Spider-Rama: Amazing Spider-Man #144

Welcome to Spider-Rama! Every Monday and Wednesday, Ben and Duy will look at a Spider-Man issue from the very beginning, in chronological order, and answer questions for various categories, inspired in large part by one of our favorite podcasts, The Rewatchables by The Ringer. Our goal is to make it to Amazing Spider-Man #200. Will we make it? Grab your Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus or crank up your tablet to Marvel Unlimited, and then tune in every Wednesday to find out!

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #44

Spider-Rama

by Gerry Conway, Ross Andru, Frank Giacoia, and Dave Hunt

Spider-Man wraps up his trip to France against Cyclone, and... Gwen Stacy returns?

POINTLESS TRIVIA

 

BEN: Villain appearance count:

• Doctor Octopus: 17
• Green Goblin: 13
• The Kingpin: 12
• The Vulture: 9
• Kraven the Hunter: 8
• The Lizard: 7
• Mysterio: 6
• Professor Smythe/Spider Slayer: 6
• Hammerhead: 5
• Sandman: 4
• Molten Man: 4
• The Jackal: 4
• Electro: 3
• The Enforcers: 3
• The Rhino: 3
• Man Mountain Marko: 3
• Silvermane: 3
• The Chameleon: 3
• The Schemer/Richard Fisk: 3
• The Ringmaster: 2
• Scorpion: 2
• Shocker: 2
• The Beetle: 2
• Morbius: 2
• The Gibbon: 2
• The Man-Wolf: 2
• Jonas Harrow: 2
• The Kangaroo: 2
• Tarantula: 2
• Green Goblin (Harry): 2
• The Grizzly: 2
• Mysterio 2: 2
• Cyclone: 2

DUY: Cyclone could be a legitimate villain with the right push.

BEN: No, he got beat by an industrial fan.

DUY: But look how dangerous he looks before that!

BEN: He looks like a Masters of the Universe character!

WHAT'S AGED THE BEST? 

DUY: The cover is amazing. The worm's eye view. The closeup of the stuff in the gutter. The way you know it's Gwen and it's just her leg. Spider-Man's pose, clearly contrived so he fits just right under the title logo and yet so distinctly Spider-Man. The Clone Genesis TPB that came out in the 90s didn't have covers (or blurbs and credits) so I didn't see this until much, much later, so that's not confirmation bias.

BEN: It’s a great cover and the only bad thing I’ll say about it is that you have to wait until the next issue to see how what it’s teasing plays out. The way they teased out the return of Gwen was masterful abc storytelling.

WHAT'S AGED THE WORST? 

DUY: He knows what "Yes" means, Parker.

BEN: I was struck by how stressed out she was by the phone ringing.

DUY: After Far From Home and its usage of the Nightmonkey, Spider-Man not using another identity in a foreign location is weird.

BEN: I also thought of the Nightmonkey.

NITPICKS

DUY: I don't know that being patriotic is the first thing you should be defending in a situation like this.

FAVORITE PANEL

DUY: I kind of hate that Gwen's death outfit has become her signature outfit, but how many supporting characters can you really identify from a silhouette?

BEN: That's mine too.

WHO WON THE COMIC?

DUY: I'm going to say this for the first time in a while: Gwen. Stacy.

BEN: I’m giving it to Jonah for telling Peter that nobody cares about his scatter-brained girlfriend.

DOES ROBBIE KNOW?

DUY: They completely skip over how Peter explains why Spider-Man is also in Paris, and Robbie is not stupid.

BEN: That little tape recorder he used to fool Jonah had the best speaker ever.

Leave us a comment below or on our Facebook page. And be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel! Go watch our Spider-Rama videos!

Spider-Rama: Giant-Size Spider-Man #4

 Welcome to Spider-Rama! Every Monday and Wednesday, Ben and Duy will look at a Spider-Man issue from the very beginning, in chronological order, and answer questions for various categories, inspired in large part by one of our favorite podcasts, The Rewatchables by The Ringer. Our goal is to make it to Amazing Spider-Man #200. Will we make it? Grab your Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus or crank up your tablet to Marvel Unlimited, and then tune in every Wednesday to find out!

GIANT-SIZE SPIDER-MAN #4

Spider-Rama

by Gerry Conway, Ross Andru, and Mike Esposito

Spider-Man teams up with the Punisher!

POINTLESS TRIVIA

 

BEN: The third appearance of the Punisher. Fourth, if you count that last page cameo.

DUY: Let's just decree now that when we say appearance we mean a full appearance. It's the last time Punisher's creators work on him, too.

BEN: First appearance of Moses Magnum, who would go on to become, at the least, a reliable journeyman villain across the Marvel Universe.

DUY: The first appearance of the Punisher's van and the fact that he keeps a "War Journal", which is a narrative excuse to get him to talk to himself.

WHAT'S AGED THE BEST? 

BEN: I loved the thick spine on these old oversized comics.

DUY: Punisher's battle van is simultaneously fun, in character, and a precursor to a bunch of 80s merchandise.

BEN: Spider-Man’s hatred of windows is contagious.

WHAT'S AGED THE WORST? 

DUY: This is almost definitely not a "kidnapping."

BEN: I’m pretty sure this is the first time we see the Punisher actually kill someone. Spider-Man would usually give Frank a lot more shit about killing someone, even while saving him, but he doesn’t mention it at all.

DUY: Matt Dillon is a 90s actor who was in There's Something About Mary and Wild Things.

BEN: That’s a reference to Marshall Matt Dillon, from the TV show Gunsmoke.

NITPICKS

BEN: For goodness' sakes Frank, get some sleep before a big raid against a criminal empire.

DUY: Where'd Peter get the comb?

BEN: You know how vain Peter is.

FAVORITE PANEL

DUY: Ross Andru and motion. Pretty good:

WHO WON THE COMIC?

DUY: The Punisher.

BEN: The Punisher is getting closer and closer to becoming the Punisher everyone knows.

Leave us a comment below or on our Facebook page. And be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel! Go watch our Spider-Rama videos!

The Comics Cube Channel Recap: April 4, 2021

 Urban Animal has nearly 500,000 subscribers on WebToon, and creators John Amor and Justin Jordan join Duy Tano on the show to talk about Joe Gomez, the seemingly normal high schooler who turns out to be a powerful chimera, caught in the middle of a whirlwind that dates back ages. They talk about coming up with the story, the supporting cast, designing comics for WebToon, the differences between the direct market and the online market, and how comics are comics, regardless of where they're read.

 

 Richard Pace talks to Duy Tano about Second Coming with Mark Russell and Leonard Kirk (15:41​)! Before that we talk about what sparked his love of comics and the greatness of the 80s (00:30​) and after that we talk about a webcomic he did about Miles Morales and the importance of diversity and representation (41:00​). 

   

 And then I flipped through a newly acquired copy of Brought to Light: Shadowplay by Alan Moore and Bill Sienkiewicz, with an anecdote by Bill as I flip through: 

 

The Comics Cube Channel Recap: March 28, 2021

 Mark Waid kicked off this week on the show to talk about getting into characters, the fatal flaw in The Flash: The Return of Barry Allen, the magic of collaboration with Ron Garney on Captain America, 52 parallel worlds, Superman, and fun stories about artists, including the insanity of George Perez:

Then we did a countdown of our favorite X-Men adaptations:

The Comics Cube Channel Recap: March 21, 2021

This week started off with an interview with Paolo Rivera, who talked about Spider-Man: One Moment in Time, Daredevil with Mark Waid and Marcos martin, his Vision short story for Alex Ross' Marvel #2, and more: 

   

 Jose Villarrubia joined the show to discuss working with Alan Moore and JH Williams III on Promethea, adapting Moore's Mirror of Love, working with Moore on his novel Voice of the Fire, the work he's been nominated for: Unknown Soldier, Deadman: The Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love, and America, and Hercules 1412 with Das Pastoras: 

   

 Then we did a draft on the worst X-Men ever:  

 And finally, Paul and I went over Zack Snyder's Justice League AKA The Snyder Cut:

The Comics Cube Channel Recap: March 14, 2021

 

It was a busy week for The Comics Cube, and we started with Torunn Grønbekk talking about writing the Thor mythos with Jane Foster and the Valkyries: Then we talked to Maria Laura Sanapo, making her second appearance on the show, to talk about her Sensational Wonder Woman stroy and which badass woman she's doing next: Then we talked to Skybound's Arune Singh, who was worked in marketing for Marvel and Boom! about his biggest learning experiences, the work he's done and is proudest of, and what to expect from Skybound: UK-based cartoonist Marc Jackson dropped by the show as well to talk about his comics Bring the Ninja, Spookids, and Magnum PI: Geoff Thorne returned to the show to talk about his upcoming Green Lantern series, and his recent work on Vixen, Black Panther, King in Black, and The Prowler/Hornet: And then Joe, Ben, and Duy got ready for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier by talking about Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting's story that returned Bucky Barnes to the comics: