Comics Corner: Web Of Spider-Man Annual 2

     

Title: Web Of Spider-Man Annual
Issue Number: 2
Release Date: September 1986

Highlights

• First appearance of Karl Weber, Reni Weber, and the ASPCA
• At Xavier's mansion, Warlock wakes all the New Mutants up with his multiple televisions he's watching all at once
• Moonstar tells him that since he can't dream, the best place for Warlock to go is New York, but then immediately tells him not to go there
• As the New Mutants go back to bed, Warlock does just that, and heads to New York
• Warlock transforms his alien craft into Speed Racer's Mach 5 to blend in as "normal"
• To blend in, Warlock takes on the appearance of David Letterman, resulting in the opposite effect of him drawing nothing but attention to him
• Warlock heads to a toy store, and is noticed by Dr. Karl Weber, and Dr. Reni Weber, who take him home
• Karl tests his Karlotro Meter MX-6 machine on Warlock, but the energy expelled from it over juices him
• Warlock turns into a giant walking energy lizard, resembling Godzilla, and even calling himself Warlodizilla, which Spider-Man runs into on the streets
• Warlock pleads with Spider-Man to stop talking to him, or it will break his concentration, and he'll explode
• Warlock changes into another classic movie monster, resembling King Kong, but calling himself King Konglock
• Warlock turns into a rocket, and launches into the sky, exploding to save everyone else, reforming on the ground
• Seeing Spider-Man professed to be a terrorist by a newscaster, Warlock states he'll never watch television again
• Backup story featuring Hobgoblin, Kingpin, Black Fox, and even the symbiote, but it's all just a nightmare in Peter's sleeping mind

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• None

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

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Comics Corner: Secret Wars II 9

   

Title: Secret Wars II
Issue Number: 9
Release Date: March 1986

Highlights

• Death of Beyonder
• Resurrection of the New Mutants; Magma, Wolfsbane, Cypher, Karma, Cannonball, Magik, Mirage, and Warlock
• Beyonder decides he will wipe out everything
• Reference is made to Avengers 265, Uncanny X-Men 202, Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars 3, and New Mutants 37
• Volcana phones the Avenger's headquarters, and reaching the Fantastic Four there, warns them the Beyonder is coming to destroy everything
• Reed Richards says that he wishes they had a pogo plane because they have to get to Colorado, but as he says it, suddenly he, and several other heroes are instantly transported there by Rachel Summers; the Avengers, the West Coast Avengers, Fantastic Four, Volcana, Alpha Flight, Hulk, Spider-Man, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Cloak, Dagger, Power Man, Iron Fist, and the X-Men
• After reading Volcana's mind to get the information they need, Rachel returns her to her home
• Beyonder makes a new base eight miles below the surface of the Earth
• Beyonder decides to speak to a camera, a video diary of sorts, and tells it that now that he's learned desire from humans, he has desires that can't be quenched
• Beyonder decides to take the ultimate risk, and make himself mortal - Deciding that perhaps he needs to understand why life is so important by not being immortal anymore to truly find meaning
• Beyonder tests his rebirth machine by first using it to resurrect the New Mutants, however, they are reborn without their memories intact - like zombies
• Beyonder makes tweaks to his machine to ensure he'll have all his memories, and also creates a containment unit for his powers so that he can return to his God form when he choses to
• After becoming human, Beyonder immediately panics, and returns to his God form
• Volcana and Molecule Man reconcile
• Molecule Man steps up to the plate, and says he has to go stop Beyonder
• Beyonder once again turns mortal, and starts to experience limitations in strength, being out of breath from running, and fear when Mephisto ambushes him with a horde of demons
• As Mephisto mentally tortures Beyonder, he makes it to his power pod, reclaiming his God form - Mephisto and his demons instantly retreat
• As the heroes stand on the Earth above Beyonder's new headquarters, pondering how to get eight miles below the surface, Molecule Man and Volcana arrive, with Molecule Man telling them he can get them inside
• Seeing the heroes on the surface above, Beyonder buys time to tweak his machine by recreating the New Mutant bio-mechanical alien, Warlock, and controlling the other New Mutants minds to distract the heroes
• The heroes defeat the New Mutants, and Rachel breaks Beyonder's control of their minds, though she doesn't yet restore their memories as she's focused on going after the God
• Molecule Man rips open Beyonder's home, and brings all the heroes to him
• Beyonder tells them he doesn't have any interest in fighting or destroying anything, but rather to become human, while also retaining his powers
• Beyonder easily fells all the heroes, except Molecule Man, and the two battle directly, shaking the very foundation of the multiverse as they do
• As the heroes recover and rejoin the fight, they almost defeat Beyonder, but Molecule Man isn't able to hold him, and the Beyonder sends out a blast that breaks the Earth's gravity
• As the heroes once again are down, they're shielded by Molecule Man, who also removes all living beings out of the pat of Beyonder's blast
• Beyonder fulfills his desire, becoming a human with all his God powers too
• The heroes once again enter the fight, but in doing so come face to face with Beyonder as a baby - Some of the heroes are intent on killing the child, while others say they'll have no parts of it
• Molecule Man refuses to listen, and blasts the machine, unleashing the Beyonder's power, which starts to destroy everything it touches
• The world ends, but then suddenly blinks back into existence, as if nothing happened, all because Molecule Man sent the energy into the nothingness where Beyonder used to exist
• The child is dead
• In distant space, there is an explosion from the Beyonder's energy, a big bang, which creates a new galaxy, one where life begins, evolves, and man begins anew, finally giving the Beyonder a purpose by creating life through his death
• That was an unexpected deep ending from a story that seemed to otherwise drone on aimlessly

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• None

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

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Comics Corner: Secret Wars II 2

   

Title: Secret Wars II
Issue Number: 2
Release Date: August 1985

Highlights

• Inspired by the physique of Captain America, Beyonder creates himself a muscular human body to experience life with
• His first experience is gravity, when he steps off the side of a building, expecting to float down to the road below, but instead plummets, turning back to his cosmic form just before impact
• Beyonder chooses to try eating, and mimics a man ordering a hot dog and cream soda - However, rather than drink the glass bottle of soda, he chomps down on it, devouring the shards of broken glass
• He notes that eating is an intense experience that will require his human form body to be repaired
• Reference is made to Fantastic Four 280, 281, Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars, and Marvel Fanfare 20
• Hate Monger takes on the form of Reed Richards, allowing him to get close enough to Sue Storm, and turn her into Malice, Mistress of Hate
• Beyonder enters a clothing show and asks the shopkeeper the significance of eating and clothing - The shopkeeper tells him he can't help him, and that he should find someone he knows to explain these things
• Beyond does just that, and teleports to the Daily Bugle asking Peter Parker as he enters an elevator - Peter thinks him a nut, and keeps walking, only to be followed
• Peter evades the man, changes into his Spider-Man costume, and then thinking he'll have the drop on him, jumps out, only to see nobody
• Confused, Spider-Man heads home, followed by an invisible Beyonder
• Standing at his fridge, Peter ponders if he was hallucinating the man because he hasn't eaten all day, and as he thinks that, the Beyonder appears, asking if hallucinating is why there is eating
• Beyonder than questions him on why he changed clothes, and why his thoughts changed when he did
• Peter recognizes the man as Beyonder
• As the two sit on his couch, Peter informs Beyonder that he can't help him with his questions about the meaning of life, and suggests he go see Reed Richards
• Peter realizes he's just sent Beyonder to randomly pop in on the Fantastic Four, and in a panic heads to intercept
• The FF4 are reunited with Sue, who is no longer Malice, and they are in mid battle with Hate Monger (see low points below)
• Beyonder shows up in the middle of the battle to ask Reed if hallucinating is why there is eating
• The FF4 capture Hate Monger, but his cohort, Scourge (hidden in shadows, and unknown), escapes
• The mysterious figure briefly returns, and blasts Hate Monger, turning him into a puddle of ooze, and then quickly disappears again
• Reed explains that it's not the real Hate Monger, but rather a humanoid construct
• Unable to answer his questions immediately, Beyonder departs from Reed
• While taking a suit from a mannequin, Beyonder is approached by the homeless woman, Elsie Gertz, who chastises him for stealing, and then tells him how the suit doesn't fit, and that he doesn't have shoes
• As Beyonder mentally makes the adjustments to his attire, Elsie approves, and tells him to stick with her because she knows how the world works
• A group of thugs jump Elsie and Beyonder at her alleyway cardboard box
• Beyonder gets beaten to a pulp, and Elsie hands him a card, telling him he should see help from them
• Instantly healing himself, Beyonder takes the card, and informs Elsie he shall seek them out
• Beyonder appears in the office of Luke Cage and Iron Fist, Heroes For Hire, but they aren't there
• Sensing them in the past, Beyonder plucks the men from time, bringing them to the office
• Thinking its a customary greeting, Beyonder punches Luke Cage across the room when he approaches him, and follows suit with an equally pounding on Iron Fist
• Luke Cage grabs Beyonder from behind, and tells him to go outside with him so that they don't bust up the office, to which Beyonder agrees, and promptly walks through the window of the fourteenth floor
• As he falls, Luke Cage jumps out after him, only for Beyonder to use his powers to not hit the ground - Luke Cage on the other hand, hits the ground hard, but being invulnerable, isn't down for long
• Iron Fist attempts to explain that humans want to be one with the universe, to which Luke Cage interrupts, and teaches Beyonder about money, and its value, and why it's important to everyone
• Spider-Man sees the three talking, and joins them on the ground
• Beyonder, thinking he has the grasp of money, turns the Heroes For Hire building into solid gold, but it collapses under the weight of it
• When asked by the two why he did that, he informs them to pay for their services, and then says he's going, and disappears
• In disappearing, Luke and Iron Fist are returned to their original point in time they were initially plucked from, leaving Spider-Man standing there by himself

Low Points

• You have to read Fantastic Four 281, otherwise you miss how the Fantastic Four save Sue Storm from her Malice persona
• The ending says to read Web Of Spider-Man 6, then The Amazing Spider-Man 268, and finally Fantastic Four 282 before returning to Secret Wars II 3
• So basically, this is a giant cross over series, and not contained to the pages of the mini series, as the previous Secret Wars was

Oddities

• Prior to leaving Peter's apartment, he teaches Beyonder how to use the bathroom

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

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Comics Corner: Web Of Spider-Man 2

   

Title: Web Of Spider-Man
Issue Number: 2
Release Date: May 1985

Highlights

• The Vulturions bicker amongst themselves for their previous defeat against Spider-Man
• Sugar Face is instructed by Honcho to load a dart in a blow gun, and "fire" it at the complaining Gripes - The poison in the dart almost kills him
• Peter heads to Saks to pick up a hat for Aunt May's birthday
• The Vulturions pull off their first successful heist, robbing a bank truck
• The Vulturions want to garner the Kingpin's attention, in hopes of working for him in the near future
• Reference is made to Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man 100
• Kingpin sits by his wife Vanessa's bedside as she continues to recover from her impairment
• The Vulturion's action's disrupt Vanessa's healing with their battle outside of Kingpin's tower, and he vows to deal with them if Spider-Man fails in his fight against them
• Spider-Man loses Aunt May's birthday hat during the fight, but Kingpin recovers it for him, calling it repayment for dealing with the Vulturions

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• None

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

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Comics Corner: Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars 2

    

Title: Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars
Issue Number: 2
Release Date: June 1984

Highlights

• Kang thinks that when he shot Doctor Doom out of the sky in the previous issue that he killed him - He's wrong
• Doctor Doom seeks out Galactus, and attempts to get him to work with him to obtain the Beyonder's power - Galactus simply floats away from Doom, ignoring him
• Doom finds Ultron's body, and decides that he would be useful to repel any attackers against him
• The heroes win the first fight, taking Kang, Enchantress, and the Wrecking Crew, minus Wrecker as prisoners
• Lockheed disappears in the fight
• Doctor Doom returns to the villain's base, claiming it is now his base of operations
• The villains adamantly disagree, and Doctor Octopus claims he's now in charge - Doom disagrees, and shows them as such by revealing the rebuilt Ultron
• The villains decide they don't care who's in charge
• Doom butters up to Molecular Man by taking an interest in his wellbeing
• Galactus takes up residency at the top of a mountain, just standing there
• Magneto sneaks into the heroes base at night, Spider-Man is the first to sense that someone is there who shouldn't be
• Magneto captures Wasp in a ball of metal, and takes her with him
• The Thing mysteriously transforms back into Ben Grim
• It doesn't go unnoticed that the X-Men didn't show up to help the other heroes stop Magneto
• The story is still going strong

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• None

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

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Comics Corner: Marvel Fanfare 2

   

Title: Marvel Fanfare
Issue Number: 2
Release Date: May 1982

Highlights

• Al Milgrom returns in a single page story to continue discussing the all-new Marvel Fanfare series
• Both Angel and Spider-Man are turned into horrible creatures
• Karl Lykos absorbs the mutant transformations done to Spider-Man, Angel, and Tanya Anderssen (not a typo), transforming him again into Sauron
• Back-up story featuring Fantastic Four

Low Points

• There's no happy ending to the story arc which began in issue 1 - Karl wasn't rescued by Tanya, instead, he once again became a villain
• Savage Land stories are never all that good
• Marvel Fanfare is not a series that intrigues me enough to get further invested

Oddities

• None

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

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Comics Corner: Marvel Team-Up Annual 2

   

Title: Marvel Team-Up Annual
Issue Number: 2
Release Date: October 1979

Highlights

• First appearance of Nikolai Kutzov, and Colonel Alexei Vazhin
• Last appearance of Cissy Ironwood
• First appearance and death of Daniel Ironwood
• Cissy and Peter are dating - Well, for this issue anyway

Low Points

• Boring

Oddities

• Editor's Day Off: Spider-Man's parachute backpack disappears from his back in multiple panels -While he's parachuting
• Editor's Still Off: Several panels with Spider-Man's eye lenses colored red

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

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Comics Corner: Marvel Two-In-One Annual 2

   

Title: Marvel Two-In-One Annual
Issue Number: 2
Release Date: May 1977

Highlights

• First appearance of Master Order and Lord Chaos
• Reference is made to The Avengers Annual 7
• Has a foreshadowing vibe of The Infinity Gauntlet, which wouldn't come for another twenty years

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• None

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

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Comics Corner: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man 2

   

Title: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man
Issue Number: 2
Release Date: January 1977

Highlights

• First appearance of Richard Gorman
• Additional cameo appearance of Lightmaster, from his original cameo in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man issue 1
• Reference is made to The Amazing Spider-Man 54, 111, 156, and 164
• Something is wrong with doctor Curt Connors - Is he changing into the Lizard again?
• Peter helps to get his neighbor, Gloria Grant, a job as J. Jonah Jameson's new secretary
• Because of his numerous defeats by Spider-Man's hand, Kraven the Hunter has been forced to lower his fees as a mercenary
• Hostess Fruit Pies ad starring the Incredible Hulk
• Spider-Man and Captain America in a Ricochet Racer toy ad

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• Editor's day off: "Surrender now, I perhaps you may still survive."

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

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Comics Corner: Giant-Size Spider-Man 2

   

Title: Giant-Size Spider-Man
Issue Number: 2
Release Date: October 1974

Highlights

• Reference is made to Bruce Lee
• Reference is made to Master of Kung Fu 15, 18, and Daredevil 112
• Spider-Man uses Thing's catch phrase, "It's clobberin' time!"
• Lots of action
• Issue contains a second story, which is a reprint of The Amazing Spider-Man Annual 3

Low Points

• Multiple use of racial slurs for Asian people - Not cool, Marvel

Oddities

• None

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

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Comics Corner: Marvel Team-Up 2

      

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue Number: 2
Release Date: May 1972

Highlights

• Spider-Man teams up with Human Torch
• Appearances from Annihilus, Sandman, Trapster and Wizard
  

Low Points

• Spider-Man spends most of the issue in a trance - Though he does get to beat the stuffing out of Human Torch while in it
• Better than the first issue of Marvel Team-Up, but still feels like it's missing the depth that makes The Amazing Spider-Man a better title
• After reading it, I still don't understand exactly what the Wizard's whole plan was
  

Oddities

• None

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

 

 

 

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Comics Corner: Watchmen 2

Title: Watchmen

Issue Number: 2

Release Date: October 1986

Highlights

• First appearance of the original Minute Men
• Flashback sequences during Blake's funeral give us more insight to him as a characters
• First appearance of Moloch

Low Points

• The Comedian tries to rape Sally Jupiter

Oddities

• Having seen the movie first, it's difficult to accept the original source material as the way the story was intended vs. what I saw on the big screen

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

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Comics Corner: The Long Halloween 2

Title: Batman: The Long Halloween

Issue Number: 2

Release Date: January 1997

Highlights

• Intriguing entry that makes you want to keep reading, but...

Low Points

• ...Felt short, and nothing really got accomplished
• Story doesn't feel like it's advancing
• Cover is misleading - Solomon Grundy is neither predominant nor relevant to the story

Oddities

• Harvey Dent got blown up, and there's not a scratch on him, yet his wife is covered head to toe in bandages in a hospital bed

Rating (based on a 1 through 5 Bat Symbols grading system)

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Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man

Issue Number: 2

Release Date: May 1963

Highlights

• First appearance of Vulture
• Peter Parker sells his first photographs to J. Jonah Jameson at Now Magazine
• Spider-Man makes adjustments to his belt and web launchers to hold more web fluid
• First appearance of Tinkerer
• Panel highlighting how Spider-Man's web shooters work

Low Points

• Spider-Man only goes after Vulture to get more photographs to sell, not because he necessarily wants to stop him from committing a crime
• Tinkerer is an alien from another planet, working with others in his species from a radio shop

Oddities

• Vulture tells the police his plan before executing it
• When behind bars in prison, Vulture is still in his full costumed garb, instead of a prison uniform
• There's no point to the Tinkerer's story because we never learn what the alien's plan was to begin with
• Tinkerer and his species give up, leaving Earth and destroying all of their monitoring devices immediately after Spider-Man thwarts them

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

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