The Toy Box: Issue 120

Showing posts with label Issue 120. Show all posts

Title: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man
Issue Number: 120
Release Date: November 1986

Highlights

First appearance of Daily Bugle employee, Blaine Browne
First appearance and death of Dominic Castellano
Classic Marvel 25th Anniversary cover
Spider-Man sees an incident unfolding at the entrance of an apartment between an old man with a butcher knife, a group of thugs, and the police

Spider-Man disarms the old man, and learns that all the men, except the cops live there

Peter attempts to sell photos and the story to the Bugle, but is initially turned down by Robbie Robertson until reporter Blaine Browne informs him she's heard rumblings of a tenant uprising to take care of the thugs themselves

The thugs at the building try to scare the two away, but they're saved by Dominic, the old man with the butcher knife, who invites them in, and tells them what's going on
It's a story about a greedy landlord who brought in the gangs to scare the honest folks away so that he could convert to luxury units
Dominic is murdered - Thrown from the roof of his building, made to look like suicide
An arson sets the building on fire, the last desperate act of the owner of the building to get rid of the people

Despite the fire, Spider-Man chases him down, telling him he better confess, or Spidey will come back for him

Low Points

The panels of art are all zoomed in really tight, the pages literally can't breathe with how claustrophobic they are
The story is nothing more than the writer stomping his feet for rent control

Oddities

Spider-Man is in his classic red and blue suit - How? There's been no mention of him remaking it after it was destroyed in the "End of the Red Suit" story arc - Web of Spider-Man 16 - 18
Editor's Day Off: In speaking with Dominic, Blaine says, "So that the public can under what's happening here!" not completing the word "understand"

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

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Title: Marvel Team-Up
Issue Number: 120
Release Date: August 1982

Highlights

First appearance of Jerry Fortunav, and Betty Fortunav
Aunt May and Nathan Lubensky celebrating that they'll soon be leaving the Restwell Nursing Home, and officially open their own communal home for the elderly - out of Aunt May's old house which she's bought back
Reference is made to Spider-Woman 33
Despite its goofiness, it has an old timey story charm to it

Low Points

Oddities

The villains name is Turner D. Century
Editor's Day Off: While talking with Dominc Fortune, Turner D. Century, says, "I realized that direct violence was not necessarily the wisest way to make the the world a better place!"

Turner D. Century has invented the time horn, which is attached to his flying bicycle, and with it, he'll fly through the city honking it, which will kill everyone under the age of sixty-five - Can't make this one up, folks...

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

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Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue Number: 120
Release Date: May 1973

Highlights

Gwen tells Peter over a long distance call that Harry is back on drugs
Spider-Man makes a reference to Clark Kent and Kryptonite confirming he not only knows him, but also his secret identity - Either that or it's a ribbing at DC's expense that Superman is nothing more than a comic book that Peter Parker has read
Spidey vs. the Hulk, round 2
Death of Jean-Pierre Rimbaud

Low Points

With the death of Rimbaud, there's no answer to the mysterious telegram that led Peter to Canada

Oddities

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

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