Sal's Sunday Punch #15

Like ASM #407, today's Sunday Punch comes from the Complete Ben Reilly Epic volume 2.  In Spectacular Spider-Man #230, from Todd DeZago, Sal Buscema, and Jimmy Palmiotti, rookie Spider-Man Ben Reilly's on the trail of David Kalen, an environmental consultant who ran afoul of a booby-trapped toxic waste dump.  Because this is comics, Kalen survived, of course, and become a horrific purple goo-man, capable of decaying anything he touches.  He's not too happy about this state of affairs, given that his brother died in that same explosion, so he's terrorizing the crooked CEO behind it.  Spider-Man is sympathetic, of course, but he's not about to let Kalen (who now goes by DK, because those are his initials and also it sounds like "decay") just kill this dude.  So DK punches him really hard.

I guess nothing can stop the Smooze.

Who Watches the Nightwatch Part 4: Ongoing Nightmare

If asked, Stan Lee will deny ever presenting this book.

Face it, Nightwatch - you just hit the jackpot.  It's 1994, and, off the strength of a dozen appearances in various Spider-Man books, you just got your own series.

It's important to remember that the comics business was booming back then.  Anything and everything was getting greenlit.  Let's take a look at what else Marvel was publishing in April, 1994:

Amazing Spider-Man #407 is always gonna be with you.

Well, better than the one-stroke penalty you get when you hit your ball into Hydro-Man.

I was reading The Complete Ben Reilly Epic, volume 2 (available at all finer booksellers now, from the good people at Marvel's Trades Department), and the lead issue, 1996's Amazing Spider-Man #407, really grabbed me.  The issue centres around the people of New York City (and specifically, the Human Torch, Silver Sable, and the Sandman) getting used to new Spider-Man Ben Reilly, and around Ben Reilly getting used to his new job in a coffeehouse (because 1996).  It's not the best thing DeFalco's ever written or the best thing Bagley's ever drawn, but it made me smile in that goofy "oh, comics" way that Tom DeFalco does so well.  Specifically, it made me smile three times.

Well played, Darkhold, well played.

Marvel's 1990s comic series "Darkhold" was pretty much a mediocre attempt to cash in on the horror craze started by the success of Ghost Rider. It wasn't that well drawn, and certainly never that well written. But every now and then it was at least kind clever.

Taken from Darkhold #2, art by Richard Case, writing by Chris Cooper.

This is from Darkhold #2. The main characters are searching a military warehouse for a gama bomb that's about to go off. The issue's a little unclear about how this all relates to the supernatural aspects of the book -- mostly it seems to be about the summoning of a hell hound. That's not important. What's important is that this actually led into a surprisingly clever little referential gag.

I dunno. Maybe my guard was just down, but I found this very funny.

--Andrew S.
(And it's nice that they put the reference in, in a way that was in character, and beats the Comics Code. Though I'm not sure the word 'bitch' was much bother for the Code at this stage...)

Ricochet to Freedom

This is an advertisement. You can see it on the top of this comic strip. Please, please, please let this be official Marvel canon.

Please. Spider-Man and Captain America are chosen by the president to be fired from giant pistols into an enormous spider web that was put there by aliens to strangle the hopes of freedom.

This is an official story, right... please?

--Andrew S.

Bulloxed? What the hell is Bulloxed?

Ever notice that sometimes when you're reading you encounter a word you've never heard of before? Usually you get an idea of what the word might mean just because of the context it's used in. But sometimes you encounter something like this...

This piece of narration is from Alpha Flight #95, written by Fabian Nicieza and drawn by Michael Bair. The narrator is the Alphan known as Windshear. Let me quote the specific section:

"Unless they're INSIDE of you, then you're bulloxed."

Bulloxed? Bulloxed? What the hell?

Sal's Sunday Punch #14

 Man, it's just been way too long since we had a Sunday Punch from our old pal Sal. So how can we possibly make it up to you? Hmmmm... how about Namor punching a bunch of medieval knights?

Welcome to Defenders #4.

Avengers #200

So recently Avengers #200 has been thrust back into fan consciousness again, partly because Jim Shooter, the editor-in-chief at the time, and one of the creditted writers, gave an apology for the issue. A rather unsatisfying apology, at least I thought so.

Avengers #200 is a rather loathesome comic, but what's loathesome about it has been pretty thoroughly covered by other people, so what can 80 Page Giant possibly bring to the table that hasn't already been said? Well we'll get to that after the jump. First, I want to make sure you have a nice grounding in the currently accepted view of Avengers #200 (I say currently accepted, because people sure didn't see this comic this way when it came out.)

So here's a few links, some articles to read to get some context before you come back here:
http://www.fortunecity.com/tatooine/niven/142/trulyawf/tac03.html

http://carolastrickland.com/comics/msmarvel/index.html

And finally, Jim Shooter's apology:
http://www.jimshooter.com/2011/12/avengers-200.html

So now you have the story, come on back and let's see if I don't have something unique to say about the issue myself.

Spider-Island Spider-Mannotations: Spider-Island: Cloak and Dagger #2, Spider-Island: Spider Woman #1

So, uh, fell off-track a little here.  But in time for the Spider-Island and Spider-Island Companion hardcovers, here's some more Spider-Island Spider-Mannotations!

Spider-Island: Cloak and Dagger #2

"TASTES GREAT!"  "LESS FILLING!"
(art by Mike Choi)

Powers of the Silver Surfer: Signatures.

Did you know that the Silver Surfer can sign his own name without a marker? No?

Neither did this little kid!

Great, now he can never use that board again, or he'll wear off the signature!

That's right, not only does he sign his name without a marker. He signs HIS COMIC BOOK LOGO.

This little gem is from Galactus the Devourer, by Louise Simonson (writer), Jon J Muth (Penciller) and I should probably add Comicraft on the lettering.

--Andrew S.