Comics Corner: Web Of Spider-Man Annual 3

   

Title: Web Of Spider-Man Annual
Issue Number: 3
Release Date: October 1987

Highlights

• It's not a story, but rather a synopsis of the various heroes, villains, and other characters which have appeared in the world of Spider-Man
• It's a great introduction to these individuals for new readers, a refresher for seasoned veterans, and a solid launching point for the new year of Spider-Man
• Not being a story, this issue doesn't actually fall in any specific reading order per se, but referencing that Peter is married to Mary Jane, at least puts it after the events of The Amazing Spider-Man Annual 21, and Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual 7
• Personally, I think it's a great book, and works perfectly as the first issue to read to kick off 1988, following the events of the Mad Dog Ward
  

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• None

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

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Comics Corner: Secret Wars II 3

   

Title: Secret Wars II
Issue Number: 3
Release Date: September 1985

Highlights

• First appearance of Toots, Vinnie Corbo, Millie Shuriff, Laverne "Smurfette" Lacy, Chulo, Eliot, Luigi, Mushnik, Gina, and Beyonder in his form as Frank
• An officer approaches a sleeping Beyonder leaning against a street sign, and tells him to show him some ID, instead, Beyonder shows him his realm, sending the cop stumbling off
• Beyonder comes across a lady of the night, and when she propositions him to get a room, informing him he needs money, he creates a gold bar out of thin air, which startles her
• Beyonder vanishes into thin air, reappearing at the hotel he was told to get a room at, and does indeed do so
• Beyonder is awoken by a gangster (Vinnie), with his bodyguard (Smurfette), his bookkeeper (Millie), Chulo (the pimp), and his girl Toots, which is the same woman Beyonder met earlier
• Vinnie asks Beyonder about the gold bar he made, and then asks him to tell him his story, Beyonder does
• Reference is made to Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars, Secret Wars II 1, 2, and Transformers 9
• Vinnie tells Beyonder he can help him with his quest, but tells him to first get some sleep
• Vinnie posts guards at the door to his room, and leaves Toots to take care of him
• The next day, Vinnie and Toots take Beyonder out, and teach him the joys of eating, and then, they put him in a bed with a lot of girls to learn...other stuff
• Vinne gets Beyonder a new set of clothes, making reference to both Duran Duran and ZZ Top, and then later on to Michael Jackson - Sweet!
• Beyonder helps Vinnie by dealing with a rival gang, and then "cleaning" his ladies of the night of their "ailments"
  
• Vinnie also gets Beyonder to make him a small pile of gold, cure the Dyslexia of his daughter, and make his fat wife thin
• Vinnie teaches Beyonder about gambling, and how winning all the time takes the fun out of it
• Beyonder is soon living a life of luxury, while doing dirty work for Vinnie
• Beyonder runs into Toots, and when he leaves, she says to herself that she loves him
• Vinnie tells Beyonder he's taught him all he can, and it's time for him to get out on his own, and see what he can do
• Beyonder gets fat, but when he senses the girls surrounding him don't like it, he dissolves it, and puts his muscle back in place
• Beyonder visits Kingpin, and using his powers, takes over, demanding 90% of the Kingpin's take, to which he can't resist agreeing to
• Not satisfied, Beyonder's next stop is the White House, where he takes over the country
• Beyonder feels this still isn't enough, and sets his sights on taking over the entire world, taking over every creature, bacteria, and molecule - save for one
• Molecule Man is unaffected by Beyonder's control, and even removes his grasp from his girlfriend, Volcana
• Despite his control over (almost) everything, Beyonder remains desirable of something, but doesn't know what
• Beyonder visits Vinnie, and asks why he still deisres when he has everything, but Vinnie can't help him
• Beyonder seeks out Toots, and releases her from his control, she immediately recognizes him, kisses him, and thanks him, telling him that because of what he last said to her, she went and got a respectable job as a waitress, and is working on a new life
• Beyonder decides to release the rest of the world of his controlling grasp, removing from their memories anything about what he had done
• Beyonder goes to Avengers headquarters to inquire about the feeling of gratitude from Toots, only to be told the Avengers are battling the Skrulls
• Beyonder teleports to them, but we don't see the battle, instead, he is instantly back in New York stating that he really messed that up
• Beyonder decides his next to stop is to see Matt Murdock

Low Points

• It's a charming story, but not one with any sort of action, or real stakes
• To get the full story, one would need to next read Daredevil 223, Hulk 312, and Avengers 260, the latter fills in the gaps of the battle with the Skrull noted above
• No Spider-Man

Oddities

• None

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

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Comics Corner: Web Of Spider-Man 3

   

Title: Web Of Spider-Man
Issue Number: 3
Release Date: June 1985

Highlights

• First appearance of Charlie, Fred, and Mr. Slatter
• First appearance of the Diamond District
• Vulture sits in prison reading about the Vulturions, and he's not happy about the plagiarism
• Vulture breaks out of prison, intent on going after the copy cat villains
• Peter attempts to sell Jonah photos of Spider-Man for the secret project he's working on, but the owner of the Bugle declines them all, saying he doesn't want photos of Spidey being a hero
• Peter and Mary Jane go out to lunch, and she tries to convince him to tell Aunt May he's Spider-Man
• Vulture attacks the Vulturions, he takes out three of the four before Spider-Man intervenes, taking out the last before going after Vulture
• Spider-Man doesn't win the fight, and gets knocked out on a rooftop
• Peter decides to not tell Aunt May he's Spider-Man

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• Peter says that Aunt May's birthday is tomorrow, and needs to mail her gift via express so she gets it? Because he can't hand deliver it? He ultimately does, but only because he runs out of time to get to the post office

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

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Comics Corner: The Transformers 3

   

Title: The Transformers
Issue Number: 3
Release Date: January 1985

Highlights

• Starscream flies his prisoner, Sparkplug Witwicky to the Decepticon's base
• Megatron informs Sparkplug that he has the ability to create fuel for them
• The leader of the Decepticons makes it clear - He will help, or cease to exist
• A hidden Easter egg of US 1 driving over an overpass as the Transformers head down the road below
• Nick Fury tells Dum Dum that they need to check out Oregon, but it better not be the big green fire snortin' lizard, referencing Godzilla, a series which S.H.I.E.L.D. also appeared in
• Joe Robertson sends Peter Parker out on assignment to get photos of whatever walked off with a power plant
• The army sends out a transmission to the Decepticons that they have come to their base in peace, and are met with cluster bombs from Thundercracker and Starscream
• Spider-Man confronts Gears, and after being saved by the Autobot, accepts that they're both on the same side
• Disguised as an army solider, Spider-Man drives Hound through the closed line of army troops, leading the other Autobots with him
• Gears thinks to himself that Spider-Man reminds him of Bluestreak by the way they both seem to like to hear themselves talk
• Spider-Man and Gears infiltrate the Decepticon's base and rescue Sparkplug
• Gears is damaged greatly in the rescue from a fall from the top of the base to the bottom of the canyon, but is collected by his fellow Autobots and restored

Low Points

• Spider-Man's involvement was only a ploy to boost sales, while also using him to establish the Transformers as part of the the Marvel Universe

Oddities

• When Spider-Man drives Hound through the closed line of army troops, the soldiers ask what's up with the other vehicles going through, only for another to say, "Who cares."

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

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Comics Corner: Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars 3

    

Title: Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars
Issue Number: 3
Release Date: July 1984

Highlights

• First appearance of the new villains, Titania, and Volcana
• Magneto takes Wasp to his fortress, and frees her from her metallic ball prison, wanting merely to speak with her
• Spider-Man wanders the heroes base, swinging and crawling through various sections, where he come's across the X-Men, and overhears their plan to join up with Magneto
• Professor X senses Spider-Man's presence
• The X-Men try to stop Spider-Man to explain their stance, but the arachnid repels them all
• Just as Spider-Man finds Reed Richards to tell him about the X-Men, Professor X alters his mind, making him forget what he overheard
• Doctor Doom contacts Magneto asking him to join him, but Magneto declines - Doom informs him that his decision is irrevocable, and he is now considered an enemy
• Magneto and Wasp make out - There's really no other way to put it
• Doctor Doom creates Titania and Volcana
• Thor frees Enchantress from her prison, and the two leave together through a portal to go talk god to god
• The villains catch the heroes off guard, and attack their base
• Human Torch's arm and ribs get broken in the fight
• The villains free their captured commrades

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• Iron Man is using jet skates to traverse through the heroes base, and they're exactly what they sound like - Roller skates

• Where did the two girls come from who became Titania and Volcana? Even the other villains ask, but Doom never answers

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

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Comics Corner: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual 3

   

Title: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man 3
Issue Number: 3
Release Date: September 1981

Highlights

• Reference is made to The Amazing Spider-Man 190, and Marvel Premiere 41
• Peter has the sense to not give photos of Man Wolf fighting Spider-Man to Jonah, what with the man thinking his son was dead
• Lance Bannon doesn't have that same sense, and gets yelled at when he presents his photos
• John Jameson wants to be rid of the curse of Man Wolf, and turns to Doctor Connors for help
• The treatment works, and the moon stone falls from John Jameson's body
• The moon stone crumbles to dust
• Fun section after the main story featuring Aunt May's photo album, Peter's office layout at Empire State University, Pete's Pals and Gals (a one pager based on his co-workers at ESU), and a pinup gallery of numerous Spidey villains which not only includes bios, but notes their first appearance and list of issues they've appeared in since

Low Points

• Cliche title on every level
• J. Jonah Jameson buckles under the medical experiments that Doctor Connors is performing on him, and lets the Man Wolf out of captivity

Oddities

• Spider-Man crashes through the window of Kristen Saunders, and I once again have to ponder - who gets stuck with that bill?

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

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Comics Corner: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man 3

   

Title: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man
Issue Number: 3
Release Date: February 1977

Highlights

• First full appearance of Lightmaster, AKA Edward Lansky

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• Marvel writing their dialog for Asian folks - Feels wrong

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

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Comics Corner: Giant-Size Spider-Man 3

   

Title: Giant-Size Spider-Man
Issue Number: 3
Release Date: January 1975

Highlights

• First appearance of Desinna
• Secondary story which reprints The Amazing Spider-Man 15
• Reference is made to Marvel Team-Up 28

Low Points

• This story is long and boring

Oddities

• None

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

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Comics Corner: Marvel Team-Up 6

 
    

Title: Marvel Team-Up
Issue Number: 6
Release Date: January 1973

Highlights

• First appearance of Jacob Reiss, and Marcia Deston Reiss Masters
• Origin of Puppet Master
• Revelation of how Alicia Masters went blind

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• None

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

 

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Comics Corner: Marvel Team-Up 3

     

Title: Marvel Team-Up
Issue Number: 2
Release Date: July 1972

Highlights

• Morbius the Living Vampire comes back for more
• A whole slew of first appearances from third tier characters Emil Nikos, Jacob Bolt, Bert Tacker, Hans Jorgenson and Jefferson Bolt, plus an appearance by TV's Archie Bunker
• Death of Jefferson Bolt
• Appearance from the entire Fantastic Four team, Reed Richards, Invisible Woman, Thing and Human Torch
  

Low Points

• Marvel Team-Up is not my favorite monthly Spider-Man title. It's stories just don't have the depth that The Amazing Spider-Man has
• Morbius isn't as interesting of a character as I hopped he would be
  

Oddities

• None
  

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

 

 

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Comics Corner: Watchmen 3

Title: Watchmen

Issue Number: 3

Release Date: November 1986

Highlights

• Dr. Manhattan exiles himself to Mars
• First appearance of Janey Slater
• Laurie and Dr. Manhattan break up
• Laurie and Dan beat up a gang in an alley

Low Points

• Intertwined pirate story is boring and detracts

Oddities

• None

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

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Comics Corner: The Long Halloween 3

Title: Batman: The Long Halloween

Issue Number: 3

Release Date: February 1997

Highlights

• Joker's massive pistol - You have to see it to believe it, and it's funny
• Joker adds another interesting layer to the story

Low Points

• Probably the worst drawings of Joker I've ever seen in a Batman comic - Looks awful

Oddities

• Joker defeats Harvey Dent in a fight by kicking him in the privates

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

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Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man 3

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man

Issue Number: 3

Release Date: July 1963

Highlights

• Spider-Man appears to now be a full fledged crime fighter
• Spider-Man uses his spider signal for the first time
• First appearance of Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus
• Origin story of Doctor Octopus
• Spider-Man is easily defeated by Doctor Octopus during their first fight

Low Points

• Nothing more than a silly, "world domination" plan on behalf of Doctor Octopus

Oddities

• Human Torch is asked to take care of Doctor Octopus, but can't right away because he has to wait for his powers to recharge

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

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