteen studio albums, fifty million records sold worldwide, and multitude of massive hits.

The member's roots can be traced back to humble beginnings as studio musicians, working on albums for the likes of Steely Dan, Seals and Croft, Boz Scaggs, and Sonny and Cher. David Paich would be the first to rise to fame after contributing the majority of the writing to Scaggs album, Silk Degrees.

Rewinding a tad, Paich met Jeff Porcaro when they were in high school together and formed the band Rural Still Life. During this time, they would frequently work together on recording sessions but would often talk about starting a new band. They'd ultimately invite Scaggs alum David Hungate, and Steve Lukather to join them, also nabbing Pocaro's brother Steve, and Bobby Kimball to round out the group.

The boys signed with Columbia Records and records their self-titled debut in 1978. The problem was that at this point, they didn't have a name. Depending on who you ask, their name would come from any number of scenarios. One recount states that in order to distinguish their own demo tapes from other bands' in the studio, Jeff Porcaro wrote the word "Toto" on them. Another explanation was that singer Bobby Kimball's "real" name was Robert Toteaux, pronounced "toto". Regardless of which story you go with, the band announced at a press conference in 1980 that the name was based on the dog from The Wizard Of Oz.

Singles, Hold The Line, I'll Supply The Love, and Georgy Porgy, featuring Cheryl Lynn, quickly catapulted them up the charts. However, critics would quickly dismiss them, despite being nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

Undeterred, Toto embarked on their first tour of America, and upon completion, returned to the studio to record 1979's Hydra. Inspired by George Lucas' cult film THX 1138, the album would feature the hit 99. Despite the songs massive appeal and popularity, Lukather would later reflect on how much he hated the song, thus why it was rarely performed after the Hydra support tour.

By this point, the band were no strangers to promotional music videos. For their debut, they recorded ones for their three aforementioned hits, and for Hydra, recorded four more: 99, Hydra, St. George And The Dragon, and All Us Boys. In a way, they were helping to pave the road for an upcoming MTV and consistently released new videos to support their albums.

Toto ventured into arena rock for 1980's Turn Back. While it would later become a fan favorite, at the time it was poorly received. Lukather would later recount that while the studio let them do what they wanted for the album, upon its release essentially told them to get back to work and produce a hit record of be dropped. They responded with one of the most commercially successful albums of all time, 1982's Toto IV.

Hits Africa, Rosanna, Waiting For Your Love, Make Believe, and I Won't Hold You Back, catapulted the band into 80's superstardom. Aided by music videos for the first three noted singles, Toto was not only dominating radio stations, but MTV. Rosanna would be the biggest among the bunch, leading to multiple Grammy nominations, with the band ultimately winning six. Steve Porcaro would also contribute to the writing of Human Nature for Michael Jackson's Thriller, with several members of Toto contributing as session musicians.

At the peak of their popularity, David Hungate would opt to leave the band to pursue a career as a session musician in Nashville. This decision was mainly based on the popularity of Toto IV, which Hungate felt would prevent him from spending time with his family. Third brother, Mike Porcaro, was brought in to replace him.

Things were on a downward spiral for Bobby Kimball as well. Battling substance abuse, the singer reached a point where it severely affected his vocal performance, reliability, and ability to record during the Isolation album sessions. The decision was made to fire him in 1984. Prior to replacing him with Fergie Frederiksen, the remaining members recorded and produced the soundtrack to Dune.

Isolation wouldn't perform as expected, ultimately being labeled a failure. Though it would reach gold status, mainly aided by the singe Stranger In Town, critics and fans would pan it for simply not sounding like Toto IV. While the band toured in support, this would wrap up relatively quickly in just three months. Frederiksen was also fired at this point, with Lukather stating he simply didn't mesh with the band.

With Frederiksen out, and new member, Joseph Williams, son to composer John Williams in, Toto began work on what would become Fahrenheit. The album is noted for bringing the band back to its pop rock roots, and despite Williams singing on the majority of the songs, it would be the two Lukather sung tracks, I'll Be Over You, and Without Your Love, which would become the takeaway hits.

To me, Fahrenheit feels too polished and over produced. Perhaps one would think that's a crazy assessment, but it's overly glossy finished product kind of detracts from it. There's no room, or perhaps tolerance for imperfections from the band, and the end result is that it just feels like it's trying too hard.

Yes, it does have some good stuff on it. Among the bunch, for me, were Till The End, Can't Stand It Any Longer, I'll Be Over You, and the title track itself. It's by no means a bad album. It's just trying too hard to be perfect.

I think one of the key aspects that is missing for me is the harmony aspect that made previous hits stand out. Williams is for sure a good singer, but his voice doesn't mesh as smoothly with Lukather as Kimbell's did. The album also seems to stay in a downbeat tempo, not reaching the dance friendly levels of prior releases. Again, it's okay, but there's definitely a steady decline in quality from Toto at this point.

Tired of the rock and roll life, and the grueling touring schedule that came with it, keyboardist Steve Porcaro would opt to leave the band after the album was released. The band would opt not to replace him and instead carried on as five members.

In 1988, Toto released their final studio album of the decade, which is what I'll be listening to tomorrow. Until then, this post has plenty of words at this point.

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Comics Corner: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man 124

   

Title: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man
Issue Number: 124
Release Date: March 1987

Highlights

• Though it is a much later issue in the run, this story takes place between issues 72 and 73 of Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man
• First appearance of Ms. Tolliver, Isabel Bunsen, Sam, and NYPD officer Paul
• Doc Ock infiltrates a truck, and after ambushing it, takes its cargo of radioactive isotopes
• Reference is made to The Amazing Spider-Man Annual 15
• Peter sees the aftermath of the events on the news, and springs into action as Spider-Man
• While swinging through the city, Spider-Man's spidey sense kicks in, and he sees a man at the door to a jewelry shop
• He attempts to stop the robbery in progress, except it's the owner of the place, and he's none to happy being accosted
• Over the next few nights, Octopus continues to strike, stealing the materials he needs
• Seeing the headlines essentially stating Spider-Man is in on the crimes, Peter heads to the Bugle to give J. Jonah Jameson an earful, but is stopped by the publisher, telling him that if he doesn't have photos to not even start
• Robbie Robertson gives Peter a tip on a prototype nuclear reactor electrical component, and that Ock will probably strike there next
• Spider-Man is already on-site, and waiting, when Doc Ock infiltrates the ship with the component
• Spider-Man and Doc Ock's battle is cut short by the guards who storm the ship with gas grenades, forcing them both to retreat
• Spider-Man returns to the jewelry shop from earlier, and his spidey sense kicks in again, leading him to a manhole
• Spider-Man follows his spidey sense to Ock's underground secret lair, but it's the villain who gets the drop on him
• In the heat of the battle, Doc Ock accidentally damages his own equipment, but doesn't realize it
• The heat gauges begin to show rising temperatures in the red
• Even though Ock is knocked out, his mechanical arms stay in the fight, even as Spider-Man desperately tries to deal with the overheating equipment
• Spider-Man is able to get Ock awake, and despite his hatred for Spider-Man, he doesn't want to go up in the explosion the countdown blaring is warning about
• Enraged by having to destroy his own equipment, Ock inadvertently damages the ceiling above himself, causing the whole place to start collapsing
• Spider-Man is able to escape as the whole place comes down, but Ock doesn't
• Spider-Man thinks him dead - He's not

Low Points

• It's unnecessary to write a story that takes place over fifty issues back - There's no stakes knowing that the events occurred in the past
• It's just a convenient filler story

Oddities

• None

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Stans grading system)

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Christmas Catalogs - Sears Wish Book 1973

Hey! You want to spend the next two years looking at the fantastic Christmas catalogs produced by Sears, JCPenny, and Montgomery Ward? Cause I do! Yeah, I said two years, cause that's a lot of catalogs! Join me on most Monday's each month as I post up one of those fabulous books starting with 1970, and ending with 1989.

Look through every page, feeling every bit of nostalgia. Chuckle at the look and style of the wardrobes those zanny past decade people wore. Gawk at the toys you used to have, but long since parted ways with. Bring back all those memories of hours spent laying on the floor, combing every inch as your young mind pined over everything you wanted. Reminisce over the Christmas that followed as you unwrapped those lucky few that you got.

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