The Comics Cube!

Jan 27, 2021

Spider-Rama: Marvel Team-Up #30

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!

MARVEL TEAM-UP #30

Spider-Rama

by Gerry Conway, Jim Mooney, and Vince Colletta

Spider-Man teams up with the Falcon to fight Midas.

POINTLESS TRIVIA

BEN: The first and only appearance of Midas. Per our policy, we skipped the previous Marvel Team-Up because it didn’t have Spider-Man. It featured Iron Man and the Torch against Infinitus, in his only appearance.

WHAT'S AGED THE BEST?

BEN: Good ole fashioned fan demand. And anytime you have a character that became a major part of the movie universe, like the Falcon, it’s going to age well.

DUY: Glory just got introduced and is already here, so this was definitely an attempt to make Marvel Team-Up "matter", because up to this point it definitely does not feel like it has. Sadly, tying in an urban racial story to drugs is still relevant today.

WHAT'S AGED THE WORST?

BEN: The Falcon was great, but that costume is not. Picture that on a real person, there’s no way.

DUY: You may not be able to take that costume seriously, but no ladies would complain if Anthony Mackie wore it.
.

BEN: Yes they would!

DUY: We’ve never seen this before or since.

BEN: Death traps, just shoot them while they’re captive. Also, how long did it take to bolt them down like that? These are practical questions people.

NITPICKS

BEN: I’m just always going to point out anytime Spider-Man gets taken by surprise.

DUY: I know it's drugs, but this is basically yet another mind control story.

WHO WON THE COMIC?

DUY: Falcon.

BEN: Sam Wilson.

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!

Recap: King in Black 3

With Knull winning the fight against Earth's heroes, a certain Thunder God shows up! What'd we think?

Get the lead-in to King in Black here: https://amzn.to/39zZZwD

The History of The Scarlet Witch (With Lots of Digressions)

WandaVision premiered and here we are talking about the history of Wanda Maximoff, The Scarlet Witch! Of course, since it's us, there are a ton of digressions into The Vision, Wonder Man, The Whizzer and Miss America, Magneto, The X-Men, Cyclops being unpleasant, Marvel censorship, the science of mongoose blood (https://bit.ly/2LYRZwX), the Salem witch trials, and more! Oh yeah, we talked about WandaVision too.

Scarlet Witch on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2LYEgGD

Matt Lesniewski Interview: Isolation and Weird

Eisner nominee Matt Lesniewski dropped by the show to talk to Duy about The Freak, his upcoming book with Matt Kindt Crimson Flower (out January 20, 2021), and his upcoming graphic novel Static (out April 2021).

Matt Lesniewski on Amazon: https://amzn.to/39M4unV

Jan 19, 2021

Recap: The King in Black 1 and 2

Join Ben, Duy, and Justin for a quick recap on the Marvel event centered around Venom, King in Black, by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman! What did we like? What didn't we like? What are we looking forward to? Why the hell does Knull have a spider on his chest?

Get the lead-in to King in Black here: https://amzn.to/39zZZwD

Roundtable: Wonder Woman 1984

Duy, Paul, and LaMar are joined by Cubers Lizzy, Sam, and Monica for a roundtable of Wonder Woman 1984!

Spider-Rama: Amazing Spider-Man #141

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #141

Spider-Rama

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

Mysterio returns, and also kinda doesn't!

POINTLESS TRIVIA

BEN: The first appearance of the second Mysterio, and the Spider-Mobile falls into the Hudson River.

DUY: Is this the first time the word “sex” has been used in a Spider-Man comic?

BEN: Jameson is up to something.

DUY: Quentin Beck is supposedly dead. This is not the last time Quentin Beck is supposedly dead.

WHAT'S AGED THE BEST?

BEN: I think the transition from Gwen to Mary Jane has been handled well.

DUY: Same. That hand holding sequence is very well done. Well executed. It's the kind of sequence that works best in comics too, where the captions and the art come together to form the full picture. You could do it in film, but the narration would be weird to hear.

BEN: Speaking of effective storytelling:

DUY: That's not the last time they'd do that sequence:

BEN: Spider-Man stealing a guy's McDonald's was funny.

WHAT'S AGED THE WORST?

BEN: That Goblin isn’t very good.

DUY: Crazy was a comedy comic that Marvel published, similar to MAD.

NITPICKS

DUY: Why doesn't this happen more often? He's definitely gotten drenched before.

BEN: Everyone has performance issues sometimes.

DUY: Spider-Man 2 sucks.

FAVORITE PANEL

BEN: This is good:

BEN: But this is better:

DUY: Just because it's the last time...

WHO WON THE COMIC?

BEN: Conway and Andru for producing a very good comic from start to finish.

DUY: What an excellent comic. Everyone wins.

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 #3

GIANT-SIZE SPIDER-MAN #3

Spider-Rama

by Gerry Conway, Ross Andru, and Mike Esposito

Spider-Man teams with pulp hero Doc Savage to fight the Menace from Beyond Time.

POINTLESS TRIVIA

BEN: Doc Savage, known as the Man of Bronze, was a pulp hero that Stan Lee, among others, has called the precursor to modern superheroes. He is not a Marvel original and needs to be licensed.

DUY: Peter Parker, conveniently, has taken a course in comparative languages.

WHAT'S AGED THE BEST?

BEN: Nothing about this comic ages well.

DUY: I dunno, here's a precursor to Google Translate.

WHAT'S AGED THE WORST?

BEN: Where to begin, the nonsensical place that exists in time but not space?

DUY: This is trying too hard to be something different from the DC multiverse that it makes no sense.

BEN: Good thing she has those triangles or else she might look indecent.

DUY: If Dessina were colored the same color as skin, there's no way it passes the Code..

BEN: Doc Savage is a concept that just might not be relevant anymore. Like the Shadow, or Tarzan. He’s basically the Molten Man with clothes on.

NITPICKS

BEN: I thought they existed outside of time?

DUY: This is a team-up where they don't even team up. It's basicaly a Doc Savage adventure with Spidey doing something at the end. What was the point of this?

FAVORITE PANEL

BEN: Mine:

WHO WON THE COMIC?

DUY: Sexists everywhere.

BEN: I want my figurative 50 cents back.

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: Amazing Spider-Man #140

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #140

Spider-Rama

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

The origin of the Grizzly!

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

DUY: We do not need to know the origin of the Grizzly

BEN: I disagree. We definitely need an explanation for why he exists.

DUY: First appearance of Glory Grant, which I've never seen before. I always thought she was always a Bugle employee.

WHAT'S AGED THE BEST?

DUY: We know one thing for sure about Flash Thompson. Between Liz, Sha Shan, and Glory Grant, no one can really accuse him of being a racist.

BEN: Liz is as white as it gets.

DUY: I mean he likes Glory and Sha Shan, but he also likes Liz, so he's not just a colonizer.

BEN: It is a clear political statement, beauty is beauty, no matter the color.

WHAT'S AGED THE WORST?

DUY: Wrestling is fake, Jonah.

BEN: Jonah never stopped believing.

NITPICKS

DUY: It really shouldn't take too long before you realize just by feeling it that you have a metal thing on your arm.

BEN: And I guess it’s good he took his costume completely off, apparently. The one time he ever did so.

FAVORITE PANEL

BEN: Mine:

DUY: Exploring the entire house by walking on the ceiling is a clever visual touch.

WHO WON THE COMIC?

DUY: Here is Spider-Man literally winning by stripping his opponent, almost like a bra and panties match in wrestling.

BEN: I like how offended villains get when he destroys their special outfit. Doesn’t he understand they need that suit to beat him?

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!

Jan 16, 2021

Spider-Rama: Marvel Team-Up #28

MARVEL TEAM-UP #28

Spider-Rama

by Gerry Conway, Jim Mooney, and Vince Colletta

As if the Tarantula weren't enough, Spider-Man now has to deal with The Punisher!

POINTLESS TRIVIA

BEN: The first and only appearance of the City Stealers.

DUY: Conway returns as writer.

WHAT'S AGED THE BEST?

BEN: This is ridiculous in every way possible, but I still like it.

DUY: That panel is glorious. Glorious.

WHAT'S AGED THE WORST?

BEN: By now, the death of Gwen Stacy backlash had surely become so intense, that Conway felt the need to absolve Spider-Man of any fault in her death.

DUY: Which represents a complete backtrack on what the editorial on the letters page of Amazing Spider-Man #125 had said.

BEN: This is further contradicted somewhat by the What-If story, which shows he could have saved her.

NITPICKS

BEN: I doubt that robot could knock Hercules unconscious.

DUY: There's a nitpick in the whole thing (what happens to the infrastructure) that does get answered by the end, and the answer is "call the Fantastic Four," giving them yet another shoutout in this comic. But also kind of giving me the impression that too many things in this universe can be solved just by calling the Fantastic Four.

FAVORITE PANEL

BEN: Mine:

DUY: GLORIOUS:

BEN: It should never even be a contest, but yes.

WHO WON THE COMIC?

DUY: Hercules, clearly.

BEN: Construction companies in New York City.

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!

Paolo Fabregas Interview

Paolo Fabregas, creator of The Filipino Heroes League, dropped by The Comics Cube to talk to Duy about the inspiration behind the comic, Philippine politics and society, gender roles in the Philippines vs. other countries, a bunch of other topics that'll get us cancelled, Alan Moore and Frank Miller (40:30), and what he's working on next (53:00).

Geoff Thorne Interview

In this interview, Geoff Thorne, new ongoing writer of Green Lantern, talks about how he's approaching John Stewart in Future State, his thoughts on Hal Jordan and the other Green Lanterns, and the history of John Stewart.

In part 2, Geoff Thorne has him talking about his Vixen story for Truth and Justice (1:18), his work for the King in Black, notably Black Panther (27:36) and Planet of the Symbiotes (33:20), and his Winterman Comics (45:25). But really, you should just watch it, because the conversation is fun and you should listen to his stories about Stan Lee, Mark Hamill, Method Man, and more.

Jan 8, 2021

Best of 2020, Predictions for 2021

From the Mandalorian to some indie comics, Joe, Ben, LaMar, Justin, and Duy take a look at the best of 2020 and make some predictions for 2021!