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Showing posts with label Amazing Fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amazing Fantasy. Show all posts

Oct 23, 2016

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 606: Amazing Fantasy #17, January 1996

http://www.comics.org/issue/58335/

Same as yesterday, I'm afraid, still sore, and typing is a bad idea. But I will get to this issue, because it's really, really great.

Okay, another quick one. Just as yesterday's comic addressed the discovery, and occasional incomprehension, of new super powers in the early days of a hero's career, today's comic addresses the inherent loneliness that can accompany the manifestation of such powers. The last few weeks of the Supergirl television series have dealt with this really nicely, as we see Kara's reaction to having Clark around for a few days: all of a sudden there is someone there, someone present, who understands exactly what it's like to be you.

Because of the, in many cases, unique origins of Marvel heroes, this loneliness can become quite pronounced. Though we do eventually see a "family" of spider-themed heroes, the bite from the radioactive spider is unique (I think) to Peter. It's not like he's a mutant, so has the racial connection of that class of superhero, nor is he an alien like the aforementioned Kryptonians. In today's comic he connects with another super-powered teen, ameliorating the loneliness through a bond of age. It's unfortunately not enough.

I was very happy to see that this series is a limited series, three issues only, even though it continues the original series numbering. I've been greatly impressed by it so far, and knowing that there's only one more issue to pick up makes that a much more enticing notion. So you'll see the conclusion of this series at some point in the future.

Onward.

Oct 22, 2016

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 605: Amazing Fantasy #16, December 1995

http://www.comics.org/issue/58090/

I've somehow managed to pull something very painful in my shoulder, so I'll blog about this comic when my arm feels better. It was really excellent.

A quick catch-up post, as my arm is still quite sore. This Spider-Man comic has something in common with another Spider-Man comic that I consider to be amongst the best offerings that the Ultimate Marvel Universe gave us in its time: Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #10. The Team-Up title is really pretty great to begin with, as it features some top-tier artists doing amusing and (mostly) standalone stories featuring the wall-crawler and a guest. #10 is about Peter encountering both Man-Thing and the Lizard, and reacting by having absolutely no idea what the hell is going on, or went on, and that's the story. This issue of Amazing Fantasy has a similar feel, in that Peter begins to discover his "Spider-Sense," and isn't quite sure what's going on, only that he's reacting to a weird buzzing, and those reaction seem to be keeping him out of danger. I do enjoy seeing these types of stories. Often a writer will forget that the character they're writing is a human being, and just because their physical power has been increased does not necessarily mean that their comprehension of events has too.

Onward.