If you’ve been hanging out here on the blog or on my twitter feed, you know by now that I am a huge comic book geek.  I once had a monthly habit that was the equivalent of a car payment.  Not a nice car.  Not even a good car.  Probably more like an ‘ok’ [...]]]> Comic Books

If you’ve been hanging out here on the blog or on my twitter feed, you know by now that I am a huge comic book geek.  I once had a monthly habit that was the equivalent of a car payment.  Not a nice car.  Not even a good car.  Probably more like an ‘ok’ car, but you get the point – I put the comic book store owner’s kid through college (he actually said that. Bastard.).

Thanks to comics, I learned a great many things; spiders are not only our friends, but, when dosed with certain kinds of radiation, they can pass their powers on to us through a bite, also, if you’re rich enough and determined (or drunk) enough, you can finance your own superhero persona(s), Norse Gods are still around and they like to fight crime, blind men can kick your ass, aliens are here and they like bright, primary colors and earth chicks, when properly focused, speed equals power, being a cop is cool – being a SPACE COP IS FREAKING AWESOME…

Also, people like to build giant robot suits and then fight each other in them, genetic mutations are cool, flying aircraft carriers are also FREAKING AWESOME, you can survive being frozen in ice for decades, thaw out and still kick some butt, if you’re rich enough and insane enough, you can finance your own supervillain persona(s), the kids you pick on in your youth WILL COME BACK and try to take over the world/steal your girl/kill your girl/humiliate you / cause you pain.

When my Grams lived with us, the afternoon was filled with soaps; Guiding Light, Young and the Restless – that sort of thing.  Having had to watch some of that stuff while waiting for the blessed 3pm and with it, Scooby-Doo, I always felt that later on, when I started to read comics, that they shared a certain serial/cliffhanger quality.  Things were rarely ever ‘wrapped’ up, no matter what the hero said at the end of the issue; the bad guy or gal always came back, the drama with their personal life didn’t go away and the cliffhangers kept right on coming.

“You’re not Peter Parker – you’re his CLONE!” DUN DUN DUN! (tell me that doesn’t sound soap operaish!)

That sort of serial drama can be fun to play with in my own writing, so I guess it was a big influence on me.

Monty Python’s Flying Circus

How do I explain this?

I was a computer loving, comic book reading, Star Trek quoting, Dungeons & Dragons playing kid; all I needed was that one last bit of nerdtacular street cred to ensure no girl ever talked to me in high school again.

…and along came Python.

From the first time I saw the Ministry of Silly Walks, I was hooked.  Who the hell were these absurd guys and why were they dressed as women?  A dead parrot?  Really?  A cheese shop that had no cheese?  A man with a tape recorder up his nose?

My sense of humor owes a lot to these guys; it comes through in my twitter feed (I think), here on this blog and most definitely in my writing.

But they were really only the jumping off point.  Thanks to the Python’s, I discovered all sorts of British comedy that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise even known about.  Like the Blues, there’s just something about that type of comedy that appeals to me.  I once wrote a piece that people compared to Douglas Adams and I could not have been more flattered.

There is this kind of absurd intelligence the comes through in British humor; it’s funny, sometimes absolutely ridiculous but at the same time, you realize that a lot of thought went into it – it’s not a pie in the face, it’s a soliloquy of humor that tickles the funny bone and fires those little synapses in the brain that make you laugh and think.

I can’t imagine writing without this sense of humor coming through.

And, to try and bring this week long extravaganza of influence pieces full circle, I really can’t imagine writing without pulling from all of these different influences; the humor, the fantasy, the scifi, the drama, from my own experiences with family and friends.  We are the sum of our parts and our writing reflects that.

…which reminds me, I should probably be writing.

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The Outer Limits.

The Twilight Zone

Doctor Who

The Time Tunnel

Land of the Giants

Click Here to watch the intro

The Six Million Dollar Man

Click here to watch the intro

Land of the [...]]]> Classic SciFi shows had a sense of style that still shines through today.  Which show has your favorite intro?  Let’s take a look – nothing before 1980, shall we?!

The Outer Limits.

The Twilight Zone

Doctor Who

The Time Tunnel

Land of the Giants

Click Here to watch the intro

The Six Million Dollar Man

Click here to watch the intro

Land of the Lost

Star Trek

Lost in Space (best I could find)

Space 1999

UFO

The Prisoner

The Avengers (SpyFy, I know – but still fun!)

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Shazam (Cuz I just had to)

…and since I put Shazam on the list, I have to add: The Adventures of Superman

…and I have to add, The Amazing Spider-Man

Thoughts? Come on people – let me know what you’re thinking!

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Galactic Hookup Spawns Celestial Offspring comes from Wired (but it’s all over the web). Basically, Hubble caught a photo of galaxies colliding.  I wonder what happens to the stars and planets when galaxies collide and merge?  Man. Wouldn’t that be a great story [...]]]> Another quick round up of stuff I found interesting on the web today.

Galactic Hookup Spawns Celestial Offspring comes from Wired (but it’s all over the web). Basically, Hubble caught a photo of galaxies colliding.  I wonder what happens to the stars and planets when galaxies collide and merge?  Man. Wouldn’t that be a great story to write?

“I looked up into the bright sky, full of stars, and knew that we were all so very screwed.”

…okay, so, maybe it needs some work. Everyone is a critic!  Sheesh!

Nice picture on that link.

Dungeons & Dragons Online is now free (and people are playing it again). This is from Ars Technica – talking about how the game has new life thanks to it being free.  Yeah, well – DUH!  That’s why newspapers are failing but blogs and Internet based news sources are THRIVING.

I’ve never played this game cuz I don’t think they have a Mac version, which is stupid.

CNET tells us that Barnes & Noble makes October 20 event official.  Speculation is that this will be the launch of a new e-reader from B&N. I don’t mind all the competition out there – quite the contrary – but I sure wish they’d all settle on a single format.  I don’t want e-readers to become like cellphones – exclusive to a certain carrier and if you switch, everything you bought goes away.  That’s just stupid.

I have a lot of DVD’s (We’re talking a LOT here.  Like, tons.  Way too many.  A whole case, thingie with these doors and lights and stuff – full, top to bottom.  A little overflowing…  God, I need a life…) and if my DVD player breaks I can just go out and buy another one – any brand I want and it’ll work with the DVD’s I already have.  THAT’S what e-readers need to be.

Comic Book Resources has a nice little roundup peice on the 2009 Harvey Awards held at the Baltimore Comic-Con.

Yeah, I got nothing.  Just a good article.

According to GameLife, the guy who wrote ‘Saving Private Ryan’ has been tapped to write the Warcraft movie for Blizzard.  This could mean that the movie won’t suck.  Could also mean that the sequences where the Orcs are enslaved by the humans and sent to camps in Ashenvale will be so intense that any Orcs in the audience will become visibly upset and will have to leave the theater…

Life, Doctor Who and Combom has an amusing video with Rowan Atkinson (whom I love – he is fantastic) as ‘Spider Plant Man’.  worth a looksee.

SFSignal.com asks the question: Does the SciFi label still apply?

Yes.  But not at BestBuy (I plan to blog about this later on this week – BestBuy has removed ‘SciFi’ from it’s shelves, relegating titles to ‘Action’, instead).

Also at SFSignal.com – Tube Bits.  Um… There’s a photo on that page.  Wow.  I don’t remember THOSE costumes in Stargate: Universe.

Rachelle Gardner has a great post on her blog: Protocol – When an Agent Offers to Rep You.  Excellent reading for anyone who is looking for representation and wondering how to handle stuff that comes along.  She always has good advice – well worth your read.

In the ‘odd but interesting’ pile – both from Wired.  Hunting Arctic Asteroid Impact With Hovercraft & 35 Years of the World’s Best Microscope Photography.  Both are very interesting, if a bit off.  The overcraft thing – I keep seeing G.I. Joe in my head – loading up some hovercraft to chase Zartan through the artic tundra or some such.  Don’t ask me why.  And the microscopic photography is very cool, yes strange all at the same time.  Makes me think of Spore.  or that ‘Fantastic Voyage’ (I think that’s the one) where they shrink the ship full of doctor’s and scientists and then inject em into the President (I think) to save him from something that can only be removed from inside his body.  OR, that ride at Disneyland where you are shrunk down and enter the unseen world of the body (which, come to think of it – was probably tied to that movie).

Worth a looksee.

Sam Raimi said something! About Spider-man 4!  And it didn’t piss me off!  Thanks to Slice of SciFi for that link.  And for this one: Actress Jolene Blalock will join the cast of the syndicated series “Legend of the Seeker” for the upcoming second season.

Raise your hand if you think she’ll have a skin tight outfit that pushes her boobs up and barely contains them inside some sort of lace up bodice!  Go ahead – it’s okay!  We know it will…

I think I liked her better on Stargate as a warrior/leader versus her run on Craptaprise.  I promise I’ll reserve judgement on this until I see who she’s playing and how they are interpreting the character.

Probably.

AND SPEAKING OF WOMEN WEARING NEXT TO NOTHING.  20 awesomely hot Slave Leia costumes.

What is it about Princess Lea in the gold bikini that so sets off us males, eh?  I could probably do a blog post on it but I’m kinda busy going through the photos right now, so, maybe later?

Lastly, I offer you this: You can own Firefly’s Serenity for just $2,495. The link!  Not the replica!  I don’t have $2500 to throw around, and if I did, I’d totally have to get a TARDIS first…

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Let me backtrack for a second – All of Marvel’s heroes and villains were taken to another planet one day, where [...]]]> As if Venom weren’t bad enough a villain for Spidey, the writers at Marvel decided that there needed to be an even CRAZIER, more SPIDEY HATING VILLAIN who got their powers from an alien symbiote.

Let me backtrack for a second – All of Marvel’s heroes and villains were taken to another planet one day, where they were forced to fight a Secret War.  As the battles raged on between heroes, villains and mutants (who felt they were separate from the others), costumes started to get damaged.  Our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man was no exception.  So when he saw folks with costumes all repaired and looking as if nothing had happened to em, he wanted in.  They pointed him to a room and told him there was a machine inside that all he had to do was think about the costume being repaired and it would do the trick.  Excited, he took off down the hall.

The room was full of machines, though, and he didn’t know which one was the right one.  Giving one a shot, he ended up with a new, black costume.

Not quite what he had in mind, but he liked it. He didn’t know that it was an alien symbiote and that eventually, it would cause him more trouble, pain and heartache than any other villain that had come along when it bonded with a guy named Eddie Brock and became Venom.

Venom was born from an angry, spurned symbiote who was pissed off at Spidey for not only rejecting it, but also hurting it to get it off of him and from an angry and pissed off Eddie Brock, who hated Peter Parker, a rival at the Daily Bugle.  Put them together and you got a powerful, vengeful being who had Spider-Man’s powers, knew his secret identity and wanted nothing more than to make him suffer.

A wildly popular character, Venom wasn’t necessarily a bad guy (or so the Mighty Marvel Team would have us believe once he became so popular with the fans).  Sure, he wanted Spidey/Pete to suffer and eventually die, but other than that, he could really care less about the world at large.  He wasn’t in it for the money, wasn’t pulling robberies or doing the usual villain stuff – he simply wanted Spider/Pete to die after a long, miserable suffering and what’s wrong with that?  He’s the victim here, right? (Uh-huh…)

For real evil/supervillainy, we needed something different – something special.

Carnage.

If it could be said that Venom/Eddie Brock was crazy but honorable, Carnage was absolutely mental with a dash of homicidal serial killer.

No – seriously, Cletus Kasady really is a serial killer.  He’s totally mental.  He gets caught and tossed in jail, where he shares a cell with a symbiote-less Eddie Brock.  When the symbiote comes to break Eddie out, it drops off it’s alien spawn without Eddie knowing it and the spawn bonds with Kasady who them becomes Carnage.

Turns out that Carnage is more powerful than both Spidey and Venom, so they team up to fight him, defeat him, destroy his symbiote and toss his butt in an asylum.

Only, his symbiote is different – it got into his blood, changed it so that if you destroy what’s on the outside, what’s on the inside still survives.  Eventually he breaks out again and starts one of the massive, multi-issue crossovers that I came to despise: Maximum Carnage.

Maximum Carnage Part 2 of 14

Maximum Carnage Part 5 of 14

Of course, everyone had to get into the act.  You had Spidey and Venom fighting him, plus the Black Cat, Morbius, Captain America, Cloak and Dagger – the list goes on and on.

Maximum Carnage Part 6 of 14

Maximum Carnage Part 10 of 14

Maximum Carnage Part 11 of 14

For the mega crossover, Carnage recruited some other insane people and lead them on a rampage through New York City.  As always happens whenever supervillains team up, they deteriorated over time and the team went their separate ways.  It’s classic – happens all the time because they’re EVIL and apparently, evil people don’t play nice with others.  Probably an ego thing.

Spidey and Venom end up taking Carnage out (mostly Venom as Spidey is hurt) and the whole thing is wrapped up in a neat little, mutli-issue, annoying event.  That doesn’t stop Carnage from making more appearances though.

'Web of Carnage'

Carnage/Kasady was never a particular favorite of mine simply because he’s all about the mindless violence.  It’s like watching an action flick with the sound off because really, there’s no need to hear the dialogue.  I know he came back a lot, and eventually spawned his own offspring and they haunted both Spidey and Venom quite a lot (seeing as both were considered responsible for ‘creating’ all the spawn that came after Venom).

I’ve absolutely no idea what they’re doing with him in Marvel’s new continuity (Ultimate, I believe it’s called), but I always felt that Venom/Brock was the better character – far more developed and driven.  You could sympathize with Venom/Brock a little – rejected, dejected, down on their luck – nobody wants them/nobody loves them, plus there’s this guy that they hate who seems to ‘have it all’ and does everything just better enough to make them look bad.  The ‘grass is always greener’ sort of stuff.

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The original was, of course, Norman Osborne as The Green Goblin.  I don’t believe this is him in the costume (It’s Harry):

There were 2 covers [...]]]> Taking a look at some of my Spider-Man Comics today and it struck me that there were a lot of variations on a theme when it comes to the Goblin.

The original was, of course, Norman Osborne as The Green Goblin.  I don’t believe this is him in the costume (It’s Harry):

There were 2 covers for this issue-a foil and a 'plain'. This is the foil version.

Web of Spider-Man #67

Lot’s of people took on the Goblin glider throughout the years, but Norman Osborne was the original and probably the best of the lot.  He was smart, powerful, driven – nothing was going to stand in his way.  Not even Spider-Man.  The Green Goblin was the villain for Spidey for a long time (which is why he got top billing in the 1st movie).  Then he was killed by his own glider in a battle with Spidey (or did he?!?! DUN DUN DUN!) and this left the field open to bring in some new blood.

Several people put on the greens and called themselves ‘Goblin’ including: Norman Osborne, Harry Osborne, Nels Van Adder, Bart Hamilton & Phil Ulrich (nephew of Ben Ulrich). Then, variations on the theme began.

Like The Hobgoblin:

The Hobgoblin

Same basic premise as The Goblin; guy in a fright costume flying around on a glider tossing pumpkin bombs at Spidey or anybody else who got in his way.  It was later revealed that he (and several others) had found The Goblin’s stashes of weapons and simply modified it for his own use. Again, several people ended up wearing the Hobgoblin suit including: Roderick Kingsley, Arnold Donovan, Ned Leeds and Jason Macendale.

Jason Macendale took it to the extreme, though.  When they did this massive, crossover event where demons were attacking everything, Macendale offers up his soul in exchange for some demonic powers.  He is fused with a demon becoming more powerful then ever before.

Jason Macendale didn’t start out as the Hobgoblin, though – he stole the identity after one of the other guys (Ned Leeds, I think) got busted.  Earlier, he was known as Jack-O-Lantern (shown below):

Of course, when Macendale became Hobgoblin, someone else took over as Jack-O-Lantern.  Are you confused yet?  These people swap supervillain roles like crazy!

As time went on, the costumes changed as the the people inside them changes.  The Green Goblin got a makeover later on:

Spectacular Spider-Man #225 'The New Green Goblin!'

The point of all of this is that they were all different guys under the masks, but they were just variations on the same theme of the Green Goblin (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?).  But after you kill a guy a couple times, it becomes hard to bring him back over and over (Norman Osborne), so, they had to come up with different guys/costumes/names to fill in the gap of ‘Super Big Bad of the month’ so Spidey would have someone to fight AND they had to give them plausible reasons for doing so.

Jason Macendale was a mercenary and an opportunist.  Harry Osborne – well, his dad was mostly responsible for his putting on the Goblin ears.  Ned Leeds was so totally framed.  I think you get the idea.

As a side note (and possible foreshadowing of posts to come?!) – I love the way comic book artwork changes over time – you can track it through the years.  One guy who really made an impact in that arena, went on to be sorta famous.  Here’s one of his early covers for Spidey:

…maybe you’ve heard of him?  Guy by the name of Todd Mcfarlane?

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Once upon a time, there was a meeting of the minds at old Marvel.  “Spider-Man,” they said, “Is stale.  We’ve done it all!  Peter’s married to Mary Jane, his life is going all right for a change.  Sure, he has a Goblin trying to [...]]]> Gather ’round children, and let old Uncle Morty tell you a story.

Once upon a time, there was a meeting of the minds at old Marvel.  “Spider-Man,” they said, “Is stale.  We’ve done it all!  Peter’s married to Mary Jane, his life is going all right for a change.  Sure, he has a Goblin trying to kill him, and a Hobgoblin, and a Venom, and a Carnage – but really, how much further can we go?  Plus – those guys over at DC keep doing all these cool things like killing Superman.  We really need to compete!”

“What if we made him gay?” said one guy. He was immediately booed.

“We could say that his parents aren’t really dead?  Maybe they’re spies?”

“That’s stupid!” said someone but the boss said, “That’s not bad – let’s keep that for later.  Bring em back and then kill em again!  Yeah… but we need something bigger right now, something earth shattering.”

“What about a new uniform?  Something purple with a cape?”

After that guy was not only thrown out, but fired and escorted from the building, they took large amounts of drugs and alcohol to try and inspire themselves and in this induced haze of absolute brain dead stupidity, someone uttered the now infamous words, “Hey – what if Peter Parker is a clone?”

Thus was born what is to this day quite possibly the stupidest story arc ever to grace a comic book store shelves.  The Clone Saga.  Also known as ‘The Spider-Clone Saga” or also as “The Spider Clone Crappy Con to get you to buy more comics cuz we’re gonna drag it on as long as possible in the hopes of boosting sales which are currently flat Saga”.

Yes, someone had a dumber clone story than George Lucas.

To understand this Clone Saga, we have to first look at the original.  Let’s go back to 1975.  Watergate was in the news, Wheel of Fortune debuts on NBC, the Steelers beat the Vikings in the Superbowl – and, oh yeah, Peter’s got this gal he likes – her name is Gwen Stacey.

Peter likes her a lot, so of course, she had to die (need more drama for our hero!).  Gwen Stacy is killed off in the epic battle with the Goblin that was misused/stolen for the Spidey Movie (hey, I liked it!  I swear!) and a new villain, The Jackal, is introduced in the aftermath.  He brings Gwen back – as a clone.  He also clones Spider-Man.  We learn, later, that The Jackal is really Miles Warren, Pete’s biology professor who was secretly in love with Gwen, which is why he brought her back as a clone, because he’s a freak.  A freak with a chemistry set, but still a freak.

He blames Spidey for Gwen’s death because, ‘Goblin who?’ and wants to make him pay and figures he can do it with a clone and then clone her so he can have his clone and eat his cake or…  I don’t know – I was probably 4 at the time.  Anyway, Spidey had to fight both Jackal and the clone, both of whom he defeats. Both Spidey and Spidey believe they are the real thing but, you know, there can be only one and all that and in the end, they decide that the Peter we know and love is the real deal and the clone disappears.  The Gwen clone goes off to live her new life away from all the madness and things settle down in Spideyville. (she comes back later)

Fast forward to the 90’s.  The Spidey clone?  He was off living his life too, under the assumed identity of ‘Ben Reilly’ (named after Uncle Ben and Aunt May).  He comes back because the Jackal comes back, and another clone shows up (Kaine) and then another one (Spidercide) – it’s now Clonapalooza! (I don’t know if they had an Order 66 bred into them or not. Probably not.  Mostly.)

The Spidey Clone Ben Reilly comes back and takes up the mantle as the Scarlet Spider.  Then there’s a point where Peter retires, but then he’s running around in a costume – or they both are – it was all so confusing…:

Remember that Spidey cartoon where he had amazing friends? Well, here's Firestar!

This, of course, causes more drama because the clones start wondering which one really IS the original.  WILL THE REAL PETER PARKER PLEASE STAND UP?!

(No, that’s not Peter – that’s Ben.  Ben has the blond hair, Peter the dark hair – that way we can tell them apart.  Also, Ben never let’s Peter drive the General Lee and Mary Jane looks great in her Daisy Dukes.  Aunt May’s shine ain’t so great though… wait – I’m getting my continuities mixed up again…)

It took a while (and a lot of issues, of course) to determine that Peter and not Ben, was the real deal (again). It helped that Ben ended up dying and he did a Buffy thing where his body degenerated/evaporated thus proving that he really was a clone.

It was such a mess. Ugh. I hated it.

The whole thing really helped me to stop buying comics.

Have some more Spidey covers from this timeline:

When you flipped the cover on the above image, you saw the Spidey version of the cover

Another of the dual covers from the 'Identity Crisis' bit - The Sensational Hornet

Flip the book open and you have the 'normal' Spidey cover

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I could totally relate to Peter Parker.  He was a nerd; smart, goofy looking, awkward in social situations – what nerd isn’t?!  But he also got to have this cool side, this costume that when he put it on and no one could see his face, his [...]]]> My favorite comics were Batman and Spider-Man, hands down.

I could totally relate to Peter Parker.  He was a nerd; smart, goofy looking, awkward in social situations – what nerd isn’t?!  But he also got to have this cool side, this costume that when he put it on and no one could see his face, his personality came out.  He was a smart ass, he quipped with a razor sharp tongue and the puns!  Oh, the puns.  Plus, all that hero stuff.

Here’s one of my oldest Spidey comics:

When I really got into comics, Spidey had several titles: Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man (as shown above), The Amazing Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man, Spider-Man and, I think, The Sensational Spider-Man.  Whew.  This doesn’t count all the little one shots and limited series and all of that crap.

When I got involved, Gwen Stacey was long since dead, Mary Jane was ‘just a friend’ and Pete?  Well, he had a GF called Felicia Hardy, aka, The Black Cat.

My collection of Spidey comics spans a lot of years, a lot of stories, a lot of gimmicks and a lot of massive multi-issue crossover crap.  Through it all, I kept reading.  Mostly because I felt like I was growing up with Pete.  I watched him mature even as I was maturing.  He had relationships, he screwed stuff up with Felicia and with Mary Jane, and he fixed most of it – he made bad decisions, just like we all make bad decisions.  It felt, I don’t know – real, somehow.  Relateable, and that’s the point, isn’t it?

These characters, all characters – you have to feel what they’re feeling, you have to care for them, feel sad when they feel sad, shout at the pages when you see them screwing up and you know that they’re screwing up and there’s nothing you can do about it – you have to get sucked in and EMPATHIZE.

That’s the mark of a great character, a great writer and story – you get sucked in and you can’t put the book down.  That’s what I learned from Spider-Man.

Over the years, they did a lot of gimmicky things to sell books – like hologram covers:

I know it’s difficult to see it clearly, but that’s Spidey swinging on a web in a 3d hologram cover.  They also did things like multiple covers for a single issue – put em together and get a massive image – we’ll probably see that kind of stuff when I hit the X-Men box.  Speaking of which:

Lot’s of crossover events or one shots in the Marvel universe – which is why they want the movies to have that same sort of continuity.

More on Spidey tomorrow or the next day – the good and the bad.

~P

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