Sorcery, Punk Rock and Spider-Man? (Sensational Spider-Man TPB)
Absolutely, I loved this story. O’Neil and Miller crafted my favorite type of Spidey story, where he’s in above his head and out of his element. Nothing goes right for Peter. He loses the girl twice, probably failed the lab he was in, beats up a bunch of gargoyles and for his trouble gets yelled at by an old lady, and shut out by Dr. Strange
The Irresistible Force Meets the Immovable Object (Venom: The Madness #1)
I remember not liking this book very much. I thought the art was weird and didn’t get the story. The 90s were a time where every book needed to have Ghost Rider, Punisher, Wolverine or Venom to sell a book. The anti-heroes were big in the 90s and I wasn’t a fan. I liked the traditional heroes. Now, I get nostalgic and defensive when people badmouth comics from the 90s, probably because I’m an old curmudgeon and enjoy arguing with people. But enough about me let’s see how the book is.
Monsters, Mutations and Mayhem! (untold tales of spider-man #9)
This book takes place in the early days of Spider-Man’s career, but unlike Ultimate Spider-Man, this took place in the 616-universe, the main Marvel Universe. There are references to the original Stan Lee/Steve Ditko books but I don’t remember feeling like I had to find 35-year-old comics to follow them.
Spider-Man Meets Electro! (Spider-Man Classics #10)
Early Peter Parker is loser high school student, I was a loser junior high school student. He lived in Queens, I lived in the Bronx. Peter inexplicably went to school in Manhattan while wearing a shirt and tie. I inexplicably went to school in Manhattan while wearing a shirt and tie. He was terrible with girls, I was terrible with girls. I identified with Peter Parker in a way that I had never before. He quickly became my favorite superhero and still is now that I’m in my early 30’s and it’s because I had access to the early Lee/Ditko books.
Spider-Man takes on Captain America? (Spectacular Spider-Man #138)
The refugees being detained after fleeing their country and fearing the US is relevant today, as we have candidates running for President on platforms of walling off our borders keeping out immigrants from Latin America and banning refugees of certain backgrounds all together. It’s interesting to see Peter and Mary Jane looking into Amnesty for an undocumented alien in the 1980’s, not a system you would expect to be in place in the 1980’s and something we still debate today.
