Comics Corner: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man 63

   

Title: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man
Issue Number: 63
Release Date: February 1982

Highlights

• First appearance of Mrs. Johnson, Simon Jacobs, and Mrs. Jacobs
• First appearance of the New Jersey location, Englewood
• A whole group of secondary cast members make an appearance: Flash Thompson, Sha Shan, Harry Osborn, and Liz Allen
• Reference is made to The Amazing Spider-Man 173

Low Points

• Peter is so broke that he hasn't paid his phone bill resulting in the line being disconnected
• Peter raids his life savings to make a call at a payphone, and his life savings is literally a jar with eight to ten coins - Dude is broke
• Spider-Man tracks down Harry and Liz, and then proceeds to trash their house in a fight against Molten Man, and then it burns down
• Spider-Man's response to burning down Harry's house is that Harry can use his insurance to build a new house - Spoke like a true broke person who doesn't understand the value of money - How about some consideration for deductibles, and higher rates?
• At the end of the story, Spider-Man just walks away - Leaving an unconscious Molten Man at the bottom of a now dried out pool, and without saying so much as sorry for helping destroy Harry and Liz's home
• Very sloppily written story - This is not usual for Bill Mantlo

Oddities

• A fire fighter explains that since the hospital which is set ablaze never opened, that the sprinklers were never turned on - That's not how that works...Just saying
• How was Molten Man walking around Harry and Liz's house without burning it down prior to Spider-Man showing up?
• Spider-Man wants to bring Molten Man to justice for burning down a hospital because an "innocent man" will go to jail for it if he doesn't - Except the part where said innocent man was only at the hospital because he brought Molotov cocktails to burn it down, Molten Man just beat him to it

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

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Retro Spins: Brian May + Friends - Star Fleet Project

Part Flash Gordon, part Queen, all high octane rock. Star Fleet Project was a solo effort conceived by Brian May, and featured the likes of Eddie Van Halen (of Van Halen) on guitars, Alan Gratzer (of REO Speedwagon) on drums, bassist Phil Chen (who played with both Rod Stewart and Jeff Beck), and Fred Mandell (of Alice Cooper, and touring keyboardist for Queen). May called it a mini album because he felt it was too short to be considered a full release, yet too long t classify as an EP. However, he also never intended for the sessions to be released.

The project was inspired by May's son, who was enraptured with the Japanese kids show of the same name. The boy would wake his father up on early Saturday mornings to watch the series with him, while also proclaiming his dad should make his own music for the show. The guitarist didn't think it was a bad idea, and in fact was finding himself rather enjoying the music from the series himself.

It was during a downtime for the musician, as well as those who helped on the project, that things would start to take shape. It was upon its completion that Capitol Records would opt to release it on Halloween 1983. Since then, it has been included a couple ways on CD, the first being the part one and two singles collection to Brian May's Back To The Light, and on the Japanese mini album, Resurrections. In 2023, it was re-edited by May, and re-released under his Gold Series as Star Fleet + Beyond.

As I played through the tracks, I was greeted by the familiar sounds of Queen's guitarist, which was mixed with a saltry rhythm and blues sound. In hindsight, I don't know that I would have enjoyed this had I not recently went through the 80's catalog of Eric Clapton. As I've stated before, this isn't, or wasn't, my kind of music for the longest time.

The three songs themselves are long, with the shortest being just over seven minutes, and the longest on the verge of fourteen. What this does is present an atmosphere where the musicians involved can jam, letting the music breath, and flow. However, the downside to this is that you're not going to get a radio friendly sound at that length. You further don't get any catchy lyrics, or hooking choruses. As such, you need to get lost in the sounds, feeling the music with the artists.

Overall, its okay. It fits the bill for being not only a solid blues album, but also a unique extension of Queen. For me, it's the latter that ultimately drew me to it. This isn't something I would have wanted otherwise. I suppose this could also be an added bonus for fans of Van Halen, REO Speedwagon, and / or Alice Cooper.

Back To The Light (Single) Part I and II

Personally, I prefer my Brian May when he's working with Queen. Frankly, none of the member's solo efforts have been what I would call a massive success. Rather, its when they come together, edit and find inspiration from each other that I feel their music gets finely tuned and masterpieces crafted.

Resurrection (Japanese Mini Album)
and Star Fleet Project + Beyond

Don't get me wrong, I'm down with adding this to my collection from a Queen fan perspective, but as I said, if it weren't for Brian May's involvement, Star Fleet Project wouldn't be on my radar, nor in my collection.

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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.

THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
August 1, 1981

 

THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
August 1, 1987