THE CLONE SAGA PART 1

 

The Spider Man Clone Saga is finally here! I uh, never read the entire thing. Yeah. So let's see what my thoughts are from beginning to end. I will indicate what stories I read before as a kid and whats new. Some of it is pretty bad. Some of it is really bad, but I remember some bright spots too. Fun stories that get lumped in with the entire Saga and are considered bad.

The first story in the Saga, entitled Power and Responsibility is not a very good way to start the whole thing up. First off Judas Traveller feels like he should be a Ghost Rider villain or something. Weird maybe mystical powers. Hell one of his team looks like a guy that Ghost Rider fought, or fought with. I haven't read that comic in many years. The story is also nearing the end of THE SPIDER fiasco. After fighting the Chameleon for making his Robot Parents (with help from the Green Goblin #2) Spider-Man becomes ENRAGED and has to DESTROY the Peter Parker part of him and man this going through several stories is so forced and stupid. Peter Parker would talk to Mary Jane about this shit  and not do this shit. It's a sad attempt to make Spider-Man HARSH AND GRIM AND GRITTY for the 1990s. This THE SPIDER stuff should have been done with before they did even started this story. Buncha crap if you ask me. Not Recommended.

I don't have much to say about this story except that I didn't like it. It finally ends THE SPIDER nonsense thankfully though. He fights Puma and then teams up with Daredevil to fight the Owl and the Vulture and it felt like you could have taken the first two parts out of the story and that's not great. Also they try to make me think the Owl is not a lunatic and feels bad for what he has done and I sure as hell don't believe that. I get trying to get villains to have a shade of grey sometimes, even really bad guys but some people are just dickholes. Daredevil and Spider-Man fight them and Spidey gets infected by a Vulture (not The Vulture) and then they have get the antidote from the Vulture....which OH SHIT TURNS OUT TO BE TAP WATER!!! can we just finally be done with this THE SPIDER shit already? There are some nice moments involving Mary Jane and her family but this still gets the Not Recommended rating.

I actually enjoyed this story. Ben Reilly decides to take on the identity of the Scarlet Spider when he ends up meeting up with Venom and Scream. It was fun seeing how he would deal with villains that aren't familiar to him. It was fun seeing him create a new costume and some new gadgets (stingers and impact webbing). It was overall pretty fun. I think had the Clone Saga been stories like this we'd be singing its praises. It's weird how I have less to say about a story I liked then ones I didn't, but this has what you want in a Spider-Man comic. Nice art. Fun continuation of the story. I definitely give this one a Recommendation.

This will be an ongoing thing, like many of my things, so we will see what the next stories are like!

Spider-Man in the 1990s Part 4!

 

Man, the animation and stuff doesn't hold up very well after 26 years on the 1994 Spider-Man show. Why does Venom have some kind of weird duck lups? and Carnage a wild and freaky looking design is made very dull looking here. I guess I might have to do a re-watch of some episodes to let you guys know if the show is still any good 26 years later or if the Spider-Man cartoon from the 1960s is the reigning champion! Anyway this is me just blathering on about something because I really really really don't want to talk about any of the stories we have to talk about today. Web of Spider-Man was always a tricky title and a lot of its run was just not very good, and these stories fit right in. 

Oh boy it's another time for LOOK AT THIS COOL 90S CHARACTER and how he beats the ass of SOME LAME OLD CHARACTERS BECAUSE HES COOL AND 90S. man that's one of my least favorite tropes, having a new character just pop up in their first appearance or first story and just beat or kill a popular or beloved character. It's lame and I believe writers have stopped doing it. I'm not sure because I can't afford to buy all 424040 comics Marvel or DC put out each month. I doubt even Bill Gates could keep up with every Marvel or DC comic these days, and that's not even mentioning the cool indie stuff you wanna try. Uh oh yeah I got sidetracked. Some lame new bad guy Sandstorm (who I don't think ever showed up again) is created at some lab and then fights Spidey and Quicksand. Spidey stops him after part 2 and frankly I'd have rather read a story where Sandman teams up with Spidey and they have to stop Quicksand. Would have been better than this Sandstorm asshole. D-/Don't Read this shit.

This is a 1 1/2 part story. I say this because the first half of this story was Shocker getting too much power and Spider-Man and Night Thrasher having to save him. I know Night Thrasher is just as ridiculous as the other 90s people I rag on, but I'm going to give him a chance until I read every New Warriors comic. The story is pretty good but nothing earth shattering but still a solid B. I mean you could pick it up for a dollar at most comic shops. It's worth being in the collection at least. Unlike the Lizard story. So Calypso, who apparently is a big time Spider-Man villain because the issue before said a big name villain DIES in this issue and shes the only one who does. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't she appear in like two stories before this? Her origin and that fucking pile of shit story known as Torment. Yeah, Todd McFarlane or however you spell his name should stick to drawing. Anyway this story does my least favorite trope TWICE so you can tell how much I loved it. The Lizard kills Calypso to show that HES TOUGH AND COOL AND NOT LIKE YOUR DADDYS LIZARD FROM THOSE DUMB OLD COMICS! then Warrant (I wonder if he likes Cherry Pie.... god damn I'm terrible) kills the Lizard OH MAN HE'S SO TOUGH AND COOL AND WILLINGLY TO PLAY BY HIS OWN RULES THAT I NOW LOVE HIM. caps lock is my way of being sarcastic. Fuck Warrant and fuck this story. I'm glad someone came to their senses and brought the Lizard and Calypso back. They deserved better than this shit. F-/Fuck you for writing this

Oh goodie, it's three for three in the LET'S SHOW HOW COOL AND HIP WE ARE. this time the F.A.C.A.D.E. armor kills Lance Bannon. A rival photographer of Peter Parker's. A better character then F.A.C.A.D.E. or any of the people who was supposed to be under the mask. Cole Cooper. Mr. Bryce. and well I'm not even including John Jameson on the list of suspects even though he was one for the simple reason as I doubt Terry Kavanagh would have gotten the okay to actually make him the villain and it really wouldn't make since. Yeah he's hurt people when he's Man-Wolf but he didn't have control of him self in most of those situations. This stupid story ended up killing off Lance Bannon and then didn't even tell us who the fuck F.A.C.A.D.E. was. Fucking hell. This story was balls ass garbage and F.A.C.A.D.E. is another try hard 90s bull shit asshole who can fuck himself. F MINUS MINUS MINUS MINUS MINUS. Fuck you for writing this.

I'm too fucking angry at these dumb stories to even attempt writing an outro. 

Spider-Man in the 1990s Part 3.

 I never had the Spider-Man cereal from the 1990s. I want to try it. I also never had a single Hostess Fruit Pies either. I want to try them. I've never had Rice-A-Roni but I want to try it. They can't just call it the San Francisco Treat if it's no good! This is going very far for a joke that wasn't very good to begin with so let's all put this out of our memory and talk about three more Spider-Man stories from the 1990s.

Spectacular Spider-Man #212 by Mike Lackey and Sal Buscema is not a very good issue. It has some Z-List 90s nobody villain fight Spider-Man. He's got a goofy costume with two Vs on it (He's known as the Master of Vengeance) and I really thought this was a dire issue. He goes on and on about how Spider-Man created him and how he's his father and how he hates him because he drove his family away even though it was his fault not Spider-Mans. There's a reason this guy appeared in 3 stories and hasn't been seen since 1995. He's just one of many 90s losers that have no real charm in appearance or character. Forget about this one unless you love 90s stuff, Maybe you'll get something out of it. I didn't. D-/Not Recommended

I love it when heroes fight other heroes villains. It always a fun time to see it get mixed up. Spectacular Spider Man #213 and #214 Spider Man ends up fighting Typhoid Mary, a gal that usually fights  Daredevil. Typhoid Mary is killing abusers of women and Spider-Man has to stop her because he's not a big fan of the murder thing. There's nothing ground breaking about these two issues but it's a fun story and I can't really say more than I enjoyed it. B+

It's kinda sad that a enjoyable story with some neat drama and all that is put into two pretty bad stories. This story is a bit better than The Master of Fuck-All story.  This story has The Scorpion team up with some old fat guy to rob the old fat guys stores because the old fat guy thinks his son is going to take everything from him. Spider-Man fights some guys and then ends up hitting the old guy and everyone is shocked. Then he finds Mac Gargan outside of his Scorpion suit and literally beats him up. That just didn't feel like Spider-Man to me. It was like they were trying for the Pursuit storyline again with him being really angry but man it didn't work here. Also a weird garbage sewage sludge monster makes Spider-Man calm again. No I didn't make that up. Look here it is.

I don't know where this weird garbage sewage sludge monster came from but uhh. I hope it was explained in some other Marvel Comic and just didnt pop out of nowhere.. I will say that I enjoyed the Sal Buscema art and the scenes where the Scorpion gets to be Mac Gargan again but other than that yikes. Tom Defalco, Mike Lackey and Sal Buscema did this story and it's bit of a mess. D-

Next time we jump on over to Web of Spider-Man to try to talk about the stories that happened in that book before the Clone showed up! Golly gee I can't wait!

Spider Man in the 1990s....Part 2!

 

I enjoyed talking about those Spider-Man stories so I decided to read some more. Uh, I don't know what else to say for an opening so let's just get to it.

Tombstone is a great Spider-Man villain, he's tough, he's ruthless, he has a history with a long time supporting character (he and Joe Robertson were "friends" back in the day) I must have read that story with him and Joe Robertson ending up in prison like 5,000 times as a kid. I'm surprised I still have those issues and they aren't whipped to shit. I liked them enough to take care of them. That was a good era for Spectacular Spider-Man/Web of Spider-Man, and Tombstone has been on the run since that story with Robbie, I'm pretty sure this is his first appearance since then but we will see. This story stats with Tombstone just walking into Hammerhead's place and beating his ass. I usually don't like the "new (er) bad guy beats up a older bad guy to show he he's cool but that first story already gave Tombstone enough personality that watching him beat Hammerhead is pretty amazing actually, even if I do love Hammerhead too. I love the goofy Mob guys Spidey fights. So The Council of all the crime bosses are fine with Tombstone taking over Hammerheads spot EXCEPT one. A guy named Kaska who tells Tombstone off. Tombstone doesn't like this so he decides to fucking rob the guy to show him up. Anyway shit goes down and Tombstone ends up wrecking Flash Thompsons shit which brings Spider-Man AND the Black Cat (she was dating Thompson) to him. So Kaska says if Tombstone can kill Spider-Man he can join the Council, so the fight is on! I thought the end of this story was actually pretty amusing so I won't ruin it. Spectacular Spider-Man #204-206 by Steven Grant and Sal Buscema are worth adding to your collection. Recommended Rating: B+

I must admit that I love the horror heroes of the 1970s. The Living Mummy. Ghost Rider. Werewolf by Night, and yes The Shroud is on that list. The Shroud is doing some undercover work and Spider-Man is looking around New York when he sees that Dr. Strange's mansion has exploded (One thing I gotta give New Marvel People some gruff over is that they don't do this stuff well enough anymore. It always seems everyone is everyones book. Like in some recent Spider-Man books he's teaming up with every Spider-Man type character and it's a bit much. I kinda miss when team ups in a main book were a special thing. I guess) Shroud and Spider-Man fight and then some crazy ass masks escape from the wrecked mansion and take over the three goons that the Shroud had beaten up. They get sucked into the Darkness dimension (is that the same Dimension Cloak of Cloak and Dagger is connected too?) and when they come out they are fucking Skeletons proving the Masks just use the guys until they die... and one just got on SPIDER-MAN!!! OH SHIT! Of course the Mask of Martookiga (I don't know the official name but a Dr. Strange thing needs a goofy yet fun name like that) only feeds on fear and Spider-Man thinks about the people he loves and the Mask just turns inert. The Shroud and Spider-Man end up kicking the Mask of Martookiga's asses. Another fun story about Steven Grant and Sal Buscema, Spectacular Spider-Man #207 and #208 are worthy additions to a collection. Recommended. B+

We were on a streak of two pretty good stories but that had to end some time. This Foreigner story I believe has been a part of some ongoing stuff in the Web of Spider-Man title because I remember the three guys the Foreigner fights in the first half of the first part being in a story involving him. No, I didn't care enough about this story to go back and read that one. Someone has ousted the Foreigner from his organization and I don't know if we ever find out who and I can't say that I care, and I might be the only person in the world who likes the Foreigner. The Master as he's called sends out several no named 90's losers to try to fight and kill Spider-Man and The Foreigner. Dead Aim is his name and looking goofy (like most 90s try too hard villains) is his name. I just can't believe someone whos been shown to be smart and calculating like the Foreigner would get his organization taken away from him by someone stupid enough to hire guys like Dead Aim, Warzone and some other stupid 90s name I don't remember and I read the damn issue last night. A forgettable waste of talent. Sorry it's not going ot be 3 for 3 this time. D-/Not Recommended.

So there you have it. 3 more Spider-Man stories. Come back later for 3 more stories. One of them is good, I promise!

Spider Man in the 1990s... Part 1.

 

Spider-Man is my favorite superhero. He's been my favorite since I got his comics in my Christmas stocking in 1993. I loved him and quickly had to find as much as I could about him and his adventures. I read as many Spider-Man comics as I could. I loved his sense of responsibility and his silly jokes. I loved the bad guys he fought. They were all cool as hell. As a kid I was ride or die with Spidey. I've always wanted to read every Spider-Man comic from 1962 to the present day. I've read a great deal of them but not everything. This is why this post is here, It's for me to discuss the stuff I'm reading now. Which is 90s stuff so expect The Clone Saga stuff to show up here.

Well It's time to discuss Maximum Carnage. I always thought Venom was cool but Carnage was a bit too much, I mean his first story was pretty good and I can't help but love the story where he takes over the Silver Surfer, but Carnage hasn't had many good stories and this is one of those many pissy stories involving Carnage. This story is just fight....hero or villain joins up....fight....hero or villain joins up....fight....people in new york start going crazy....fight....fucking NIGHTWATCH, the Spawn ripoff shows up (seriously I'm surprised McFarlane never sued them... even if Spawn himself sucked ass) this story feels like it goes nowhere and then Deathlok and Iron Fist's company literally creates a beam and he Care Bear stares the bad guys. This whole story felt like a chore for the writers and feels like a chore to read. And it was all you had to read for like 2 months? 3? I don't know. The art is pretty good I must admit, I really like the cover up there. Carnage had a pretty funny joke about the Wonder Years when trying to dig up his mother. I liked the scenes at Harry Osborns funeral and the scenes with Peter's dad...(we will get to them later). Otherwise this was a pretty dreadful and not entertaining little story. Go with Absoulte Carnage from a few years ago if you want a big carnage event that's way more fun to read then this piss shit. Not Recommended. D+

This story, Trial by Jury is much better. Okay, so Venom killed a guy named Hugh alllllllll the way back in Amazing Spider-Man #315, one of his earliest appearances too! Now Hugh's father and friends have become The Jury and they are after Spider-Man for bringing the Alien Symboite to earth in the first place. This is a pretty good 3 parter that doesn't rush itself out. The first part is Spider-Man fighting them and then getting caught. Then in part 2 it's an actual trial of sorts! Then in part 3 Spidey actually teams up with the guys and they try to get a weapon that will blow up Venom... Spider-Man realizes thats murder and he's against that even with a monster like Venom, so he fights the Jury and kicks their asses. They also have some sub plot stuff like with MJ and her smoking (she ends up giving it up after seeing Nick Katzenburg dying of lung cancer in the hospital) and the really stupid subplot of Peter's real mom and dad coming back. The art by Mark Bagley was really great too. Nothing that will top the best Spider-Man stories ever list but gets a solid B from me. Recommended. B

It's time for a controversial in your face comic opinion, and we all know how well comic book fans take controversial opinions... badly. Don't step out of line in the comic community or you will get....angry twitter messages... OK, since no one actually reads this crap (or at least comments on it) My controversial opinion is........I like the Peter Parker Parents storyline from Spider-Man. I'm not too keen on the ending really but I liked them being in the comics, I liked the mystery, I liked them having  different thoughts and feelings from Ben and May Parker. I thought it would have been neat to have them survive this and keep going on. I believe they first appeared somewhere in issue 360? I could be wrong and I'm too lazy to check but I dunno, I liked them. This story where they finally are revealed as robots is kinda dumb. As I said earlier I wish it was some kind of weird blackmail plot or something else and they could have been  saved to be in other stories. I guess my feeling is it's a decent enough story with a lukewarm ending? Yeah let's go with that.  Lifetheft starts out with the Vulture, one of my favorite Spider-Man bad guys escaping from prison. I always loved that guy and I love how Mark Bagley draws him. He comes across the JUVINATOR and takes Spider-Man's youth away from him. He gets it back because the JUVEINATOR works better on Artificial Life, you know. Like Robots that Peter Parker's parents apparently are, and he finds that out AFTER he tells them who he is. Spidey ya dope you should have listened to Aunt May. He finds the Chameleon's lair (yeah he's in on it too!) and he fights his dad robot until it's destroyed and the Vulture takes his mom's robot's life. Yeah, it's a bit silly even for a comic book. Hell it's a bit silly for a guy who loves silly comic books. Maybe I just wish the characters have kept going on and not been robots who died. Still the first two parts are actually fun and I enjoyed them, so I guess I'm going to give Lifetheft a Sorta-Recommend. C+

It's now for the epilogue to the Peter Parker's parents story. Spider-Man is trying to find the Chameleon for his part within the story, and he's fucking pissed! Spider Man is not playing around this time. He's going to find the Chameleon and he's going to shove his foot right up his ass. The Chameleon is trying to bide his time and keep Spider-Man away from him (like sending goons after him, running from hideout to hideout until he ends up as Kraven's house seeing as they had a relationship before Kraven died) but Spider-Man catches up to him and woahie, It's a bad day for the Chameleon who gets the shit beat out of and webbed up for the police. The only real problem with this story is that at the end it turns out that the Green Goblin (Harry Osborn) was behind the whole thing and there was a file "SPIDER-MAN FOR YOUR EYES ONLY" and I don't see how the Chameleon wouldn't have watched that video, but despite that I had fun reading this one. I'd Recommend it. B

Well, I talked about four stories, so I guess it's time to end it up now. I think we will try to talk about some of the stories that happen right before the CLONE SAGA pops up!