Venom Let there be Carnage DVD

 

TITLE-Venom Let There Be Carnage
SOURCE-Sony DVD

Venom hit the Spidey comics around the time I was dropping them. When the first Venom movie came out I caught it late one night on STARZ and it wasn't bad. 

Found this sequel new sealed at a pawn shop for a buck and took the chance. 

Eddie has a deal with Venom. Venom gets to eat chicken brains and chocolate,aand Eddie and Venom will fight crime.

Kletus Kasaday the serial killer wants to speak to Eddie and only Eddie. Offering him a exclusive interview. While doing the interview Kletus bites Eddie. 

Not long after this when Kletus is being put to death he doesn't die. Nope somehow part of the Symbiote is in him now. And Kletus is Carnage ready to destroy the world. Along side his girlfriend Shriek.

Only Eddie and Venom can stop them. But after a argument Venom leaves and is body hopping. Which a trip to a rave that is one of the best scenes in the film.

Leading up to a big battle at a church. Pure capshit spectacle and it was glorious.

Big and dumb,but fun...Venom Let There Be Carnage is worth seeing. And gets a C.

2016 Comic Challenge 288 Marvel Tales 179

TITLE-Marvel Tales #179

PUBLISHER-Marvel

It was thanks to Marvel Tales that I managed to read so many of the first 100 issues of Amazing Spider-man. So anytime I am digging through cheap bins at a con or comic shop if I find any issues of Marvel Tales I grab them. 

This issue reprints Amazing Spidey #40.Which wraps up the long running Green Goblin mystery. And it is rumored that revealing who the Goblin was is one of the reasons Steve Ditko left the title. So ,and I do prefer Ditko on classic Spidey,this issue is drawn by John Romita.

But back to the story Norman Osborn has Spidey unmasked and strapped to a chair. Most of the issue is Norman explaining how he has spent so much time trying to figure out who Spidey is and then kill him.There is plenty of flashbacks and footnotes to what I am assuming was every Goblin appearance previous to issue 40.

Once Spidey is finally free we get a fun and kinetic battle between the two .I do wish this battle was drawn by Steve Ditko,but Romita's artwork is damn good. At the end of the battle the Goblin gets shocked and gets amnesia. And the issue ends with Spidey dragging Goblin to safety thinking what has been his greatest villain gone for good.

For me Spidey was at his best when it was either Ditko or Romita drawing him. Plus Spidey is one of the few Silver Age Marvel titles I can read now and not find corny as hell.

Marvel Tales #179 gets a Buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 275 Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man #27

TITLE-Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man #27
PUBLISHER-Marvel

This beat but complete comic is one that I just kind of lucked into.Right at 10 years ago I was at a local auction,one that never had comics. And a guy tosses up 5 stacks of comics. Asking $5 for each stack. Each stack was about 40 issues but looked to mostly be 90s glut crap from Marvel and DC.No one was bidding so he dropped it to 3 a stack,no bids so asked for an offer. I said I give him 10 bucks for all 5 stacks and after some back and forth paid 13 bucks for what ended up being about 250 comics. In that stack of lots of glut crap was this issue.

So what makes this issue stand out from any other late 70s Marvel Spidey comic? Besides that really neat Dave Cockrum and Al Milgrom cover? Lets check the interior credits.

Hmm Bill Mantlo is the writer,and who is this as guest penciler? Frank Miller.... Yep so this has a cover date of Feb 78,which means it more than likely hit the stands in late 77. Which makes it the first time Frank Miller drew Daredevil!

I had heard of this issue for years. And even owned it 2 times before. But never read it. Mostly cause of fear of damaging it and I had gotten copies planning on selling them later on for a profit. But with the shape this copy is in,which even in this beat up shape checking the big two online retailers of comics it is still worth a few bucks,I finally read it.

Well after after almost 30 years of hype it doesn't live up to it. Sure it is kick ass to see early Miller art on not only Daredevil but also Spider-Man. And Mantlo does a decent job with the story. But for the price this issue sells for ,unless you luck out and get a beat up copy,it really isn't worth getting.

Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man #27 gets a Borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 188 Spiderman versus Wolverine

TITLE-Spiderman Versus Wolverine
PUBLISHER-Marvel Comics

It is odd what things will trigger forgotten memories.After getting about 10 pages into this comic all of the sudden I rememebered not only where I bought it. But my first time reading it.

It was 87 and while I was going to the comic shop in Biloxi once a month,I still got most of my comics at K&B Drugs in Pascagoula MS.

It was the best store in the area for comics. They not only had 2 spinner racks. But 2 other racks hanging on the walls.Plus they seemed to carry all the magazine sized comics.

I clearly remember buying this at K&B,and thinking $2.50 was a stupid high price but it had Wolverine fighting Spiderman so I had to read it. Then after leaving the drug store I went straight to Burger King grabbed something to eat and read the comic while eating.

Written by Christopher Priest,back when he was still Jim Owsley,and with Mark Bright doing the pencils and the great Al Williamson on inks. We get a bit of history on Wolverine.Someone ,at the time thought to be minor,in Spidey's cast dies. And there is a great fight in a graveyard between Spidey and Wolverine.

Looking back on it now while it was good no way was it worth $2.50 back then. And IIRC this comic quickly went up in price. Many a cons I would see it as a $10 wall book. But with some digging you can find a reader copy for a buck or 2 tops. Which is it totally worth.

Spiderman vs Wolverine gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 107 Amazing Spider-man NACME #02

TITLE-Amazing Spider-Man NACME #02
PUBLISHER-Marvel Comics

Before I got this issue in the summer of 2008 I had never heard of it. NACME is the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering. And they put out two of these comics starring Spidey.

So how did I end up with this oddball comic? Well right before my birthday in 2008 I started a job doing home health care. I would goto this old man's house at 8pm. And from 8pm until 8am I was there to help him. He could barely walk and had a few other issues. Most nights he was asleep by 10pm. And since he slept until 5am I had right at 7 hours a night where all I had to do was be there. Right after starting this job I had a death in my family. I went down to the coast for the services. And had two different cousins give me a few longboxes of comics. In one of those boxes was 2 copies of this comic. Which unlike most of the others in the box,was bagged and boarded and appeared to be mint.

We got the usually damn good Dwayne McDuffie writing it. And Alex Saviuk handling the pencils.Chris Ivy handles the inks.

The comics is your standard Spidey story for this timeframe. Full of Spidey wise cracking a bunch while fighting crime.Since the cover mentions a Riot at Robotworld. And which major Marvel supervillain works best with Robotworld? Ultron of course. I have always liked Ultron,and prefer the wise cracking Spidey to any other version of Spidey.

A few years back my cousin's two boys were getting into comics. So I wen through my collection and made them a longbox full of stuff I either didn't want or stuff I had more than one copy of. I had 2 copies of this comic. So threw one into their longbox. Recently both the boys kind of got out of comics. And trying to make a few extra bucks my cousin looked the comics up. Seems there is a decent amount of demand for this comic. She ended up getting $5 for it. Not bad for what I am sure was a giveaway comic.

Amazing Spider-Man NACME #02 gets a borrow.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 065 The Marvel Encyclopedia

TITLE-Marvel Encyclopedia
AUTHOR-Various
FORMAT-Hardcover
FIRST TIME READING-No
PRICE-X-mas Gift

Back almost a decade ago I got this along with the DC Encyclopedia for X-mas. If you remember the old Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe series,this is a mass market version of that.

From what I remember,I really haven't read much from Marvel since the late 90s,it seems to be fairly accurate.And most of the time the artwork is pretty good.The selection of heroes is well done. You get all the big names,plus a decent amount of lesser known heroes.

I think there is a newer version out now. So finding this one cheap shouldn't be hard.

The Marvel Encyclopedia gets 4.11 outta 5.

Spider-Man Magazine #4

Spider-Man Magazine #4

First off we get a story reprinted from Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #4.
Written by Jeff Parker and pencils by Patrick Scherberger. We start the story with a battle between Spidey and what is basically a sentient piece of street. Human Torch shows up and helps Spidey defeat the villain. Well Spidey and Torch start arguing and this allows the villain to get away.Torch goes back the Baxter Building and accidentally lets a lethal alien loose. He calls on various heroes for help,but they are all busy. So he bites the bullet and goes to find Spidey. Spidey figures out that this alien will appear at Coney Island.And it turns out to be this huge read alien that seems that it's only knowledge of Earth comes from MTV. So we gets lots of bad lyrics from various songs.Well the alien who's name is Goom,goes on a destructive rampage through Coney Island. And Torch keeps him distracted while Spidey creates some invention to take care of Goom. Pretty fun story that shows off the friendship between Johnny Storm and Peter Parker.

Our second story is reprinted from Spider-Man and Power Pack #4. Written by Cleveland boy Marc Sumerak and art by Gurihiru. We start off with Spidey fighting off about 5 or so of his villains. He defeats them and sees Katie Power standing on a nearby rooftop. He goes to talk to her,but she shots one of her energy blast at him. It seems that part of the Venom costume has taken over young Ms Power. Well it seems these first few pages are all a nightmare Katie is having.  We go to the next day and the Power Pack kids are on their way home from school. When they see the Rhino rampaging thru the streets of NYC. The Power Pack call upon their costumes,but for some reasons Katie's won't appear.Rhino quickly takes out the other three members,But Katie hits him with a huge energy blast. This stuns Rhino and he tells her "good idea that wasn't part of the plan. But you are covering your tracks." And Rhino heads off. We next see the power kids sleeping,and a familiar black costume is going over Katie as she sleeps. She attacks her siblings then jumps out the window.They trail her to a warehouse. And when they find her ,they get surrounded by Vulture,Electro,Rhino,The Shocker,Mysterio  and the Lizard. It seems that the Venom possessed Katie is working with these Spidey villains.Well Julie Power flies off trying to avoid being shocked by Electro. And she finds Spidey tied up hanging from a rafter.It seems that the Venom suit is taking over Katie at night and one night she snuck up on Spidey and took him captive. Well thanks to Spidey the Power Pack kids manage to defeat his villains. And when they do this Electro lets out a huge electric shock. This removes any traces of Venom from Katie's super hero costume. Another fun story. I will have to see if there is anymore issues of this Spider-man/Power pack series.

Third up is a story reprinted from Marvel Age Spider-Man team up #4. Story by Todd Dezago and pencils by Ron Lim. We start off with Spidey facing off with the Looter. The Looter is a z-grade Spidey villain that gets his powers from a moon rock. Well he is trying to get his powers back. And in doing so he sets off an explosion. Well this blast Spidey way up into the sky. But thankfully a passing by Thor catches Spidey.And he shows Spidey some strange wormhole in the sky.This wormhole is being used by some trolls to come to Earth. Thor and Spidey fight them.But every time they try to hit the troll leader he disappears.So Thor opens a portal to take him and Spidey to Asgard. They get there and see that time has been frozen. The trolls have found a way to freeze time on both Asgard and Earth. But again everytime Thor or Spidey try to hit the troll leader he disappears. So Spidey comes up with a plan. He has Thor send him back to Earth. The plan is for both of them to hit the troll leader at the same time on Earth as well as Asgard. This works and the trolls are defeated. Great story with one line that really stands out. Early on Spidey mentions how he has trouble understanding Thor and that Thor should watch more TV so he can learn modern English. Thor's reply is "Ah,I've enjoyed TV! Mine favorite relates the antics of a short yellow man who lives under the sea.... .... Robert the sponge with the straight trousers!" Great line that had me laughing very hard.

The final story reprints a story from Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four #4. Jeff Parker does the writing and Mike Wieringo does the pencils. Reed finally makes it back to Earth and he seems to have found a way to stop the invading aliens. We get about 5 pages of Spidey and the FF battling mutated animals. Then we find out that the Impossible Man should be able to defeat the evil aliens. This works and we get a nice happy ending. Over all this 4 issue long story was OK. But it really felt padded. It seems to me that the writer had enough story for 2 or at most 3 issues but was told it had to be 4 issues.

Spidey story was kind of lacking. But not so bad it really hurts the rest of the magazine. Spider-Man Magazine #4 gets a A-.

Spider-Man Magazine #3

Spider-Man Magazine #3

For this issue we again get 4 stories,a few pin ups,and a poster.

We start off with a story reprinted from Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #3. Written by Erica David and pencils by Patrick Scherberger.Picking up were issue 2 left off. Spidey is without his powers and surrounded by 6 of his foes. Spidey manages to run off and hide. And we cut to J Jonah Jameson and Aunt May. They are tied back to back. And May gets on JJ's case. Cause he is such an asshole. We go back to Spidey and he is surround by mirrors and facing Mysterio.But since he doesn't have his powers he can't tell which one is really Mysterio.But Spidey uses his brain and figures out which one is the real deal. He deals with Mysterio and heads off into another part of the warehouse.He is confronted by Kraven. It seems Spidey's powers have come back.And Spidey outwits Kraven and gets Kraven to step into one of his own traps.Next Spidey runs into Electro and Sandman,but again he manages to outwit them. Not that outwitting Sandman is that tough. Well it ends up being Spidey vs Doc Ock and of course Spidey wins. This was a fun little story and a nice updating of the original Sinister Six storyline from the 60's.

Next up is a story from Spider-Man and Power Pack #3. Spidey sends the Power Pack VIP tickets to New York Fashion week. We find out that Spidey got these tickets from Mary Jane. Not sure if this story is set before he was married to her or not.We flashback to 6 months ago. And the lead designer of Fashion week is leaving a store with some fabric. But he runs into Venom. Well Spidey and Human Torch show up to fight Venom. And defeat him by using a sonic blaster. As Eddie Brock is being hauled off to the Vault,we see the designer hiding in an alley. And parts of the Venom costume are laying by him.We got back the present day and the designer has used the alien symbiotic costume from Venom to design his newest outfits. All is well tell someone mentions that Peter Parker is there taking pictures. Well this causes the alien symbiotic to take control of four of the models. And it is up to Spidey and the Power Pack to defeat them.At the end of story all seems to be well,but we see that part of the alien symbiotic is now attached to Katie Power's super hero costume. This was another great team up between Spidey and the Power Pack.

The third story is from Spider-Man Team Up #3. Written by Todd Dezago and pencils by Lou Kang.Spidey is out on patrol when he sees a AIM agent come flying out a window.He goes inside to investigate and sees Captain America inside fighting off a slew of AIM agents. It seems that this is the first time Spidey has met Cap. They defeat the AIM agents and Cap tells Spidey he has to head out. Well of course Spidey tails Cap. Caps knows he is being followed and reveals to Spidey that AIM is working with the Grey Gargoyle.We get a great battle between Spidey and Cap vs AIM agents and Grey Gargoyle. This is like all the good issues of the old Marvel Team Up or Marvel Two-in-One issues. In that you get a fun story in which two heroes team up to defeat a villain. The artwork has a kind of manga look to it that I enjoyed.

The last story is from Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four #3.Written by Jeff Parker and pencils by Mike Wieringo.Some alien insects are attacking the Baxter Building. The Thing ,Human Torch and Spidey keep them busy while Sue Storm tries to get in contact with the High Evolutionary.She figures he might be able to help remove the aliens from the humans they have infected. Well she calls him and gets no answer. So her and the three guys travel to High Evolutionary's mountain fortress. There they are given a weapon that might be able to stop the alien forces. But Spidey has no idea how it works. So he proposes they go to Doctor Doom. And they manage to con Doom into explaining how the weapon works and making some duplicates of it.We go see what Reed is up too. It seems that some far only one planet these aliens have invaded have managed to stop them. And they did it by blowing their own planet.

The stand outs in this issue was the Power Pack story and the Captain America team up.Outta the three issues this is the best one so far. Spider-Man Magazine #3 gets a A.

Spider-Man Magazine #2

Spider-Man Magazine #2

Again we get 4 stories and some pinups. Plus a nice poster. This magazine was being published every 2 months. Which kind of sucks since 2 of the stories in issue 1 ended on cliffhangers.

The first story is from Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #2. Erica David is the writer and Patrick Scherberger is doing the pencils. This time we start off with Doc Ock in jail. But he manages to escape and while doing this lets all the other prisoners out. We go ahead to the next day and Spidey is chasing a criminal. But it seems that Spidey's powers aren't working right. We cut back to an abandoned warehouse. And see that Doc Ock is teaming up with 5 other  Spidey villains. So we get Doc Ock,The Vulture,Electro,Mysterio,Kraven the Hunter and The Sandman teaming up as the Sinister Six. Doc Ock sends the other 5 villains out to cause havoc and to draw Spidey out. But since his powers aren't working Peter has pretty much retired his Spidey persona. Well after a few days and no Spidey,Doc Ock goes to the Daily Bugle and kidnaps J Jonah Jameson and Aunt May. Spidey finds out about this and goes to confront Doc Ock. And that is how the story ends. Great artwork and this is a nice variation on the first appearance of the Sinister Six.

The second story is from Spider-Man and the Power Pack #2. We get the same people writing and drawing it as the last issue. It seems that Peter is staying with the Power Pack kids until he can figure out how to get back to his actual age. We get a cute scene of Julie Power designing some new costumes for Spidey. With a nice nod to the Iron Spider suit. It seems that after they defeated the Sandman in the last issue he has washed up on the local beach.  So Spidey and the Power Pack go to fight him. And they work together to take out Sandman. Well during the battle Spidey gets splashed with seawater and it seems this counteracts the stuff that made him a kid. So by the end Spidey is back to his normal self. Another fun story.

The third story is from Marvel two-in-one #86. Written by Tom Defalco and art by Ron Wilson. Kinda strange this story gets reprinted cause it doesn't have Spidey in it. Instead we get a great issue teaming up the Thing and the Sandman. It seems that prior to this issue Sandman had been merged with Hydroman. Well they finally manage to separate and Sandman goes to the nearest bar to have a drink. The bartender realizes who it is and call the cops. But it is believed that Sandman is dead so the cops ignore this call. So the bartender ends up calling the Fantastic Four. And the Thing answers the phone. He heads down to the bar planning on fighting the Sandman. But Sandman doesn't want to fight. All he wants to do is have a couple of drinks. So the Thing sits down and has  a few beers with him. Well Sandman tells the Thing is life story. And the Thing realizes they have a bunch on common. Then at the end instead of turning Sandman over to the police. The Thing lets him go. I am pretty sure this is from around the time that the Sandman went from being a villain to being a hero. Great story that is  a total change of pace from most stories of this era.

The last story is from Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four #2. Reed and Sue are coming back from their vacation. And discover that this invading aliens have taken over the bodies of most people in North America. The FF and Spidey try a few different things to stop this but nothing works. The story ends with Reed going off to another planet to try to find something to stop the aliens. OK story but it really feels padded. Kind of like the writer was told he was gonna have to do a 4 issue story,but only had enough story for 3 issues.

Like the last issue we get 4 stories,some pinups,plus a poster. Another great issue.Spider-Man Magazine #2 gets  A.

Spider-Man Magazine #1

Spider-man Magazine #1

Back in 2008 I saw this magazine on the magazine rack in town. Flipped through it and saw that it reprinted 4 comics,plus had a poster and some pin ups. Well the cover price was $5.99. And with comics at the time costing at least $3 an issue figured this was a good deal. Well all four stories are reprints.But I had never read three of them before.

The first story is from Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #1.Written by Kitty Ross and pencils by Patrick Scherbeger. It is another retelling of Spideys origin. The artwork is nicely done. And the story ,while being something I have read before,is decent.

The second story is from Amazing Fantasy #15. Which is of course the first appearance and origin of Spider-Man. Written by Stan Lee and artwork by the amazing comic legend Steve Ditko. Kind of surprises me that they put two tellings of the origin story in the same issue. But it is great to see this story again. Plus since it is magazine sized the artwork is bigger than I have ever seen it before. Near the end of the story where for the only time that I know of you can see Spidey's pupils through his mask is still shocking after all this years.

The third story is reprinted from Spider-Man and Power Pack #1. Written by Marc Sumerak and art by Gurihiru. We start off with the Power Pack kids having just moved to New York City. And while out on patrol they run into Spidey. Together they fight off Sandman. Well before he leaves,Jack Power gives Spidey his business card. A few pages later Spidey is fighting the Vulture in some cosmetic factory. And Spidey gets knocked into some vat of chemicals. This causes Spidey to become a 10 year old  kid. So at the end of the story we see Spidey going to meet up with the Power Pack kids. Fun story,I have always enjoyed Power Pack. And adding Spidey to the mix makes it even better.

The final story is reprinted from Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four #1. Written by Jeff Parker with pencils by Mike Wieringo. We start off with Spidey running into who he thinks it the Silver Surfer. But it turns out to be The Impossible Man. It seems Impossible Man has come to Earth to warn the Fantastic Four about a alien invasion. Well Reed and Sue of the FF are off on a vacation with their two kids. So it is up to Spidey, Human Torch and the Thing to handle this invasion. The invading aliens want to take over human kind. Kind of like how the Borg works in Star Trek. Nice story that really just gets going before it ends.

Besides the four stories you get a hand full of pinups. Plus a poster and some games. Overall for the price it is a great bargain. Spider-Man Magazine #1 gets a A.

Spider-man:Doctor Octopus digest

This is the other digest that I mentioned in my FF digest review. Now I am not sure if there was a Spidey digest before this one. But I get the feeling there was. Cause this one starts with issue 3. Again Marvel doesn't include the credits. But these 3 issues are written by Stan Lee and have stunning artwork from the living legend Steve Ditko.

We start off with issue 3 of Amazing Spider-man. Which is the first appearance of Doctor Octopus. Great story that has a cameo from the Human Torch. Doc Ock has always been one of my favorite Spidey villains. And Mr Ditko draws a great Doc Ock. Plus at the end of the issue you get a fun pin up of Spidey that I suspect is drawn by Steve Ditko.

Issue 4 is the first appearance of the Sandman. Who is another of my favorite Spidey villians. I love how Spidey ends up having to use his brains instead of his brawn to defeat the Sandman. And the issue ends with Spidey doubting himself and wondering if he is crackpot that J Jonah Jameson and the Daily Bugle say he is. There is some great scenes of Sandman using his powers that are rendered by Ditko. The artwork has this raw energy that few artist of this era had.

Issue 5 is interesting cause it is one of the earliest Marvel villain crossovers. Cause in this issue Spidey faces Doctor Doom. Now I might be wrong but I think up until this issue Dr Doom had only appeared in a few issues of Fantastic Four. I found that I like the way Steve Ditko draws Dr Doom more than the way Jack Kirby draws him. You get a fun subplot with Flash Thompson dressing up as Spidey. I always liked how Flash was a huge Spidey fan,but he hated Peter Parker. The ending is kinda lame with Dr Doom running away cause he sees the Fantasti-car heading his way. But still it is nice to see Spidey clash against someone who is also a scientist. Spider-man:Doctor Octopus digest gets a A-.