Comics Corner: Secret Wars II 4

   

Title: Secret Wars II
Issue Number: 4
Release Date: October 1985

Highlights

• Death and resurrection of Dazzler
• First appearance of Kurse, AKA Algrim, Sharon Ing, and Eddie
  
• Sharon Ing is in love with Beyonder, but he doesn't reciprocate, and in fact, after one particular night together, he just says goodbye, and leaves
• Beyonder takes to the skies in his red Lamborghini
• Reference is made to Thor 247, 248, Rom, The Thing, Alpha Flight 27, and 22
• Beyonder revives Algrim, and watches as he sets on his path to kill Thor
• The military catches up to Beyonder's flying car, and blast him with a missile
• Not happy with it, Beyonder gets out of his car, and walks towards through the air towards the plane he's frozen, takes the plane, and sends the pilot to an auto shop with his damaged vehicle to get it fixed
• Beyonder goes to visit Molecule Man, and asks him to explain love to him
• Beyonder returns to Sharon to find she's overdosed on drugs
• Beyonder revives her and asks why she loves him, only to be told because of how he makes her feel
• Her response isn't good enough, and Beyonder chooses to find someone else - settling on Dazzler
• Beyonder brings Dazzler to a dome floating through space, and introduces himself, he then proceeds to whisk her around the world in an attempt to get her to open up to him
• Dazzler and Beyonder kiss atop a mountain
• Dazzler awakens in France with Beyonder, and he tells her he is going to get her a gift
• Beyonder materializes in the West Edmonton Mall in front of Alpha Flight, who immediately attack him - He makes short order of them
• Beyonder tells Shaman he needs to borrow his pouch, but intends to pay him for it, he then produces Shaman's daughter from the depths of the pouch, returning her to him
• Dazzler decides she wants to leave Beyonder, and he teleports her to New York
• When Dazzler tells him she wants to live her life and follow her dreams, Beyonder teleports her to a stage with a full audience, but she says she wants to earn her dream on her own
• The Avengers arrive, deeming Beyonder too powerful to be on Earth unchecked
• The Avengers attack, intent on stopping Beyonder, but to no avail, as Dazzler saves his life, allowing the two to teleport back to the mountaintop
• Beyonder admits that those weren't the real Avengers, but rather he materialized them to get Dazzler to prove she loved him
• Beyonder gives Dazzler half his power, making them equals, but she declines it, telling him she doesn't love him
• Drained of the energy, Dazzler falls from the sky, hitting the ground, and dying
• Angered that Dazzler doesn't love him, and has died, Beyonder's rage shoots upward in a blast of energy that destroys a galaxy far beyond Earth
• Beyonder revives Dazzler, and manipulates her mind to love him, but realizing it would be empty, he releases her, and returns her to where she was originally before they first met

Low Points

• For as many highlights as each issue has, Secret Wars II really isn't all that interesting to read
• No Spider-Man

Oddities

• None

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

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Retro Spins: Van Halen - 5150

Did Sammy Hagar ever stand a chance of successfully stepping into the Van Halen arena, and filling David Lee Roth's shoes? No. The answer is no. No.

Regardless of who you spoke to, it all came down to clashes between Roth and Eddie Van Halen over artistic direction, control over the band's sound, the singles being released, and the pace of it all. Roth had recently found success with the EP Crazy From The Heat and was even in talks with CBS for a movie deal. As such, it was the perfect time for him to say farewell and bow out of the band.

Eddie approached both Patty Smyth of Scandal, and Daryl Hall of Hall and Oates fame to fill the shoes of lead singer. However, both would ultimately decline. The guitarist would be introduced to Sammy Hagar through his mechanic. At that point in time, Hagar was already a successful solo artist with his album VOA, and single, I Can't Drive 55, as well as for his work with the band, Montrose. Ironically, both he and the band had been produced by Ted Templeton, producer of all Van Halen albums thus far. Everything just seemed to line up.

Warner Bros. president Mo Ostin would literally say, "I smell money," when the band demoed Why Can't This Be Love for him. No doubt, the money came. 5150 would be the band's first number one album on the Billboard charts. The single would race up the charts to peak at number three, and was followed by Dreams, and Love Walks In, which both reached the top thirty.

The subsequent tour which followed was supported by the VHS and laserdisc, Live Without A Net, which featured live performances from the show recorded live at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in New Haven, Connecticut. It appeared that despite the popularity of David Lee Roth, the world was ready, and willing to embrace Sammy Hagar as the new frontman, and welcomed him with open arms.

Van Halen takes everything that made MCMLXXXIV so popular, builds on it, and layers it with Hagar's voice. Songs like Get Up are so familiar in sound, that it could easily be mistaken for a faster version of Hot For Teacher - If you can imagine the drums and guitar in that song getting any faster. In fact, it's so familiar that it barely stands out as its own album at times.

Yes, there are definitely hits here, the aforementioned ones noted above, and these ultimately are the reason I picked up the album. However, I also have to admit to myself that Hagar does indeed hold his own. Though Earth shattering at the time, in retrospect, it's a transition that works. Van Halen could indeed continue forward with a new frontman, and perhaps even be better for it.

I do have to ask though. Why is it when I'm listening to Dreams that I feel like I'm on a snowy mountain slope in the 80's, skiing my heart out to save the lodge in some super unrealistic wager between myself and the local rich bully?

Hmm...weird.

Overall, 5150 is a solid album. Is it better than MCMLXXXIV, no, I don't think so. However, it's definitely a solid launching point for Van Hagar. From there, I suppose I would go into the band's final 80's album from the era, OU812. However, as they say, been there, done that. In review of that write up from back in 2022, I wasn't too invested in it. My review was short, and to the point. Perhaps a little too summed up. I may have to give it another shot. Until then, this ends my trip through Van Halen.

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Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man 270

   

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue Number: 270
Release Date: November 1985

Highlights

• First appearance of Mr. Ercoli, and Mr. Cameron
• Firelord retrieves his staff from the river, and emerges from the waters angrier than ever
• The Avengers get a distress call that Firelord is on the rampage
• Firelord catches up to Spider-Man, and the battle begins again
• Spider-Man sees some workers prepping to blow a building, and lures Firelord inside, escaping just as the place blows, and crumbles to the ground
• When that doesn't stop Firelord, Spider-Man lures him to a gas station where he blows up an entire row of abandoned housing
• When that still doesn't stop Firelord, Spider-Man has had enough, and simply goes on the attack, beating the God into unconsciousness before being stopped by the Avengers
• Though he's won the battle, the wreckage in its wake is astronomical
• If action is what you want, action is what you get, nonstop, page after page

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• None

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

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Retro Spins: Van Halen - Diver Down

When you're an established band, you owe it to your fans to bring to each album 100%. So, when you've released four successful albums back-to-back, in my book you have no business then phoning it in to release what essentially equates to a cover album. It's lazy. It's a cash grab. It's disrespectful to your fans. But here we are, 1982's Diver Down, and Van Halen is doing just that.

Though a hiatus was initially planned, Roth and Eddie agreed to record a remake of Roy Orbison's (Oh) Pretty Woman. Unexpectedly, the song flew up the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number twelve. It's success prompted Warner Bros. to push and eventually persuade the band to return to the studio, where Diver Down was slapped together in just two weeks.

Diver Down would chart better than the previously released, Fair Warning. However, by this point in time, both lead singer and guitarist were constantly clashing over musical styles, and the band's overall direction. During this time, Eddie would also set to work on the soundtrack for the 1984 film, The Wild Life. This experimentation period of drum machines and synthesizers would ultimately be what shaped the direction for what would become their next studio album, and final with David, MCMLXXXIV, AKA 1984.

But we're getting too far ahead. First, we have to pump the brakes and wade through the cover laden mess that is, Diver Down. Plus, I've already done a Retro Spin on the aforementioned mega album.

As a whole, this album doesn't work for me. I said it above, and I stand by it. It's lazy. It's a cash grab. It's disrespectful to your fans.

Yes, the instrumentation of it all is sold. The gravely vocals of Roth come through, and as a whole it hits every note, no pun intended, that is Van Halen's signature style. However, it doesn't offer anything necessarily new. Songs like (Oh) Pretty Woman, and Dancing In The Streets, don't necessarily need to be reenvisioned. Let alone by David Lee Roth, Eddie and Alex Van Halen, and Michael Anthony. Especially, when the latter is quite frankly abysmal. It's pretty bad when the David Bowie and Mick Jagger produce single are a better version.

I will give a slight nod of approval to (Oh) Pretty Woman, and mainly because it was the standout single that made me buy the album. I also didn't realize, until today, that there was an interlude that preceded the song. Combined with it, it's pretty okay. A cash grab, nonetheless, but okay.

Again, I will attest that I really like Van Halen when that quirky Lee Roth style comes through, and it doesn't any greater than with the unique, Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now), and even sillier Happy Trails. They're both so out of place on the album but bring with them so much charm that you just have to love them.

My next stop on the Van Halen train is the first to feature "new" singer, Sammy Hagar. Like I said above, I've already played through MCMLXXXIV. I definitely prefer the David Lee Roth era of the band, so it'll be interesting to dive into this one.

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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.