The Toy Box

Comics Corner: Daredevil Annual 5

Title: Daredevil Annual
Issue Number: 5
Release Date: December 1989

Highlights

Story I: A Friend In Need

A story featuring the writing of Gerry Conway, the art of Mark Bagley, and inks by Sam de la Rosa
First appearance of Leo Baxter, Serpent God, Wally Jordan, and Clarisse Jordan
Leo Baxter is inside a local cafe and market complaining to the waitress about Dr. Tyrone's clinic

Specifically, how they have his pal of twenty years, Wally, and won't let the two of them see each other
Daredevil catches the story as he enters, pretending he's not paying attention

As Leo heads outside, Daredevil picks up on the heartbeats of multiple people

Outside, Leo is surrounded by serpent men and women
As Leo is attacked, Daredevil intervenes
Leo goes for a shotgun in his jeep, but Daredevil knocks it away with his club as the man aims and fires at one of the reptiles

As the serpents retreat, Leo begs Daredevil to help get his pal back
We get the origin of Wally and Leo's youthful friendship

Turns out that the two were alcoholics, and eventually Wally got married to Clarisse, much to Leo's dismay
Wally continued to drink, was also abusive, and ended up in the hospital, after getting out, he sought out Dr. Tyrone to get help
Daredevil turns him down

As Leo leaves, Dr. Strange appears, and makes the same request of the man without fear
Reference is made to The Punisher Annual 2, and The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual 9
Viper goes to Dr. Tyrone, and explains how her facility has been destroyed by The Punisher and Moon Knight

Dr. Tyrone invites her to stay
In her head, she seethes over accepting a man's help, and vows to kill him so she won't be indebted to him

Dr. Tyrone reveals to Viper that he's really Tyrannus, and shows her his pet, the captive Spider-Man
Tyrannus intends on using Viper as a vessel to resurrect Set
Outside, Leo infiltrates the compound

Tyrannus is informed of his presence, and sends Spider-Man to retrieve his head
We see through Spider-Man's eyes that the spell he's under reflects Leo as a monster instead of his human self, causing Spidey to attack
Daredevil intervenes, and as Leo runs for safety, he comes face to face with Wally, now a serpent
Meanwhile, Spider-Man and Daredevil's battle destroys the damn controls, sending a flood of water towards the compound
Dr. Strange saves Leo by trapping the other lizards in the crimson bands of cyttorak

During all of this, Tyrannus begins the summoning resurrection of Set

Strange intervenes, but the incantation is done
Except it's not Set, it's a demon from the dimension of Dormammu
Tyrannus doesn't care, as long as the being is bound to his control

Tyrannus's mind control over Viper slips loose, and she flings him into the pentagram on the floor, causing him to also loose control of the demon that swallows him whole

Strange sends the demon back to its domain

With Tyrannus gone, Spider-Man is once again himself
In one last act, Dr. Strange returns all the lizard folks back to their human forms
Leo tells Wally that he can now go back to his wife and kids, but Wally tells him they don't want him around, and further, he doesn't want to be there

Leo gets angry when Wally also tells him they were never friends, just drinking buddies, and tries to shoot him
Daredevil once again stops him

Story II: Role Reversal

Art by Jim Lee

Story III: Super Senses Comparison

Art by Mark Bagley

Story IV: The Rescue

John Romita Jr., inked by Klaus Janson

Story IV: The Redeemed And The Condemned

Art by Wilce Portacio, inked by Al Milgrom

Story V: Saga Of The Serpent Crown Chapter VII

Art by Mark Bagley, inked by Keith Williams

Low Points

Story I: A Friend In Need

Odd ending

The remainder of the annual has nothing to do with Spider-Man, and I didn't feel like reading another twenty-nine pages

Oddities

None

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

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Retro Spins: Rod Stewart - Tonight I'm Yours

Rod Stewart had always been an artist that was adaptable to the times, reinventing himself as the years passed to stay relevant. As a result, it's not surprising that with the dawn of new age and synth pop that he'd immediately take to this new style with his 1981 released, Tonight I'm Yours. The album not only featured a more radio friendly sound but shifted drastically in musical style to fit in with the shifting landscape, while also offering fans a bit of old with the new.

Further, Stewart would immediately embrace the age of MTV by filming four music videos in support of the album. All would quickly be put into rotation on the infant channel.

As the for the album, it performed better than its predecessor, going multi-platinum in Australia, Canada, and the USA, while also reaching gold in the UK. With it came the hit single, Young Turks, which peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at number five, as well as the title track itself, which landed at number twenty. As 1981 switched to 1982, How Long would join then on the Billboard at number forty--nine.

Rod Stewart did indeed embrace the synth pop and new wave era. Very clearly evident by the opening title track, and Young Turks. These are peppy, catchy, and fast paced, easily drawing me in.

With that said he doesn't fully transition his music to this style. The majority of the album is filled with his familiar soft rock sound. This, I suppose, would help fans of his traditional style to transition with him gradually, versus suffering system shock from a full 180.

It's a decent album, and it's great to hear Stewart in general. Like sitting down to chat with an old friend from the past. It's just easy to get into the conversation, or in this case, the music. The familiarity makes you comfortable.

Typically, Stewart returned to the studio, producing a new album annually. However, this time he turned his attention to a massive world tour, and in the process, a live project, releasing Absolutely Live in 1982. It was also during this time that he left long time label, Riva Records, signing with Warner Bros.

During this time, his backing band would also shift, with long time drummer, Carmine Appice opting to leave. Additionally, he found himself needing a new keyboardist right before his tour commenced. These sudden shifts resulted in a bit of a musical shift for Stewart, resulting in his follow-up album, Body Wishes (1983) being heavily synthesized.

That's where I 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.

And now, 31 Days Of Halloween!

When I saw the trailer for Army Of Darkness in 1992, I immediately wanted to see the film. But having a mom who was quite adherent to the rating system of films, I wasn't allowed to. Still, it remained in the back of my mind, and eventually, I got my own copy on VHS. What I didn't know at the time was the film's tie into Evil Dead. How could I? There was no regular use of the internet at this point. No search engines or Wiki's to cross reference. Honestly, at this point, I can't even recall when or how I figured it out, but ultimately, I did end up getting the first two films and finally watching the trilogy in order.

What's not to love about the character Ash? He's cocky, confident, and yet at the same time his arrogance gets him into more trouble than a more reserved person would find themselves in. Somehow, all of this serves as additions to his strengths as he goes toe to toe with the demonic undead. Did it cost him his hand? Absolutely. Did he get a really cool chainsaw to put in its place? Heck yeah, he did!

Comics Corner: The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual 9

Title: The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual
Issue Number: 9
Release Date: September 1989

Highlights

Story I: The Serpent In The Shadow

First appearance of Brother Elton
Many folks are flocking to the West Side Armory to get Dr. Tyrone's miracle cure for drugs and alcohol addiction, which Spider-Man is taking photos of in hopes of selling to the Bugle
Dr. Tyrone administers the injection to a man on the stage, and he professes that his shakes and chills have gone away instantly
Spidey spots Cloak, and when he attempts to get answers as to why he's there, Cloak vanishes
Dagger intervenes, but it's only a distraction for Cloak to fold Spider-Man inside of him, and both of them vanish
From a monitor, Ghaur watches Dagger, and proclaims she'll make a good bride for Set, and to mark her
In a conversation between Cloak and Dagger, we learn that Cloak was there to seek out the cure from Dr. Tyrone for himself
Dr. Tyrone turns out to be Tyrannus, and he takes Dagger captive
Reference is made to The Amazing Spider-Man Annual 23, Captain America 344, and Marvel Team-Up 111
As Peter develops his film, he notices a serpent tattoo on Brother Elton's wrist, and heads to the Armory for answers
Spider-Man intercepts Cloak on the way, and learns of Dagger being taken
Spider-Man sneaks inside the Armory, and unknown to him, Cloak phases through the walls and floors, following Dagger's light directly to her
Dr. Tyrone tells Cloak to get him a certain book in a museum, or else he won't release Dagger from her comatose state
Meanwhile, Spider-Man comes across junkies strapped to gurneys, and wonders why they are being restrained
Within mere moments, Cloak returns with the book, and Tyrone orders him to be killed

Lizard creatures attack, and we learn that these are the junkies, who have been transformed with a lizard serum created by Viper
An explosion knocks Dagger out of her trance, and gives Cloak the needed opportunity to engulf her, and vanish to safety

Back at the ambulances, Spider-Man witnesses a man transform into a lizard
In a cliffhanger ending, Spider-Man is captured by Dr. Tryone

Story II: Free Fall

First appearance of Charles Weiser, and Nattie
First appearance and death of Neal Mulligan
This story evolves around Hobie Brown and his persona, the Prowler
Working at a construction site, Hobie sees Neal Mulligan falling from the rafters, and though he attempts to save him, he fails
Hobie returns home for a night out with his wife, but instead finds a note on the fridge stating that class is running late
Hobie heads to his drawing table, and continues work on the safety devices he was designing, but just as he gets started, he falls asleep

When Mindy returns home, she wakes him, and he shows her the designs for the compact glider
Mindy tells Hobie he needs to sell the design to someone who can execute them

He tells her they aren't ready due to some design flaws

Thinking she's helping, Mindy takes the plans when Hobie falls back asleep, and the next morning delivers them to Hammer Industries

Hobie freaks out when he finds out

Reference is made to The Amazing Spider-Man 305
That night, Hobie suits up as the Prowler, but as he heads to Hammer Industries to steal his designs back, he sees someone stealing classified microfilms from one of Hammer's competitors

The thief is using the glider design he created

Prowler easily defeats him, and after unmasking him, learns he's an employee of Hammer named Charles Weiser, and the only reason he committed the crime was because Hammer promised him a promotion

Story III: The 25 Most Important Women In My Life

The fun art of Fred Hembeck returns for another gallery, this time on the women Peter and Spider-Man are fond of in their lives

Story IV: Sweet Revenge

Mary Jane's first solo story
Mary Jane sneaks out at night, and makes her way to the state prison
She subdues a guard, and steals his keys, making her way to Jonathan Caesar's cell
After a cheeky encounter with him, she tell him she wants her life back
Mary Jane pulls out a revolver and shoots him dead

She awakens at a modeling interview to her name being called

Inside the office, she's once again turned down for the job

As she leaves, the man makes a call, and informs the individual on the other line that Caesar owes him one

Mary Jane returns to Aunt May's home to a surprise birthday party
Two days later, Jonathan Caesar receives a photograph from Mary Jane of her and Peter embraced in a kiss

Story V: Saga Of The Serpent Crown Part VI

First appearance of Regina

Low Points

These Atlantis Attacks annuals are too long, and extremely difficult to get through
Story I: The Serpent In The Shadow

Having not read all the various annuals across Marvel Comics, I've no clue what happened to She-Hulk from The Amazing Spider-Man Annual 23
This story is continued in Daredevil Annual 9

This in and of itself is a problem, see oddities

Story V: Saga Of The Serpent Crown Part VI

It has nothing to do with Spider-Man, and since I'm not reading the other chapters, I skipped this one

Oddities

Story I: The Serpent In The Shadow

Editor's Day Off: After meeting a group of homeless people, Spider-Man thinks about his living situation with Aunt May, and concludes, "At least we have place a live."
Editor's Continued Day Off: In the same panel of a typo, Spider-Man's eye lenses are colored red

Is The Editor Coming Back: As Spider-Man spies on some ambulances, he thinks, "I have a read bad feeling about this."

Editor Is Fired! The end of the story references that it continues in Daredevil Annual 9

The problem is that Daredevil was only up to Annual 4 at this point

Further the cliffhanger ending of Story VI references Daredevil Annual 4 as the continuation point

Story II: Free Fall

Odd cliffhanger ending where Hobie learns that Mulligan was dead before hitting the ground, having gotten his skull bashed in while walking the rafters

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

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Retro Spins: Rod Stewart - Foolish Behaviour

As a youngin' in the 80's, Rod Stewart may have already been around for a decade, but he didn't hit my radar until the age of MTV. Specifically, with his tune, Infatuation from his 1984 album, Camouflage, a record I have already done a Retro Spin on. From there, he became more and more prevalent on 80's airwaves with hits like Love Touch, and Forever Young. Before all of that, I had no clue who he was, and you could easily have fooled me by telling me the aforementioned album was his debut.

Not being his first rodeo, it's no surprise that the album went platinum in multiple countries, while also peaking in the top ten to twenty across the world. From it came two Billboard Hot 100 hits, Passion (peaking at number five), and Somebody Special (seventy-one).

Stewart was also an early entry on MTV, with the video for She Won't Dance With Me being the third to broadcast on the channel's debut on August 1, 1981. Though the track included the "F" word, this was gotten around by the station by using a foghorn which sounded over the word, and a heron imposed over his mouth. These aspects were not included in the original video.

My first impression as things started up was how dated it felt. It captures a rock sound reminiscent of 1977 - 1979. Queen immediately came to mind in comparison. Still, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Rather, just unexpected.

Personally, I picked up this album for the hit, Passion, but I was expectant that something else would be found. It had to be. This was Rod Stewart. He's no slouch of the music industry.

The first tune that intrigued was the title track, Foolish Behaviour. At first, its lyrics caught me off guard:

Can I introduce myself?
I'm a man of panache and wealth
Sound in mind, body, soul and health
Why I wanna kill my wife?
I have this urge to take her life

Well...yeah, okay. I mean, you do you, I guess. Odd lyrics aside, it was actually a pretty catchy tune.

The second was, Oh God, I Wish I Was Home Tonight. Granted, this one was just okay, kind of sort of the better of the worse. But with that said, there's actually not anything bad on the album. At least not anything that I found myself wanting to skip but also wouldn't go out of my way to listen to again. Still, I'd say that overall, I was pleased.

Stewart would go on to release five additional studio albums throughout the 80's, and with exception of the above noted Camouflage, that's what I'm off to play through over the next few days. Join me, won't you?

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And now, 31 Days Of Halloween!

I want to say that I first saw Critters with my sister way back in the day, but I don't honestly recall at this point. In fact, the only thing I really remember from it was how they combined into a ball and rolled all over the place eating everything as they went. Was that even the first film? Or was that the second?

Retro Spins: Roger Waters - Radio K.A.O.S.

After wrapping up his tour in support of The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking in 1985, Roger Waters turned his attention to contributing ten of the fifteen tracks to the soundtrack for the adult animated war film, When The Wind Blows. For those of you who haven't heard it, I highly recommend it. It's a hidden 80's gem that not only features Waters, but also David Bowie, Genesis, Paul Hardcastle, Squeeze, and Hugh Cornwell.

Waters then turned his attention to his next studio album, 1987's Radio K.A.O.S. With it came another concept album, this time based on twenty-three-year-old Billy. He's mentally and physically disabled as a result of cerebral palsy, but his disability has actually made him not only a genius, but also superhuman, as he also has the ability to literally hear radio waves throughout all frequencies without aid.

The story unfolds with Billy living with his twin brother and his family, but an event involving drinking, stealing a cordless phone, and murder results in his brother being put in prison. Unable to cope, the wife sends Billy to live with someone else. It's during all of this that Billy realizes his powers, and starts experimenting with the phone, which he uses to tap into electronics that allow him to speak through. With this discovery, he calls the DJ at Radio K.A.O.S. and tells his story.

It gets deeper than that, and there's a mass hysteria ending, where Billy scares everyone with a faux nuclear threat, but that's about it in a nutshell.

As expected, and not disappointing in any way, Waters provides another great listening experience full of storytelling backed by amazing instrumentation. Unlike his previous album, this one did have a standout track for me, that being the song, Home. With that said, it remains an album meant to be played from start to finish. So, I wouldn't recommend pulling out of the bunch and skipping the rest.

Beyond that, there's not much more to say. If you want to hear Roger Waters, and you like his story structure built over a concept album, then this is definitely one to check out. Do I wish it were a Pink Floyd album that also incorporated David Gilmour and Nick Mason? Of course. I think their inclusion would have made this epic, but I also said that about yesterday's listening session of The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking.

Sadly, that wraps up his 80's discography, so I need to look for something "new" to start on tomorrow.

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And now, 31 Days Of Halloween!

Creepshow, and Creepshow 2 are high priorities for my October. Mainly because while I own them, I've never actually seen them. That's what happens when you go on a mass buying spree of cheap DVD's and amass a huge collection over the course of thirty days. As such, I can't really say much about this series, with exception of the basics.

The first film is written by horror afficionados, George A. Romero, and Stephen King, the anthology formatted film provides multiple short stories. It also features an ensemble cast including Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Fritz Weaver, Leslie Nielsen, Carrie Nye, E. G. Marshall, Viveca Lindfors, Ted Danson and Ed Harris.

As for the sequel, George A. Romero takes the reins from King, but the horror writer does get a cameo appearance. Unfortunately, the cast is not as notable as its predecessor. But then again, what would you expect when the sequel got half the budget as the first.

Either way, I'm looking forward to checking them both out.

Christmas Catalogs - Sears Wish Book 1977

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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