The Toy Box

Comics Corner: Web Of Spider-Man 56

Title: Web Of Spider-Man
Issue Number: 56
Release Date: November 1989

Highlights

First appearance of Skinhead, AKA Edward Cross, and Dennis
Peter creates a new web formula, but is unamused that it makes a "squoit" sound when discharged

He ponders if "That Michael Keaton guy in last night's movie ever has problems like this...?", an obvious reference to the 1989 Batman movie
His new webbing is also corrosive, and eats through the plastic he's shot it at

Reference is made to The Amazing Spider-Man 320
Peter's spidey senses activate and he's drawn to the window where he sees white supremacists burning a cross, and telling various races and ethnicities that they're not welcome in the country
Rocket Racer zooms in on his skateboard to deal with the skinheads
The cops take the scene, and make arrests, telling us in the process that the head of the skinheads was Eddie The Cross
Eddie labels Spider-Man a traitor to his own kind for helping Rocket Racer, and vows he'll pay
In a flashback, we learn that Rocket Racer, AKA Robert Farrell had just enrolled at ESU

The skinheads show up, making a scene, and beating him, until some other students intervened

Mary Jane proposes to her friends about opening her own modeling agency, to which one suggests she try auditioning for television
Reference is made to Spectacular Spider-Man 155
Peter falls asleep on the couch, and wakes up with Mary Jane next to him, snoring
The next day at ESU, the skinheads are back, and Peter overhears a nefarious plan being played out that evening at the Afro-American Building
That night, Spider-Man arrives at the building to find Rocket Racer already there

As the two argue on the side of the wall, the building explodes
Rocket Racer gives chase, intent on violence
Spider-Man follows, determine to stop it

Eddie picks up a container of Peter's experimental web fluid, and as he goes to throw it at the heroes, Rocket Racer blasts it, exploding the chemical all over the skinhead's face and body

Eddie turns into a shapeless gelatinous goo
Rocket Racer bails, and Spider-Man gives chase
When Spider-Man returns to the lab, Eddie is gone

In an epilogue ending, Eddie waits for his crew at an abandoned junkyard, no flesh to speak of on his body, and proclaiming to be Skinhead the White Redeemer
In a second epilogue ending, we learn who the mysterious buyer of Daily Bugle stock is, Thomas Fireheart, and he only needs 5% more to be the majority owner

Low Points

For whatever reason, Spider-Man stops Rocket Racer from attacking the skinheads
The recommended chronological reading order of Spider-Man is off

Not only does Peter and Mary Jane still live with Aunt May after being offered the loft at Harry and Liz Osborne's building, but the story makes reference to Robbie Robertson falling out of the helicopter "yesterday", and missing "today"
To make matters worse, Harry calls, and Peter tells him that if he's calling to remind him that they agreed to help him move...

Oddities

Editor's Day Off: As Peter sits on the couch pondering the deaths of his Uncle Ben, Eduardo Lobo, the missing Robbie Robertson and Tombstone, as well as the looming news of Nathan Lubensky's health, he thinks, "I doubt Nathan's death would get even that much attention. No, no matter how I came at it..."

The extra "no" isn't necessarily wrong, but it is unnecessary in the sentence structure
It's like people who say, "I do do that." One "do" is sufficient

Rather than just web Rocket Racer up, Spider-Man punches him while lecturing him about violence
Why does Peter keep his experimental web fluid in the lab at ESU?

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

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Retro Spins: Tina Turner - Break Every Rule

Before we start: A lot of changes have been occurring for me both personally and professionally as of late, which are taking up a good chunk of my time. This is necessitating I pull my focus away from things I'd rather be doing, such as this blog. While I hope to keep up with daily Retro Spins, the reality is that this may not be a feasible goal. If you see a sudden drop off in posts, it's not because I wanted to stop, but rather that other matters simply took over my time.

Man, 2021 feels like a lifetime ago, yet it was way back then that I did my first Retro Spin on Tina Turner. Over the next two days, I'll be going through her remaining two 80's albums between today and tomorrow, starting off with 1986's Break Every Rule.

Riding the waves of her 1984 comeback, Private Dancer, Tina was enjoying a resurgence in popularity, and financial gain. Further, she was hammering out the hits with Better Be Good To Me, What's Love Got To Do With It, Private Dancer, Let's Stay Together and Show Some Respect which all peaked on the Billboard Hot 100. This was followed by her duet with Bryan Adams on It's Only Love, for his forthcoming Reckless album. Keeping with the trend, it too performed well on the Billboard.

It was around this time that director George Miller and co-writer Terry Hayes conceived the character of Aunty Entity for an upcoming film, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. For this, they had one person in mind. Tina. She would be the first and only person they approached with the role. Not only did she appear in the 1985 box office hit but contributed to the soundtrack with We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome), and One Of The Living, which both also flew up the Billboard charts.

Tina Turner was back, bigger than ever, and ready to conquer! But how do you top Private Dancer, a top ten album in nine countries?

Unfortunately, you don't.

Break Every Rule saw Tina working with big names, Phil Collins, Steve Winwood, Bryan Adams, Rupert Hine, Mark Knopfler, and many, many more during the 1986 recording sessions. Despite not topping her previous album, out of the album's eleven tracks, eight were released as singles, either in Europe or the United States or both; and all peaked on one form of chart or another. It would further go on to reach multi-platinum status across several countries, landing in the top ten in all countries except Australia where it landed at number eleven, and France, where it didn't chart at all.

Playing through it, the harder edged Tina Turner continues to come through, belting out powerful vocals to thunderous guitars. It's the perfect continuation to Private Dancer, evolving from pop to rock.

With that said, it's not a perfect album, for me at least. I think its predecessor has far better tracks, and as a result more longevity. But again, how do you top Private Dancer? That's like asking Bryan Adams how he outperforms Reckless, or Toto where they go from Toto IV. That doesn't mean everything after is necessarily bad. It just can't be outdone.

The album is a good listen. If nothing else, it's great to hear Turner's voice coming through the speakers. Like an old friend who you haven't visited in a long time. But I will still call out the standouts for me which are the title track, What You Get Is What You See, and Typical Male.

As things often happen, her downward turn continued on, with her final album in the 80's, 1989's Foreign Affair performing far worse in comparison. While tomorrow's post wraps up my journey through this particular discography, it's far from where things ended, and doesn't even touch on the legacy beginning which led up to it all.

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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: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Mother's Milk

Before we start: A lot of changes have been occurring for me both personally and professionally as of late, which are taking up a good chunk of my time. This is necessitating I pull my focus away from things I'd rather be doing, such as this blog. While I hope to keep up with daily Retro Spins, the reality is that this may not be a feasible goal. If you see a sudden drop off in posts, it's not because I wanted to stop, but rather that other matters simply took over my time.

June of 1988 was a tragic time for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Despite the success of their third album, The Uplift Mofo Party Plan, all of this would be overshadowed by the death of founding member, Hillel Slovak, who lost his battle to heroin rehabilitation. The band would recruit John Frusciante on guitars and be forced to also find a new drummer in Chad Smith, when Jack Irons departed the band over the grief of Slovak's death.

Though it would serve to be their most popular album to date, reaching platinum certification in the USA, and peaking at number fifty-two on the Billboard 200, Mother's Milk would receive mixed reviews. While some would praise it as a pivotal album for the Peppers, serving as their breakthrough, others would ne unimpressed with the excessive distortion found throughout it.

There's a drastic shift in sound with Mother's Milk. While it still features that traditional Flea funk, led by Kiedis's rhymed-rap, spoken-word, and melodic rock vocals, it comes with an edgier metal guitar from Frusciante. I do, however, hear, and agree with the critics that several songs are hindered by heavy, and candidly, unnecessary distortions. Overall, it's just a very loud album.

With that said, this is most definitely the sound of the Peppers that fans of their 1991 released Blood Sugar Sex Magik will most likely resonate with the most. As for me, I'm not necessarily feeling it. But in truth, I was never really into them, even when they took off like a rocket across airwaves and MTV. I will though give credit to the tune Knock Me Down, which was a definite standout for me.

If nothing else, it was interesting to go on a journey with them through their roots, evolution, and ultimate seeing how they blossomed and peaked the following decade. Am I a fan? No, probably not. But again, I never really was to begin with. My buying their 80's albums was led more so by curiosity, and not by the desire to actually find something I would like.

Following the release of Blood Sugar Sex Magik, the sudden fame and success didn't sit well with Frusciante, causing him to leave the band in 1992. The Peppers would find themselves in a period of continuous guitarist turnover. Further, Kiedis would relapse for five years into addiction, triggered by a dentist visit which saw him prescribed Tramadol, triggering a physical and psychological craving.

For 1995's One Hot Minute, Dave Navarro would join on guitar but be fired in 1998 when he fell into addiction himself. Though it's arguable that his firing wasn't necessarily a result of his addiction, but rather that Kiedis, at this time, was attempting to once again get sober.

Frusciante would rejoin in his place, and they'd release their biggest album of all time, 1999's Californication. This was followed by two more albums with the lineup of Kiedis, Flea, Frusciante, and Smith, but then the guitarist would quit again to pursue electronic music. This was further led by a proposed two-year hiatus from Flea, where it became apparent that the band was no longer getting along.

The Peppers would reconvene with 2011's I'm With You, but this time with Josh Klinghoffer on guitars. Though he would stay with them for their follow album, 2016's The Getaway, the band would want to invite Frusciante back into the fold by 2019. Since then, they've release two more studio albums, both in 2022, Unlimited Love, and Return Of The Dream Canteen.

The band is purportedly working on new material for release in 2027, but as of this writing, October 12, 2026, there hasn't been much information given about it. Though they also remain active, they are not presently on tour. But should a new album come to fruition, or I suppose even if it doesn't, future tours can be expected.

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Christmas Catalogs - Sears Wish Book 1978

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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