Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark is Finally Open!

Yes, true believers, today is the opening day (finally) of Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark! While this has absolutely nothing at all to do with reviewing issues of Amazing Spider-Man, I do want to work in the occasional news item or review of other Spider-Man issues, and this one seems appropriate. The Julie Taymor/Bono/Edge collaboration, which in turn became completely overhauled several months into preview shows, is finally, officially open. Will it be a hit? A total bomb? Will it ever make its money back? More than likely, yes. U2 is a big draw, and Spider-Man is certainly well known. Tourism and curiosity alone will keep it running a long time, whether it deserves it or not. So congrats to Reeve Carney and Patrick Page for sticking out the VERY long preview and reworking process and finally having a show that you can be proud of and give your very best to!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Amazing Spider-Man #4!

Welcome once again to Every Amazing Spider-Man Reviewed! This time around we're featuring issue number four, the debut of the Stupendous Sandman! Acting almost as a combination of The Thing and Mr. Fantastic, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko present the Sandman as another radioactive villain, but this time he can control the grains of sand that make up his body! Will Spider-Man be able to adapt and save the day, or will Sandman successfully terrorize an innocent high school principal? The stakes have never been.. er.. stranger!

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Amazing Spider-Man #3!

Ah, Dr. Octopus, one of my favorite villains. Dr. Octopus is fairly unique in the world of comics. He's overweight, which is something that Marvel embraced far before DC, with characters such as Blob and Kingpin. He doesn't start off as a villain, either. In fact, it is the accident that gives him his abilities that also robs him of his sanity. It's an interesting dichotomy between him and Spider-Man, in that case. Spider-Man gains his powers from a radioactive spiders, but maintains his own personality along with the increased powers. What, however, would happen if he were driven insane from the radioactivity and became one of the greatest villains? Dr. Octopus lets us find that out!

Debuting in Amazing Spider-Man #3 as one of the best Spider-Villains yet, here comes Dr. Octopus!

Friday, June 10, 2011

Amazing Spider-Man #2!

Every hero is, ultimately, defined by their villains. Batman wouldn't be nearly as cool if he spent all of his time hanging out at the local middle school scaring away drug dealers. Superman would probably be less impressive if all he ever did was rescue treed cats and the occasional frog in front of a lawn mower. Luckily for Spider-Man, this is something that Stan Lee understood very well. In his first appearance, his biggest foes were himself and the burglar that killed his uncle, and to be honest these would always be his biggest foes. To have these quickly followed in the first issue of Amazing Spider-Man with J. Jonah Jameson and the Chameleon is definitely a plus! For this issue, we get introduced to the terrifying, gravity-defying Vulture and the Tinkerer.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Amazing Spider-Man #1

Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. You're going to hear that a LOT in this blog, because these two are the geniuses behind Spider-Man. The storyline, the character, the dialog, and most importantly the costume came from these two men, and have survived for decades despite some trying very hard to destroy them (*cough* the nineties *cough*). What's amazing *no pun intended* about Spider-Man is how quickly the basis for the character is developed, and how long it has lasted. Superman has had three origin stories alone in the 2000s, while Spider-Man has always failed to stop a robber that killed his Uncle Ben.


Welcome to Every Amazing Spider-Man Reviewed!

The goal of this blog is pretty simple - to review every Amazing Spider-man from #1-#652. If I pick up more I'll just add them to the list, but as of this writing I can guarantee reviews of those! Obviously, items such as story and art are going to have to be graded on a curve, considering similar comics of similar time frames, but c'mon - it's not just about the grade. This is the main Spider-Man comic where his character has developed for almost 40 years. This is about the journey!

Spider-man went from comic book hero to cartoon and live action hero in a time frame comparable only to Superman, and he is a cultural icon that will likely last for another 40 years, no matter how many deals with Mephisto he makes. His journey also mirrors the journey of the comics industry itself. The styles change, the technology changes, and clones come and go. I'll make sure to touch on all of these as we journey over 652 (or more) issues!

So stick around and we'll hit all the major villains, the embarrassing stories, and anything else that might strike my fancy that would be spider related!