Integr8d Fix

Spider-Man Meets Rom, Spaceknight!

2025-09-08T01:36:00.000-07:00

Let's go back to the late Spring of 1984. Rom's entering the last phase of his war with the Dire Wraiths, who are infiltrating Earth, replacing humans, and planning a sorcerous coup. Spider-Man's only recently come back to Earth with a symbiotic costume that responds to his commands. ] Synopsis

Roderick Kingsley’s office is intruded by the Hobgoblin. But it reveals itself to be a Wraith, and offers him a body double he can use for his secret identity! He runs for it, hidden passage out, and makes it to his gear. He fights back as the Hobgoblin, not trusting anyone to have his secret. He seems to kill all the agents present from the Dire Wraiths.

The Dire Wraiths report this attempt to replace Hobgoblin and assume his place in the underworld, failed, but they have two other plans, converging. One, they have a poltician adviser in place, who will get the humans to build detention centers, for the use of the Wraiths once they take power. The second plan involves the Chameleon, who they’re hiring to steal a part being made for a government-made Neutralizer. They use, for their meeting, the old off-Broadway Theater where Norman Osborn kept one of his secret Goblin stashes. That’s also where Spider-Man first fought the Hobgoblin, so, it was part of their reseach, and they know it’s abandoned. Rom uncovers the remains of a lair of the Thinker, with whom he clashed early in his mission on Earth. He finds plans to analyze Spider-Man, and this self-destructs. He encounters Frog Man on patrol, and ascertains he’s human. He then decides to visit his friends, Power Man and Iron Fist. Peter Parker missed the assignment to cover Roberto Riverdale’s campaign initiative, now that he is head councilman. He’s there at the announcement, though, and so is Lance Bannon, his photography rival. Lance ducks behind the scenes to try to catch who is there. This gets the attention of the Dire Wraith disguised as Brick Holderman, the advisor, a TV dinner making retired major it replaced months ago. Peter and Ned Leeds don’t get anything special, then they spot Bannon together. The Holderman Wraith decides to take over a woman’s body, then start making the moves on Lance. It keeps in mind Ned and Peter are journalists, too. Chameleon’s holographic blueprint theft is a success, but as he prepares to drop it off at the secret Wraith HQ, across town, Power Man has taken Rom to the Baxter Building, to see if the Analyzer can be safely adapted by Reed Richards. Starshine and Iron Fist meanwhile occupy themselves, and she meets some supporting PM/IF cast. The top-secet gizmo blueprint turns up missing, according to She-Hulk and Torch, so Rom decides to team-up with Starshine and continue the trail there. Peter Parker suddenly gets taken to lunch by Delilah, a disguised male Wraith who can shape-shift, one of the only of his kind remaining after the females purged the males. While they dine together, Lance’s one-time girlfriend Amy walks by. She mocks the Delilah girl as somehow yet another person dating Lance now of late, who has gotten tangled up with Peter like she did. She asks how his red-headed lady friend is doing. Delilah decides to go back to using Lance to get into the investigation. She only needs to ascertain the truth does not come out before the bill to build the detention centers is passed. It’s at this point the symbiote that is actually Spider-Man’s black costume in this era, has begun taking Peter out while he’s asleep and swinging him around. Rom runs into this phenemenon, which he thinks might be a Wraith, but he analyzes it, then uses his translator to detect a rudimentary, buried intelligence. Rom wonders if it needs to be freed from its state, and remembers his failure to help the Hulk. It surprises Rom with its changing form and appears as different clothing. Then it swings Peter away just as he’s waking up. Rom just about runs it down when he runs into the Chameleon, fresh back from the Dire Wraiths’ old theater HQ.

The Chameleon makes his costume, Spider-Man, in black, and talks with Rom. The Analyzer reveals him to be human. He explains his powers were taken somehow by the same enemies Rom declares he seeks, and he offers to take Rom back there. He was paid handsomely by the Wraiths to take advantage of this opportunity to help trap Rom.

But Rom runs into the real Spider-Man, who he mistakes for the Wraith-disguised one described to him by the fake who is Chameleon. He can’t get his Analyzer on him, and Spider-Man and Rom exchange blows in a four-page conflict. It’s the arrival of the Black Cat that affirms this is Spider-Man, who submits to the beam, then denies having talked to Rom before. But that takes about three pages of her following, fighting, and talking sense to them both. She thinks her bad luck power will work against Rom if he means ‘my Spider’ harm, but Rom and Spider-Man decide to join sides. Spider-Man recognizes the Delilah girl, and trails her right to the Wraiths. He still doesn’t know the Chameleon was involved, but that bit about Rom encountering an impostor did nag him. What happens is, he apparently finds aliens working for Mysterio! But the magic is REAL this time, and then their identities are revealed by the attack of Starshine. That’s when Rom comes in to face the actual Wraith magic, his Analyzer unveling their true nature. He and Spider-Man fight together for about four pages. Black Cat gets the drop on Holderman, and runs him straight into Starshine. The entire business now ended, the blueprint is restored, and shipped directly to the security of the Aerie, Forge’s skyscraper in Dallas. (Except there’s a serious disturbance there in X-Men #187, where the Wraiths infiltrate Forge’s home.) Reed doesn’t get the Analyzer done before “The Final Conflict” in Rom #65. Rom doesn’t get to tell Spider-Man about his conversation with his costume alien. His first clue will come soon while Puma attacks him in ASM #256. I’ll share this with William. That was quick. It is still 1:12 am, so I got that in just over half an hour!

Two forgotten comics I'll never forget: my journey discovering Marvel Heroes continues (Rom, Nova, the Defenders)

2025-02-15T06:41:00.000-08:00

The Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-man Board Game from Milton Bradley greatly expanded my love of Ditko (a name I didn’t know), and the Fantastic Four, and the Spider-man rogues in general. Along with Cap, Iron Man, Thor, and of course Hulk, as mentioned in my previous post, they were my first Marvel Super Heroes. Her cartoon assures Spider-Woman the tenth spot in my quest to discover Marvel Heroes. I saw Matt Murdock and a color-separated image of him thinking about, but not Being, Daredevil. It had to be within a few weeks of that when I saw the macabre cover of Amazing Spider-Man #220, with Moon Knight. I didn't get to read much of it, but I did read the Aunt May back-up story! That cover creeped me out good. I saw it a couple of times and felt like someone had walked across my grave, seeing Spider-Man in a coffin like that. And then, the number of super-heroes I could identify would double in one month. The two issues I schemed to buy for myself each featured a super-team. First, I met the Defenders. Marvel Team-Up #111 was probably read first, and introduced me mostly to Devil-Slayer. Unlike Daredevil, I actually saw him in action the whole issue. I would become friends, better than any other Marvel creator, with Devil Slayer's creator (with Rich Buckler), David Anthony Kraft. It would be just a few months before I would discover his writing in my new favorite comic book at the time, the issue of Defenders with Spider-Man in a box of discount comic books for my seventh Christmas. The other Defenders, however cool they looked, were cyphers who appear only at the end and say nothing unique. I liked Gargoyle instantly, but the rest seemed kinda DC under Trimpe's tiny figures at the very exciting end. I love the twist in that issue. These two comic books were far better than any I'd ever read before.

So the twelfth and thirteeth distinct and whole superheroes for me were the co-stars of Rom #24.

First, the opening is so great. I loved going outside and playing out the space scenes. Rom flying through Xandarian territory in that craft borrowed from Reed Richards has this sense of environment and protagonist, together, that delivered the alien nature of the hero and gave me a fascinating first dose of science fiction.

Rom #24 was so good, it makes me want two Nova movies: one where he fights the Sphinx, and the sequel where he takes a version of the New Champions to Xandar, defends against the Skrulls- and if they could get the movie rights to Rom, imagine him teamed up with Diamond Head and the Comet, but then, Star Lord and Warlock (who is actually dead in ‘81, when this issue came out). And do the whole Skrull surprise attack on Xandar! Oh, and I liked Powerhouse, second best. He's introduced with a battle with Rom in space, while the New Champions are on patrol. You get a much-better sense of who the Champions are, except for Protector, than you do the Defenders, since they are prisoners until the last scene of MTU #111.

But it was Rom and Nova that sold that cover, and they’re part of the first fourteen superheroes I knew well enough to give in-character dialogue. Rom the Spaceknight #24 was my favorite comic book yet. It's full of suspense and twists and turns.

I was the perfect age to enjoy these characters rendered by this team.

It’s after this that I started seeing the Marvel Super Heroes cartoons for a couple of years, and there, I learned of Submariner, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Ant/ Giant Man and the Wasp. Scarlet Witch was the most interesting of those to me; I liked her in the Avengers episodes of Captain America on the '66 cartoon series. I glimpsed Wolverine, getting his stealthy revenge against the Hellfire Club, and loved him instantly!

All of this is before not only my first year or two of collecting updated me on the Marvel Universe spotily, but the very Handbook arrived at the end of 1985 to absolutely absorb me with it as an encyclopedia, at the one time in my life I could appreciate it most. And I collected every issue.

The journey: how I met my first Marvel Super Heroes

2025-02-15T06:16:00.000-08:00

I watched the Avengers all the way through for only the second time, including its cinema debut the summer of 2012, where we went opening day in Horton Plaza, a reliable ways from our first shawarma experience later that afternoon over on Fourth Avenue. Me being my best friend and band mate, Anji Bug. I love how that one post-credit scene, of any of them, does no more previewing than simply showing they socialize.

Now, I’m recalling the first of my Marvel Super Heroes.

When I’m three, there’s already Spider-Man, and soon after, the Incredible Hulk, who I probably started watching in his first season.

I already could read the TV Guide well enough.

G-Force is already my favorite superhero team when I’m four, and I love Goldar from The Space Giants, and will meet the Superfriends just before Ultra Man and Spectre Man.

Avengers is so great because at its core, it’s got the four of the first five Marvel heroes I found: Hulk, then Iron Man, Cap, and Thor. I’m less sure about Thor, but have vivid memories of Cap from his TV show,which later led me to his treasured Hot Wheels Van, where he's throwing his shield inside, which looks cool, but made me wonder why he would do that with the doors closed.

Somehow, I found Iron Man’s cartoon from the Marvel Super Heroes. I'm blessed with Batman's TV show so early on, I hardly remember life with no Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman, and Flash, Green Lantern and Hawkman right behind.

The 1978 Fantastic Four cartoon made it to me, barely-I think we had antenna issues, then the NBC affiliate moved it to God Knows. I probably saw more episodes of Fred and Barnie Meet the Thing. So the Thing at least is probably the fifth Marvel superhero I knew.

I was lucky enough to purchase Iron Man #124, a very atypical plot, but with the sheen of Romita Jr and Layton making up for whatever words I couldn’t comprehend in those late summer days of 1979 in South Carolina. I’ve figured out it must’ve been on the stands quite a while, because I got Marvel Tales #108 before that. That one came out in July of ‘79, so we were still on Spring Circle in Lindale, Georgia.

That September, I discover the Shogun Warriors through their three feature coloring books.

I’d figure out Thor before The Vision, a lunchbox image mystery I saw in a vintage store once and thought of often. That shop is sort of why I dream about imaginary shops with imaginary Marvel Comics.

The rest of the Four, and Thor, would round out my first nine Marvel Super-Heroes. The Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-man Board Game from Milton Bradley greatly expanded my love of Ditko (a name I didn’t know), and the Fantastic Four, and the Spider-man rogues in general.

Her cartoon assures Spider-Woman the tenth spot in my quest to discover Marvel Heroes.

But I really see her more in syndicated reruns, alternating days with my favorite cartoon then, Spider-Man '67. I had a crush on her, Princess from Battle of the Planets, Nova from Star Blazers, Wonder Woman, and Wilma from Buck Rogers.

I met Matt Murdock before ever seeing Daredevil in action, when Peter is jailed for trespassing in Ryker’s in Amazing Spider-Man #219, one of my three favorite O’Neil-penned issues. But I can’t honestly say I met Daredevil for quite a while. I remember that corner box, though, on some issues I found but couldn’t buy on a car trip back from the Christmas family get together in Menlo, when we cut through Adairsville. Or, A Dare-devil’s Ville. That corner box, oh. Mysterious!

And then, the number of super-heroes I could identify would double in one late summer month. I'll tell that story, next post.

Venom: an honest deconstruction of Spider-Man's fan-favorite villain's origin

2024-12-08T23:46:00.003-08:00

I gotta be honest. There is definitely an appeal to having an indefinite canonical origin for The Joker. It's just better if he comes out of nowhere, really. Now, Venom is from an era when villain origins could be built to last, and his had a lot of build-up. It's sorta cool that in 1984 you have the first half before you even know you'll have a second half: I'm talking, of course, about Spider-Man's black costume, and the symbiote from space it was revealed to be.

In our discussion, aside from a distaste for the inconsistent depictions in Todd McFarlane's earliest issues, my partner Anji was more perturbed at how the alien costume only had a 'heel turn,' because Marvel intended to dispose of the design. Before it was really in any stories, the new black design had evoked a vocal backlash. A few months in, and seeing Spider-Man in action in the new costume was grabbing new fans. Her point though:

In Web of Spider-Man #1, the costume/ symbiote has now revealed itself not only desirous of bonding permanently with Peter Parker: it's growing to care about who he cares about, who he's thinking about as he believes he's sacrificing his life. Her point was, the symbiote could've been a more complex character on its own, even if it remained non-verbal!

In my mind, if they needed it for an antagonist, it might've been fun to have the suit just popping up with a new host unexpectedly and occasionally in Peter's life. It could've been epic.
So this one's a history of Venom in minutes:

The criticisms of its inexplicable subservience to Eddie Brock's insane hatred (and insanity can lead to some pretty cringe villain motives) follow in the video. If you're not ready to laugh about McFarlane's rookie effort, you might want to just make these ideas your take away. Feel free to express your own opinion, too: i know it's not always easy to leave comments in these blogs, and that's why Reddit and other things kind of took their place. Blogging is so 20teens, right?

https://youtu.be/MNSqdfBsIGg So here's an hour and a half of discussion (which also includes 'Venom Ate Our Brains" For what's it worth, Anji, if she were the symbiote, would meld with a porn star...seek feeling good! She would actually like to see a story where it's revealed, this is a particularly crazy symbiote, compared to the normals ones. This is the crazy one that decided to pretend to be clothes. And she overall prefers Carnage. If you're gonna go bad....

Roger Stern's plotting secret in his Amazing Spider-Man 1980s run: Villain-on-Villain Violence:

2024-12-08T08:27:00.000-08:00

It's not where I first noticed it, but going back across Stern's run, this is the first place you see it, when the Black Cat targets purveyors of black market high art.

ASM # 232 Mister Hyde stalks the Cobra

Then you have Tarantula picking up where Cobra left off. Cobra chasing down Nose Norton was yet another instance: ASM #231. Ned Leeds and Marla Madison are caught in the middle of this one! Then, Ben Urich's caught up when Tarantula picks up the trail. So Norton is sort of the second hunted villain in a story line, in that someone besides the cops or Spidey is tracking a character who we'd agree is not deliberately on the side of angels.

But the next storyline has even more villains chasing each other. Will O' the Wisp returns for revenge against Brand and ends up fighting their latest, fatal experiment. Tarantula's transformation scared the heck out of me! I just got to peep a few pages while I waited on Mom at the grocery store. I didn't get either ASM #235 or 236 then. I'm not sure I'd have wanted them!

We're not even done. Here's the Vulture pursuing his crooked business partner, in a flashback expanding his origin. I'm not saying these are all the same, at all.

And while it wasn't on Spidey's radar yet, the original Hobgoblin kills the robber, Georgie, who showed him a lair of the Green Goblin, which he discovered accidentally. Hobgoblin doesn't play fair at all. There's no rescuing his other villainous accomplice, Lefty Donavon. But if you've never read those stories I'll say no more. It's enough to say Hobgoblin's last scheme under Stern's pen is a blackmail scheme, with, if not villains, lots of shady, rich country club members with naughty secrets recoreded by Norman Osborn. That's in AMAZING #249.

Stray Kidz Chk Chk Boom (Deadpool/ Wolverine soundtrack) I.S. Reaction ...

2024-07-24T23:42:00.000-07:00

Join in the summer fun! Before we go check out the movie, here's a number from Stray Kids, including skits with the stars of Deadpool/Wolverine!

The Best Amazing Spider-Man covers of the 1980s

2024-06-27T02:13:00.000-07:00

I think this may be, by some slim margin, the best cover of Amazing Spider-Man, the Marvel title that began publication in 1963.

I'm going to include cover credits, where I know them. This one's by John Romita, Jr. I hope this brings back so many memories, or is at least very fun for fans of Spidey and comics in general!

ASM #226

This has got to be one of Marvel's best covers of the decade!

From 'Daydreams'- isn't this hilarious? Jonah in a track suit AND smoking a cigar. It's John Romita, Jr. again.

You just can't leave out this dramatic second part of the most famous single Spider-Man storyline of the 80s, Kraven's Last Hunt. The mini-series was drawn by Mike Zeck and, I believe, inked by Bob Wiacek. It ran across all three Spider-Man titles, each week! Early Frank Miller cover

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That's John Romita Jr. again. He drew the series for about thirty issues, and is of course the son of the second Spidey artist, who was also Marvel's art director.

You never hear as much about Ed Hannigan, but he drew some terrific covers! I love this one. Here is where I decided to start buying the title, monthly- and then it vanished from my local convenience store for years! Here next is art by Ron Frenz, who took over after Romita, Jr. left the title to draw Uncanny X-Men. Next up is an artist you didn't see much from, but his painterly style is a cult favorite. We're talking about Charles Vess. He drew about half a dozen Spider-Man covers, including Web of Spider-Man #1. WE finish out with covers by: Ron Frenz again, and Canadian artist, and Spawn creator, Todd McFarlane.

Fall in Love With Your Future: Feel Great Now!

2024-06-14T18:33:00.000-07:00

Well, never forget you can fall in love with your future, and that future only exists where you can reach it, Now. So think of how you feel, prioritize your belief in feeling good. You always have Jesus and the Holy Ghost and all sorts of benevolent possibilities for company. Think of yourself as creating your own reality, and suddenly, the happiness you feel really sticks out as central.

It's a relief to try to breathe out, let go of the contents of your ind. Let peace and tranquility reveal themselves as quantities and qualities already present in your life. We only need touch'em.

Just give yourself a break as a creature. Turn off the fight or flight. Reward yourself with the bliss found in inner quiet. IF it feels like post-partum or something, any reason is OK to seek out therapy. But everything you'll use to feel like the comfortable, whole version of Yourself is right there, inside. And she'll inspire others to find theirs. If we can do more than commiserate- if we can truly provide in our person, uplift for others- those situations where we give uplift can be engaged. When you're feeling yourself participate in a mood that you feel uplifts or maintains the uplifts of others, it's incredible!!!! That's why I have to do the job I do, while I"vm figuring out how else the Universe can send me money: I enjoy the cycle of kindness, working at my grocery store. And don't think you've forgotten how to have fun! We just get into such a heavy set of habits.
But there's good ones, too, which you already do, and some exercsie and sunshine are part of the formula for most of us, too.

The habit of feeling down will begin to be subsumed by the tide of goodness. Say "I love me!" or look in the mirror, anyone can, and say "Hello, gorgeous!" to your highest and best light, shining through you. We might get tempted back into feeling down, and we may feel so tied to the moods of others that we join them, regardless of the quality of the experience.

The procesess, when it's a process, won't leave you down. It just gets harder to accept less than you deserve. And suddenly, it becomes so clear what good you do when you spread love and kindness and creativity.

How Ultimate Spider-Man 2024 Became the 1st new comic I've bought in years (and why you might buy it, too): a personal story.

2024-01-13T10:36:00.000-08:00

Overnight, I was thinking: Instead of video games, I like to unwind with books. But if I really want to let go, it's comic books- preferably from the 20th century.

I won't go into 'why,' besides it's a cheap bit of time traveling plus escapism. I like to see the weigh stations of the times, the way comics integrate influences from years before I was born with voices of their times, which are now before many of YOU were born. I love the way art and text together tickle my brain, ping-ponging between right and left hemispheres in a way Grant Morrison described so beautifully in the non-fictional SuperGods.

There's a delight in execution, certainly a hint of nostalgia to stir a lifetime of remembrances, a love for this four-color trash made by an industry that always expected its demise the next year, making pamphlets that might survive to a yard sale for a quarter or so each, if not just tossed before the silverfish struck. I've met, interviewed (especially for Back Issue! Magazine) even befriended-for-real, some of these creators. I've passed minutes here and there, amusing other aging fans and myself with hypotheticals and details that hold no real-world value, on forums like IMWAN years ago, and the FB pages like Marvel 1961-1986 on Facebook. I've combed the years for interesting, well-crafted runs I've read about. Even after I discovered I'd been robbed of my collection I'd gathered from childhood to about age 30, I eventually set aside some of my drowsily-earned tutoring money for a couple of late 1960s gems. I did buy quite a lot of, and read about all of, The Immortal Hulk with its body horror art by Joe Bennett, because it was a well-written reinvention of Hulk/ Banner, with cool deep-dive details resurrected by writer Al Ewing (as detailed amusingly on his Tumblr).

As my friend Ed Pettis pointed out, however, the horror reinvention of Hulk drifted into mysticism, and Devil Hulk wasn't the same guy we grew up with (though that Hulk, essentially, DID re-appear, drastically altered). Now what if someone re-interpreted a guy as radically, as refreshingly, as the MCU redefined an essential Tony Stark/ Iron Man?

(I'm teasing you so hard right now)

What if- to use the title of the alternate universe-seeking comic that's been published now in several volumes- they did it with virtually all the characters I loved most, from the mythos of my very favorite superhero?

What if, after dipping occasionally into the cool Slott-era villains, and checking out Doc Ock-as-Spider-Man in Superior Spider-Man- someone made a Spider-Man comic I had to have, from the ground-up? What if I wanted to read a Spider-Man comic, monthly, for the first time in over two decades?

I definitely dug the Bendis/ Bagley Ultimate Spider-Man enough to read its first couple of years, but my years collecting Amazing Spider-Man basically stopped during the mostly-excellent Stracyniski/ Romita Jr. run.

Say, why did I ever quit? Was it the tightening of finances after school, spurred on by our gypsy travels to California and beyond?

Peak Lee/ Ditko Spider-Man, from 1965. Well, it was kind of over a girl.

A desire to branch out to other literature- that sounds nice, but is it honest? Well, it's not a lie, but...

About the time I branched out to One Act Play and Driving, I first slimmed my vigorous collecting habit simply to de-geek-ify, to open conversations about other things, and maybe finally land a date. This was before you could take your date to a movie and get your superhero/ villain fix. I held on to Peter David's run of Incredible Hulk as my sole title, in my upperclassmen years. But then, while dropping out and trying to re-invent myself as a creator of songs, I met this young woman...

And not long after our hasty whirlwind romance united us in matrimony, she decided to try a comic book with me, on a honeymooon trip that radically tried to mutate into my original plan before we met: going to Colorado. Before I knew it, we spent most of our first year together, reading my collection. That made my comic books matter in a way they maybe would not have, anymore: now, these stories were something I could share with someone I loved with all my heart!

And further still, we started collecting Spider-Man together, a weekly date, often enjoyed with Sbarro's or Wendy's in the old McFarlane Mall, right across from the place we worked to make that money, Ezell's Catfish Cabin. Every week, we'd stop by, say hello to Pepper or David (now writer David Alistair Hayden) or Nancy or Chuck at Chuck's Comics and Cards.

I liked letting her pick the comics, because I knew I'd enjoy ANY comic book, and I found a little something for me, too, in the occasional Back Issue bin dive.

First I, next she, became college students. And so long as the Parkers looked likely to have a little Parker, I had a guaranteed date at my elbow, turning the pages.

I did see this in the university book store and couldn't tell it 'no.' Now, in the interest of trying to reverse decades of maturing Peter Parker and moving him along with a realistic life-path setting, you had the Clone Saga, which undid itself after two years, ending with the unexplained vanishing of Baby May Parker. My wife didn't like that, but at least we had The Invisbles, John Constantine- Hellblazer, and The Preacher to amuse our more adult tastes. And we still dutifully collected our Spidey comics, too.

And then Marvel blew that for me, too. Volume Two, Amazing Spider-Man #13, saw the disappearance (death?) of Mary Jane Watson-Parker. After that issue, I was on my own. It was just a few years later, by which time I was occasionally 'Byrne-stealing' issues down at Border's on the corner of Market and Sixth Avenue, that Marvel created One More Day, to finally shake off 'married Spider-Man' in a literal deal with Mephistopheles.

Like I said, there was Ultimate Spider-Man, volume one, which tried to more-artfully establish teen Spider-Man for a new era. It even shocked us and brought us Miles Morales. But my love was no longer elbow-to-elbow with me, reading. She had her thing over on that chair. I had mine over on this one. Not a shared bacon cheeseburger in sight.

So why bother, really.

I had other interests, too.

Granted, our proximity to San Diego Comic Con, and the generous passes given to me by our lovely neighbor Janice, put me in touch with comics professionals. I found these individuals and the lectures far more of interest than the big game roll-outs. They led me to read some great stuff like Steranko's SHIELD run (because I spent hours with Jim Steranko himself and was frankly charmed), Little Nemo and Scott McCloud's books on making comics, and the weird worlds of Steve Gerber.

Thanks to our dear friend Johann, we were able to print our own comic, D'n'A, which we drew, then commissioned artists to make covers, t-shirts- and now we were at whatever dinky sci-fi convention we could afford to table! I even assisted, for a few weeks, the phenomenal Joe Phillips, but was honestly too lonely to work with him in the silence he preferred in those Recession days. You can find his amazing work on Instagram; I'm having trouble linking his home page. He drew Superboy and Mister Miracle at DC, Star Trek at IDW, even painted with Mike Mignola. A real 'brush' with professional comics for me.

Re-invention and a love for the past have been part of the tension of comics creation since the very beginning, with the pulp fiction and novels informing Early Marvel, and then, Marvel's own past, informing the decade when I truly began reading, the 1980s.

So she and I found comics again-but the reading experience was back to just me, as it was in my days living out in the country. Back in the day, there was a '10s investment of terrific analysis, which I think greatly improved my way of approaching writing comics, on the many blogs that looked back with an adult, and sometimes erudite, eye. I was able to pour over a vast amount of the history of the Marvel Universe on Super Mega Monkey, which put the big story of Marvel in the best chronological order possible, and graded the stories with the thought, 'if 'C' is something a reader who already loves these things might enjoy, and A and B+ were so well-done that a non-comics fan might appreciate them...' The comments, the links, the samples of the work of the teams, allowed me to cherry pick. Rod's writing was entertaining and very informed by modern thought So I was able to wrap myself in old comics and stayed entertained.

We've come a long way since Johnny storm vs. The Asbestos Man. But, that had to be! And just last night, I was thinking, like I said, about how, while I occasionally do try out something newer online, and did subscribe to a year of Immortal Hulk in the midst of COVID (we worked at home, tutoring, as I mentioned), and even read a bit of new Justice League and Slott's Iron Man run--- I tended to stick with comics of a bygone era. The reckless experiments, morose/ macabre mood, and trashy trends of 1970s Marvel (including a box full of Conan the Barbarian I bought with my friend Johann for a hundred bucks in Tuscaloosa), the wonder and silliness and hints of profundity of the 1960s, and the highlights of the 1980s, where I had bought all my first comics, in that unified Marvel Universe overseen by Jim Shooter, became the place I drifted when I wanted to unwind. I quite consciously found myself drawn to that sandbox. I consumed something called Valiant Comics around 1993/4, also, which fed me the idea of independent comics being a fresh start, which definitely influenced my own creations, most of which you've only seen in hints, as i have no comic book company. (You can find my work at GamesCreate and Itch.io Games, however, if you want to read something more prose-oriented with original characters. Here's the almost-finished cover art to my game, The Curse of Allautou, by Aladdin Khaled. )

And sometime after the snow stopped falling, I picked up the hint that this Ultimate Spider-Man reboot was something seismic on the scale of Imomortal Hulk. I wouldn't have to keep up with several books, like the X-Men/ Krakatoa thing that sounded so well-done but exhausting. I took a peek at ReadComicsOnline.

And here was Peter and MJ. With a family.

And grown-up but faithful renditions of Peter's supporting cast. And maybe therein, a glimmer of a chance of buying a comic my wife would enjoy with me! Maybe it will have the weird anyone-could-die tension of Byrne's Alpha Flight. I don't expect the same thing, retread, but could I enjoy anything like I once did Roger Stern and John Romita, Jr., when I discovered their Amazing Spider-Man issues from right before I became a monthly buyer? Could it be as retro, but crackling-fresh and well-crafted, as Lee and Romita's ASM? Can you go home again?

No spoilers to this point, outside what a variant cover hints at (Peter and MJ). You can turn around, with this discourse on my love of Mark Waid, Grant Morrison, Roger Stern, Steve Gerber and the others mentioned herein (I'm fond of Stan Lee, and even Stan Lee with Steve Ditko, the original nerdy outcast Parker chroniclers), and take your curiosity over to Ultimate Spider-Man #1, volume three. If you don't care for it, well, you never have to trust my word, again. Isn't it the weeds of learning the ever-expanding big story that, in discussions, I've found turn away so many potential readers? That continuity was Marvel's strength, because it gave facsimile to the lives of the characters. It's no wonder alternate realities and reality-warps were necessary to both keep the characters alive in fresh approaches, and to attract the slim new interested parties. They certainly have prevailed upon the IPs as we find them in cinema; time lines are, for example, all LOKI is about, and I do believe I saw three Spider-Men in the last live action movie, and many, many variants await me when I finally sit down with the sequel to Into The Spider-Verse.

So take my word, as someone who knew nearly everything that happened of merit in nearly forty years of Spider-History. This one SLAPS.

S

Spoilers follow

One guess who this blind priest is.

Uncle Ben is alive. He's best friends with J. Jonah Jameson!!!!

And Iron Man is trying to fix everything, but it looks like he's a teen.

This new Green Goblin looks badass.
and the Kingpin just took over the Daily Bugle.

And Peter Parker, at 35 years old, is faced with the conscious decision to assume powers, abilities, and dreaded knowledge, about which he can only guess.

Bravo, Johnathon Hickman. I stayed away from your work in general because it looked very dense, but this hits raw emotions. You cashed in on your rep with a fire interpretation of our hero and his cast. And most of all, you gave us Spider-Man with a family. Peter Parker with mid-life crisis thoughts, but none of the history as Spider-Man to conflict with him being happily-married and in full Dad mode, even if he feels there's something missing.

Marvel chickened out on this one, twenty-five, damn nearly thirty years ago, and my wife never bought another issue of your books.

I can't wait to see what she thinks.

American Pop Culture Comes of Age, and Marvel Comics in the 1970s

2023-12-28T09:14:00.000-08:00

I was just getting around to Being at the time, but looking back at the early and mid-70s, I have a question that applies to movies, books- even my starting point, comic books, which took on a moody, melancholy aspect, particularly with Marvel Comics, which had just begun its publishing period of the roster of characters that we see in abundance across media and toys, today.

What are the causes of the increase in violence and death and overall downbeat tone that defines 1970s storytelling?

Do you think the new permissiveness post-60s was at the root of the violence and death portrayed?

My first thought was, word was getting back about Viet Nam, and young people were disillusioned with institutions they'd been inculcated culturally to trust. I often think the idealism emerging within the counter-culture was just not manifesting quickly enough, for the impatience of the youth. I'm clear, too, that the rise of counter-culturalism 1) certainly does not match the rural values still in play in most of the country
and 2) was riddled with the vices of the disingenuous folk who exploited what they saw as naive young adults.

The 1970s saw the creation of cinema that towers above the pop culture landscape: The Godfather movies, Star Wars, Jaws, Halloween. So much of what has followed has been influenced by these, often created with shoestring budgets. Aside from spawning blockbusters, it was an era with a new sophistication in writing and directing.

My question started with Marvel Comics. For several years, you have the horror comics, a re-iteration of the Universal Studios monster craze of the 1940s; sword and sorcery fantasy, which had emerged with the popularity of The Lord of the Rings and reprinted pulp fiction blessed with the work of Frank Frazettamartial arts, which peaked as a fad with the advent and death of Bruce Lee as a movie star, only to return as endless action movies in the 1980s; and a pushing of the Comics Code restrictions on portrayals of sexuality and the consequences of violence and drugs. This was still a business meant to attract adolescents with its colorful IPs, who would return in popular cartoons and of course, go on to become blockbuster movie material. Spider-Man was the company's flagship character as they began to overtake the market. It's during 1973 we saw youthful novelist Gerry Conway, hired by Stan Lee at age 19, turn in the script for "The Night Gwen Stacy Died" and the subsequent death of her killer, longtime foe The Green Goblin. (It's true that artist John Romita, who developed the popular look for the wall-crawler found on lunchboxes, t-shirts and toys, was apparently the one to suggest Gwen's death as a shakeup to the series, which was now a decade old.)

Reprints were a big part of the flood of products from both Marvel and DC. Taking a wrecking ball to some of the tropes that had flourished without being chilled by Realism would've seemed experimental, too. Having interviewed Conway for his work on Firestorm, it's ironic that he generally did not take the absurdly-premised comics stories seriously. Perhaps, youth prodigy he was, he matured to that point, later. I do appreciate his writing on Peter Parker, gloomy and introspective and grieving, and MJ especially. Mary Jane Watson was presented with rich complexities that touch upon the emerging feminism and independence of the day, a big step forward as female supporting characters went. Dealing with the death of Gwen opened an adult sensibility, threaded with the colorful over-the-top nature of The Amazing Spider-Man. It's funny- you wouldn't think of this as 'kid's stuff' topics, even while the melodramatic presentations of individual determination versus Evil and the viscissitudes of Life carried on.

Which is to say it was a heady (inconsistent?) blend of titles, offerings directed at the potentially more profitable magazine market (where Marvel's dominant brand recognition led to confusion on where to display their more adult-oriented creations), and four-color absurdity intended to appeal to younger readers. To cite Conway again, an issue of Marvel Team-Up ended with the company's iteration of Hercules aiding Spider-Man by towing the island of Manhattan back into place, in the manner of Greek myth (honoring Herc's penchant for the tall tale). But you also had the brooding, rich-vocabulary presentations of The Tomb of Dracula and Conan The Barbarian. (so much of their roster is borrowed from previous literature!) You have the idiosyncractic satire of Howard The Duck, which, while at times ingenious, if occasionally isolated by its genre-consciousness, really messed with vendors who thought they were looking at another funny animal comic, like Disney and Harvey Comics. Over in Man-Thing you get a two-issue discussion of Censorship and book-burning which has shocking resonance with the comics of today.

Master of Kung Fu #39, art: Paul Gulacy

If 1977 counts as an end to the mid-70s- this is before Jim Shooter, a teen prodigy writer for DC Comics, is appointed Editor-in-Chief, and the line becomes brand-conscious of its appeal to youngsters- that's the year The Defenders features a meditation on middle age-crisis and some realistic conditions of Depression, resulting in the dramatic suicide of minor SHIELD villain, Scorpio. (That one was written by my late friend, David Anthony Kraft, still in his 20s.) Questions about our political system and disillusionment with our national symbols had erupted over in Steve Engelhart's Captain America. In an era now dominated more by the young writers dictating plots to workman artists like Sal Buscema (who drew up to four comics a month!), we see a strange blend of Stan Lee's 'world outside your window' ethos with the patently outrageous and child-like imaginings of its superhero line. Doug Monech, especially when paired with the excellent Steranko-influenced Paul Gulacy, is writing about Zen and betrayal and manipulation in the martial arts/ James Bond pastiche, Master of Kung-Fu. It's an identity crisis of sorts, during an era of experimentation often reflecting the changes permitted in cinema, to tie back to my opening theme.

Jim Starlin's auteur turn writing and drawing Adam Warlock deserves its own post. It's rare to encounter all of this being done with the ingenious subtlety of Man-Thing writer Steve Gerber, who turned the unlikely roster centered on Doctor Strange and the Incredible Hulk, and its 'non-team' premise, into a series-defining run of 26 issues of The Defenders. While turning the interactons of the non-team into what he came to see as a take on "encounter groups," he gave Dr. Strange a mentor role in healing the very-interesting shortcomings of the core friends of the group. The Valkyrie, who made it to the Marvel Cinema Universe with none of these complexities intact, had been created as a sort of female chauvinst character under Roy Thomas and John Buscema.

Under Gerber, the tragedy of the Asgardian's identity replacing a previously-married young woman's psyche became a cool metaphor for issues related to the emergence of Women's Liberation, as domestic parameters began to dissolve and women, now granted access to credit cards and bank loans (in short, financial independence), began carving out their own individualistic niche, rather than the subordinate roles and family-oriented expectations. I don't doubt he was heavily influenced by Mary Skrenes, a frequent collaborator and writing partner, and these understandings helped his work stand out in a male-dominated industry, directed increasingly at boys and young men. It's worth noting that some of the fans were growing older, too, and growing up with comics, shaping their continued involvement with the medium with more adult interests.

Satanna debuts in the magazine, Vampire Tales, 1974. Art: John Romita. If I didn't mention it, the b-movie culture got very Satan-y. The creation of the super-heroine The Red Guardian is one of the hidden pinnacles of this era. I ran across the analysis of one of the many wonderful blogs of the '10s (how does one say that aloud?) peak era of discursive blogging, and was reminded of encountering this character during the last eight issues of Gerber's Defenders run. No father, no lover, no son- finally, a female character defined on her own terms as a woman, with a deeply-interesting philosophical perspective. As an accomplished neurosurgeon, she was brought in to resolve the deeply-weird situation of transplanting Kyle (Nighthawk) Richmond's stolen brain! This established her private identity as a colleague to Doctor Stephen Strange, a professional equal. While she maintained her Soviet citizenship (we are in the post-Viet Nam era of the Cold War, here), she abhorred the oligarchy behind the statist iteration of the USSR. Her dialogues with street-canny cynic Luke Cage are excellent. She's a Communist, idealistically, but also a law-breaking costumed vigilante, whose existence is still kept secret by the KGB. She comments on the excesses and squalor of Times Square, which was a wild place in the 1970s. She sees individualism and communism as compatible, and considers herself a dissident to the reigning Soviet agenda, while maintaining her citizenship.

The team of which we should have seen so much more: Tania Belinsky and Luke Cage, running loose in the Big Apple. art: Sal Buscema/ Klaus Janson

Her practical costume was unusual for the more-revealing designs of the time. It also may have been a tribute, with its white star-on-red simple design, to the anti-Fascist fighters. You can find her in The Defenders Essentials Vol. 3, if you don't mind the black-and-white but affordable presentation, and appeared in Defenders #35-41 and Defenders Annual #1 in 1976. Especially for a costumed heroine, she has a rich intellectual spawning, and I only wish she could have maintained those individual qualities in the hands of other creators. We were still a long-ways off from the political subtleness of Ed Brubaker on Cap in the 2000s, or even the 'which way is he going' satire of The Ultimates under Mark Millar (which I found ghastly at the time, lol) If I could pair with someone more experienced with the Iranian experience, I've long had an idea inspired by the Women's Revolution over there.

It was Colin's observation over on his blog that set me off musing about the melancholy air of 1970s Marvel, particularly in its superhero line, that touched my own maudlin memories of adolescence, and gave me pause to reflect on the cultural moment happening while I was just starting Life. I'm sure the thesis could be expanded, with research, tieing the doors opened by 1960s counter culture to the hallmarks of 1970s pop culture. I realize it was hardly all so well-thought-out, and subtle analysis was left largely to auto-didacted intellectuals. But I doubt the changes went unnoticed by those precisely old enough to see the changes from the homogenized offerings of the 1960s (think The Andy Griffith Show, the LAPD-edited Dragnet, even Petticoat Junction, to really dig back in by-gone nostalgia).

Stephen, Luke, and Tania (a.k.a. Red Guardian) discuss their predicament in Defenders #38. art: Sal Buscema, inks by Klaus Janson What are your thoughts? I sense we are more in a YouTube vlogging era, but think pieces pop up on TikTok and Instagram, also, and that might be where I carry over the discussion. I miss my blog brethren and our thoughtful niche.

AI out of the box: Machine Man 2020

2023-09-15T15:49:00.005-07:00

Barry Windsor-Smith plotted, drew and I believe largely colored a mini-series revival of a late Jack Kirby creation with which Marvel had failed to get a publishing hit. The sensibilities of a new generation, and probably some influence from the release of the movie Blade Runner, inspired the fabled Conan the Barbarian artist to bring his delicate, detailed line. I love how the story's colored cinematically.

It's a story of one anachronistic marvel, awake in a world that left him for deactivated scrap, who identifies with marginalized, communal rebels. They risk their lives to survive in the capitalist wasteland of surgical video gamers and patrols of droids who terminate with prejudice. And the head of the company whose scrapyards they pick over? The woman who had Machine Man deactivated, decades before: Sunset Bain. Here's a link to my Tik Toks on Machine Man:

@cecildisharoon AI gets out of the box: the retrofuturistic Machine Man (Barry Windsor-Smith art) #marveltok #80smusic Music by #Plasmatics #TheMidnight and #Gunship #machineman ♬ original sound - cecildisharoon

The Man-Thing: Marvel's literary murk lurker

2023-09-06T23:29:00.002-07:00

Forgetting is the curse of the Man-Thing...and sometimes, his only blessing.
But I haven’t forgotten the Man-Thing. He may be a character you say haunts you. It’s those stories!
Man-Thing is the rarest sort of protagonist, in that he is chiefly an unobserved observer, until he tries to intervene and scares the carp out of the water.
In 1971, he debuted in a Marvel Comics experiment with adult material, in the form of black and white magazines. SAVAGE TALES #1 features the ill fate of chemist Ted Sallis, betrayed by his lover into the hands of terrorists who want his secret: the new Super Soldier Formula, in the manner of that which once transformed Private Steve Rogers into the apex of human fitness, Captain America. But something there in the swamp works with this imperfect formula, to render Sallis senseless, recreated as a shambling, muck-based mockery of humanity.

The experiment didn’t continue, but the Man-Thing, created by Gerry Conway and Gray Morrow, came back a couple of years later as new material for the reprint anthology, Adventures Into Fear. With issue #10, the title began featuring Man-Thing in new stories, including one racially-tense story of convicts on the run in the Everglades, drawn by Jim Starlin.

From #11 forward, the next six years nearly always saw Man-Thing written by the same writer, Steve Gerber. A Horror Comics fad took off that year, continuing with strong sales for a couple of years, before abating during 1975. Man-Thing’s writing, with terrific art by Val Mayerick, gained a following, and Man-Thing became a sort of mascot, as an original creation, for the Marvel Horror publications. A few bimonthly issues of FEAR, and Marvel crossed over Fear #19 into the premiere of Man-Thing #1. That’s also the storyline that introduces a very incidental character named Howard the Duck.
I think the character really gets swinging by the time he gets his own series. And no one issue really sets the tone for what you'll always get, for sure. I'd go in expecting something off-kilter and different. I don't think the covers were always much help telling you what's inside.

You've got three basic divisions:
1) issues with Jennifer Kale, sword and sorcery stuff 2) Richard Rory issues, always character studies 3) the mass unsortable by supporting characters, always different. One favorite, here, is actually Gerber's two-issue Man-Thing guest spot in Daredevil #113/114.

So you don't build a long-term narrative, frankly, other than maybe Richard and Jennifer growing more confident and purposeful. I think, take any three issues, and you'll know if you really want to read anymore.

I am dearly fond of the Foolkiller stories in #3 and #4. Macabre. This is where Richard joins as a series regular, stranded in the Everglades. He briefly begins a romance, even finds work. The evangelical-inspired Fool Killer is actually looking to murder Ted Sallis, as well as land developer, heh, F.A. Schist.
The Giant Size Man -Thing title is always good, but the payoff for Jennifer as a sorceress in #3 by Alfredo Alcala is maybe best when enjoyed later. It's top-notch. Jennifer’s the main human character of most of the Adventure Into Fear stories, #10=19. She doesn’t turn up much in the main title- if at all. A teenager, especially a young woman, was a decidedly modern choice, after a decade of macho Marvel heroes.
I really love the Citrusville censorship stories, too. It seems so absurd and unreasonable. Then you put down your comic book, turn on some news, and now you do know ridiculous. That's like #17, 18...I want to include the disgusting Star Spangler issue, parodying the dystopian rockers of the day, especially that Diamond Dogs/ Aladdin Sane era Bowie persona, with its futuristic despair and inescapable decadence. It sets up the Mad Viking, a nickname for the ultra-macho old dock worker, Jorgenson, who decides to pick up a battle axe and start showing the world what Strength and Manhood means, again. He starts with murdering his grand daughter Astrid’s boyfriend. He’s a big hit with the Citrusville mob, though. I know others will proffer the ghost clown play two-parter, or that sad Giant-Size story about bullied Edmund, but I like these three storylines and characters best. The issue about the advertising copy writer who’s losing his mind, in issue twelve (drawn by John Buscema, a great match), has a mini-series sequel released around 2012. Speaking of sequels, David Anthony Kraft wrote two issues of She-Hulk in 1980 that revisit the grounds of Schist’s demise, the enigmatic La Hacienda, location of the actual Fountain of Youth. So those are a few, often cited, and the ones with Dawg also feature the end of the brief, but brilliant, run by artist Mike Ploog.

I actually prefer issue fifteen, the one where Man-Thing only appears as a “A Candle for Sainte Cloud!” It’s a strange favorite, and not where I’d send a new reader curious about the quality of 70s horror comics. It’s a story about the values of the Establishment and the antiestablishment, a sad romance featuring the young artist’s flashback to her time with a government scientist named, of course, Ted Sallis. That’s all you need to know. You’ll find just twenty-five issues of Man-Thing, and there’ve been other efforts to bring him back, and hints he’ll join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but those, for me, are the Money. Add in five issues of Giant-Sized Man-Thing. Then, if you’re a completist, there’s nine issues of FEAR, character studies mostly, not overly-necessary to enjoying the series afterwards, narrative-wise. I actually like the two issues of DAREDEVIL more than the FEAR stories- they are two of Gerber's best efforts on Daredevil. It's a government conspiracy/ journalism story about Foggie Nelson's sister, the Super Soldier Serum, awesome DD enemy Death Stalker, and his pawn, the blade-slinging Gladiator.

And anything you want after that, might be your cup of tea, maybe not. But while they are unrepentantly weird, I find those stories to be relevant to understanding counter-culture of the day, which was quite an achievement in so stodgy a field as comic books. But fortunately, it was also low-paying, attracting hungry young talents who created the majority of the stories actually adapted, today, for movies that predominate much of the contemporary youth culture. I think everyone involved deserves a fat cut, along with those lovely movie tickets and flights out to Hollywood.

I would truly love to see someone work true to the original Man-Thing scripts and settings, because it’s one of the first comic book series that’s written in the tone of modern sensibilities. Hollywood wasn’t ready for imperial adventurist and corporate guard dog Iron Man, as he was written throughout his first years, but the youngsters like Gerber had both creativity and a vested interest in observing the emergent consciousness of the day. In the letters page, his optimism shines through, though Gerber’s stories often flirted with bleakness in a way that reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut. He’s just as wryly humorous as Vonnegut. I enjoy the way art in sequential story telling works together when paired with distinct captioning and life-like insights, in place of, say, character types borrowed broadly from outdated comedies, or lifted poorly from movies. There is a bit of a B-movie trashiness to Marvel Horror, but Gerber puts more care and genuine respect into his female characters, more verity into his Everyman, and frankly, a stout vocabulary. Some of the actual story ideas were more workable than others, yes, but there’s a refreshing, if occasionally angsty, mode that persists until his unusual exit with the last issue. I also think Jim Mooney, a more traditional comic book artist but a clear story-teller, did an admirable job with Steve’s scripts.

I don’t think Progress made it so far as its promise, but now influences such as phantasmagoric modern theater, Post-Modernism, and especially in Gerber’s case, Existentialism, were suffusing even pop culture consciousness. Comics, reflecting the male-predominance of his audience as Romance genre titles fell out of favor, were certainly tardy in developing and crediting female writers. There is an element, however inconsistent, of Progress, the maturity of expanding viewpoints in the name of more challenging, but fun, entertainment, in this era of New Journalism and Baby Boomer commercialized counter culture that is the early and mid-1970s.

I don’t think that’s so apparent in the superhero fare, cranked out largely in imitation of the formulae overseen by Stan Lee, but the themes of Man-Thing are carried by a more crisp and realistic dialogue, and new ideas about the transgressive figures and problems that inform the narratives.

I.S. Theater Presents: Sherlock Holmes (new story by David Kempf)

2023-07-15T06:23:00.004-07:00

David Kempf, a best-selling author found on Amazon and reviewed here before, had nothing whatsoever to do with what you do not like about this video. However, look upon it with beginner's luck, and know David wrote the dialogue and narration on the first page of his delightful new story, There Is Nothing To Fear. He only asked for reviews, you know, so if you like this so much, please get through your stormy weather to give him Five Stars, OK? Now, the black cat is a later addition. You must greenscreen them carefully, but isn't T'Challa grand here for atmosphere? You can find more T-Chall at :

Spider-Man2099: an alternative for the future

2023-07-09T12:40:00.003-07:00

We wrap up the opening storyline of Spider-Man 2099, and look at the first successful alternate timeline series, Guardians of the Galaxy.

Spider Man Human Torch: 1st Marvels

2023-07-02T13:03:00.001-07:00

Superman and Bat Man- well, Tonto and the Lone Ranger- heck, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid- friendship's always been part of the appeal of our classic heroes. Even Wolverine benefits from someone on his Six, storywise. Now I want to focus on early Marvel- I was fascinated by the way they built a storyverse, with guest stars and shared villains and footnotes connecting your earlier Marvels to the one in your hands.

The Hulk/ Thing rivalry kicked off the very same month (in Fantastic Four #12) that Spider-Man visited and antagonized the Fantastic Four for the first time in Amazing Spider-Man #1 (his second appearance, of course). With Spidey, they had an apparent hit on their hands, so why not mix him up with the teen member of their flagship title, the Fantastic Four? While trying to build their nascent - I'm going to use my own term, Heroverse- they repurposed their weird/mystery/UFO/monster titles as vehicles for the new characters. Torch got three years as the cover featured half of Strange Tales, a magazine which had already run about ten years when he got there. by comparison to Amazing Spider-Man, Torch’s half strip gave us many less compelling and lasting villains than Spidey’s full-length monthly tales with Steve Ditko aboard, drawing and dreaming with Stan. Now, one difference in the strips is Supporting Cast, and having maybe eleven or twelve pages a month doesn’t leave much space, though it’s entirely possible, but Silver Age Support Casts were not never more complicated than Spider-Man Fan and Peter Parker Bully Flash Thompson, and that lion of publishing, J. Jonah Jameson. And by Lion, I mean he’s scary even when he’s asleep.. So, check it out. Here's my favorite Silver Age Torch/ Spidey team-up, from Amazing Spider-Man #17-19, 1965. Cecil @Creating Marvels

Marvel Team-Up: "Mischief Night" with The Phantom Rider

2022-11-01T04:13:00.004-07:00

Marvel Team-Up
“MiSCHIEF NighT” SPIDER-MAN and PHANTOM RIDER

Page 1 Spidey swings over Manhattan, thinking of the Midnight Western he saw before heading out. Flash! 2 Is that Jack O’Lantern? No, it’s Jack Stingy, who thinks Spider-Man is the Devil’s emissary.

3 They clash! Stingy’s a bit like Mysterio in battle. He has a special locket he was just about to use to activate a time travel spell. Their scuffle puts Spider-man close to the locket, which picks up his concept of the Wild West. Jack Stingy activates it, happy to have a target for his mischief, and takes them to an American Southwest of the 1860s by the end of page four.
So, we’ll pick up page 5 with Carter Slade, in his guise as The Phantom Rider and it’s the dawn, the day of Mischief Night. He's using his spectral dust and fists, wrapping up a serious rustling plot.

Show Nancy, his girlfriend, in a locket; she’s coming on the next train. As is mentioned in front of Carter, we flash to: Some Tequila is coming up from Jalisco by train. An ex- Union soldier will be guarding the delivery.
We meet a Black former soldier, Happy Harold Montee, who has been living down in Mexico, fighting the French. We also get our glimpse of Jack Stingy, the traditional original Jack O’ Lantern, who decides he’s going to ride along and steal the tequila!
By page eight, we need to find Spidey again. He manages to get ahold of some duds, but is spotted taking the clothes. The general store’s owner has a pretty daughter, Jennifer Jasmine Joy, who “knows durn well where the clothes came from- and where they rightfully belong!”-takes pity on Peter, instead of asking him to strip. She offers him a job if he’ll work for the clothes. He’s fine with this, but never expected the time he dressed as a cowboy for Halloween to come back to haunt him. She thinks he’s a failed California miner.
They go to the saloon to find him some place to rest. He gets crossed up in a poker game he didn’t want to play, and accused of flirting with the showgirl, the object of our gambler Sterling Grande’s affections. There’s a quick brawl. Grande challenges Peter to a duel in the street outside at high noon.

Here we are on page 11, High Noon. Peter uses his web-shooters to web Grande’s hand to his holster!
Carter Slade breaks it up and tosses Parker in the hoosegow for dueling.

Page 13: Slade hears about the robbers spotted in the gorge near the train tracks, and leaves to become Phantom Rider and catch them at the bluff. Peter amuses a locked-up drunk long enough to free himself, keeps a kitty cat quiet, and change to Spidey- though he still needs a horse to get anywhere! Now how is this going to work?

The short story collection, on Amazon.

Page 15 Phantom Rider fights this costumed horse rustler for one page, when they team up, Spidey making a cushion for his first bareback horse ride behind the Phantom.

Page 16 The would-be train bandits get flack from Happy Harold Montee’s sure rifle.
Page 17-20 involve the bandits meeting Stingy Jack on board the train, and a fight between them, Jack, Montee, Spider-Man and Phantom Rider, also involving fighting on top of the train, naturally. Nancy, the girlfriend, cameos during the fighting. After a tense confrontation, the Rider assures Montee he is not the kind of vigilante that deserves to be shot, and they kick ass together.

Page 21 Jack Stingy reveals this was possibly his one last wild ride. After so many deals with the Devil, out-foxing the old duffer every year, this time travel journey’s not paid off in a new way, unless he can trick the Devil into drinking all this tequila. Maybe he can get him to change into the worm for a big vat of this tequila. But Spider-Man says it’s time for both of them to stop mucking up the Old West.

As the bad guys are KO’d, Spidey and the special plot device and Jack Stingy all vanish …

Page 22 for the present day… where Jack’s turned into a flame put into a big turnip.

Browser retrogames and the future

2022-10-08T23:12:00.009-07:00

So. We can take classic game play, in our browser. Thanks, Johann! So, you can modify this. If you modified the game, what themes and concepts do you think would work? For me, I see a hand full of our I.S. concepts, translating into such play.

Lately, I've been pondering the place of video games in my childhood culture, personally. I didn't know about any 1983 game sales crash: my TV was suddenly avatar to an entirely new way of game play. I didn't see much about video games in comic books I saw, but in 1982, those ads arrived. Imagining the games and making up my own pretend arcade visits were great fun to me.

I wonder if you might remember the first game commercials you saw? They didn't seem to pop up in my market, northwest Georgia/ Atlanta, until 1982 or so, when they began their media saturation for a couple of years, including 'Starcade,' a syndicated show taped in San Fransisco, and many Saturday morning cartoons from ABC and later, CBS. This is probably the first North American commercial I can find besides the sad ol' dad's "I Never Get To Play," from Christmas, 1977. I like the English commercials I found, too. Anyway, So. Before my time, but familiar faces there, and I later played crazy amounts of Atari 2600 Basketball. Way less stressful than, say, Spider-Man.

See, I am considering adding a retrogame aspect to the existing and upcoming story games, such as you find here:
and here:
So! Here to play Millipede for a few minutes? It's not all I have in mind, you know. Perhaps a more fruitful way of looking forward, by looking back, is to begin conceptualizing our Integr8d Soul characters and its reality in heavy favorites suited to such IPs. Like:

Recording Day- a painting by Lofty Crow Studios, featuring I.S.

2022-09-11T00:21:00.001-07:00

I asked Brian if he could listen to the songs from the new EP, a) None of the Above, and create some cover art.

Did I prefer pontilism? Impressionism? (This.)
What color? (Mauve) Any image? (Non, go 4 it)

The entire process took around a week. The painting's waiting out the weekend in the storage space of Lofty Crow Studios in Beach Head, NC.
Check out his FB Lofty Crow Studios page. The gallery this new studio's assembled in a few months' time, expanding upon works generated while admiring the outdoors (leading to the foundation of the studio, full-time). Please consider LCS, when you want to purchase an excellent painting of eastern seaboard wild life!

Think he's fond of Album Covers, too. But it could be anything you can hang. 10 x 10 12x 12 24 x24. Contact him for commissions.
https://www.facebook.com/LoftyCrowStudio>https://www.facebook.com/LoftyCrowStudio

Check us out here: https://integr8dsoul.com/

Peaches Kane: Awakening to the most supernatural of worlds, in her first adventure

2022-09-08T18:03:00.000-07:00

Peaches Beltempo’s summer job- assisting with LARP quests for children, in the sunny outdoors- takes a lot of imagination, love of life, humor, games, and always, water.

The element of surprise has led to laughter and curiosity, ideas from the young co-creators of the adventure.
Bad surprises, you can watch for. The mobile dungeon master learns all the rules of safe fun, dealing with scuffle of guiding kids of various personalities, their safety versus the freedom of the outdoors.
But no matter how much you believe in the pretend play...it’s never too dark, and never too real… Or...it wasn’t.

Yet, here they are.

The darling group of children carry illusions of dazzling credibility about their person, a malicious air and uncanny power. Their forms break into distorted smiles, like hungry things, bent on satiation. The occult force that brings these six, fragile beings closer, with energy-consuming, inhuman aspects around Beltempo, grasping for a coherent response here in the clearing.
“I don’t want to hurt them,” she thinks. “Someone had to do something terrible to them, or some force. Or is this just happening to me?”
Excitable by nature, she calms herself, to gain some knowledge, if not understanding, for until this ends, she must not fear. Yes, I’m scared, but how can I out run what they’ve become? A place without harm. I can believe in it!

She swallows, gazing at the wondrous totems and warriors manifested in these eight year-olds. Can they?
“There’s this surge in pure belief.”
The shimmering in Peaches Beltempo’s stomach stimulates her- to aspirate the words, going from thought to voice, to the ears of the transformed children in her care.
Behind her bewildered expression, she thinks: “I would have to be asleep or insane to comprehend what’s wrong with them.”
But three seconds later, she says:
“Eleanor, the good part of your mother- the Dark, Warm Queen- remember, the trickster water spout, the mist, the rainbow? We can go now! We can find her on its other side.” The hideous, beautiful children react:
Eleanor and Velika, with delight;
Ziv, with the hunger to grow as a wizard, in this place of new runes to learn for crafting;
Evan, a new warrior well into the habit now of imitating and adding cousin Ziv’s powers, senses
a place of greater power, feeding the surge that floods the circuits of his imagination. The next thing to do is to find a reality to match the powers they feel!
Nobody, Nobody and Madelaine leer and rock, entranced.
Colton,a flaming skullfaced warrior, destroys a nearby branch of a fallen tree.
And Huey-Thing demands to know:
“Will you put down the changes on my character sheet? Show me what rank my powers are, now!”
“Huey, there’ll be two extra experience points. Given today!”
Four of them, eager, and the other four, willing enough.
“Why so many Questers in one group, anyway?” she thinks in passing. “And what’s happened to Kalan? I walked up from break: Quest Leader was gone.”

She ponders radioing the site supervisor.
“And say WHAT?!?”
A trigger feeling, nearby. “I’m stepping onto the turf of whatever eerie Might possesses the questers. They’re still innocent kids- whatever they appear to be.
“Let’s step across the snare. It’s worth it.”
Peaches can tell you the quadratic equation. She can tell you the names of six K-Pop songs that debuted this week. She can find 38 countries on the globe, though she’s only lived in the US.
She knows all her friends and sorta-friends and family members’ birthdays. She can paint, skate, play guitar, and when she’s all alone, sing.
Occult training, though?
Possession?
An actual friggin’ spell?
She looks at her bag, with the bibliographic Quest Guide. “Might as well throw out all the rules.”
She thinks about a hero she created years ago, that she played when she was little. Merry Wind. Where was it she would float? She named it after the bottle, when she cleaned her skinned knee.
It was a place where no harm can be done, nor befall anyone. And it needs to be REAL, right now.
“Let’s go to Witch Hazel’s Garden. Here! Move your arms, like this...like you’re polishing your aura...breathe in, breathe out, and picture a rainbow. We’re going to summon the rainbow’s end. That’s where the quest goes next.”
* You don’t always know what’s going on, but when there’s no time to think, you either recognize the movement and the time to make, or not.
The very fact of the children following her instructions out of instinct bolsters Peaches’ confidence. What does Peaches look like? Ain’t nobody got time for that! The flapping arms of the little questers do, utilizing the still-unaccounted spell, generate the colors, a ROY G BIV semi-sphere growing with intensity. Their features begin to dissolve of their gruesome mien; their sproutling youth retakes prominence; the bulk of their menacing figures becomes fluid, then evaporates.

And quite nearby, the caster of the spell, by which he had taken the belief of the children and transformed them into his monstrous vanguard, feels intense anger percolating from his usual pool of brooding resentment. All frustration had flown his bosom, only moments ago, as the power of Loki became restored once more to Shandru, the now-ascendant new supernatural master of Earth. Shandru: the human superpower of the world needs no other name!
But, his mesmerized followers?

Yes, it’s turning out...he is still not prepared to sustain his regained might (if that was a delusion, safe to say, this spell is absolutely effective). The one-time carnival hypnotist has two devastating abilities, granted by the power of the belief, harnessed from the children: one, telekinesis on a level that lifts buildings from their city moorings. With the other, he attempts to teleport the children closer to him, in the grove, away from the meddling girl. She’s not yet been made his slave. That will be Shandru’s next amendment to reality.

The rainbow scintillates the horizon of the peak of People’s Crossing. The power of Shandru’s pawns is magnificent to behold; they utilize their empowerment to mind-bendingly glide into the sky, becoming one with the rainbow’s arc. Now, with a simple gesture…
...the mystic schemer realizes his hand might as well be waving goodbye, for the instance has passed; the paradigm, shifts.
As though into a revolving bubble, the children pass a golden, sun-bright membrane. Astounded, Shandru realizes the ‘egg’ drifts above planetary orbit. A structure, with the distinct look of an intelligent design, shadows that bright place, as now does floating Shandru. It cannot be space- he can breathe! Or is he breathing from habit- this is unlike any plane he’s known!

No!
The plan was, become able to extort the world into making him dictator, on account of his ability to steal entire banks and tuck them away on the moon, and other such catastrophic inconveniences, his to wield as simply as a squirrel does her tail. A flick, a desire, and the wills of others pale!

Having spent the few days he was an agent of the power of the trickster god, teleporting and lifting other things, Shandru realizes:
“I don’t know how to teleport myself. And I don’t know, from – where, just to-where!”

Shandru cautiously slows the impulse to action. It was attempting something impossible, before, which stripped his powers. Thor’s enchanted mallet was never meant to be lifted by anyone else, apparently. The loss of that weapon, though, has taught him.
Pursuing his new ‘weapons’ has left him in the strange sort of place in which one expects those outside time, gods, or those within ‘angel-time.’ The membrane has shrunken to the size of a pea; it yields not to his powers. It acknowledges Shandru not a wit.

But, with thought, alone, stemming from a lifetime of experiencing- and sometimes, yes, faking- ESP, allows Shandru to ‘swim’ in a single minute, to observe the structure.

“It’s a pyramid!”
What could that opening be? A shaft? A trap? The end of all Shandru has considered reality? Or the expansion of all he has known?
Shandru dares… TO BE CONTINUED. what did you think? Write me at integr8dsoul@gmail.com

Sunstrike theme is here, in time for the re-release of Infinite Pyramid- today!

2022-09-01T19:33:00.003-07:00

The theme song came to me on my birthday, January 4th. I have been busy with the five tracks of a) None of the Above, from Integr8d Soul music, so I finished my present recording efforts by crafting theme music to link inside the video game on GamesCreate.

The 1970s comic that caught pop culture lightning in a cartridge

2022-08-02T05:29:00.010-07:00

ATARI 2600 SUNSTRIKE AND THE INFINITE PYRAMID
This side-scrolling game consisted of 6 playable characters- an innovation, to be sure, in 1981- crossing a dozen playable fields. A blue fireball deposits Clay Reeves from Earth into the Temple of Inguz, where Merriwyn of Kolpar must make a timely rescue. From there, the duo grows in size to a half-dozen characters, battling foes such as the Voidons and Sulinar Vix, as they search the Pyramid for Ing, the mighty living rocket ship, who can lift them safely on their way.

The comics series originally had the origin story of Sunstrike and his companionship with Merriwyn and company in issue one, then did something unusual with issue two: a depiction of three variations of the plot of the previous issue, with a different destination of the dark side of the Moon for one, and the introduction of the Champion, who pointed Sunstrike towards the plane of the King of Swords. Issue three picked up the original ending of issue one, and one of the endings of issue two: space ship Ing takes everyone to a satellite at the end of the solar system, Danger- Naught, full of living, artificially-intelligent beings. (The middle story depicted an escapade where Shamilal Asano tried to take solo advantage of the opportunity to take a space ship, with darkly comical results.)

Issue four depicted a confrontation on the moon, revealing a smaller fragment of the moon also orbits Kolpar. The team narrowly escapes the Zavox, who seems the center of all Voidon activity to drain Kolpar of motivation and passion. Issue five finds everyone a guest of the King of Swords. Sunstrike finally receives training for all of his five basic powers. Issue six finds the Champion come to try to take the Sunstrike power for herself.

Issue seven follows the pattern of #2, and shows two alternative versions of the previous events, including a visit with the Queen of Dreams, and an astral assault by Sulinar Vix, who hunts for Sunstrike.

Issues eight through twelve revolve around a quest to find Merriwyn’s best friend and rescue him from a star cult. This leads to an ultimate confrontation with the Zavox, and ends with Sulinar Vix now split into an indefinite number- later revealed to be seven-versions of himself, scattered throughout the story scape, each with his power and believing himself to be the one true Sulinar. Here is where the Sunstrike Annual of 1977 (spring) tells the story that is the basis for the preview game, intended as a sequel to INFINITE PYRAMID, where Sunstrike now has more experience and greater powers. This game focused on Sunstrike as its main hero, for players one and two. There is a board where Peaches Kane, the mystic, is the main character for either player. Its sixteen boards on Atari, and 22 boards on ColecoVision, reflected the plot of the annual, which had been over double the length of a regular issue of SUNSTRIKE. (The book paused serial publication between #12 and #13 to release this product, a $1.75 release, in a different format, without competition from the book, which goes monthly shortly after the hiatus, allowing #15 to hit comics stores on June 12th, 1977. That game, however, was only released in Europe, in 1984. The smaller firm producing that game bankrupted early in its run. Its release in 1985 in America did not have a buying tidal wave, though lower income families were looking for bargain games for their newly-purchased sets. The limited chain distribution of SUNSTRIKE; Back in Time meant that the merchandise accompaniment intended was only done in test markets. Video games were not doing gang-buster home sales now, until the advent of Nintendo, arriving in a wave of 1986.

The new games are based today off issue one and annual number one. They are also inspired by the two insanely-rare game cartriges.

On board one, Clay falls through the fire ball into a Norse temple. The player character is Merriwyn, who must float and make contact, then safely bring them both down to the temple floor. Text captions introduce the two to each other. ON board two, Merriwyn and Clay run through the Forbidden City, avoiding the stone soldiers. Here, a two player option lets you play either one.

Board three is a differently-designed version of the Forbidden City chase, ending with their exit and meeting Shamilal Asano-9, who helps them across a mine field at the end.
Board four is where Tappandally, the living plant, taps into a special map envisioned when Merriwyn tries on a special helmet. Board five is where the player is Tap, trying to navigate a way down to the Starship Chambers. Board Six is where two players can each take Shamilal Asano or Merriwyn, who drifts down beside the extended stalk, and guide the party to the Starship Chamber using Tap’s foliage body.
Board Seven is where the player meets Vado Bujinka. As Vado, you must solve the message on the wall. Or, player two can fight off Voidons while Vado works.

Board Eight is where Shamilal Asano’s drone finds the command center controls. Now he must use his super computer and wits to find, open and empower the star rocket, Ing.
Board Nine is a differently-colored version of Board Three, with the Seekers trying to guard Ing, in place of the Forbidden City watch.
Board Ten is a differently-colored version of Board Six, only this time, the objective is to go up, following Tap up the side of the rocket ship, to the entrance.
Board Eleven is where Rip Bubba plays the pilot. The rocket ascends to the stars. The game was based on the 1974 quarterly first issue of SUNSTRIKE by Homer Press. Due to the timing of the story line going into starship battles with issue number fifteen, and that issue’s release within three weeks of the motion picture Star Wars, there was a special blip in interest in the title in 1977 and 1978. It was in this time period that Homer Press struck a deal with a developer, who took the game in 1980 to Atari. The game was scheduled for the summer of 1981. However, the new game went back into development until the last week of December, 1981.

Despite missing the Christmas season push, the game sold fine, though with limited pressings, and virtually no fanfare, save for the mention in the 1982 Atari Game Catalog. The lack of a cabinet game in arcades hindered the game’s popularity. A cartoon movie had been planned for BetaMax release, but this stack of publicity did not quite align at the time. By the time the re-release- with 24 boards of play- was prepared, the home video game market was experiencing its 1983 crash, severely curtailing the re-released game’s distribution. The resulting sales led to SUNSTRIKE getting the axe along with many other canceled games in early 1984. Rights remained tied up, so the series plan fell apart.

"Live Action Park": a journey into mystery ( 3029 words)

2022-08-02T05:24:00.012-07:00

Here’s a story inspired by seeing a vintage pinball machine, during an annual camping trip with my family.- Cecil
A man with a certain maniacal glee in his eyes leads another man into People’s Crossing, pictured here: The other fellow’s dressed in a Hawaiian shirt. He’s putting out a cigar as they travel over the bridge. He coughs, then says:

Blamed walk to the top of this mountain best be worth it.
Mr. Anthony, you are considering turning back?

Not on your life, Sandu! We’ve got five grand riding on your proof that you can demonstrate what I will agree is Extra Sensory Perception.

If you hadn’t walked up from nowhwere, told me my name, that I go by ‘R.A.’- that I’m a gambling addict, that I’ve seen it all but you can go one better, money guaranteed- and my blamed social security number! Why aren’t you selling lottery numbers?

Sandu: Power made of belief- beyond every day levels, in this cynical world- can move that entire mountain top, RA. My sense of a tremendous source to tap all but assures me the purse on which we’ve agreed. Though I assure you, the greed is there simply because it was part of my abilities, from the beginning of the time the entire world feared me!

Rogers Anthony: So what was it- a day or something? I don’t even know why I’d believe you really dropped a building on Thor. I always thought he was some media gimmick.

Sandu: It’s the trickster’s power that gave me leave to levitate an entire bank- teleport the people inside, to the ground- then disappear with the building.
Rogers A: What’d you do, hide it on the moon?

Sandu: Now, who’s psychic?

Roger Anthony is a man whose pulse lives for thrills. I never quit believing in my own luck!
Too bad for you, that means you’re likely not to convince me.

Sandu: No one knows enough to be a pessimist, Roger. Now, come to this side trail. I want the others to pass.
Roger Anthony: While we’re going down side trails together, partner, best believe I carry this Walther P-38 with me. I thought if I told you ‘bout it, might spare us some unpleasant surprises.

You don’t frighten me, Anthony. But careful flashing that.

Plot: They’re watching some questers (explain) following our supporting character, Julie Shanon, their quest leader.
As she takes them back across the bridge- the other direction- we hear snippets of conversation. These are five eight year-olds, roughly. They disturb the reverie of one of the park’s visitors.

He’s good-natured. A quick explanation of who they are breaks out, all having a good time, but one needs the restroom. Julie and David Bennigan feel an instant connection. She would indeed appreciate some adult convo, but that’s not in the cards. Lunch, however, is coming up.

Here we get David Bennigan roped into applying to be a Quest Leader. He’s in town waiting to continue research at the university with his colleague, Sajatha Balasuriya. David was just here enjoying nature, but things swiftly move to produce:

Bennigan, when next we see him, has quickly mastered the game, though he’s never LARP’ed per se. He’ll be on the field, training one week, and on day ten...we’ll pick up with him and a group, on their way back up to Settler’s Park, now known as People's Crossing.

-Sandu and Rogers Anthony watch through binoculars, as Sandu points out the man who is drawn to this spot. You see, something is attracting people. Very special kinds of people. Sandu predicts that man will be part of his key to showing Rogers Anthony what real power is. Rogers scoffs, but says, “I’ll give you this: if this is a set-up, you’ve made it entertaining. I won’t say you’ve pulled any wool over my eyes- especially in this frickin’ heat! So- how long til we see this Power?

Sandu: Four weeks.

Rogers: You’re putting me on!

Sandu: That’s for you to decide in two weeks, if your attention’s not wandered elsewhere.
Rogers: Nah, I’m staying- well, somewhere classier than this, we’ll leave it at that. Sandu: Be seeing you.

Rogers: What are we now, the Fugitive?
Sandu: No. That man, David Bennigan, is the real fugitive.

If I were drawing this as an American comic book, I’d try to have us on page six, a training montage for David Bennigan. "Sight and Sound- stay within sight and sound of the kids." "Remember to look for poison ivy on the trails" "No effect! No effect! See, that's how you make characters with defenses that save you energy." The caption for this next page, seven,
details it and says something to the effect that, this is the most intense experience of inner childhood, well, a positive one, anyway. He had pretty much the worst kind of father you can have present in your home. How embarrassing for this physicist to admit to himself: this is the first child hood fun he can actually recall.
He and Julie chat on a break in the rain, by the shelter. SHANON: Training SEEMS to agree with you!
BENNIGAN:
Well, I’m not here to relive my own childhood. I’m here to play along with these childhoods.

Then, still page 7, we get that first line of kids crossing the bike path. One panel of Power Circle.
Pages eight and nine would be wonderfully visual: a montage of nine scene, culminating in one happy panel with Bennigan, smiling softly, in the lead, into the tunnel beside the bridge where he first saw this activity.
So, on page ten, one kid gets delusional, and tries to command Bennigan. Suddenly Madelaine, all 35 kg of her, floats. At first, wonder! But she wants to be ABLE to get down on her own. But she’s whisked, screaming, away towards a nearby peak, the pretend Ogre’s Rock outlook, piled with boulders. She’s precarious up there, surprised and frightened and trying to take this in. As the one child begins to drain life force itself away from Bennigan, David looks and sees a blank, energy-gushing stare. A hypnotic suggestion lies super-imposed on the boy’s face, a wicked face without human color, saying:
Sandu:
I drink your essence, like water from a goblet, yielding every drop to my inhuman thirst! This astral sight comes to him as he begins to change form...to a form that can see such things. It is said, in great moments of stress, especially in relationship to danger, our body can achieve adrenaline spikes that render new limits to the possible.

David wants to keep some control in the change. His one intention though: help Madelaine! This, he retains...even as the physicist transforms into a one thousand pound, seven foot tall behemoth born in an atomic explosion. And whatever the merits of his hidden enemy’s ability to read minds and manipulate susceptible ones...the creature now before Handley and the other kids is NOT—in an agreeable mood!

The green-skinned man flexes his leg muscles- not even very deeply- and naturally sends his body, a projectile to the cliffside. With massive hands, the man-monster takes Madelaine. She has felt very existential fears this week- with a new baby brother, and here at camp while Mom gives birth.
Page 12: This is the one moment she forgets all that- and suddenly, the thumping contact with the ground inspires a cry of joy! Not three seconds later, they land at the edge of Eben G. Fine Park. And when she climbs away from the hulk, she realizes: she is unharmed.

The belief of the children in the awesome sight before them provides psychic energy to Sandu’s plan. Now, he must r
isk being seen, and summon the power that is now his, to make them- Believe! And when they watch the log he levitates from fallen to upright, they do believe they see a powerful sorcerer in Sandu. Then, the log vanishes!

And this wave of intense belief, coupled with the feeling of utter disbelief, reinvigorates a misguided man, who once served as a pawn of no less than the Norse God of Mischief, who once held those who looked upon him in the grip of power beyond their ken. And what once was- is once more!

Her rescuer turns, and skips mightily away, airborne and west-bound, towards the less-accessible mountaintops. Sandu teleports from the area, before Julie walk into sight. Her attention is on counting the kids. Then, as if remembering , the super-strong physique turns, in three jumps, back towards the place of change..from a man who is, right now, the center of questions for a quest leader: Page 13

Julie Shannon :
--avid? Do you have your walkie talkie? Where did Madelaine go?
Julie : She’s ...at camp? She’s OK!!
Thus is attention turned away, just long enough...for the behemoth to satisfy his urge to come back and fight an enemy he knows is ‘not the boy...but is whoever did this, even here? Magic- bah!’
But, riled as he is, a few minutes of wandering...scaring the hell out of a first-aid training class with a stretcher and a dummy...petting a deer...and being found post-transformation by his friend. The fallout is a re-assessment of what was seen, and serious questions:

‘Dawg’ Dwees, a site supervisor with They pronouns, says: If it’s not safe to go up there, then we’ll need to cancel the rest of the week! HR, Tiffany Livvy, she/her: Things like this could ruin the camp. How can we predict if the creature will return? Sheriff Laura Han she/her: It seemed benign, but it’s beyond our control. We can only monitor the park and prepare tactical/ rescue units.
Page 14 Anthony slyly fuels the fire with a rumor that Bennigan resembles an FBI Most Wanted Fugitive.
We’ll see he simply wants to derail Sandu’s plans, for fear he’s in over his head. So, last panels of the page: Bennigan and his questers come together as a group along a trail down a hill. Bennigan: So, Eric, Shawn, are you aware of the Trickster Water Spout who was speaking with Lilith and Ziev, back there?
ERIC: There was questing? For real?
ZIEV: Yeah! He could keep the quest going any time!
BENNIGAN: Right, so don’t get too far ahead. Even if gravity’s calling.
Mindful for poison ivy, too.

So, Lilith, we have a clue now where to seek your mother, The Warm Black Queen.
LILITH: I want to see her again. At Ogres’ Rock, I got another message, Ziev: from my other mother, The White Marble Queen. She cast an projection of herself, to ask me to join her.
MADELAINE: Are we meeting up with another group for a battle?
BENNIGAN: Oh yeah: let me radio Quest Leader Julie, so we can prepare for that! This is Oak Tree, going for Bee.
JULIE: Bee seeing you in about three minutes.

HUGH: I want to defeat the Green Knight of Horror’s Valley!

BENNIGAN: OK, let’s see if you can tame Sewer Rat. Rock! Paper! Scissors! Shoot!

Sorry! Wow, that’s seven or eight rounds we haven’t been able to win by the rules- and I’m sorry I forgot about them and nearly left you with the sewer rat. But- I wonder if there’s a story reason why Sewer is so hard to tame? What do you think, Tigeriffic? Page 15
HUGH: I wanna quest against the Green Knight! We’re in dream, so I see him!!
I know how to fight him! This isn’t questing.
BENNIGAN: Sorry. Look, Hugh. Your fellow questers are trying to retrieve a rat from the sewer near the Orb Vision Theater...while we found ogres entering, backstage?
HUGH: But that’s not the quest! That’s not questing! For once, why don’t you listen to me???
Bennigan, empty water bottle in hand, walks away three paces quickly, upon responding:
No.
Bennigan relies on the control that’s come more easily than ever to him, in these six intense months. You can call him Monster. But this one took a soulful path.
Still, he is not perfect. He is four steps away when he flings the empty bottle to the ground. And with then a deep breath, he turns and says: You see, this quest is for everyone. Each of you.
I’m going to walk right over here. Stay here in the shade. I’ll be in sight and sound. All I need is a minute to myself, OK?
Bennigan sits on a stump. He takes a truly deep breath, as if so much depends on it.
The five seconds respite, spent with eyes heavy-lidded, breaks with the arrival of :
JULIA SHANON: Hey! Getting ready for a change?
BENNIGAN: Oh, hey! I would love to play two bosses for the kids here in a minute.
SHANON: I could squeeze that in, before I take off at two. Sure!
Bennigan springs up and walks with Shanon over to the children, who’d been stunned,
by the frustration they felt, the uncertainty underlying their merry, nearly-perfect endeavor today in the summer sun. And in the Belief invested in that doubt, Sandu finds a place for his ESP to offer a sense of greater power...getting strong, now...preparing for the two to arrive, with friendly voices and faces, to their relief. Only….the comfort turns into a hunger they had not noticed before.
A flow of power- and more, if they will but consume it!

The horns of peril play from the piannissimo drums of forces distant, now arriving. The power-up for this coming battle seems glorious...and a majesty erupts within their breasts, as they, children, become empowered as truly might they dream...even the least power-tripping of them, feels the essential difference. And it is good that their natural minds are blissed out for what comes next, for you see..

Shadows of great-headed creatures begin to assemble from the children’s, somberly. They speak with voices that sound like frying meat, and some presence – like an Id, tempted by power such as the young body has never known- makes puppets of the long-dark creatures, translucent in the afternoon light, but visible as the clouds close over head with a lightning herald’ s five-second crack, miles beyond the city.
The shadow-creatures using the children say:
Yes, we could play this game, all summer! Lots of grown-ups to come offer what we really crave! We’re gonna eat you up! I never knew the taste of feelings was delicious!
You try willpower. Rock, Paper, Scissors!
You lose, Quest Leader! Time to pay up our reward.

Page 17 Four months..and now, when there is no choice, save to leave his his hidden, true opponent to apparent wickedness and an open field of targets for his belief/ fear/ inspiration spell- he must simply trust his alter body to insure survival. Life without the transformation has been...like living a dream. Cautiously...yet, undeniably, with more confidence...if not arrogance, but now is no time to root against himsel
f. BENNIGAN: Respect for all life around us. Time now, in MY shadow.
Maybe..if I am not afraid...that respect, then…

Release stressors which might cyclically evoke vulnerablity to the change. What wonderful luck he’d had since that unfortunate last time. Not damaging anything had been an achievement, but not enough to safely settle in some neighborhood in Anywhere, U.S.A. Bennigan made Nature his partner, and found more of himself than he’d maybe ever known. That’s a passing tragedy in what happens next. For these feelings, evoking primitive responses within us all, glow in apparency. And what must never be done- harm to the children-in this he believes, he has cultivated peace and patience enough, to his core. And what must be done?
Who yet may know?

But now, this form...bursting with superhuman strength, a rippling sense of the substantive expansion of his physique...if anything has energy to survive now...yes.
And be there no other recourse...this is his life to lay down. It has been his uncanny experience now, not to die in a mind-staggering number of lethal experiences. His alter is nothing, if not, durable.
The creature does not attack. Of course not. How could they harm such as he?

Do children want to play?
How strange, the emotional lightening that accompanies their blows, in seconds!
The wizard casts an elemental orb ray, and the massive mountain of a man lifts his hands for protection. Their monster snarls, then smiles, which is creepy, but cute. He reacts to the smallest, wolf totem girl as though her swasher sword was that of a mighty warrior, one he wants to dodge, but too late! Madelaine, the mystic, offers to heal the green-skinned goliath.
And the entire band is suddenly gripped with
Wonder! They realize they are having this fantastic encounter, in real, waking life.
And in the ensuing, joyous melee, Sandu pretty near loses his hold on the situation. He waited patiently this long, though, years-he can relax his desire to make puppets of them all, and let the Belief, grow, the Imagination grow, and then...with his extrasensory control, he begins asserting the impression that the questers powers are real! This fuels the fire..

and he stares into this, with some awe for this perception of the power generated by childhood play. Power that will be his power….
SANDU: NOW!

Harmless horseplay of fantasy characters suddenly darkens like the sky under a heavy drenching rain with hail stones, pelting the emotional being of the mighty being in their midst, as nightmarish personas take over the attack!

The Will to Live sustains the jade giant. But the thought of that, too, vanishing like a wisp, before the heat of Sandu’s scheme, saddens a mind that saddles doubt, not well. And now, sighting Julie, with this primal understanding :

if I leap, she is left alone with them.
And so, too, are the others, images of the people of the camp, to whom his alter ego has so effortlessly connected. So the man-creature’s response- with a saddened heart, and troubled brow- is one virtually no foe ever evoked. Almost every fearsome monster he has battled instead discovered his limitless rage- and vitality. He sinks to his knees, opens his arms...a sign of surrender from battle. And though this does not stop the onslaught of power, granted to become real, its hosts overcome with a consciousness only wishing to feast… As Sandu watches peace finally fall upon the resigned behemoth’s face, his assurance of final victory brings him his first laughter in years. That would be a somewhat horrific Ending-Ending. But I adapted the second half of my story in all-original terms, here:

Choreographing the live action TV version of the Hulk versus Spider-Man, round one

2022-07-27T04:29:00.010-07:00

A great fight scene for Marvel’s top TV heroes of the late seventies, Spider-Man and the Hulk!

OK, first twenty-five minutes of story sets up Banner being kidnapped to the Rosslyn Hotel in NYC. Peter’s looking for tips about the famous research scientist who has supposedly turned up in the Big Apple. At this point, Spider-Man’s spider-sense begins bringing him closer. He changes, climbs to the top of the hotel, and continues homing in on his signal.

That danger sense grows when Dr. Banner is pushed too far and Hulks out. Now, we’re setting them up to meet in the hallway- and cut to commercial!

Wow! Imagine what might happen next! Well, as I have no concern over the health of stunt men nor of a budget at risk, here’s what I picture, using their television counterpart power levels.

Ok, FADE IN: Hulk roars. Spider-Man uses his ability to do the unexpected: leap onto the ceiling. This confuses and infuriates the Hulk, which provokes a kick in the face. This doesn’t do too much to the Hulk, however, and he kneels, braces, and leaps for the ceiling, himself, to smash it apart, and Spider-Man, with it!

Spider-Man rolls away quickly. Now he tries something that might’ve worked better, he says, before he made this creature angry: he starts covering the hallway between them with a wall of webbing. Hulk grasps the gossamer, and tests its strength. He continues to run forward while the wall-crawler tries to desperately wrap him up in time. The Hulk bulls through, covered in webbing, leaping straight into Spider-Man. Spider-Man gets to his feet, in front of an elevator, and tangles Hulk up in the webbing, delivering a couple of punches, too. The elevator then opens with people inside. They scream as the Hulk grabs Spider-Man by the face, and shoves him back into the elevator car. Everyone evacuates, with Hulk glaring after their heels. A punch into the wall, narrowly missing Spider-Man, gives the former occupants time to flee.

Then, Hulk tears open the elevator doors. The car is above him. He leaps from this floor below it. Just then, Spider-man climbs out the top of the elevator. He climbs and looks around, to see the Hulk taking the elevator cable as his way down. Spider-Man swings down at him, and knocks them both into the interior wall. Hulk holds on with his incredible grip, while Spider-man gets oriented to see the elevator car coming down the shaft. They are still three stories from the bottom, but Hulk simply lets go. Landing with a Thoom!, the Hulk bursts out into the garage parking level, slapping a car away from a near-collision with his entire body, but wrecking the driver into the garage wall.

Spider-Man comes out nearly twenty seconds afterwards. A rival photographer I would say is Lance Bannon (introduced in the comics around 1979?) takes a photo of Spider-Man and the upset, wrecked driver. Now the Daily Bugle will have a field day with blaming ol’ webhead!

The rampaging Hulk's got a lead on Spider-Man, and this time, he'll get away.

With a show like this, there’d be a second encounter, if it was an hour or hour and a half long. Action was so expensive to film in those pre-CGI practical effects days. But if this is what I could budget, my inner child would do something like this. I imagined something with exterior swinging (Spider-Man) and falling (Hulk), but I’d end that with Spider-Man capturing the Hulk, temporarily, maybe with some help from the NYPD Swat Team.
Fred Waugh was the stunt coordinator on THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN tv series; that's Fred, climbing the building in the opening sequence!

What’s the over-arching plot? Who cares? If it was left simple and had an action scene like this around halfway in, boy, people would still remember it! Here are some pictures posted at the Stunts Unlimited FB page, which you can go Like.

I personally would’ve liked to disregard company trademarks and throw Wonder Woman, Spider-Man and the Hulk together in a plot. (|They were all on CBS at one point.) Though her and Captain America makes more intuitive sense.

Live Action: A Classic Marvel Fan Fic summer vacation companion, featuring Sandu versus the Incredible Hulk

2022-07-26T20:14:00.004-07:00

Here’s a story inspired by seeing a vintage Hulk pinball machine during an annual camping trip with my family.

I'd have run off to play alone, and make up, page-by-page, a comic book. I think the story works fine without a massive back knowledge of Marvel, and will present it to some people with no hint about the dual identity of the protagonist, who's introduced, in the fashion of the popular CBS TV show from 1977-1982, as a brilliant man, living anonymously and seeking peace, while harboring one big, green response to self-doubt. I love the plot, now that I see the poetry in the antagonist's plan. I would've loved this story as a kid, and that's the kid I'm focusing on this week.

The plot? The first third is based on:

Page one and two are set on a bridge, leaving a park for a hillside trail to a brilliant mountain peak, not too far above. They speak as they ascend the first of the trail up.

A man with a certain maniacal glee in his eyes leads another man into People’s Crossing. The other fellow’s dressed in a Hawaiian shirt. He’s putting out a cigar as they travel over the bridge. He coughs, then says:

RA: Blamed walk to the top of this mountain best be worth it.

Sandu: Mr. Anthony, you are considering turning back?

Not on your life, Sandu! We’ve got five grand riding on your proof that you can demonstrate what I will agree is Extra Sensory Perception.

If you hadn’t told me my name, that I go by ‘R.A.’- that I’m a gambling addict, that I’ve seen it all but you can go one better, money guaranteed- and my blamed social security number! Why aren’t you selling lottery numbers?

Sandu: Power made of belief- beyond every day levels, in this cynical world- can move that entire mountain top, RA. My sense of a tremendous source to tap all but assures me the purse on which we’ve agreed. PAGE TWO
SANDU: Though I assure you, the greed is there simply because it was part of my abilities, from the beginning of the time the entire world feared me!

RA: So what was it- a WORLD-BEATER FOR A day or something? I don’t even know why I’d believe you really dropped a building on Thor. I always thought he was some media gimmick.

SANDU: It’s the trickster’s power that gave me leave to levitate an entire bank- teleport the people inside, to the ground- then disappear with the building.

RA: What’d you do, hide it on the moon?

See Journey Into Mystery #91, 1963. SANDU: Now, who’s psychic, R.A.?

RA: Hah! Well, Mr. Sandu, Roger Anthony is a man whose pulse lives for thrills. I never quit believing in my own luck! Too bad for you, that means you’re likely not to convince me.

SANDU: No one knows enough to be a pessimist, Roger. Now, come to this side trail. I want the others to pass.

Now, we'll shift focus a bit, to show some youngsters, waving their foam swords and daggers and axes around, as they make their way up a trail.
And that's where I'm leaving it. Story beginning resumes, ON THE REST OF page two- next post!
Maybe I'll draw it a cover, call it Hulk Annual. I'll do that after I get anything else at all done with it, but I do have a plot worth at least 38 pages. If I was drawing a whole issue of anything, first, it'd be a comic book page to insert in my next Integr8d Soul game. I'd love to get around printing costs and wastes and still deliver comics pages again. Thanks for everyone who supported us in 2010! Maybe one facet of our success has been the true ability to actually recall the people who each got a copy of D'n'A: The Mountain. I was just remembering it for 'Cleverly,' my snap-wtted friend who helped create issues of Howard the Duck and Omega the Unknown for Marvel Comics Group in Mad Genius times. I hadn't methodically focused on those two conventions we attended as Integr8d Soul Comics, nor the one we crashed in our way (Comic Con International) and thanks to Janice Paige, utilized our passes to get our work into the hands of genuine comic talents there.

So I realized we now live in a pretty ideal town to gain local backing for a comic book creation. I'm seeing this place as the home for my dreams, and finding myself in tune with Creating again, solo, as opposed to Quest Leading. I'm uncovering just how much energy I put into that fifty hours a week of my presence, and a few here and there to study the game further- wow. What a heart-felt investment. If I put that sort of dedication into Integr8d Soul, I'll discover a lot of limitations fell away while I wasn't even uptight about them anymore.

Anyway, Sandu, who seems to have only appeared in Journey Into Mystery #91, cover date Apr. 1963- so very early that year- today feels like a genuinely-inspired choice. I was second-guessing him, plucked from the most obscure memory of Thor's adventures.
I get how this quickly-made choice of villain was put out there to keep issues of the new comic coming out. You might say, any credibility or threat from Sandu was empowered by the belief of the kids reading the Thor comic. If you like the comic, then you probably allow your belief to be suspended. it's as simple as Thor's adventures ever got in comics, really, as it's such an early one.

His present scheme involves weaving kid belief into a spell returning him the powers he had, one single time, as a pawn of Loki. Punished with residence on Asgard, and no visits to Earth, Loki gave one carnival performer with limited ESP an enormous boost of power, to do the impossible: namely, both lift AND teleport entire buildings, with his mind!

Apparently, he could speak with his mind, as I doubt the delegates inside the United Nations building could otherwise have a conversation with the man floating beside their floating builiding. How did he mess up? He attempted something impossible for his enchantment, while trying to take advantage of having actually over-coming mighty Thor, too. It's all in Journey to Mystery #91, the ninth issue-ever of Thor created by Marvel Comics. Stan plotted it, brother Larry scripted, and Joe Sinnott, a legendary inker, drew this.