Red-Headed Mule

Tag: Spider-Man

Nagging Note: Venom & Maximum Carnage

(Originally posted on RHM Twitter & Facebook pages! Follow today!)

I remember Spider-Symbiote-mania of the mid-90s. Venom movie lacks buzz so I have doubts for a Carnage sequel.

Cool interview w/creators of Maximum Carnage comics & games, but Venom has enduring appeal beyond that storyline.

Read Hollywood Reporter’s full interview with Danny Fingeroth, J.M. DeMatteis, Tom DeFalco, John Pickford, and many others: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/maximum-carnage-paved-way-tom-hardys-venom-1148899

[1993] was also the year Marvel Comics took advantage of that hunger for event storytelling and unleashed “Maximum Carnage,” a tale told weekly across all the Spider-Man titles that at the time was the biggest Spidey crossover event ever. It was the brainchild of editor Danny Fingeroth, who oversaw the growing roster of Spider-Man books the company published.

[…]Spider-Man teams with his mortal enemy Venom (a man and an alien symbiote bonded over their hatred of the wall-crawler) to fight Carnage — himself an alien symbiote who joined with serial killer Cletus Kasady. After escaping from a mental institution, Carnage assembles a team of supervillain acolytes, and they paint the town red, killing dozens of innocent people as Spider-Man and his own team of uneasy rivals track them down.

[…]

“Maximum Carnage” would expand beyond 14 comic book issues to include a popular video game (Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage), action figures and a theme park exhibition at Universal’s Islands of Adventure in Florida. It got so big that even Marvel Comics’ top talent to this day is fuzzy on how it blew up beyond their comics.

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Nagging Note: Into The Spider-Verse

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If Into The Spider-Verse’s Miles Morales is sole Spider-Man of his Universe, why is mentored by Peter Parker? Trailer’s confusingly out of order on that.

Also, still not liking the jerky, claymation-like animation. This is a theatrical movie-film-for-theaters. Look like a big deal!

Screenshot from the Into The Spider-Verse trailer.

Amazing Spider-Man 2 Review

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The Amazing Spider-Man 2…not quite amazing. Good, just not AMAZING. I guess I can do the bad news first and then work off the good news. Most people seem to like it that way. In this case, there was way too much back story for my taste. The groundwork was laid in the first movie and could’ve played throughout the first movie, in my opinion. Brief flashbacks could’ve been used instead of entire sequences. This pretty much muddled up the story line for me. Continue reading “Amazing Spider-Man 2 Review”

Sticking Around After 31 Issues of Superior Spider-Man For… This?

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It’s been a “Superior” year-plus, but Peter Parker is now home righting the wrongs of the Green Goblin and picking up the pieces of “SpOck’s” life. The series finale moves at a brisk pace re-establishing Parker into the Marvel Universe. Part of me dreads that we’re going back to Pathetic Pete’s mundane “power and responsibility” routine. Spoilers for the “Goblin Nation” 40-page conclusion ahead in this review! Continue reading “Sticking Around After 31 Issues of Superior Spider-Man For… This?”

Superior Spider-Man Annual #1 Review

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Some mild spoilers ahead…

One thing Peter Parker and Otto Octavius have in thing in common is their devotion to protecting May Parker. In Superior Annual #1, May is in danger by the half-demon Blackout. Otto, as Spider-Man, must use his cunning to overcome this freak holding May hostage.

Superior Spider Man Annual #1 has an cool fight scene and an interesting resolution to the Blackout vs. Spider-Man fight. When the dust settles, it doesn’t push the arching plot much and doesn’t show off new insights into the mind of Otto Octavius. The recap page and the bits of exposition sprinkled throughout the issue help newcomers who aren’t used to the post-Peter Spidey. Continue reading “Superior Spider-Man Annual #1 Review”

Superior Spider-Man #3 Review

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“Everything You Know is Wrong,” published by Marvel.
Written by Dan Slott. Drawn by Ryan Stegman.

For over a month now, I’ve been scanning for ways that Otto Octavius has been the superior Spider-Man over the beloved Peter Parker. Reading some of the critical responses for Amazing #700 in the letters column made me ponder on the nature of heroism. Otto Octavius is running his greatest experiment: executing the duties of Mr. Great Responsibility. Will an anti-hero protagonist lose the essence of Spider-Man? I wonder about some of the readers who ended their Spidey comics run at 700. Continue reading “Superior Spider-Man #3 Review”

90s Nostalgia: Totally Kids Magazine Autumn 1994 Excerpts

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Fox Kids Club was a loose network of regional clubs for Fox TV affiliates. I was a member, so I got my own Fox Kids Club membership card and a subscription to the Totally Kids magazine. I recall Totally Kids being released four times a year. The one copy I have was when the Fox Kids lineup was at, or near, its peak. I liked looking forward to weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings. Continue reading “90s Nostalgia: Totally Kids Magazine Autumn 1994 Excerpts”