The Toy Box

Comics Corner: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man 39

Title: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man
Issue Number: 39
Release Date: February 1980

Highlights

Curt Connors fears Spider-Man was impacted by the rays which were used to defeat Iguana, and stop Connors from turning into Lizard
The mysterious electric character appears again, this time besting three unrevealed opponents
A secret alliance of villains is formed
Schizoid Man, AKA Chip Martin, makes his official appearance, plus we get his origin
Spider-Man transforms into Spider-Lizard

Low Points

Spider-Man shows zero remorse for Schizoid Man, and even makes fun of him saying he should collect pennies to send him to summer camp

Oddities

Editor's Day Off - Curt Connors refers to himself as "Burt" Connors

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

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Comics Corner: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man 38

Title: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man
Issue Number: 38
Release Date: January 1980

Highlights

First appearance of Robert Martin and Rebecca Martin
A mysterious figure appears, showing the ability to control electricity - Obviously Electro, but not revealed in the stort
Something strange is happening to Chip Martin
Morbius is cured of his vampirism

Low Points

None

Oddities

Editor's Day 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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Retro Spins: Julie Brown - Goddess In Progress

My introduction to Julie Brown, not to be confused with Downtown Julie Brown, was through MTV where she served as host for Just Say Julie. She made a name for herself be constantly going against the grain of what the channel represented. While other VJ's professed their love for songs, and the artists behind them, Brown would often go the opposite, making quips and mocking them. It was through this "shock jock" style that she carved out her own niche show, while gaining an army of fans that clicked were her sense of style and humor.

While she was noteworthy for me as a VJ, I personally had not clue that she was also an actress who starred in numerous television shows of the 80's, as well as a handful of movies, nor that she also had a brief stint with her own music career. So today, I'm hoping to start rectifying this by delving into the latter.

Julie Brown released her first album, Goddess In Progress in 1984, and this was followed in 1987 with Trapped In The Body Of A White Girl. Though she left the music scene thereafter, Brown would release her final album to date, Smell The Glamour in 2010.

Firing up her debut album, while not similar instrumental wise, the lyrics have a strong "Weird Al" vibe to them. For the most part, she's going for comedy, and to an extent it is mildly amusing. I admittedly chuckled to the lyrics of the open track, "I Like 'Em Big & Stupid". However, I don't think songs such as, "Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun" would resonate in today's society. If nothing else, it serves as an example of what was considered funny in the past versus today's hyper sensitive society who would most likely pan it for being too controversial of a subject to mock.

The album is technically an EP, and as a result only features five songs. Of them, the last track, Earth Girls Are Easy, would later be used in the film of the same name. For those of you familiar, you are aware that this movie was not only written by Brown, but starred her alongside Geena Davis and Jeff Goldblum, as well as a relatively unknown Jim Carrey and Damon Wayans.

There is an overall 80's pop vibe to Goddess In Progress, and it definitely has a commercial sound to it. This is probably why "Big & Stupid" and "Homecoming Queen" saw rotations on FM stations of the time, as well as the Dr. Demento Show.

2007 Re-Issue

Overall, it's also not a bad album. What I think I like most about it is the moment in time it perfectly captures. It represents the spirit of the 80's, a period where something like this could easily survive, and even become a part of mainstream music. Something like this would never fly in the 90's (and beyond). It would fall flat upon inception. I don't think many recording labels would even consider a discussion about this kind of project.

Goddess In Progress will never be an album that stays in my frequent rotation, but it was fun to hear, and harnesses what I loved about the 80's in its eighteen minute runtime. It's fun, it's pop oriented, and it's just intended to be entertaining with its carefree presentation.

On a closing note, I respect and appreciate that Brown acquired the rights to her albums, and self published them on CD in 2007. I wish more artists would do this so that great music which was only initially released on vinyl and cassette, or has long since been out of print, can be rediscovered in this digital age.

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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.

Just Doodling: The Incredible Hulk

Broadening my doodling horizons by continuing to make my way through Marvel's finest lineup.

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Retro Spins: Jellybean - Wotupski!?!

John Benitez, aka, Jellybean, was one of the hottest producers in the 80's and 90's, working with the likes of Madonna, Debbie Harry, Whitney Houston and Pointer Sisters, just to name a few. While he spent most of his time in the background, Jellybean did branch out on his own to release a few albums. However, the interesting aspect of said albums was that Benitez himself didn't sing on them. Instead, he utilized the talent of some of the era's hottest musicians as his mouthpiece. This instant notoriety of the hand selected artists led to several top ten hits.

In the late 70's, Benitez mostly filled his pocket by working as a DJ, while putting himself through college. It wouldn't be until a meeting with Madonna, where she introduced him to her first single, "Everybody", that a relationship (and romance) would begin. Madonna would ask him to remix her debut album, and as Jellybean would say of the opportunity, "While I was launching her career, I was launching my career as a producer." The relationship proved to be mutually beneficial.

Jellybean's discography is relatively short, with only five albums released from 1984 to 2010. However, he makes up for this in spades via his writing and producing credits. He would also go on to dabble in a few television themes. As of this writing, he was working as the executive producer for the SeriusXM station, Studio 54.

However, for that one moment in time, Jellybean was an 80's artist, if not directly at least in name, releasing the albums "Wotupski!?! (1984), Just Visiting This Planet (1987), and Jellybean Rocks The House (1988). This would be followed by 1991's Spillin' The Beans, and 2010's A Celebration In Sound (Jellybean Soul).

Today, I'm whipping out his debut album, Wotupski!?!, to give it a good old Retro Spin. I waited a long time to get this one on CD. Not only is this album out of print, but it is also expensive. While it may well have changed since I originally went looking for it, there were none on ebay at the time. Discogs had one copy available, but it was from the Russian Federation, which takes forever to get in the USA. Not only that, but their CD's are notorious for being bootlegs, and the time involved with resolving the matter is even longer than it took to receive.

Finally, in late December of 2021, another copy of the CD popped up on Discogs. Believe it or not, a seller that was literally just down the road from me. I reviewed everything, and clicked the buy button, paying immediately, only to then sit and wait. Eight days later, nothing. No CD. Not even marked as shipped. I reached out to the seller, and got no response.

So began the process of filing a claim with Discogs, and then PayPal. Here's where their site stands out among the crowd of ebay and Amazon. Once a buyer files a claim of an unresponsive seller, they have four days to reply, or their account is suspended indefinitely. Not an ideal solution, but at least they take the matter seriously. Lo and behold on the very last day the seller had to respond, they finally did, and shipped the thing. While the wait and process was excruciating, ultimately I got the better resolution, which was the CD.

Without further ado, let's talk about it.

As I mentioned above, Jellybean doesn't sing on the albums himself. Instead, he utilizes other talent in the industry. This is how you get an album which comprises of Madonna (no introduction necessary), Catharine Buchanan (aka Catt Buchanan) Vernon Jeffrey Smith (saxophone player and producer), Audrey Wheeler (Unlimited Touch), and Jennie Haan (Babe Ruth Band).

Of the five tracks on the album (not including remixes of these songs which are added as bonuses), I really dug three of them. Sidewalk Talk (Catharine Buchanan and Madonna), Dancing On The Fire (Audrey Wheeler), and The Mexican (Jennie Haan). Overall, the sound was heavy synthpop oriented, and that to me is good 80's music.

While the main album may only consist of five tracks, with a run time of six to nine minutes each, you're still getting over half an hour of music, which is a decent run time. Throw in the remixes, and it's over an hour.

Of them, I think The Mexican is my favorite. I dug it so much that I not only listened to it several times, but then went and checked out the original 1972 Babe Ruth version.

In looking further into the artists associated with the album, it was sad to see that Catharine Buchanan would end up being a singer who never got any form of musical contract. Her work on Sidewalk Talk was followed by a lone single, Love Is (1988). She seems to have disappeared from all forms of the spotlight, and Google searches yield minimal results.

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Star Wars: Blue Milk (TruMoo and Kemps)

Star Wars: Blue Milk
TruMoo and Kemps
2024

Need to chow down on some sugary cereal before traveling the Jundland Wastes? Well, don't forget your blue milk. TruMoo and Kemps have you covered.

With Disney's inception of Galaxy's Edge, came the various menu items to fill the park out with Star Wars themed eateries. Of course, blue milk was bound to be among the options for local denizens. However, with it, also came the obvious conclusion to mass dairy producers TruMoo and Kemps that they too could capitalize on the novelty beverage from a galaxy far far away. They already had the main ingredient. All they need was a touch of blue dye, and a smidge of vanilla flavoring.

Blue milk not your thing? That's cool. It also came in chocolate, and strawberry. Additionally, if you got the mall cartons, there were a variety of different character pictures to collect.

What's interesting is that chocolate appears to come in multiple sizes, pints, half gallon, and gallons, the blue version only came in half gallons, and the strawberry in pints. Why? I don't know.

Depending on what area you're from, TruMoo may not have been available, leaving you have to track down the counterpart from Kemps. While it was the same logo, with exception of the company logo, the variety didn't seem to be available. Kemps appears to have only produced the half gallon in blue milk, skipping the chocolate and strawberry flavors completely.

They did, however, produce several special labels for their gallon white milk varieties.

If these weren't enough milk jug fun times for you, other brands also slapped their logos on the variety of white milk labels shown here. These included, but may not have been limited to, Reitter, Deans, Garelick Farms, Prices, Alta Dena, Oakhurst, Lehigh Valley, Meadow Gold, Pet, Gandy's, Swiss Premium, Jilbert, Creamland, Cass-Clay, Tuscan, Country Fresh, and Oak Farm. Basically, it all came down to which dairy distributer covered what region, and I'm pretty sure I didn't capture them all here.

I mean, if you want to collect Star Wars milk containers, you've got tons of variety here between skim, 1%, 2%, and whole. I wouldn't necessarily advise you try and track down a full bottle, what with it being long expired at this point. However, empty ones are plentiful online.

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Retro Spins: King - Steps In Time

The 80's may have been dominated by a Prince, but there was also a King. While the latter didn't get their fair shake, they definitely should have.

King were a British new wave band formed from the remnants of the ska band, The Reluctant Stereotypes. While they would go on to have two top thirty hits in 1985 in the UK, as well as the number two hit in the US, Love and Pride, major success didn't seem to follow. The group was formed by Paul King on vocals and piano, and he was backed up by Mick Roberts (keyboards), Anthony Wall (bass / guitar), Jim Lantsbery (guitar), John Hewit, Adrtian Lillywhite, and Colin Heanes (all on drums).

The group released two albums in their career, Steps In Time (1984) and Bitter Sweet (1985). The band split up in 1986, and Paul King would release a solo album, Joy, in 1987. However, this lone venture would only yield the minor hit, I Know. Paul would later serve a brief stint as a VJ for MTV in the 90's.

Now, I will admit that I missed out completely on King in the 80's. The band didn't hit my radar until Christmas of 2021, when I received an awesome set of Now - Forgotten 80's albums from my girl. It was here that I would first hear the track, Love And Pride, instantly liking it. It quickly became the most played track from the CD set. It also intrigued me to see what albums the band had released, and more importantly, if they were available on CD.

As typically is the case with older 80's albums, I wasn't expecting to find they albums had been released on CD. Further, if they had, I expected them to be so obscure that they would be stupid expensive. I was happy to be wrong on both counts.

Not only were both albums pressed on disc, but I was able to get them both for fifteen dollars each. Okay, for a used CD, that is kind of expensive, but not ridiculously dumb as others which I've seen as high as $500.00. Still, there weren't many available, with the majority being overseas. Despite this, I was able to find a pair of US seller with them, and jumped on them fast.

As I played through their debut album, Steps In Time, I found myself immediately hooked. I was digging the new wave sound, which was heavily impacted by a groovy bass line. It sounded almost like a contender with Duran Duran, if Duran also incorporated ska into their sound.

I really found myself invested and enjoying this album, which only begged the question more, "What happened?" Why didn't King soar up the charts in the 80's becoming international superstars? From my perspective, they certainly had a marketable sound. I just really feel like they could have, and should have been, much larger than they were.

It was only within the last ten to twelve minutes of the album that I really heard any tracks that I didn't particularly care for. The first two-thirds of Steps In Time were solid. So many tracks got added to my shuffle list. Since then, I've also continued to play Love And Pride into the ground. It's just one of those tracks I've yet to get tired of. It's catchy, fun, and really enjoyable. If nothing else, I recommend you give that song a go.

Honestly, I'm really excited to immediately jump into their follow up album, Bitter Sweet, to see what hidden gems are contained within. But until then, that wraps this Retro Spins up.

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Just Doodling: Scud The Disposible Assassin

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(They're) Sexy + Seventeen - Peg People Wave 17!

Remember that awesome Marvel line from Hasbro where they did every Spider-Man character ever? OF COURSE YOU DON'T! Because Hasbro sucks!

G.I. Jigsaw on the other hand, he knows how to produce a toy line, and see it through to completion! His fantastic series of Peg People keep coming, and each one add a whole new layer of depth to the line.

The Inhumans join the fray with their team leader, Black Bolt! He showed up from time to time in Marvel-Team Up, which is really the extent of what I know about the character.

Another Marvel Team-Up alum was Falcon. Though he typically didn't stray far from the pages of Captain America, he would periodically show up to fight side by side with Spider-Man.

Though he was usually reserved as a nemesis to the Fantastic Four, Kang did appear hear and there to harass Spider-Man.

The pages of Spider-Man would always get weird when Ghost Rider was around. His tactics are very much the polar opposite of how Peter Parker would handle a bad guy, and ultimately this left our hero deep in thought as he came to terms with what had happened at the end.

It was a given that Deadpool was going to show up in the pile of pegs. Though, ironically, he initially wasn't on the checklist.

If you've noticed a trend here, the majority of this wave consists of Marvel Team-Up related characters. Brother Voodoo is yet another. I don't believe this character ever got his own series. Instead, he was relegated to the pages of the fitting title, Strange Tales.

Based on the Greek God, Hercules, Marvel's version was a mainstay in the pages of the Avengers, being a member of the team for quite some time. If I told you he appeared in Marvel Team-Up with Spider-man, would you be shocked?

One of, if not the last Avengers members on the checklist is Hawkeye. He kind of got relegate to page four, with the rest of them (except Hercules) being on page three.

Blah, blah, blah, Marvel Team-Up, the Cat, AKA Hellcat. She's one of the oldest Marvel characters, having appeared back in the companies hay days as Timely Comics.

The second Inhumans team member to join the bunch is Medussa. When she appeared in...Marvel Team-Up, she typically started things off on a bad foot with Spider-Man. Either fighting him, or fleeing somewhere, which ended up in a fight.

Crystal, our next Inhumans team member, would typically only appear with Spider-Man when the team as a whole were around. I don't recall any times she had any solo adventures with the web swinger.

The Inhumans kept coming with Triton, and...

...Gorgon. Much like Crystal, these two typically only showed up in Marvel Team-Up when the rest of the squad was appearing.

Damion, aka Son of Satan, not only had his own book series, but would occasionally show up to make things in the Spider-Verse supernatural. These usually weren't among my favorites to read. I'm not a big fan of the occult.

The we jump back to the Inhumans for Karnac (the Shatterer)...

...and, Maximus the Mad.

The wave rounds out (sort of) with Nighthawk. Depending on what era of Marvel you're reading dictates which version of the character you get. Not only in identity, but whether he's a villain or hero. This version happens to be Kyle Richmond, member of the Defenders.

I said "sort of" above because the mystery figure package returned this round. This time with two new figures inside!

I wanted to say who this was when I saw the character holding up the card, but the exposed brain at the top of his head kept throwing me off. As did the costume. Turns out, that's not an exposed brain, and I should have gone with my gut. What we have here is Johnny Carson's alter ego, Carnac the Magnificent.

George also threw in a version of Wade Wilson from X-Men Origins: Wolverine...Terrible movie. For now, Wade's on the Mystery Figure checklist, but I may change that when (if...when) I have an expanded checklist.

Speaking of which, let's roll that beautiful bean footage that is the checklist so far. Can you believe George has finished three full pages, and a third of the way through a fourth? Amazing! Man is he going to hate me when he sees the new list with the additional 700.

I'm moving next weekend, so I don't know if George will be dropping off anymore surprise packages before then. Gosh, now that I think of it, it's not going to be so easy for us to coordinate these moving forward. Man, that's kind of a bummer to realize.

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Retro Spins: Doctor And The Medics - Laughing At The Pieces

My introduction to the band, Doctor And The Medics, began when I got turned on to the British series, "Bring Back", starring Justin Lee Collins. The shows were one-off broadcasts, in which Collins would trek out across the globe to bring back stars of his favorite television shows, movies and musicians. The series as a whole is fantastic, and shows our host tracking down the stars of The A-Team, Dallas, Star Wars, Fame, Star Trek, and a handful more. Sadly, the show didn't last beyond eight episodes, with the last, "Bring Back The Goonies" being cancelled before production could begin.

In June of 2006, during the shows original run, there was one episode entitled, Bring Back The One Hit Wonders. It was here where Doctor And The Medics would hit my radar. They were a motley group of mates led by Clive Jackson, who served to, in his own words, "Entertain the great unwashed."

Forming in 1981, Doc and his Medics played mostly to the underground scene, mixing a style of neo-psychedelia, glam rock, new wave and pop rock. The band was signed to IRS records in 1985, and released their first EP, Happy But Twisted. The album was led by a cover of Hawkwind's Silver Machine, which reached number two on the indie charts.

Though lineup changes began early within the group, but ultimately landed on the classic lineup of The Doctor (vocals), Steve McGuire (guitar), Richard Searle (bass), Steve "Vom" Ritchie (drums), Wendi Anadin (vocals), and Colette Anadin (vocals). The end result of their efforts was their first full length album, 1986's Laughing At The Pieces.

In line with their previous EP, this new album was led by yet another cover, Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky. The single reached the number one spot on the UK charts, much to the outrage of the group's core fan base. The band followed this up with their 1987 album, I Keep Thinking It's Tuesday. Mildly successful, but not to the degree of their previous efforts. They would also release another EP this same year, Two Pieces of Cloth Carefully Stitched Together.

Though they would disappear for several years, Doctor And The Medics would return in 1992 for their third studio album, The Adventures of Boadacea and the Beetle, and then again in 1996 for Instant Heaven. However, shortly thereafter, the group would disband.

In 2003, the group would reunite to hit the tour scene. This would lead to a new EP in 2006, Timewarped. Many would stay on for the current iteration of the band which features, The Doctor (vocals), Adrian Hill (drums), Dan Angelow (guitar), Jon Randle (bass), Melissa Weekes (vocals), Matthew Angelow (guitar/performance artist), and Maria Verhelst-Hopkins (vocals/performance artist). No albums have been released since their 2006 entry.

Firing up their album, Laughing At The Pieces, I was greeted to a unique sound. Though it has an 80's vibe to it, there's also a hint of 60's psychedelic rock, and these two styles surprising work well together. Though the overall album is by no means a masterpiece, it is unique, and that in and of itself makes it rather enjoyable to hear.

Of the twelve tracks, I thoroughly enjoyed their renditions of Spirit In The Sky, and Waterloo (ABBA). The latter being a rather good cover. I also really enjoyed Moon Song, and think it may very well have been my favorite of the bunch.

I also know that three out of twelve isn't a very high percentage, and won't profess to say that this album is perfect by any means. Rather, as I said, it's unique, and there in lies its charm. Enough so that I actually tracked down their follow up album, I Keep Thinking It's Tuesday. As I've said many times before, that's always part of the goal in these Retro Spin posts. To find something that makes me want to hear more.

Whether or not that will pay off is yet to be seen, but stick around for that. I'm sure you'll see that post in the future from me. But it won't be any time soon.

In the interim, I highly recommend the television series noted at the start of this post. Fans of the 80's will definitely enjoy seeing their favorite casts and musicians reunited, as well as the interviews conducted individually with them. Though not official, you can find all the episodes on Youtube. Check them out!

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Little Shop Of Horrors DVD (Warner Bros. Home Video)

Little Shop of Horrors
Warner Bros. Home Video
1998

On November 1, 1996, the DVD format hit store shelves for the first time in Japan, before spreading across the world in 1997. Much like its predecessor, the Laserdisc, this new disc based format came to the market with a hefty price tag which wasn't appealing to many average movie buyers. As such, in its infancy, it was labeled the video format for the film connoisseur.

Another format war started, this time between DVD and DIVX. Though the battle was short, the feud was fueled by studios leaning heavily into one format over the other, making it difficult for buyers to find the movies they wanted during these early years.

One of the bigger names to back DVD was Warner Bros. Home Video, who would release the 1986 musical, Little Shop of Horrors on February 23, 1998 as a Special Edition. This copy remained on shelves for just a few days before it was recalled, and later replaced with a revised version. This sudden removal didn't allow for many copies to be sold, making the film scarce.

Reissued DVD

This in turn made the original version skyrocket in price, making it the first DVD to also increase in value on secondary markets. Soon, people were paying upwards of $100.00 to own Little Shop of Horrors. But, why? What happened to suddenly make the cult classic film the most valuable DVD in the world?

"Special Features" as noted on the back of both
the original release and reissued DVD covers

Even in its infancy, one of the lures to DVD was the inclusion of special features, and this is what it all came down to on this particular release. On the back side of the disc, where these extras were housed, there was a black and white alternate ending, which showed the entire original ending to the film. This was something, which to date, had never been shared outside of the film's initial test screenings. However, the problem all came down to rights and approvals, which belonged to, and were the discretion of Producer, David Geffen.

Geffen said, "They put out a black-and-white, un-scored, un-dubbed video copy of the original ending that looked like s**t." The studio was forced to remove the DVD from store shelves, and replace it with an alternate version which didn't include the special feature. As word spread, prices rose, and thus the first collectible DVD was born. To this day, the original version remains difficult to find. This, again, is because so few copies were sold during its brief time on shelves.

Prices have since subsided, mainly because the original ending was restored in full color, and included on the October 9, 2012 released Director's Cut. However, for those looking for a true "special edition", the original 1998 release may very well be the one and only source for fans to see the unaltered black and white print, which featured no sound effects, music ques, or special effects.

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