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Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesAmazing Fantasy #15 Continued, featuring the origin of Spider-Man. For the Marvel and Spidey fans. The cool thing about these old comics from decades ago is that they had these cute, innocent, now-nostalgic ads featuring Atlas type exercise routines and X-Ray vision glasses.
Another cool thing is that they had these other little 3-5 page side stories as padding. Amazing Fantasy #15 had “The Bell-Ringer,” “The Man in the Mummy Case” and “There Are Martians Among Us!”
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We thought it’d be fun to put up some old comics for you guys to read, kinda like the Sunday comics. What better place to start than with Amazing Fantasy #15! The birth of Spider-Man.
Peter Parker gets bit by the radioactive spider, gains his powers, seeks fame and fortune only to find his selfishness has indirectly contributed to the death of his Uncle Ben.
We’re thinking of posting these oldies for Marvel fans to enjoy. Let us know what you think.
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Red Hood
The Red Hood first appeared in Detective Comics #168 (1951), “The Man Behind the Red Hood”. In the original story, the man who is to later become the Joker was a master criminal known as the Red Hood. His costume was a large domed red helmet that looked like an eraser with a matching red cape. While attempting to rob a chemical plant, his men were killed and he was suddenly cornered on a catwalk by Batman.
Left with no alternatives, he dove into a catch basin full of chemicals and swam to freedom. He survived due to a conveniently breathing apparatus built into his helmet, however the toxic chemicals in the vat permanently discolored him, turning his hair green, his skin white and his lips red. Upon discovering this, he went insane, and adopted the persona of the Joker.
However, Alan Moore wrote an alternate origin of the Joker in “Batman: The Killing Joke,” in 1988. In Moore’s fantastic, retcon change to the already accepted Batman universe, the Red Hood is portrayed as a former chemical engineer, who is also a struggling stand-up comedian with a pregnant wife. He is approached by the Red Hood gang who want him to lead them through the chemical plant he once worked at, so they can rob the card factory next door. He reluctantly accepts, in order to make enough money to start a better life for his family.
The gang gives him the costume of the Red Hood. The day of the proposed robbery police inform him that his wife died in a freak accident. He attempts to back out of the robbery, but the gang strong-arms him into keeping his commitment. During the robbery, the plant’s security men spot the intruders and shoot the other criminals dead. The engineer tries to flee, but Batman appears and corners him on the plant’s catwalk. Terrified, he jumps off the catwalk into the chemical basin to escape. As in the previous origin story, he goes insane after discovering what the chemicals have done to his face, and becomes the Joker. The Joker himself is reluctant to admit that this iteration of his story is definitive, stating: “Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another… if I’m going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!”
Under The Red Hood
In this recent storyline, a new Red Hood appears in Gotham, written by Judd Winick. To brush up on a bit of history, in 1988 “Batman: A Death in the Family” was written by Jim Starlin where Robin #2, Jason Todd was brutally killed by The Joker. Writer Judd Winick, reintroduces the Red Hood but this time the Red Hood is revealed to be the resurrected Jason Todd out for revenge.
The new Red Hood, who kills as easily as any criminal, assumes control over various gangs in Gotham City and starts a one-man war against Black Mask’s criminal empire. He actively tries to cleanse the city of corruption, such as the illegal drug trade and gang violence, but in a violent, antiheroic way. He eventually comes to blows against Batman and other heroes.
The video is actually well worth watching. The Joker’s voice takes some getting used to, but the storyline and art are excellent.
Text borrowed from wikipedia
- RL
Death of Gwen Stacy
The scene is atop the George Washington Bridge. The Green Goblin has kidnapped Gwen and left a pumpkin bomb, or “one of Goblin’s Lanterns,” atop Gwen’s handbag as a calling card for Spidey to find in his apartment.
Death Of Gwen
The stage is set, players on their marks, and Gobbie opens up:
“Spider-Man! Or should I say– Mister Parker? I have your WOMAN up here, my friend– I trust you understand what that means? …. Your presence in this world has been a source of constant Agony to me. I wish you to leave it– Permanently. Or else… Gwen Stacy Dies!”
The Green Goblin’s threat is critical to what happens next. There’s been a lot of conjecture regarding Stacy’s death; did Spidey really kill her or was she already dead by the hands of the Goblin. Either Green Goblin’s is threatening with the truth, and Gwen is alive, or he’s lying and Gwen is already dead. But, as we all know supervillain types are consistent in at least one area; they simply do not go through all of their insane efforts and plot twists simply to have only an empty threat to throw at the hero.
No, they have plot twists and traps, and yes plenty of lies, but the lies are there to lead the hero further into the trap. In this scenario, Spidey is already at the climax of the story, he is confronting the villain, right where Goblin wants him. Goblin wants the throw down, so he isn’t lying because it simply doesn’t help him move the plot along. It doesn’t help his cause to have Stacy already dead.
Death Of Gwen Stacy - Drugs
Why is this story so successful? It’s an awesome story for two reasons; 1) the prelude leading up to this point is socially relevant and mirrors the times with continual references of drug use, and 2) this one scene , of Gwen dying, is the nail in the coffin for Peter’s guilt. Spiderman needs Peter to wallow in pain, it’s what pushes Spiderman to continue doing the right thing, for we all know, “With great power comes the fact that if you sit on your ass or think of yourself for just one second, someone you love will die and it’s all your fault, you Shmuck!”
Early in the story Spiderman follows some cops to a scene where a black kid, “stoned right out of his mind,” is about to jump off a building. Spidey saves the kid, hand him to the cops and for once, actually manages to show up on time for one of MJ’s Off-Broadway gig.
Drugs (pills),keep popping (no pun intended) up in the story as Harry continues to take LSD to help him through his anxiety over the whole MJ fawning over Peter thing that’s going on. Although it’s pathetic watching Harry wallow in his drug induced jealousy, it’s nice to see Peter smack around a cheesy looking drug dealer and his two thugs while out of costume.
 Fight With Dealers 1 |
 Fight With Dealers 2 |
Gwen’s death set a new tone in comics where previously it would have been unthinkable to kill off such an important character, the hero’s girlfriend, but Stan took comic readers into a more mature story setting where people die and stay dead for good, leaving a wake of pain and misery in their passing. This one story is part of the transition from the Silver Age of comics to the Bronze age.
Stan Lee and Gerry Conway were the writers on board for this story line while John Romita Sr. and Gil kane did the art, which is fantastic by the way. What’s nicely done here is how they were able to get to the poignant truth good job of naturally entwining a relevant message regarding drugs not being just a ghetto problem, into a Spidey story without getting all preachy like all of those those socially relevant comics are put out by special interest groups to “stop smoking” or “just say no to drugs,” or “don’t talk to strangers,” or “Jesus Loves You,” or “Stop! Drop! Roll!”
Even though Norman isn’t on drugs, his transformation into the Green Goblin is what causes him to leave his troubled reality behind. Where LSD is Harry’s addiction, the Goblin is Norman’s drug of choice. The Goblin is powerful, Norman is weak, the Goblin can fly and is free to kill, while Norman’s stock is plummeting and his son has entered a drug induced schizophrenia.
And when the Goblin bubbles to the surface, yet again, hell bent on killing Parker, it is Gwen Stacy he finds in Peter and Harry’s apartment, taking us back to the kidnapping scene again. The scene is atop the George Washington Bridge. The Green Goblin has kidnapped Gwen and left a pumpkin bomb, or “one of Goblin’s Lanterns,” atop Gwen’s handbag as a calling card for Spidey to find.
Spidey catches up to the Goblin and gets one good punch in, forcing the Goblin to plummet to the river below while he swings to where Gwen is at, atop a pillar on the bridge. But Osborn is too quick, he reunites with his glider, flies up to Gwen just as Spidey reaches her, and knock’s her off the pillar top.
Spiderman manages to shoot off a line of webbing, hoping to “stop her fall before she hits the water!” which he manages to do, but if you look closely you can see the little “snap” right behind her neck. This is where Gwen dies. Spiderman accidentally broke Gwen’s neck while trying to save her.
But here’s the problem. It would have been fine if Stan left it at that. But he didn’t. the next words spoken by the Goblin are criticle:
Romantic IDIOT! she was dead before your webbing reached her! A fall from that height would kill anyone—- before they struck the ground!
Romantic Idiot
Now, again, a critical moment for this could be interpreted a couple of different ways. It could mean that Gwen was actually dead by the hands of the Goblin, as seen by the first part of the statement, “she was dead before your webbing reached her!” But, Gobbie’s second sentence invalidates it by having Gwen’s death contingent on the height of the fall, “A fall from that height would kill anyone—- before they struck the ground!”
I happen to think that Stan made a mistake. I think he was under the impression that a fall from that height would kill a person through.. ohhh… I don’t know… some misconceived notion of asphyxiation while falling? It’s the only thing that can account for both sentences because they simply just do not add up. And besides, a note on the letters page of The Amazing Spider-Man #125 states: “It saddens us to say that the whiplash effect she underwent when Spidey’s webbing stopped her so suddenly was, in fact, what killed her.”
Kill You Goblin!
And, for the first time in comics, the roles are reversed. Normally we see the supervillain attempt to do “X,” a crime of some sort, his plans are unfortunately thwarted by the hero, the villain has something bad happen to him because of his foiled attempt at doing X, like going to prison, so the villain then blames (and curses) the hero while shaking fist in air. But, this time we see the hero cursing the villain for his own actions. “You killed the woman I love! And for that, you’re going to die!”And it’s Spidey who is left shaking his fist in the air.
Goblin Dead
The one last thing that Stan got right was that Spiderman did have his vengeance. Norman does die, just like you saw in the movie, by his own hands impaled on the end of his damaged glider . As a comic reader, it gets to be quite the cliche to see contrived conflict where the villain, eg. the Joker, continue to commit crime after crime only to never be properly punished for his crimes. And deep down, we want to see some form of justice, some sort of balancing of the scales, some form of comic karma or tit-for-tat, for god’s sake, a little bit of what our parents always taught us, “what goes around comes around” in the superhero universe. Stan delivers.
Gwen is dead, but we saw justice as Norman got himself crucified on the end of his glider, so Peter is left to go on living with the guilt, a husk of a man… but there is more? With each death there is a new birth; we see MJ stepping up to the plate.
Throughout the whole story line she’s been flirting ruthlessly with Peter, and in the end he gives her her due tongue thrashing… but she doesn’t walk. As Peter crumples and goes fetal in pain, Mary Jane slowly and consciously closes the door, with her still in the room, possibly making this the first real commitment in her life to somebody other than herself. She’s choosing to be with Peter, to help fill that void that, they both feel. Yes, Tiger did hit the jackpot.
Enter MJ
The entire story is enough to make you cry.
Featuring the talents of Stan Lee, Gerry Conway, John Romita Sr. and Gil Kane.
Hiketeia Cover
The Hiketeia is a modern Greek tragedy of duty. When Wonder Woman participates in the ritual of Hiketeia, she becomes honor-bound to eternally protect and care for a young woman named Danielle Wellys. But when the Amazon Princess learns that Danielle has killed the drug dealers who murdered Danielle’s sister, Diana suddenly finds herself at odds with the Batman, who has been relentlessly hounding Danielle, to bring her to justice.
The story culminates to the point where Bats has the young girl cornered. Wonder Woman tackles him, knocking him to the ground, telling him,
“Damn you, NO! … Don’t you understand … I don’t have a choice! Bruce… don’t make me stop you.”
“You don’t have a choice… Neither do I.”
Where the Princess promptly responds with a firmly placed boot to his head, along with a,
“Don’t. Get. Up.”
Batman Gives In
Batman, with his skull pinned under one of the most deadliest (and most sexiest) boots on the planet, admits defeat to Wonder Woman.
“All right. … You Win.”
He then proceeds to repeat the vow of Hiketeia to Wonder Woman. An ingenious move, that requires not only the balls to kiss Wonder Woman’s thigh (Rawrrrrr) but the intelligence to know the ancient Greek ritual to begin with.
With a reference to the Iliad, which none of us geeks have ever read (shame on us), Wonder Woman sees through his ploy and kicks Bats to the side of the road. You gotta love her! Only the Amazon Princess could get away with doing that.
Hiketeia - Batman Rejected
This is one damn good book. The story line (written by Greg Rucka) is excellent, not contrived at all. It plays out like an actual tragedy, for it could literally be nothing else. In the end, if you’re not chocked up… then you have no soul.
The art work is to die for. J.G. Jones (Penciller) is a master at the imagery while Inker, Wade Von Grawbadger, brings the drawings to life. When Diana’s boot is on Bats’ skull, the image itself speaks volumes, begging the astonishing question of, “DUDE! What in the hell did Batman do to get Wonder Woman’s boot on his friggin’ skull??!”
The entire Greek ritual of Hiketeia is a perfect platform to put all three players; Batman, Wonder Woman and the vindictive, fugitive Danielle, (who the reader can’t help but side with, wouldn’t you too kill drug dealers who murdered your sister?) in between the proverbial Rock and a Hard Place.
In the end, as with any tragedy, there is only one way out.
Buy this book. It does not disappoint. You can find it here.
Little Ophan Annie 1924 - June 2010
Little Orphan Annie & Sandy
For those of you under 50, who have no idea who Li’l Orphan Annie is; she was the ever positive, moppy red headed girl in a red dress who was most recognized for her pupil-less vacant eyes. Her only friends were her disheveled, little doll Emily Marie and her scraggly dog Sandy, which was brought into the strip at a later point. Sandy also had the pupiless eyes.
Oliver (Daddy) Warbucks
She escaped from a Dickensian orphanage (reference to Charles Dickens, the popular English novelist of the Victorian era who created A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist) and eventually met, in 1925, Oliver Warbucks, an idealized capitalist who took her under his wing, insisting that she call him “Daddy,” hence the term, “Daddy Warbucks.”
Warbucks was bald and always wore a tuxedo with a diamond a stickpin in the middle of his white shirt. Ever the penultimate businessman, he was gruff and earned his money through hard work, believing in fair play as well as fair pay. He was known for paying his employees well, winning him the devotion of all of his servants and workers alike.
Punjab
Warbucks’ had three “right hand men” were; Punjab, an eight-foot native of India, The Asp, an East Asian man-servant with mystical powers and the mysterious Mister Am, a jovial, white bearded friend of Warbuck’s who had supernatural powers and claimed to have lived for millions of years… Some strips even hinted that he may might have even been God. *gasp!*
Punjab In Action: Sim Sim Salabim!
The comic strip was known for its push of the “old-fashioned” values of honesty and hard work… stuff that you Xbox and Twitter generation know nothing about. At first, through the 1920s, the comic was humorous, focusing on slapstick humor, aimed primarily at children. They then became more adventurous, placing Annie in precarious, dangerous predicaments, often needing rescuing by Warbucks or one of his manservants.
Little Orphan Annie Comic Strip
In the early 1930s, as the depression was taking hold, recognizing that many adults were now reading the strip, Gray left the adventure stories and became more politicized. Gray was well known for his hatred of labor unions, as was depicted in his 1935 story “Eonite,” a miraculous metal which was to be the answer to all of humanity’s problems. This story, in particular, resulted in continuous attacks from the liberal left for his anti-union views. Other targets in Gray’s scope were the New Deal and communism, further perpetuating the left’s anger towards his views and writings. He was viewed as either conservative or libertarian with a populist streak, while creating stories that looked into the darker aspects of human nature, such as greed and treachery where Annie would come across gangsters, killers, spies and saboteurs.
Little Orphan Annie Comic Strip
Gray would weave stories around real life political issues, such as the gap between rich and poor, glorifying the honest American business ethic while presenting Warbucks as someone who hated snobbery and laziness. Interestingly though, despite the Gray’s pro-capitalist slant, the Annie stript consistantly portrayed corrupt businessmen as the main villains.
Gray’s venture into politicizing Annie went on into World War II where he used the Annie strip to motivate kids across the U.S. to create groups of “Junior Commandos” that collected tons of scrap metal and paper for the war effort, which, unfortunately included TONS of Golden Age comic books.
After Gray’s death in 1968, Annie declined in popularity until the Broadway musical “Annie” hit the stage in 1979. But as new artists took to drawing Annie, the comic strip continued to decline in popularity. June 13th will be their last publication. I hope all of you get a chance to see the last created strip of a cherished American relic.
Harold Gray - Died 1968
Oh My Goodness!
Ok, granted it doesn’t take much to make a woman look like Wonder Woman, but not all women can pull it off. You need to be tall, statuesque, long wavy dark hair, preferably black, and look like a total goddess and it helps if she can throw a punch. And wear high heeled boots too.
The funny thing is that, the woman, especially nekid women, are the epitome of sexiness. A nude woman is simply absolutely gorgeous. So, isn’t it funny how the average comic geek prefers to see a woman clad in star spangled undies and tiara, so as to look like Wonder Woman, over a nude woman in general?
Something about the outfit just adds that extra… mMPH to the picture. What is it? It can’t be that she’s simply scantily clad. If that were it we’d all be looking at Victoria’s Secret catalog, of which I have volumes I through XXIVI. So it has to do something with the fact that Wonder Woman is a superhero and is … well.. not just a superhero but a scantily clad, sexy superhero who’s also really cool as a character with a ton of character development. “that’s not all that she developed!” Shut up you!
So, thank god for Photoshop and some comic-geek-nerd type that took the time to color in some undies and a tiara, but he could have left the eyes not blue. Let’s hope that all tall, beautiful women will avail themselves to be seen in a Wonder Woman outfit, showing the world just how powerful and sexy they really are. “why do tall babes slouch all the time though?“ Shut up you!
Check out our Wonder Woman Merchandise.
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T-Shirts Kids Shirts Underwear Footwear Buttons, Pins Glass Pints, Mugs |
Magnets Keychains Posters, Signs Lunchboxes, Tins Action Figures Wristbands |
And don’t forget about the 12% Coupon Code:
DMZ: On The Ground by Brian Wood, Riccardo Burchielli (2006)
“… Today marks the fifth anniversary of the initial outbreak of hostilities between the United States of America and the so-called “Free States.” It is also the third day of a tentative ceasefire, and despite all predictions, it appear to be holding.”
That’s the backdrop for DMZ. Civil War II. What a concept. I stumbled upon a review of this book several years ago and was intrigued enough to add it to my “Gotta Read!” list. I finally got our warehouse guys to get me a copy of it and I just finished it last night. It did not disappoint.
Brian Wood sets the scene on Manhattan Island where the actual “DMZ” or demilitarized zone exists between the “Free States” and the US. In case you’re wondering, a DMZ is an area or boundary between military powers, that are or have been in conflict with each other, where military activity is generally “not permitted,” brought about through some sort of bilateral mutual agreement. A real life example would be the 2.5 mile wide, 155 mile long Korean DMZ that is a serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea.
A map depicts an image over Manhattan showing the “Free States” comprising of the territory of “New Jersey & Inland,” where the reader is left wondering as to exactly how far inland the Free States covers. The USA zone covers Brooklyn/Queens and long Island, again, begging the question of how much of our country is Free State and how much is US? The Demarcation Line goes up the Hudson Bay, encompassing Manhattan which still has a civilian resident population trying to eke out a living .
For the few remaining residents of the beleaguered island of Manhattan, a formal ceasefire is of little consolation when faced with the realities of the war zone they live in: looters, roving gangs of neighborhood militia, insurgents, car bombers, contract killers… this is daily life in the city.”
The story follows Matt Roth, a young photo tech intern who lands an accompanying photo-op with a Nobel Prizewinning news journalist from Liberty News into the Manhattan DMZ where “life over there remains largely a mystery.”
With NYPD escort, they Black Hawk in to a smoldering city in ruins, that eerily, instantly brings to mind 9/11 and the Twin Towers. In fact, imagery of 9/11 blatantly permeates the first part of book, not as a contrived pandering but as an opportunity to tap into the reader’s feelings and emotions entrenched there, from watching the footage of the Twin Towers falling, in order to convey what Matt Roth is most likely feeling as he’s flying into Manhattan… where 9/11 actually really did happened.
As I read DMZ, I imagined Brian Wood saying,
“Ok, remember the feelings you had when the towers fell? Well, Imagine, … just try to fathom what the hell it looked like after the they fell, not from a boob-tube, but on the ground, at ‘Ground Zero.’ Now imagine, not just the destruction, but the implications of what happened… no water, no power, no nothin’… and now spread that same reality throughout the entire Manhattan island. THAT’s what Matt Roth, and you the reader are entering into.”
Of course… Brian Wood didn’t say that, but that’s what came to mind when reading it. The 9/11 imagery consists of the destroyed buildings exposing their skeletal frames giving off smoldering black ash and smoke that rises into the sky at just-the-right-angle and just in case you’re a little too dense to pick up queues from good writing causing you to miss the not-so-subtle subtlety, there’s a bit of graffiti right over Matt Roth’s head, as he awaits his assignment in the hallway, under a paper print out of safety procedures describing what to do in the event of a mortar attack, that reads, “Every Day is 9/11!”
This was one book I didn’t want to put down. The art is good, the writing is plausible and well thought out to easily let me suspend my disbelief and the violence and language were properly laced throughout the story being neither gratuitous nor apologetic or padded.
Writer and cover artist Brian Wood has earned multiple Eisner Award nominations and is currently under exclusive contract for DC/Vertigo. Vertigo, the comic company that’s responsible for some hot-shit stories such as; Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, Garth Ennis’ Preacher, (Tangent: Garth Ennis is responsible for giving the Punisher CPR with his ultra-violent stories in the Punisher Max story lines. If you want to see Frank Castle doing what Frank Castle was meant to do, stop what you’re doing right now and go get yourself every single Punisher Max book you can get your hands on. Garth sets the tone, and bar, for the ultra-violent.) Vertigo also brought you; Y: The Last Man and V For Vendetta. Check out what IGN babe, Hilary Goldstein, had to say in her The 25 Best Vertigo Books.
Brian Wood continues to write his unique brand of iconoclastic creator-owned work with DMZ, Northlanders, Demo and The New York Four and currently lives with his wife and daughter in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn.
Riccardo Burchielli is an Italian artist for Vertigo who did the artwork for DMZ, his first series here in the US.
I look forward to getting the warehouse to send me the next two volumes of DMZ! Here are some of the first pages of volume one.
 DMZ Cover |
 Intro Brian Azzarello |
 DMZ - Door Gunner |
 DMZ p.7 |
 DMZ p.8 |
 DMZ p.9 |
 DMZ p.10 |
 DMZ p.11 |
 DMZ p.12 |
 DMZ p.13 |
 DMZ p.14 |
 DMZ p.15 |
You can get the DMZ Trade Paperbacks here.
