The Toy Box

Comics Corner: Web Of Spider-Man 54

Title: Web Of Spider-Man
Issue Number: 54
Release Date: September 1989

Highlights

First appearance of Susan Ransome
The gang war between Los Hermanos Lobos and Kingpin is in full swing
The Lobo brothers make their way to Kingpin's office to confront the man as he sits motionless in his chair
Reference is made to The Spectacular Spider-Man 153
Spider-Man is struggling after being injected with a virus by J. Jonah Jameson (Chameleon)
Detective Frank Farrow leads Joy Mercado and Nick Katzenberg through the wreckage of Kingpin's tower in the aftermath of the battle
Turns out that Kingpin was a robot decoy, and the Lobo's tore it apart in rage, leaving another message in blood on the wall

Kingpin - You can run but you cannot hide"

A sick Spider-Man makes his way home, but not before Nick snaps a picture of him peaking through the window of Kingpin's office

Peter sneaks in through the basement, only to come face to face with all the boarders who tell him there's been an accident

Peter passes out before they can go into detail

Peter wakes up two days later in bed, with Mary Jane near him

Mary Jane has changed her hair style

Peter sees the photo in the paper, labeling Spider-Man as connected to the gang war
Peter and Mary Jane go to visit Kristy in the hospital, and learn from her doctor, Susan Ransome, that she has signs of bulimia and anorexia

Mary Jane explodes on Peter when he asks what she thinks of the situation

She's tired of everyone's problems, and shouts that nobody cares about hers; living in Aunt May's house, her career in the toilet, and her life savings tied up in litigation over being evicted

Spider-Man confronts Nick, and scares the whereabouts of Jameson out of him, learning he's at his home
Spidey heads to Jameson's house, and spies on him, but he's not fooling anyone, and is invited in to chat

Chameleon attempts to kill him, and reveals his true form in the process

Chameleon escapes, and in the aftermath, Spidey finds the tied up real J. Jonah Jameson

Low Points

None

Oddities

None

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

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Retro Spins: Sabrina - Sabrina

In 2006, Justin Lee Collins took to the channel four airwaves in the UK with a mission. Bring Back...One Hit Wonders. For those of you who haven't seen the show, you're missing out, or I suppose better stated, missed out, since it came and went between 2005 and 2009. During its four-year run, Collins went out into the world to reunite cast members of pop culture, such as Star Trek, Star Wars, A-Team, Grange Hill, Fame, and Dallas, and of course, artists who produced some of music's greatest one hit wonders.

It was during this particular show that I saw a snippet for Boy (Summertime Love) by Sabrina. Looking up the song, I found it to be pretty okay and decided the album would also make a unique one for my collection. It's been sitting in said collection since April of 2022.

Born Sabrina Salerno in Genoa, Liguria, Italy, she lived with her aunt until the age of fifteen, when she went to live with her mother. It was here that she joined a Catholic choir and ultimately ended up forming her own pop group. At the age of sixteen (1985), she won a local beauty contest, which garnered her the opportunity to start a modeling career. This was followed by a stint in the prime-time series, Premiatissima.

By the age of sixteen, she released her first single, Sexy Girl, which benefited by being sung in English, which helped it become a modest international success, while also reaching the top twenty in Italy. This was followed by her 1987 studio album debut, Sabrina.

The track, Boys (Summertime Love), would climb the France and Switzerland charts, nabbing the number one spot, creating an instant breakthrough for her. One would argue that this was aided by the risqué music video which Sabrina filmed in a bikini that conveniently slipped down multiple times to reveal her nipples. Of course, a music video like that would never air in the USA or MTV. Of course, if you really wanted to check it out, you could purchase the VHS, Sabrina: 6 Sensual Videos, or know someone who already has it...

Since its release, Sabrina, the album, has gone on to sell over 1.5 million copies worldwide. Despite this, she's still relatively unknown in the USA.

With exception of the single, I really had no expectations when playing the album. I figured it would be mediocre at best, and that assessment turned out to be way off the mark.

Not only did it land with Boys (Summertime Love), but also Hot Girl, Get Ready (Holiday Rock), and Kiss Me. Though the second half is heavily weighed down with cover tracks, admittedly, her take on Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan's Lady Marmalade, made popular by funk band Labelle in 1974, is pretty tight.

Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for her take on Prince's Kiss, nor Rod Stewart's Da Ya Think I'm Sexy. She does, however, give a pretty good go of The Knack's My Sharonna, but since it doesn't stray much from the original, it's hard to prop it up as anything worthwhile. I suppose in hindsight, that can also be said about Lady Marmalade, which also doesn't deviate far from its predecessor.

Overall, though, it's a pretty solid pop album, if not a little dated by 1987 standards. Regardless of Michael Jackson's Bad tearing up the charts that year, as a whole, the industry was moving more towards hair and heavy metal bands. So, to have a pop album of this caliber was a bit rare at this point in time.

Fun Fact: The German television show, Formel Eins, featured Sabrina as a guest artist in 1987, where she performed, Hot Girl. Dancing on stage in the background are three men, two of which are Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan, soon to be known to the world as Milli Vanilli.

Following her immediate and immense popularity, Sabrina wanted more creative control over her music, and to transition away from the manufactured, pure pop and television-bound "showgirl" image managed by Silvio Berlusconi’s Fininvest network. For this, she left her label, Five Records, and signing with Videogram. Under this new banner, she released her 1988 follow-up, Super Sabrina, but that's where we'll pick up tomorrow.

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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.

Retro Spins: Keith Richards - Talk Is Cheap

With Keith Richards deep in quarks with bandmate, Mick Jagger, the future of the Rolling Stones was anyone's guess at this point. Jagger had seemingly moved on to a solo career, releasing his 1985 debut, She's The Boss, and 1987's Primitive Cool, focusing minimal effort on the band, to the point where he wasn't even willing to tour anymore. Well, with the Stones anyway.

It would be his work on the latter album, and subsequent tour for it, that led Richards to sign with Virgin Records, and dabble in his own solo career, releasing his debut, Talk Is Cheap in 1988. While it would perform relatively well, peaking at number twenty-four on the Billboard 200, it wouldn't produce any Billboard Hot 100 singles. In fact, as a solo artist, he's not had any singles chart in the USA.

My initial thought when it first started up was that it gave off a Sting vibe. However, this quickly changed. In comparison to Jagger's more pop friendly sound, which seemingly embraces the times, Richards stays in his comfort zone. He knows roots rock, and that's relatively what you get from Talk Is Cheap.

Admittedly, I often found myself zoning out through it, only to then pick up on it again with my ears and wonder how it could possibly still be going. For a fifty-minute album, it felt like an eternity. This was by no means a testament to the quality of the album. Rather, I found myself more intrigued with the history of events of the Stones around this time.

From what I did pay attention to, Struggle, and How I Wish were the standout tracks for me. But ultimately, and being straight forward, this is not a CD I would have bought randomly. It's only in my collection because of Keith Richards brand recognition. Without that, I wouldn't have wasted my time.

The following year, Richards and Jagger would kiss and make up, returning to the studio for the Rolling Stone's comeback album, Steel Wheels. Since then, while he's returned to the solo life for 1992's Main Offender, and 2015's Crosseyed Heart.

It would ultimately be his solo career signing that would lead the Stones to leave Sony, and switch to Virgin Records in 1991. Though it would be a financially beneficial move for the band, creativity wise, it would be considered a low point for them in their storied career. Of course, as everyone knows, that hasn't hurt them much, and they remain very much iconic legends.

As for Richard's solo career, it simply wasn't something meant to be. Though his albums charted decently, they were nowhere near the Stone's achievements, and further, far below the expectations of such a pedigree artist. But I suppose you could say that's relatively what also happened to Jagger and his solo career. At the end of the day, it's their unity that produced results, and not their individual efforts.

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