Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man 277

    

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue Number: 277
Release Date: June 1986

Highlights

• In the wake of Flash Thompson's arrest, framed by Hobgoblin to take a fall, Peter wants to doubt the fact, but struggles with it
• Reference is made to Daredevil 227, and 228
• Matt Murdock calls Peter at home, and asks him for help
• For those not reading Daredevil, we learn that Kingpin has discovered that Matt is the hero, and used his power to disbar him, turn the IRS on him, frozen his assets, and blown up his home
• Matt worries that Kingpin might know Peter is Spider-Man
• Matt makes Peter promise that he won't go after Kingpin, and instead will leave it to Daredevil to deal with it
• Despite his promise, Spider-Man does the opposite, and confronts Kingpin
• Kingpin mocks Spider-Man, informing him that he has no evidence, and that as a hero, as long as he, the Kingpin, makes no move of attack Spider-Man won't strike first
• Conceding to the stalemate, Spider-Man leaves, but not before webbing Kingpin to his chair as a petty victory which Kingpin acknowledges annoys him
• The issue is split into two separate stories, but the second story acknowledges the events of the previous one
• Spider-Man chases after some kidnappers, causing their vehicle to wreck in the deep snow
• As Spider-Man carries the child away, he acknowledges that he needs to rest from being thrown from the roof of the vehicle
• The little girl pleads with him not to rest because it will draw out the wendigo
• The kidnapper's catch up, but are taken out by Spider-Man
• As he leads the girl to safety, the wendigo takes his victims, the kidnappers
• Spider-Man returns the little girl to her family, neither of them aware of the horrors that occurred in their absence to the kidnappers

Low Points

• First story is relatively short and pointless
• Second story is a horror story disguised as a Spider-Man backup story, and equally pointless
• Whole issue feels like a series of throw away events

Oddities

• Mary Jane bursts into Peter's apartment, and leaving the door wide open begins to should about how he's Spider-Man

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

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Retro Spins: Donna Summer - The Wanderer

It feels like a lifetime since I last played through a Donna Summer album. Way back in 2021, I not only listed to her 1983 released, She Works Hard For The Money, but also touched on how I was personally introduced to the singer.

Summer was already a well-established artist by the time the 80's hit. Her breakthrough came with her 1975 released, Love To Love You Baby, paving the way for consecutive gold certifications through 1977's Once Upon A Time... She'd receive platinum certification for 1979's Bad Girls, which would also serve as her last record for Casablanca. The split would come at a time where the artist felt she had no jurisdiction over her personal and professional life, with the label all but controlling all of it. She'd be the first female solo artist signed with Geffen, and release 1980's The Wanderer.

Though usually a disco-based artist, Summer wasn't tone deaf to the shifting times. Even if she were, it would be difficult to avoid banners which literally stated, "disco sucks" being posted all over the place. Smartly, she opted to leave the sound behind, focusing instead on a rock-based tracks with long time writers / producers, Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. Production, however, was rushed by Geffen, who wanted to put something new on the market ahead of Casablanca's planned greatest hits album, Walk Away.

The Wanderer would peak at number thirteen on the Billboard Hot 200, with the title track reaching number three on the charts. Two additional singles, Cold Love, and Who Do You Think You Are Foolin' would falter, not even cracking the top forty. Despite this, critics were relatively favorable towards the album.

Playing through it, I'm relatively favorable towards it too. In particularly, I really dug the title track, Looking Up, and Stop Me.

The overall feel to the album is peppy, with a rock sound that's almost familiar to a musical soundtrack for an 80's movie. I suppose this makes sense with Moroder behind the wheel. We are, after all, talking about the man behind such noteworthy soundtracks as Flashdance, American Gigolo, Metropolis, Over The Top, and so many more.

It was definitely a good listening session, and I'm kind of glad that I took the time to track down her 80's discography. I think this is going to be a good one, and I'm looking forward to jumping into tomorrow's Retro Spin.

Summer quickly returned to the studio to record the album, I'm A Rainbow. While it was initially intended to be released in 1981, it would ultimately be shelved. Geffen then insisted that the singer part ways with Moroder and Bellotte and paired her with Quincy Jones. Together, they would record her 1982 self-titled follow-up, which is where I'll dive in tomorrow.

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Comics Corner: The Amazing Spider-Man 276

   

Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
Issue Number: 276
Release Date: May 1986

Highlights

• Death of Human Fly
• Spider-Man blasts Hobgoblin in the face with a web ball, and the only way to get loose is to ditch his mask
• Hobgoblin fleas before Spider-Man can get close and see who he is
• Though he battled Hobgoblin to rescue Sha-Shan, Peter still wants to quit being Spider-Man
• Spider-Man returns home, where Mary Jane is waiting for him, but his three neighbors are on the roof, preventing him from entering
• Spider-Man has to panhandle for a quarter to call Mary Jane to bring him clothes
• Mary Jane starts to think that maybe Peter should stop being Spider-Man for the sake of both of them
• Flash goes to see Sha-Shan in the hospital, but only to confront her in anger about her leaving him
• A cop breaks up the scuffle after Sha-Shan gives him a return backhand for the one he dealt her in the last issue
• Flash is grabbed by a reporter looking for a story on the incident
• Flash obliges by telling the world that Hobgoblin a coward who needs a costume, and is too weak to face a real man like him
• It's aired multiple times on the news, and seen by Hobgoblin and The Rose, and many others
• Human Fly has escaped the mental institute, and he's on a quest for revenge against Spider-Man
• Peter tells Mary Jane that he has to stop Hobgoblin, or he'll feel responsible for every crime he commits in the future
• Mary Jane once again leaves, saying to herself that Peter will have to move forward without her
• As he goes in for his surprise attack on Spider-Man, Human Fly is shot in the back, and killed by Scourge of the Underworld
• Hobgoblin hits Spider-Man with a bomb that negates his ability to stick to surfaces
• Hobgoblin lures Spider-Man to the depths of a building where he blasts a gas furnace, causing a massive explosion
• When the smoke clears, Spider-Man finds the unconscious villain, and unmasks him revealing, Flash Thompson
• After Flash is arrested, the police get a warrant, and search his apartment
• Inside, they find crates full of goblin bombs, and other Hobgoblin related gear
• Across town, the true Hobgoblin reflects on  his happiness setting Flash Thompson up for the fall, cloaked in shadows to keep his identity a continued mystery

Low Points

• None

Oddities

• None

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

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Retro Spins: 'Til Tuesday - Everything's Different Now

Jules Shear is a name known around the music industry but not often referred to among fans of his music. The reason being, he spent most of his time behind a pen, hammering out hits such as All Through The Night for Cyndi Lauper, and If She Knew What She Wants for the Bangles. At this point in time, 1988 to be specific, he was also the ex-boyfriend of 'Til Tuesday lead singer, Aimee Mann. Their breakup would shape the tracks written for what would become the bands final album, Everything's Different Now.

While previous albums, Voices Carry, and Welcome Home would peak on the Billboard 200 at nineteen and forty-nine, respectfully, as well as reach gold certification in the USA, their newest release would take a sudden nosedive. Everything's Different Now would underwhelm at number one hundred twenty-four on the charts, and produce only one minor single, (Believed You Were) Lucky, which peaked a ninety-five on the Billboard Hot 100.

Much like their previous release, the lackluster charts didn't reflect critics opinion, who praised the record. The Boston Globe would go as far to say it's, "the most confessional album since Bruce Springsteen's Tunnel of Love." Others would say about it that it was, "a touching meditation on the ebb and flow of love," and a, "little masterpiece of melancholy."

."

When things started out, I thought maybe this one would be okay. The first three tracks, Everything's Different Now, Rip In Heaven, and Why Must I, were relatively okay. Nothing worth jumping up and down about, but decent. This, however, shifted with track four, and frankly never came back around.

The overall tempo of the album is slow, once again tapping into that soft rock sound that dominated the previous album. For me, it's just not what I want in my music.

If you told me I had to choose one more track from the album that stood out, I might select Crash And Burn. Though appropriately titled for the band's career, that's definitely not what the song is about.

Overall, 'Til Tuesday is a band I could be perfectly fine with just the one hit single, Voices Carry. I suppose that's pretty much what the majority of the world thought too.

Regardless, they'd stick it out until 1990 but then disband when Mann opted to pursue a solo career. While they wouldn't release any further studio albums, she released a total of ten albums between 1993 and 2021.

People do love a reunion though, and on May 17, 2025, original member Aimee Mann, Robert Holmes, Joey Pesce, and Michael Hausman did just that. They performed for the first time in thirty-three years at the Cruel World Festival in Pasadena. However, there have been no announcements for any future performances together.

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