The Amazing Spider-Man 21 (legacy 915) 2023

 

About a week ago our little kitty cat named Carnie started acting sick.  She did not have the energy she would normally have. Carnie is a small shorthaired cat with the white tuxedo chest and white paws.  She is the softest cuddliest cat in recorded human history. She is the sweetest happiest little cat and is our old boy cat, Booger’s, girlfriend.  He licks her head. It is adorable. 

By Wednesday, she had stopped eating so Thursday I left work to take her to our vet. When I got there, I noticed there were not any cars. At first, I thought it was my lucky day and that there would be a short wait.  Friends, it was not my lucky day.  When I went to the door, I noticed a sign on the door that said the vet was closed until further notice.  I called my wife and she checked Facebook and found out that our vet had died.

Our vet is dead. 

So, I went to the closest open vet that I could find on Google maps.  That vet examined Carnie for about ninety seconds and gave her a shot for nausea and an antibiotic.  That vet charged me $175.00 that I did not have frantically pulled together the $175 from those phone apps that float you money until your next payday.

By Saturday, Carnie still was not eating. So I took her to a different vet.  A not dead vet.  And hopefully a vet that would not charge me $170 for nothing.  This vet instead charged me $326.77 to tell me that our beloved kitty cat has FIP and that it is fatal.  She did give carnie a steroid and some antibiotics so Carnie is now eating.  That is great! Until that medicine runs its course and she probably dies.  New vet said that there is a treatment that works well for FIP but they did not have any since it is not FDA approved.  They said they would try to get some from a medical school.  

So, right now, we can only hope that 1) the vet gets the medicine 2) we can somehow miraculously afford it and 3) none of our other cats develops this illness.  

Apparently, FIP starts with the coronavirus and then mutates into FIP.  So it is very likely that all of our cats had the coronavirus.  Honestly, it is very likely every cat on this planet had the coronavirus.  We just have to hope that Carnie is the only one of our cats where it developed into FIP.  

If you would like to help finance our kitty cat’s treatment, you can email me or DM me through twitter.

Alternatively, if you are a person that believes in capitalism and thinks that our sick cat should pull herself up by her kitty cat bootstraps then you can support her through capitalism.

I have been reading Spider-Man comics since 1978.  Well, that is not true. I was a little kid in 1978 and could not even read but I could beg my parents and grandparents to buy me the Spider-Man thing off the spinner rack at the Piggly Wiggly.  So, I’ve been following my close personal friend Spider-Man’s adventures through six decades now (using sports math where you can claim to have done something for more years than you were actually alive it you hit the tail end of one decade and the start of another). 

Here in the two thousand twenties decade of my friendship with Spider-Man we find ourselves in the Zeb Wells run of The Amazing Spider-Man.  Wells started his Spider-Man in medias res jumping six months into the future from the previous run and leaving what happened in between a mystery.  Friends, I HATE THIS.  Continuity jumps work in a single movie or a single television show where things are resolved by the end.  They do not ever work in an ongoing serially published periodical soap opera comic book series.  It was a complete failure and disaster when DC decide to launch its New 52 five years in the future.  The six months here is not a bad, but it’s bad enough.  It has been a real slog trying to get through these past months of comics with nothing explained and Peter Parker’s life ruined AGAIN but this time without explanation.

Nevertheless, in this issue, finally, finally, finally, Mr. Wells and company are going to allow us to know what has been going on.  At least that is what the hype box on the cover tells us.  Short answer is; Remember that weird dude in The Amazing Spider-Man 894 that showed up just as Peter and Mary Jane were working everything out and going to start a new life together?  Me either.  But, it’s him, it’s that weird dude.  Tune in next month true believers! 

All right, let’s score this sombitch.

Writing: Zeb Wells. Zeb Wells is a good writer.  The bulk of being good at writing Spider-Man is just understanding his voice and the voices of the supporting cast.  Beyond that, it is just soap opera so don’t make a mistake too big (Clone Saga, Mephisto) or do anything lame like jump the story six months into the future.  Doh!  Score: 2

Drawing: John Romita Jr. penciler.  Scott Hanna inker.  John Romita Jr. draws this comic book.  He is one of the best half dozen give or take artists to draw Spider-Man.  It’s fine. Score: 4

Colors: Marcio Menyz.  The colors in John Romita Jr. books are always good.  Y’all notice that right.  Do you think JR Jr picks his colorists or that they just bring their best work when they get his pages?  Score: 4 

Lettering: VC’s Joe Caramagna.  It’s fine. It’s computers. I could read the whole thing but it doesn’t add anything to the experience.  Score: 3

Total Score: 3.25 out of 5 Shanos.

Love always. Your best pal ever,

Shano

The Amazing Spider-Man 20 (2023)

 

This is a fill-in issue with a "guest" creative team. It serves absolutely no purpose other than keeping things on schedule. There is no plot worth mentioning.  There is one moment that matters to the characters. It's half a page.  Peter Parker expresses to Black Cat that he's finally ready to move on from Mary Jane (again) and be more committed to her (again).  I get it. Ongoing Marvel comics are soap opera.  Soap opera is mostly filler.  But soap opera can also be good.  Friends, this is not good.  Writer Joe Kelly does a respectable job trying to at least keep things funny but he's getting less than zero help from artist Terry Dodson.  At no point now, or at any previous point in his career that I'm aware of, is Terry Dodson going to give you any cartooning.  These are just drawings.  These are pinup or sketchbook drawings of the characters in cool poses.  He's good at that.  But he's not going to give you any storytelling.  He's not going to do anything to help make those Joe Kelly jokes land.  It's just a bunch of drawings. 

All right, let's fire up the Shaometer and rate this hunk of crap.

Writing: Joe Kelly.  You're better than this Joe.  Score: 2

Drawing: Terry Dodson penciler.  Rachel Dodson inker.  This comic has exactly one panel with an attempt at drawing a background. Said background is the ground.  The ground is covered in snow.  There are a couple of cars in it and a hint at what might be a building so we can assume that this story took place on something sort of like planet Earth.  Other than that, the backgrounds are just vague shapes rendered in the coloring to imply trees.  Score: 1

Colors: Terry Dodson.  I like Dodson’s color palette choices and you'd almost respect the fact that the colorist is doing all the narrative heavy lifting and trying to create the illusion that these pinup poses exist in some world where things have shapes and colors.  Almost, that is if we could ignore the fact that the lazy penciler and the hard working colorist are the same person.  Score: 2

Lettering:  VC's Joe Caramagna.  It's fine.  Score: 3

Total Score Average: 2 out of 5 Shanos

Love always.  Your best pal ever,

Shano

Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 12082013

(Detective Comics #389.  Image stolen from an incredible set of Neal Adams art at The Golden Age.)

Here are some things I found interesting in the world of minicomics, comic books, graphic novels, small press, self publishing, zines, webcomics, cartoons, digital comics, other, etc. during the week ending 12082013:

"When I heard that Ed was accused of child molestation, I had a hard time believing it. I knew Ed. I couldn’t see it. But that is the way of sociopaths that they can make themselves look innocent and normal in the eyes of everyone else."  -Kathleen David on Ed Kramer.

• Hi brothers and sisters.  Let's start with me since I'm the one paying for this party.  I wrote reviews of Harley Quinn 0, The Walking Dead 144, Savage Dragon 192, Daredevil 32-33 and The Sandman Overture 1.  Yup.  Sho nuff did. 
• I also did an in depth study of 80's porn. 
• I sent five bucks to small press and minicomics champion Rob Clough.  We need at least a dozen Rob Clough's but since we only have one he keeps doing the work of one hundred.  Here is one of Rob's recent feats of strength. 
• If you gotta be a jerk then be a jerk but don't be an asshole.  Nobody laughs with the asshole. 
• Also don't be an asshole that calls for the dismissal of someone that points our that you simply can't draw for crap. 
• Also don't be that asshole that calls people "penis" instead of their names. 
•  Also don't be the asshole that says, “I think he’ll most likely try and figure out a way to come in contact with children, and that’s where I’ll get him.”  Um, Mr. Assistant District Attorney Danny Porter, that is not comforting at all.  Not, at, all comforting!  So what you are saying is, Dragon*Con co-founder and child molester Ed Kramer can live in his house, which is exactly where he wants to be, but the next time he breaks the law we all know he already broke then you are going to be the first in line to go "get him" for the same thing you all ready got him for?  Law is confusing.
• I live in Gwinnett County GA.  I'm glad I don't live there anymore.

• Dan Nadel announced that Picture Box will not be publishing any more books.  It is certainly not good news for comics.  You can't just assume that someone else will pick up the kind of books Nadel would have been publishing if he had carried on and you certainly cannot assume that they would be published with the same quality.  I personally did not buy many Picture Box books.  I just couldn't afford them.  Sorry.  You can make they greatest work of human expression of all time but if it costs over $15.99 there is a good chance I'm never going to read it.  Back when I worked at Borders as an inventory manager, I made sure my store stocked a lot of small press graphic novels if for other reason that I myself could read them.  But I left Borders and moved to the cow fields about the same time Picture Box started.  I picked up a few things here and there at conventions and when I visited civilization.  But I missed most of what Picture Box did.  You can't have it all.
• I still pick up Brian Chippendale's Maggots and flip through it about as much as I flip through anything.  It is still fascinating.
• I also couldn't afford anything on Fantagraphics Kickstarter.  Sorry.  You small press comics book publishers let me know if you start publishing any comic books under ten dollars. 
• David Alan Doane is back to comics blogging.  That's swell. 
• I enjoyed this article on the evils of smarm.  But if you really want to learn about smarm, watch professional wrestling.  Bo Dallas is the human smarm.  

• Speaking of wrasslin', check out this Patrick Dean cover for the new Old School Wrestling Podcast book. 
• Speaking of wrasslin' again, I liked this Joey Weiser comic.  Check out those A Round Town comics.  Good stuff from Mack, Weiser, Dean and others. 
• She's a wonder all right. 
• I would have cast Rosario Dawson. 
• Not only because I think Rosario Dawson is the perfect actress for Wonder Woman but also because if there was ever a situation where I was in a position to pay beautiful women to be a part of my... anything, I'm calling Rosario Dawson first.
• But that's just me.  You folks enjoy you skinny starlets in your movie where people wear rubber clothes. 
• That new Spider-Man trailer doesn't look all that great to me.
• Let's see jerks, criminals, wrestling, movie stars, sexy ladies, movie trailers... what else are you guys into?  Comics?  Hey, here is a post with a neat pdf of a comics layout template you can use.  Make your own comics at home!  It's fun and easy!
• And here you can learn how to draw Adventure Time.  Or you could just sit down and draw Adventure Time from memory like every other middle school kid in the United States. 
• Would you guys just look at this Jimi Hendrix inspired art by Moebius.  Wow.  I've owned that Voodoo Soup album for years and never figured out that it was Moebius.  How did I miss that?
• All I want for Christmas is everything on this list. Or just a gift card from Huddle House.  I'm easy. 
• Hey you guys know it's winter right?
• Ooh.  A new little Josh Simmons mini.  Sending PayPal money... now.
• In the long ago way back time of October, 2013, The New York Post had an article about Julia Wertz's photos of creepy abandoned gross terrifying things.  Wertz has some great items for sale here. 
• Years ago there was a cartoonist named Julia Wertz.  I really liked her stuff.  Damn shame she's dead now. 
• Another place you can exchange money for products which I myself would like to own is Gabby Schulz's store.  You can go ahead and buy me that "Drunk" print if you'd like.  Thanks!
• Did you guys know that Devil Dinosaur was on a TV cartoon?  Did I tell you about it before? It's hard to remember because that cartoon is terrible but, still Devil Dinosaur!
• And finally... your microphone sucks by the way.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.
p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.
p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.
p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.
p.p.p.p.p.s.  Yeah, I do Instagram too now.  I guess it's a law or something.

Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 01062013

(Chris Ware covering The New Yorker stolen from the The New Yorker.)

Here are some things I found interesting in the world of minicomics, comic books, graphic novels, small press, self publishing, zines, webcomics, cartoons, digital comics, other, etc. during the week ending 01062013:

 "This has been a struggle in comics. You deal with a lot of different egos, not only egos but failings of human character and behavior. It's a real struggle to uplift. The people that I try to uplift... I'm not some kind of cop, or a superhero, trying to make people better. I care about people, I care about my community, I care about comics way too much to focus only on myself. We live in this curious time right now, we have the DIY tools to only care about yourself, to only pimp yourself, to only hype yourself and your work. I spend an inordinate amount of time hyping other people, basically curating a life of my influences, the things that I like."  -Dean Haspiel.

• Happy new year brothers and sisters!  Here is hoping this year is better for all of us than we deserve.
• "Best of" time of year is upon us people.  Here are the "best new single print comics" that I read each week in 2012 (when I remembered to).  I'm still finishing up my best of 2011 list but I hope to get one up for 2012 soon.  
• Tucker Stone named 19 best comics of 2012.  
• Rob at Panel Patter listed some best minicomics.  
• Forces of Geek had Josh Latta list off some stuff in their run down.  
• Ben Towle posted a solid three pages of goodness from 2012.  
• Patrick Dean was a part of Robot 6's year end thing and showed off a page in progress from his next comic.  Also, Patrick Dean used to draw this own t-shirts. 
• The Beat has its annual year end survey up. 
• Tom Spurgeon at  is The Comics Reporter and he posted 50 positives for 2012.  Tom has also been increasingly hilarious on twitter lately-  "putting final touches on Sunday's feature "11,427 comics negatives for 2012"  Make sure you also scroll through The Comics Reporter site to read all of the holiday interviews.  That Haspiel interview was something. 

• For several hours on Friday of this week, Rob Ullman was the most famous cartoonist in the United States.  For those of you that don't follow sports and are too lazy to click that link, the short version of the story is that multiple sports and news websites picked up on New York Jets' head coach Rex Ryan showing off a tattoo of his wife wearing his quarterback's jersey.  Then, some upaid intern that knows how to use google image search journalist figured out that the tattoo looks a lot like Rob Ullman's good girl sports babe art.  I do follow sports and when I first saw the headline on ESPN I just knew the tattoo would look like Rob's work without even clicking the link.  You can get your own drawings of Rex Ryan's your wife wearing your favorite sports jersey here. 

(Image stolen from Rob Ullman.)

• Some lucky kids got to go check out some Jack Davis art at the Georgia Museum of Art.
• Congratulations George Lucas.  You sell off Star Wars, give the money to charity then get engaged to a  lovely lady 20 years younger than you and filthy rich.  You have won. 
• Cavemen were super into animation.   Personally, I think it is more likely that they were just drawing a full and literal impression of what the creatures did.  Kind of like that thing Grant Morrison talks about how if you did all the same drugs he did you could see your whole past trailing behind you all the way back to the big bang.  Or something. 
• Every once in a while we have to remember to go see what Jeff Bridges has been drawing about lately. 
• Robert Newsome's talking and music podcast went up a day late this week and in the 24 hours or so that I had to wait I almost ended it all thinking it would never happen.  Now I know how your dog feels every time you leave the house.  But high five Robert because it was literally the only weekly podcast I listen to that managed to go up this week.  Sad week for ears.

(Here is a pic of Brad McGinty and Josh Latta just because I love those jerks.  Stolen from Josh Latta's facebook.)

• Rob Clough talked about Ed Piskor's Wizzywig. 
• Pals Matt Smith and Jeremy Massie have a new book in the Diamond catalog.  I ordered a copy.  It was probably the first time I've looked through the Diamond catalog in over six years.  Their book is in the As of the indie section.  In that same section, I noticed there were some older Rich Tommaso books listed.  Miriam and 8 1/2 Ghosts.  I highly recommend those. 
• Peter David had a stroke over the holidays.  Here is how you can help him out.  I met him once and he was very nice.  Nicer than he needed to have been while signing my stack of comics.  I like his comics plenty. 
• Chris Schweizer on leaving SCAD Atlanta to focus on making more comics and forming a studio.  Also, go check out Chris' blog and look at those drawings of Stan Sakai and Jeff Smith. 
• I'm not going to loan out my f#(%ing Playstation to Tom,  He's a dick. 

THE BEST SINGLE NEW PRINT COMIC I READ THIS WEEK...

(Image stolen from ComicVine.)

...was not Avenging Spider-Man #15.1.  That comic is just re-cap and filler behind a cover that hopes to cash in on The Amazing Spider-Man #700 hype.  Nothing in it moves the story or the character and it is really weird that the 1st in continuity appearance of the new Superior Spider-Man would happen in a tossed off point one comic.  It also was not Superman #15.  What a stinking mess.  I really was liking the Scott Lobdell and Kenneth Rocafort team on Superman but now they are stuck in a damned crossover.  Which sums up where the New 52 is in the early stages of its second year- death by editorial mandate.  The best comic I read this week could have been Batman Incorporated #6.  Another good Batman comic from Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham but the story does not move very far.  Batman fights his way through a Game of Death building while exposition is shouted at him through and intercom or something.  Good comic but no, I'll give the edge this week to All-New X-Men #5 by Brian Michael Bendis, Stuart Immonen and a whole bunch of other people.  This comic has been a lot of fun so far.  Everything I want in an X-Men comic.  Most of the characters I'd want and all the X-Men drama an X-Men comic needs.  Bendis is perfect for this people.  Dialog on top of dialog is what he is and that is what the X-Men have been since Claremont's best days.  Duh.  Of course he would nail this.  And Immonen is doing some really great work.  So good that you can actually figure out what is going through the 100 shades of brown the colorist is covering all the art with.   And the amazing thing is that this comic has a story.  Original X-Men in the current X-Men world is such a simple and obvious idea that it is great.  But forget all that, the reason that this comic is the single new print comic that I read this week is because, finally, finally, Kitty Pryde gets her moment.  SPOILER  Kitty Pryde being the mentor to the original X-Men in the current X-Men world is a great comics idea.  And I'm telling you people, Kitty Pryde is the most important X-Man of them all.  Seriously.  I will fight you. 

• And finally...he got that ass whippin' straight out of Burke county. 

Oh, and one more last thing!  Did you know you can leave comments on these posts here at file under other?  It's true!  And, I'll probably respond.  Twitter and facebook killed the message boards but that's no reason why you can't argue with me, praise me or leave me recipes.  It's your intronet.  Have fun!

And that's just a taste of some of the interesting things going out there in the wonderful world of comics and things. I can't keep up with it all but I do keep up with a lot of it on twitter and I try to re-tweet the good stuff. You should probably follow me there. If you did something to make comics better this week then high-five!

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.

p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.

p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.

p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.

The BEST NEW SINGLE PRINT COMICS I READ in 2012

Hi pals.  This is NOT a "best of" list for 2012 or anything like that.  I may do that later.  This is just a collection of all the comics that I named as my "BEST SINGLE NEW PRINT COMIC I READ THIS WEEK" in my Other Comics News Parade-O-Links columns during 2012.  I did not start the Parade-O-Links until May and did not start with the BEST NEW PRINT reviews until sometime later.  Also, I did not necessarily post them every week because maybe I forgot.  The only criteria taken into account for eligibility in my weekly post was that I had read it in that week.  For, the most part they were new or new-ish.  For the most part the were single issue pamphlet print comics bought in a direct market comic book shop.  Sometimes they were not.  I think they were always comics.  Here are the links to each review:

Animal Man #0

The Surrogates Case Files #2

Bezoar

Savage Dragon #182

Batman Incorporated #4

Superman #13

Action Comics #14

Adventure Time #10

Action Comics #15

Marceline and the Scream Queens #6
Patrick Dean's Big Deal Comics & Stories Issue #12 "A Weekend at the Atwood"
The Amazing Spider-Man #700

Hmm.  So yeah.  Pretty random but that has more to do with my reading habits than it does the quality of the books that came out in 2012.  Not a lot of Marvel in there.  I did read plenty of new Marvel comics but I'll just say that, in general, the colors in any average 2012 Marvel comic were just so awful, terrible, horrific and bad that it is hard for me to put any of them beside the word "best".  I only managed 12 this year because the Parade-O-Links has been a work in progress.  Maybe I'll get closer to a "best" review in 2013.  Hope to see you there.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.

p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.

p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.

p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.

Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 12302012

(Image stolen from The Visual Exegesis.)

Here are some things I found interesting in the world of minicomics, comic books, graphic novels, small press, self publishing, zines, webcomics, cartoons, digital comics, other, etc. during the week ending 12302012:

“Spider-Man is such a whiny loser.” - Stephanie Meyer.

• This week was Stan Lee's 90th birthday.  I guess that's as good a week as any to kill (sort of but not really)  the most popular character he ever co-created.
• It was also Chris Ware's birthday this week and he is now half as old as Stan Lee.  
• Today (December 30th) is my daughter Alana Grace Smith's birthday.  World's greatest 6 year old.  
• Valerie Gallaher on why imaginary deaths carry so much weight. 
• Death in comics is not that big of a deal.  Grant Morrison was killed by a werewolf and he is A-Okay now. 
• Bald F#(%ing Eagles. 
• For no reason at all, I'd like to take a moment to say that Jim Starlin's comics are fantastic. 
• I always marvel at pictures of Brain Chippendale's studio. 
• RIP Werewolf Jones. 
• Robert Newsome has made it though Christmas alive and brought us another music and talking podcast thing. 

• Just one more day of American Elf.  (Unless Kochalka decides to do more.  Because, ya know, it's creator owned and everything and he could just wake up tomorrow and draw some more.  And that would be fine.) 
• Bully's next 365 day feature will be coloring books.  That should be fun. 
• Look people, I already talked about this last week but I'm going to go ahead and recommend  command you to buy Patrick Dean's most recent comics because he is already working on new stuff and I don't want you to get behind. 
• Here's another reminder to go to The Comics Reporter and scroll through to read all of Tom Spurgeon's great Holiday Interviews.  This week was another solid bunch and I see one with Rob Clough is up now.  I'll read it as soon as I finish typing this. 
• I had not looked at Sophie Crumb's sketchbook in a while.  Let's do that. 
• Be careful who sees your doodles. 

• Stuff I got for Christmas:  A Doctor Who t-shirt.  DC Showcase Presents The  Brave and the Bold volume one in a package labeled "from Bat-Mite".  (I bought that one for myself, used off eBay for a few dollars.  I'm Bat-Mite.)  Some clothes.  Some money.  My kids got a lot of fun things including Legos and video games and the new Batman Lego video game.  I've had fun but I'm very tired with my daughter's birthday left to go before the new year.  

THE BEST SINGLE NEW PRINT COMIC I READ THIS WEEK

(Image stolen from Newsarama.)

...was Amazing Spider-Man #700 by Dan Slott, Humberto Ramos, J.M. DeMatteis, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Jen Van Meter, Stephanie Buscema and several thousand other people.  Published by Marvel Comics and sold for the retail price of $7.99.  This comic wins my weekly "The Best Single Print Comic I Read This Week" honor by virtue of being a solid hour or so of entertainment and for being the only comic that came out this week.  Let's talk about what exactly this comic book is as the product that exists in my hands at this moment.  Well, not THIS moment.  I have to set it down to type but, ya know. Having folded and stapled as many comics as I have, I can guess the page count of a book just by holding it.  This sucker is 27 sheets of paper.  Folded in half and stapled that is 108 pages of comics.  52 of those pages are the main story by Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos.  Which, in this day and age would be considered and epic freaking graphic novel if you took out the staples and gave it a perfect bound spine.  16 of those pages are a back up story by J.M. DeMatteis and Giuseppe Camuncoli.  8 of those pages are a back up story by Jen Van Meter and Stephanie Buscema.  The rest is your cover, back pages, ads, a gallery of the variant covers, a copy of the Spider-Man-day proclamation by the Mayor of New York, a gallery of the covers from all 700 issues of The Amazing Spider-Man and a very long letters column featuring some responses from Spider-Man co-creator Stan "The Man" Lee.
The comic has been received with mixed opinions.
So yeah, this is an eight dollar comic and that is just and insane and absurd thing for a stack of paper to be.  But, I bought it.  I had read Amazing Spider-Man 699 and thought the thing was great comics.  And I loves me some Spider-Man.  I consider Spider-Man to be one of my only true friends.  There is not a point of my life in which I can remember not being aware of and a fan of Spider-Man.  He's just always been there for me.  Thanks Spidey!  So yeah, I paid eight dollars for a comic book.
In defense of that madness, it does contain 76 pages of comics.  So, that's what?  Three comics worth of comics?  Which would cost between nine and twelve dollars normally.  I spend around ten bucks on comics in a normal week.  This week I bought this one eight dollar thing and probably got more out of it than my normal ten bucks so, I'm okay with this thing.  No apologies.
And it feels nice pals.  I loves me a thick comic.  Like the big thick annuals Marvel and DC put out when I was a kid or the 80 Page Giants.  This sucker feels good.  I've said time and time again over the past ten years or so, don't give me five Spider-Man comics a month.  Give me one big thick one.  This comic hints at how right I am and how great that would be.  And now that I think about it, if Marvel could give me this much content for eight bucks every month I'd subscribe or put it on my pull list no questions asked.
Okay, so what happens in this comic and is it any good?  So the hype on this thing is that... SPOILERS ... Peter Parker dies.  Except he totally does not die at all.  He's totally not dead and I don't mean zombie.  The new Spider-Man is just the old Spider-Man with some Doctor Octopus personality added into the mix.  So, he's jerk Spider-Man.  Peter Parker's body.  Peter Parker's powers.  Peter Parker's life.  Peter Parker's memories.  And most importantly, Peter Parker's morals.  That's about 95% Peter Parker.  The real question in all of this is just what part of Peter Parker is dead?  And I think that could be a fun thing for Dan Slott to explore in the upcoming Superior Spider-Man.  I mean, I would.  This is science fiction folks.  This is a story where the hero and the villain swap bodies and or brains.  This is pure silver age comics hijinks and I enjoy it.  High five Dan Slott.  Good idea.  But again, now that you killed half of the swap duo before the standard sci-fi swap-back resolution, where did  that part of the character go and what was it?  His soul?  Is Peter in Heaven?  Does Heaven let you in if your body is totally still in better than human shape and still full of your personality?
And just a few issues into this brain swap, Peter Parker's morals and values have already taken over Doc Ock's own to the point that the villain is now committed to being  a hero and carrying on Spider-Man's legacy.  If Peter Parker's brain waves can flip the switch on Doc Ock in just three issues, by what issue do they just go ahead and push him out altogether?  At what issue does he just become 100% Peter Parker?  I'm guessing that issue will be a comic titled The Amazing Spider-Man #1.
All the fuss about this comic has been about the death of Peter Parker.  Partially because that is the gimmick that Marvel has hyped.  But I read this thing and what I see is the death of Doctor Octopus and Peter Parker carrying on with a minor jerk infection.
But enough speculation, back to the comic as it actually exists.  It's good.  Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos do a good job with this thing.  It feels a bit rushed and the intensity feels turned up to eleven but they are hitting all right notes.  All the right guest appearances are crammed in.  All the right homages to Ditko and Romita are in there.  Peter gets to have a near-death Heaven scene where all the people he thought he failed tell him he done good.  Slott knows what he's doing for sure.  This is a good Spider-Man comic.  And I mean that as more than a good comic with Spider-Man in it.  I mean that it does all the things that make Spider-Man comics good and unique to Marvel and to comics.
And I like Ramos here too.  He's not one of my favorite Spider-Man artists but I like the way he draws Spidey's eyes and  he draws the suit in action very well.  And I gotta say, that the three page sequence where Doc Ock is projecting himself into Peter Parker's memories and we see little boy Doc Ock's head on young Peter Parker's body complete with his Moe Howard hair and goggles it is effective, hilarious and adorable.  One of my favorite things in comics of 2012.  High five Humberto.  If Superior Spider-Man were Spider-Man's body with Doc Ock Moe Howard hair for a head I would buy two copies of every issue.
The coloring on this comic did not make me furious and that's about as nice a thing as I can say about the coloring in a Marvel comic.
So I enjoyed this big eight dollar thing.  Here are some more random thoughts about it in no particular order:

-This is a great jumping off point.  I hate to admit that I kind of like canceled comics.  It gives me an end to work toward as a reader and as a buyer of $1 comics at comic shops and conventions.  I like the idea of having a whole run of a thing to read through.  Not that I'll manage all 700 issues but, in theory.  So yeah, canceling comics is the absolute BEST way to make a reader stop reading a comic.
-I like periodicals and I really hate to see a periodical canceled/re-named/re-numbered just as a gimmick.  And, forget Dan Slott, forget the story, from a publishing stand point, this is a sales gimmick.  I just think there should be more pride in that legacy.   I mean, The Amazing Spider-Man as a periodical outlasted Life Magazine for F's sake.  Gone for a gimmick.
-And theoretically, a new #1 is a good way to get new readers but, would a kid that likes the Spider-Man of the movies, cartoons, toys, video games, t-shirts, lunch boxes, beach towels, etc. want to read a comic about Doc Ock driving Spider-Man's body?  That remains to be seen.  And don't give me a single drop of that 'kids don't read comics anyway' bullshit.  Kids absolutely read comics.
-Was December 26 a very dumb day to release this book?  Who goes to a comic shop to spend money on the day AFTER Christmas?  Well, other than me?  I guess it's good for Marvel in that they get the guaranteed best seller of the end of the year and maybe good for the retailers because it gives people a reason to come in the shop on a normally dead day.  I just think it would have been a bigger deal on, oh, say any other Wednesday of the year.
-The J.M. DeMatteis back up story was weird to me.  Well executed but weird.  Are those characters from the Spider-Man comics?  Was I supposed to know who those guys were and who those Squadron Supreme like dudes were.  I'm confused. Please explain it to me.
-Loved the Jen Van Meter written and Stephanie Buscema drawn back-up.  Mainly for Buscema.  She's great people.  If your comic has a Stephanie Buscema drawn back-up story in it, I will probably buy your comic.
-The cover gallery thing was kind of neat.  I would need a magnifying glass to really appreciate all 700 covers but it is neat to scan through and see the progression of the comic.  I was really shocked to look at it and realize how quickly the Todd McFarlane era started after J.M. DeMatteis's great Kraven story. In my mind I thought those were years apart but it was only three months.  Also, the covers got really awful starting with Civil War.  Ugh.
-Speaking of covers.  I got the standard cover pictured above.  I dig it.  I've spent a fair amount of time looking through all the little pictures to see who everyone is.  I don't see Howard the Duck in there and that kind of bums me out for some reason.  The black suit and or Venom get a lot of attention on the cover taking up all of the black in the the outline of Spidey's eye.  Is the black costume and Venom that big a deal to people?  Really?  I mean, I bought those first black costume and Venom comics right off the spinner rack and I thought they were cool as a kid but in the grand scheme of things, the symbiote costume is like any random Fantastic Four subplot and Venom is a villain with just nothing going on character wise.  Nothing at all.  I guess it makes sense design wise for the cover though.
-I enjoyed the letters pages.  I have no problem with Stan Lee showing up to do his Stan Lee impersonation.  I thought some of the comments from previous Spider-Man contributors and industry folks were neat.  I was disappointed in editor Stephen Wacker's comments though.  His stuff reads as dashed off and uninterested.  Not really up to the weight of the moment at all.  Drink some coffee bro.  You worked hard on the book.  Don't sabotage the thing for yourself.    
-There has been some talk about IF Doc Ock has sex with Mary Jane WILL it be rape?  Jeezis Christmas people.  They had one single smooch in this comic.  One G movie level smooch.  And Doc Ock seems to now be governed by Peter Parker's moral code so, I just don't see him raping people.  I mean, how much in-panel sex did Peter Parker ever have?  He's not Matt Murdock.  Really people?  Can we hold off on freaking out about a thing until it actually happens?  (But yeah, if he and MJ get down with her thinking that he is 100% Peter Parker that will be some gross ehSS right there.  But doesn't that sort of thing happen in at least one new Hollywood movie every Friday?  I don't know.  I don't watch movies.  Not that rape is ever okay.  Not even totally fictional impossible to happen mind swap science fiction rape.  Just say no to rape fiction people.)
-And one last thing about the cancellation of Amazing Spider-Man and the launch of a new title.  This is a gimmick. There is no denying it.  But I'm okay with it.  For one, Spider-Man comics will continue and Peter Parker will be Spider-Man for as long as there is money in the Spider-Man business.  But I'm also okay with it because I feel like Marvel uses gimmicks in an appropriate way for a publisher of comic books to use gimmicks.  Their gimmicks exist to hype and promote their story ideas.  This cancellation and this "death" and all the hype around it serve as a way to promote and bring readers to the end of a story that Dan Slott had been working on for 100 issues give or take.  I feel that the Marvel guys come up with the story first then work on the gimmick to promote it.  Which, is why Marvel, despite their horrific coloring and ridiculous prices, makes better comics than DC.  DC puts the gimmick first and the comics are just an afterthought.  Who writes them, who draws them, and where the story goes does not matter.  The product has to match the marketing.  Advantage Marvel. 

• My new years resolution is to get paid to write comics or to write about comics.  Do you know how I can make that happen?  Because honestly, I don't have a clue.  But I'd like to give it a try.  Let me know if you know how.  I've been writing about comics for over ten years now.  What you've seen of my writing has been dashed off.  It has been writing done on lunch breaks, on conference calls and way past bed time.  I've turned down a lot of opportunities over the past 5 or so years because I did not have the time but I'm ready to make the time.  I can do more.  Much more.  I have near infinite ideas but I can't take the time away from my kids and my day job to make them happen.  Unless!  Unless, there was some money involved.  So, what I'm saying is, are you a comics website, magazine, publisher, etceraer?  I am ready for you to pay me to write great things for you.  
• And finally... Happy New Year!  May your new year be filled with good fortune, good health, love and much synth trumpet. 

Oh, and one more last thing!  Did you know you can leave comments on these posts here at file under other?  It's true!  And, I'll probably respond.  Twitter and facebook killed the message boards but that's no reason why you can't argue with me, praise me or leave me recipes.  It's your intronet.  Have fun!

And that's just a taste of some of the interesting things going out there in the wonderful world of comics and things. I can't keep up with it all but I do keep up with a lot of it on twitter and I try to re-tweet the good stuff. You should probably follow me there. If you did something to make comics better this week then high-five!

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.

p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.

p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.

p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.

Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 12162012

(Superman 408 cover image stolen from Comic Vine.  My grandmother bought me this comic out of the blue back in 1985.  I came home from school and there it was.  It was a good comic.  Paul Kupperberg and the great Curt Swan.  An emotional book.  I think it about it often.)

Here are some things I found interesting in the world of minicomics, comic books, graphic novels, small press, self publishing, zines, webcomics, cartoons, digital comics, other, etc. during the week ending 12162012:

"As a country, we have been through this too many times. Whether it’s an elementary school in Newtown, or a shopping mall in Oregon, or a temple in Wisconsin, or a movie theater in Aurora, or a street corner in Chicago--these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods, and these children are our children. And we're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics." - President Obama.

• Look friends,  this Parade-O-Links is going to be minimal at best.  This week started with me taking my daughter to the doctor and learning that she had the flu.  Thursday night I took myself to the doctor and found out that I have the flu.  And then Friday morning things got very tragic in Newtown Connecticut.  I have two kids and both of them are of the age that if we had lived in Newtown Connecticut they probably would have been in that building.  I thank God that the worst thing that happened to my family this week was the flu.  I'm so sorry for those people and that community.  I really don't have it in me to blab on and on about comics right now so I'm going to keep this one short.
• The world may or may not end or have something interesting happen this week but one thing that I know will not end is the Supercontext.  I had planned to wrap up my complete re-read of The Invisibles before December 22, 2012 but that ain't gonna happen.  Unexpected events in my family and my work came up.  Sorry.   But I will finish it.  I've been loving it so far.  I hope that you may join in.
• Gilbert and Jamie Hernandez were interviewed at The Comics Journal. 
• This podcast where Dean Haspiel interviews Josh Simmons is great.  Dean asks the hard questions like, "what is it about the bonners?"
• Legal things I don't understand may or may not have happened to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's Superman character.
• Here is a fascinating article about the man who was the real world Darth Vader for about five years. 
• I never heard of this Connor Willumsen guy until Ben Towle mentioned him on twitter but his comics are ridiculous.  Just look at 'em.
• My photographer cousin Rich Meade got the next cover of Twenty Three magazine and he is killing it. 
• This Lauren Weinstein comic is very good. 
• That Kitty Pryde and Wolverine was a huge deal for me as a kid and one of my daughter's favorite comics now.  Good stuff.   You could check out one of those collections but I suggest you just buy the originals on eBay.  I did.  Cheap. 
• This article on Spider-Man's 30th anniversary dinner was a good read. 
• There is a new online Tarzan comic and it looks, well exactly like a Tarzan comic is supposed to look. 
• This Lois comic featuring Harvey Pekar seems to be worth checking out. 
• Here is a list what I need you to get me for Christmas.  (People, I had a huge Adventure People collection when I was a kid.  You don't even know how great those toys were.  Oh, and also, I had a Ring Wraith from that Knicker Bocker Lord of the Rings toy line and it was one of the best toys ever.  It just looked like pure evil.  I had no idea what it was at the time.  I had not seen the Ralph Bakshi movie or read the books at the time.  But I saw that thing at a K-Mart and knew that I had to have it.  All I knew was that guy was evil and a bad guy and he could fight Luke Skywalker, he could fight the Hulk, he could fight Spider-Man... hell, he could even fight Evel Knievel.) 
• Spain is forever. 

BEST NEW PRINT COMIC I READ THIS WEEK

(Rich Tommaso variant cover image stolen from iFanboy.)

...was Marceline and The Scream Queens #6 by Maredith Gran with back up story by Rich Tommaso.  I think this was probably the only new Diamond distributed pamphlet comic in the direct market that included a Rich Tommaso  vampire girl rock star comic.  Therefore, it wins. 

• And finally... No tax.  No paperwork.  No nothin'. 

Oh, and one more last thing!  Did you know you can leave comments on these posts here at file under other?  It's true!  And, I'll probably respond.  Twitter and facebook killed the message boards but that's no reason why you can't argue with me, praise me or leave me recipes.  It's your intronet.  Have fun!

And that's just a taste of some of the interesting things going out there in the wonderful world of comics and things. I can't keep up with it all but I do keep up with a lot of it on twitter and I try to re-tweet the good stuff. You should probably follow me there. If you did something to make comics better this week then high-five!

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.

p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.

p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.

p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.

Other Comics News Parade-O-Links 08122012

(Cover from Jim Starlin's Dreadstar 6 stolen from mycomicshop.)

Here are some things I found interesting in the world of minicomics, comic books, graphic novels, small press, self publishing, zines, webcomics, cartoons, digital comics, other, etc. during the week ending 08122012:

"People keep asking me: 'Hey! What makes Epic Comics any different from other Marvel Comics?'  Well, one difference is that the creators own their own characters.  -- S'nice.  Sort'a gives them a special interest (as if they needed one) in doing their very best work." - Archie Goodwin in Jim Starlin's Dreadstar issue 6 published by Marvel's Epic line in 1983.

• Fantagraphics has a preview up for Rich Tommaso's The Cavalier Mr. Thompson.  Watch the video.  It looks gorgeous.  You can pre-order now. 
• The Country Law Shack and Sketch Charlotte are teaming up for a "sketch and learn" on August 23rd about intellectual property and "how to protect yourself, your art, and your talent".  Sounds like a great idea.  There is a facebook event page here. 
• That Paul Pope Solo comic is very good.  I got mine autographed by the man himself.  And by "I" I mean that I had my wife stand in line to get it autographed.  She was okay with it.  Paul Pope is very handsome. 
• It is Spider-Man's birthday.  Marvel does not care about this.  Probably because some Disney exec does not want them promoting a Sony movie property?  Or maybe they are just lazy.  But Tom Spurgeon cares!  Tom has re-posted this great interview with John Romita Sr. from back in 2002.  Essential Spider-Man 50th anniversary reading.  He also posted his thoughts on Spidey, a Spidey interview with David Brothers and a Spidey article by  Kiel Phegley.  Happy birthday Spider-Man!  You will always be my best friend!*

(Superman ad stolen from 20th Century Danny Boy.)

• Here is a really neat article about Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel in World War II. 
• Moebius drawing.
• Batman.  Space.  Olympics.  Of course. 
• TCAF is going to be exhibiting at some awesome sounding manga fest in Japan.  Which, does not mean a whole lot to me because I can't afford to go to Canada much less Japan.  But, it sure does sound cool and if a swell dude like Christopher Butcher tweets it on twitter I'll probably go ahead and link it here.

(Image stolen from Brad McGitny.)

• Brad McGinty has a new super rad t-shirt for pre-order (without bugging you to fund a Kickstarter for what that's worth) and as always with Brad, there is a hilarious and educational post to go along with it.  Oh, and have I mentioned Battle Zoo?
• Dustin Harbin (pronounced "dharbin") has been posting a new series of diary-ish comics called Boxes.  That and other diary comics will be out in his 4th volume of Diary Comics which is to be available from Koyama Press at SPX. 
• I blabbed some more about Kickstarter here because it is Kickstarter's world, we just fund it. 
• Speaking of Kickstarter (because why talk about anything else right?) Edison Lee has a post comparing it to Indiegogo. I really don't know anything about Indiegogo other than knowing a few people that have used it and were happy with it.  Being able to accept PayPal alone is reason enough for me to favor Indiegogo over Kickstarter.  Either way, the more options the better. 
• Speaking of totally not-Kickstarter but people actually making things up front and then selling them-  Microcosm has broken off of a chunk of itself and become "a separate, autonomous distributor of books, zines, pins, patches, and much more".  Lots of cool stuff to look at there. 
• Seven Days goes James Kochalkalaka Boom!
• Happy 70th birthday "Handsome" Jimmy "The Boogie Woogie Man" Valiant. 

• Comics are funny.  And sexy!
• I'm not going to link to rumors of Holden McNeil directing a Justice League movie.  Sorry. 
• "-the cartoonist will usually be the writer, artist, editor, and sometimes even the publisher of his or her work. But being a cartoonist almost guarantees having a tight belt — you don’t even typically get all that rich working in mainstream comics. "  Wait?  What?  Noooooo!!!!  It can't be?!!

(Steve Ditko faces stolen from Longbox Graveyard.)

• Love those Steve Ditko Spider-Man faces. 
• Take comics seriously dammit! (You know what?  I liked Fun Home and Persepolis more than Maus and Watchmen.  Yeah.  That's right!  Comic book you!  Comic book you in your face!)
• Garth Ennis and Howard Chaykin are burning in hell.  While losers were eating chicken sandwiches, winners like Joe McCulloch were reading Black Kiss 2.  "I believe his crotch explodes in the final panel although it's a little vague."
• Have you ever dreamed of looking at drawings of Thor fighting Conan over weird prog metal music?  Well YouTube makes dreams come true!

• About the only thing I like more than new Patrick Dean drawings are new color Patrick Dean drawings. 
• This Kelly Sue DeConnick story is just plain swell.  Should be a lot of fun to follow. 
• And finally:  Summer is almost over and the kids go back to school later this week so as you read this, I am probably doing this-- (Start watching at about the 2:20 mark.  It looks insane!  Hope I don't stroke out.)

facebook killed the message boards but that's no reason why you can't argue with me, praise me or leave me recipes.  It's your intronet.  Have fun!

And that's just a taste of some of the interesting things going out there in the wonderful world of comics and things. I can't keep up with it all but I do keep up with a lot of it on twitter and I try to re-tweet the good stuff. You should probably follow me there. If you did something to make comics better this week then high-five!

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

*Only friend. 

p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.

p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.

p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.

p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.