Comics Corner: Web Of Spider-Man 8

   

Title: Web Of Spider-Man
Issue Number: 8
Release Date: November 1985

Highlights

• First appearance of Smithville Thunderbolt, AKA Fred Hopkins, Roxanne DeWinter, Ludlow Grimes, Marge, and Irving Stein
• First appearance of the location Smithville
• The prologue takes place thirty years ago
• After a rough day at work, Fred finds a meteorite piece that gives him super powers
• Fred makes a costume for himself out of old long johns, and sets to task on avenging the weak
• Robbie declines to buy Peter's photos of Spider-Man, saying he'd have to publish a Spider-Man story every day for the next year and a half to use all the photos he already has
• Robbie sends Peter Parker to Pennsylvania to get some photos of the new hero
• Just as he arrives in town, Peter learns of a fire at the old Elk Lodge, and immediately leaps into action as Spider-Man
• As Thunderbolt rescues the kids inside, and exits out the front, Spider-Man goes in through the back, and is jumped by the towering giant, Ludlow Grimes
• When Ludlow realizes Spider-Man isn't Thunderbolt, he simply leaves him alone
• Thinking it was Thunderbolt who jumped him, Spider-Man throws a tracer on the man
• Roxanne DeWinter sees Peter with his camera, and yells at him that he's on her turf
• When Roxanne finds out Peter is with the Bugle, she buys him a soda, and says the two should work together, mainly so that she can get her own foot in the door at the Bugle
• Peter declines, telling her he works better alone
• Peter follows his tracer to Fred's house, and confronts him, finding his Thunderbolt suit, and taking his tracer back
• Fred explains that over time his powers have faded, and he's needed to use his scientific brain to develop an exobody, which not only give the appearance of muscles, but does also increase his strength
• To stay relevant, Fred has been creating his own disasters, ones which he knew he could control
• Fred explains how he used smoke, but no real fire to give the illusion of danger at the lodge, while also weakening the wall so he could break through it
• Spider-Man's senses tingle, and he hears a noise coming from the front door, whipping it open, Roxanne snaps a photo of Fred in his costume without his mask on
• In a cliffhanger ending, Ludlow crashes through the wall, pronouncing that he (too) is the Smithville Thunderbolt

Low Points

• The dialog in the prologue for the story is so choppy, with many panels only having one or two words, it's difficult to read
• Racial slurs in this issue - Not cool, Marvel

Oddities

• None

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

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Retro Spins: Pete Townshend - White City: A Novel

 

Despite only being 1985, Pete Townshend's, White City: A Novel, would be his last. A concept album at its core, focusing on the story of low-income housing, and the families within White City, a district near where the artist grew up.

To support the record, Townshend starred alongside Andrew Wilde, and Frances Barber in the film, White City: The Music Movie, directed by Richard Lowenstein. Though it was dubbed an interesting movie, overall, it was critically panned, widely considered a poor movie with an incoherent story. To be fair, most critics felt the same way about The Who's Tommy, which became a cult classic.

While the guitar work on the opening track gave me the feel goods, and hooked me, admittedly, the overall premise was goofy and fell flat. I'm sorry, but singing for five minutes about, Give Blood, comes off more as a commercial for the Red Cross than a serious song.

As the album played out, I frankly lost interest in it, instead more interested to peruse the many Christmas related cartoons which would soon fill my television as December 2025 approached. I checked in mentally here and there, and while I could appreciate the solid instrumentation, the songs just weren't doing it for me.

When White City ended, I was actually a bit surprised, because the whole listening session felt relatively short. This wasn't a bad thing, all things considered.

It's a flat ending for me in my trip with Pete Townshend, but it's also something I'm not too upset about. I picked this album up for a buck on a whim at a local used CD store. It's not like I actively sought it out, so I'm okay with this outcome. Would I have like something hidden within it? Sure, but no big loss. 

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Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.

Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man Annual 19

   

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man Annual
Issue Number: 19
Release Date: July 1985

Highlights

• First appearance of Alistaire Smythe, Johnson, the Spider Slayer VII, and the drug dealers, Lenny, and Charlie
• Reference is made to The Amazing Spider-Man 259
• Peter has an evening dinner at Mary Janes, but he doesn't show up on time, causing her meal to be cold, burnt, and overall ruined
• Arriving two hours late, Mary Jane goes off on Peter, and ends up slamming the door in his face
• Reference is made to Web Of Spider-Man 2
• Alistaire Smythe, Spencer's son, has taken on work with Kingpin, using his money to carefully plan his revenge against Spider-Man for killing his father
• The hat which Kingpin returned to Spider-Man in Web Of Spider-Man 2 was repaired by Alistaire, and he put a tracer in it, hoping to use it to finally figure out Spider-Man's true identity
• Kingpin terminates Smythe's employment
• Smythe sets to his plan to kidnap whoever has the hat, and lure Spider-Man to him
• Mary Jane sits at the G&W Restaurant with Aunt May and Aunt Anna, while Peter searches all over for Mary Jane, just wanting to talk to her
• Just before Smythe arrives at the restaurant with his new Spider Slayer, Anna borrows Aunt May's hat, putting it on
• Smythe crashes through the building, grabbing Aunt Anna and Mary Jane
• Smythe deduces that Mary Jane is Spider-Man
• Having gotten the hat from Kingpin, Spider-Man concludes he's behind the kidnapping, and storms his tower
• Using this distraction to run his operations, Kingpin calmly directs Spider-Man towards Smythe's location in Soho
• Seeing that Smythe will kill her Aunt if she doesn't admit she's Spider-Man, Mary Jane tell him what he wants to hear, and tells him she'll show him where her endoskeleton suit is
• Mary Jane convinces Smythe to get her a camera from a local store so that she can film his victory, and leaves a note while doing so
• Spider-Man rescues Anna, and she quips that he's such a nice and polite young man
• Mary Jane's note leads the cops to Aunt Anna, just as she's rescued, and they tell Spider-Man the note informed that she was luring Smythe to the Bugle
• Realizing that Mary Jane is just playing games, Smythe throws her to her death, but she's rescued in the nick of time by Spider-Man
• Spider-Man destroys the Spider Slayer by tricking Smythe into crashing into the power lines for the subway
• Peter tells Mary Jane that he realizes now they can never be together because it would just put her in constant danger

Low Points

• The story is a bit over the top, and the artwork inconsistent from panel to panel

Oddities

• None

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

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Christmas Catalogs - Sears Wish Book 1971

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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