Comics Corner: Secret Wars II 7

   

Title: Secret Wars II
Issue Number: 7
Release Date: January 1986

Highlights

• First appearance of the Legion Accursed, which consists of Juggernaut, Electro, Baron Mordo, Absorbing Man, Titania, Abomination, Doc Ock, Rhino, Vanisher, Dr. Doom, White Queen, Kraven the Hunter, Silver Samurai, Vulture, Hobgoblin, Wizard, Ultron, Wrecker, Kang, Anaconda, Batroc, Crimson Dynamo, Diablo, Graviton, Living Laser, Mole Man, Blastaar, and Ringmaster
• Also the first appearance of Judy, Allen, and Mephisto's demon, Bitterhorn
• First appearance of Chelsea, New York, and Boulder, Colorado
• Mephisto has created a machine that intercepted the power Beyonder drained in doing away with Death in the previous issue
• Reference is made to Marvel Super Hero Secret Wars, and "recent issues" of The Thing
• Mephisto looks to drain Beyonder's power, much like Dr. Doom did during the events of Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars, and in doing so, weaken him enough to destroy him
• Death tells Mephisto the death of a God is sweet, and he ponders if she means his death or Beyonders
• Beyonder sits on an island, doing nothing more than thinking when he's met by a boater named Ed Strunk
• Ben Grimm is also on an island working on a film, when his pilot, "Hopper" Hertneky arrives with a case of beer
• After drinking, the subject of Beyonder is brought up, which sets Ben off
• Ed tells other people about Beyonder just sitting there thinking, and they too want to do that, so he brings them to the island
• Bitterhorn is sent by Mephisto to gather up villains willing to go up against Beyonder in exchange for whatever they ask
• Unknown to the villains, with each agreeing handshake with Bitterhorn, he's imprinting them with an invisible sign which will absorb all energy from Beyonder if they touch into the beyondersbane, and surge it back into him, ideally to kill him
• If Mephisto's plan works, not only will Beyonder be destroyed, but the entire Earth, and 1/3 of the universe
• Spider-Man contemplates trying Beyonder's think system
• As Mephisto's plan goes into its final stages underneath the island, up top Beyonder decides it's too crowded, and will leave
• Mephisto panics at the thought of Beyonder leaving before they can strike, and sets a diversion in place to keep him there by way of manipulating Ben Grimm with disguises of multiple people from his past to goad him into attacking Beyonder
• Mephisto also gets Ben to sign a contract that grants him increased power, but costs him his soul
• With Beyonder distracted long enough by Ben, Mephisto sends his army of villains in to attack
• Coming to his senses, Ben turns his attention to the villains instead of Beyonder
• Seeing Ben use his increased strength to defeat all the villains, Mephisto panics, and rips up the contract
• With his plan failed, the beyondersbane explodes, and seeing his failure, Death leaves Mephisto by himself
• Beyonder decides that his role may be to show people what their true role in their existence is

Low Points

• The story continues in New Mutants 36, The Amazing Spider-Man 273, X-Men 202, Peter Parker, and The Spectacular Spider-Man 111 before coming back to Secret Wars II 8

Oddities

• None

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

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Retro Spins: The Psychedelic Furs - Book Of Days

I'm not going to lie. My run-through of The Psychedelic Furs 80's discography has not been the exciting journey I had hoped it would be. I was expecting, and perhaps shouldn't have been, to come away with a lot of hidden gems, and an appreciation for a "new" band. Needless to say, that has not happened, and with me on their last entry of the decade, I don't suspect it's going to at this point.

As noted yesterday, drummer Vince Ely returning to the band after 1987's Midnight To Midnight. This was followed by the 1988 compilation, All This And More, which featured the new song, All That Money Wants. This was followed by 1989's Book Of Days.

While the album did produce the singles, Should God Forget, and House. However, as a whole, received mixed reviews. It would be followed by a drastic drop in sales, and chart success, with Book only reaching 74 in the UK, and 138 in the USA, making it their least successful album to date.

I'm just going to call it what it is. Boring. As track after track passed by, I found myself less and less interested, frankly just wanting it to end so that I could move on from the Furs. Even the singles were nothing to write home about.

With an average run time of four and a half to five minutes per track, while Book takes advantage of the added length of your average CD, it results in songs which seem to drone on unnecessarily long. In comparison, their songs on previous albums typically hovered around the three and a half minutes to three minutes forty-five-seconds mark.

The album just wasn't for me, and as a whole, I'm pretty disappointed in the overall experience of the Furs. I wanted to like, I really did, but I just couldn't get into the majority of their music.

The Furs would release 1991's World Outside and then take an extended hiatus. Singer Richard Butler would begin collaborating with Richard Fortus of Pale Divine, on what was supposed to be his first solo album. However, this would evolve into the band, Love Spit Love, after recruiting Butler's brother (and fellow Fur), Tim, as well as Frank Ferrer.

Love Spit Love released their self-titled debut in 1994, and followed it up with 1997's, Trysome Eatone. They would spend the remainder of the 90's touring but announced they would be splitting up in 2000. Frank and Richard would later join the Axel rose iteration of Guns N' Roses around 2006. While Fortus remains in the band, Ferrer departed in 2025.

Richard Butler, Tim Butler, and John Ashton would start back up as The Psychedelic Furs in 2000, bringing in Fortus and Ferrer. Together, they released the live album, with new studio track, Beautiful Chaos: Greatest Hits Live in 2001. Richard would also release his first, and only solo album to date, in 2006.

The Furs wouldn't return to the studio for a full album until 2020's Made Of Rain. However, by this point the lineup had switched, featuring the Butler Brothers, along with returning prior members Paul Garisto, and Mars Williams, and new members Rich Good, and Amanda Kramer. While sales didn't justify any certifications, the album did see the band return to the top twenty in the UK and USA.

While the band continues to tour these days, it's with a once again revised lineup, which features the Butlers, Good, Kramer, and Zack Alferd. Garisto departed shortly after the aforementioned album in 2020, and sadly, Mars Williams passed away in 2023.

Despite my personal preference of the band's music, I will whole heartedly admit they cemented a solid history in the annals of rock. Heck, it's what brought me to their music to begin with. As noted in a previous post, the band didn't have too many hits, but their influence on other artists during that time, and since, has become their greatest legacy.

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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: Web Of Spider-Man 13

   

Title: Web Of Spider-Man
Issue Number: 13
Release Date: April 1986

Highlights

• First appearance of Buddy Corbett, Friel, and Mike
• Seeing Spider-Man webbing above, Buddy Corbett panics, and runs across the street
• He's hit by a truck, which Spider-Man webs in hopes of slowing it down
• Friel, a young photographer who wants to be like Peter Parker snaps photos, and races to the Bugle to sell them
• J. Jonah Jameson praises him for catching Spider-Man on film looking like the menace he is
• Reporters swarm Buddy's room to interview him, and his doctor attempts to shoe them away
• J. Jonah Jameson arrives at the hospital with Peter Parker, intent on meeting with Buddy and the press
• When stopped by the same doctor, Jameson demands him to get out of his way, tells the guy he's on the board of directors for the hospital, and that if he doesn't move, he'll learn that E.R. also stands for "easily replaced"
• Buddy asks Jonah when he's getting out of the hospital because he doesn't have insurance, but Jonah assures him he'll be taking care of all the bills
• In an attempt to stop robbers of an ATM, Spider-Man is approached by a mob who condemn him, and then physically assault him, tearing his black suit
• Now both his suits are damaged, the previous being last issue where is red and blue suit was caught in the fire in his apartment
• The news also blasts Spider-Man, sending Peter into a rage
• Mary Jane calls, and tries to calm him down, but to no avail
• Ben Urich figures out that Buddy is a con artists, and in other cities went by different names
• With the gig up, Buddy confesses he was running a scam for someone, and when he saw Spider-Man panicked because he thought the hero was on to him
• Spider-Man crashes through the window of J. Jonah Jameson's office, intent on punching the man in his face for all his hateful articles which turned the public against him
• J.Jonah Jameson informs Spider-Man that he merely wrote the news as the public percieved it, and thanks Spider-Man for the compliment that he's such a good writer that even he, Spider-Man believes it now
• Jameson then tells Spider-Man that maybe he is a menace, he is, after all, there to beat him up
• Robbie informs Jameson of what Urich found out, and how bad it will look for Jameson since he publicly announced he would foot all the hospital bills
• Because he is a journalist at heart, Jonah tells him to run the story

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• Peter says he doesn't have the money or insurance to repair his apartment - Why would he have to pay those costs? It would be a Landlord responsibility for the structural repairs

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

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Christmas Catalogs - Montgomery Ward 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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