What Are You Reading?

[Avaitor]

Spidey's feud with the Fantastic Four in his earliest adventures, especially the Torch, was a lot of fun.

[gunswordfist]

Spidey's feud with the Fantastic Four in his earliest adventures, especially the Torch, was a lot of fun.

Haha, I'm going to have to read that. I just assumed he always got along with them.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, J.J.J. actually envies Spider-Man because of his heroics and forcing him to realize what a selfish person he's always been his whole life. I honestly never thought about it that way, but it sure does make a lot of sense.

Also, I laughed at that corny Scooby-Doo-like moment where the Big Man was revealed to be Frederick Foswell, and he remarks: "And I would've gotten away with it, too...."

Honestly, I'm quite surprised with the kinds of themes that the early issues of Spider-Man can bring up, which I admittedly underestimated because of its age, but it is definitely somewhat hampered by the corny dialogue and narrative from that 1960's style of slang and whatnot.

[gunswordfist]

Yeah, campiness is one of the things that makes me have a hard time with a lot of older comics.

[Avaitor]

So, J.J.J. actually envies Spider-Man because of his heroics and forcing him to realize what a selfish person he's always been his whole life. I honestly never thought about it that way, but it sure does make a lot of sense.

Yeah, there's been a couple of different explanations towards Jameson's dislike of Spidey, and this was the first used. Another good one was how he felt Spider-Man overshadowed his son in SSM.

Honestly, I'm quite surprised with the kinds of themes that the early issues of Spider-Man can bring up, which I admittedly underestimated because of its age, but it is definitely somewhat hampered by the corny dialogue and narrative from that 1960's style of slang and whatnot.

Very true. As much as I love Lee's dialogue, a lot of his lines sound really dated today. It's also a little irritating that there's a need for him to write down EVERYTHING that happens, in the eyes of witnesses in case readers don't understand. DC kind of did the same thing too though, and with considerably less of a focus on story and character development, which is why the Marvel stuff from this era holds up a lot better IMO.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Here's something I just thought about: almost everybody says that Gwen Stacy was Peter's first love interest in the comics, but that's not the case at all. Betty Brant is clearly his first love interest (at the point I'm at, Gwen Stacy's character doesn't even exist, yet). I'm guessing they never actually hook up, and that Gwen is the first girl Peter manages to get really close to, but still, its false to say that Gwen was Peter's first love, yet everyone always says that for some reason.

[Avaitor]

The thing about Betty Brant is that her fling with Peter wasn't very serious. They both liked each other, but Peter was a little too young for her, and Ned Leeds was more of a fit for her. True, Peter did like her a bit, but I've always found it to be more of a schoolboy crush than a serious affection, which he later had with Gwen and MJ.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

True, but even if it was a crush she was still his first love interest, with emphasis on the word "interest," which doesn't necessarily imply a serious affection. In that regard, I just find it kind of deceitful to say that Gwen was his first interest. She WAS his first real girlfriend, though, so that statement would probably be more true.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

If there ever really was a movie in existence called "The Nameless Thing From The Black Lagoon In The Murky Swamp!" I'd totally watch it.

[Pharass]

Read the first volume of Planetary today.  Can't believe it took me this long to actually begun reading this comic; the first volume was extremely entertaining. As a fan of pulp I especially enjoyed the appearances of Doc Savage and Dr Fu Manchu (albeit under changed names). So, yeah, add this to my ever-growing list of comics I'm going to read more of.

[Angus]

Nameless Thing from the Black Lagoon? Cool. Hope it's better than Revenge of the Creature.

Finally caught up on Fairy Tail; I'm such a sucker for tournament arcs.

[gunswordfist]

Read the first volume of Planetary today.  Can't believe it took me this long to actually begun reading this comic; the first volume was extremely entertaining. As a fan of pulp I especially enjoyed the appearances of Doc Savage and Dr Fu Manchu (albeit under changed names). So, yeah, add this to my ever-growing list of comics I'm going to read more of.

The series is great. Can't think Insomniac enough for that recommendation.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm half-way through the first Spider-Man annual and its suitably pretty epic, what with the Sinister Six and all of the guest appearances. I also like how Peter temporarily loses his powers (but I hate how Stan Lee felt the need to explain that it was because of the guilt he was feeling when remembering Uncle Ben's death), and then regains them when he realizes he needs them most to save Betty and Aunt May from the Sinister Six.

One thing I noticed in this issue, though, is that Peter can make some pretty stupid decisions. I mean, the Human Torch offers to help him, and you'd think that with his beloved aunt and "sort of" girlfriend in serious danger being held captive by 6 of his strongest enemies up to that point, he'd want all the help he can get, but he turns Torch down just because the matter is too "personal" to him. I mean, I know its a personal matter, but sometimes practicality should be held in the way of pride, and I don't see anything practical about Spider-Man turning down free help when he could really use it.

[gunswordfist]

That reminds me, I've heard Spider-Man described as a stupid. Is there any truth to this?

[Avaitor]

That's kind of true, yeah. Peter Parker makes a lot of bad decisions. Some of them from his earlier days can be blamed due to him being a teenager, who are admittedly confused easily. But he still says and does a lot of stupid shit up to this day.

I blame it on weak writing more than anything. It's also worth noting that one of my least favorite aspects of USM is how they go out of the way to make Spidey look dumb, even forgetting that he's incredibly book smart.