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Spider-Haul!

My tax rebate check (finally) came in the mail and after setting some of the green aside for bills, I decided I'd treat myself. Went to my comic shop and snagged myself some cool Spider-Man goodies.

I was thinking I'd pick up Amazing Spider-Man #247 to further complete my issues for Roger Stern's run. God must have really smiled on me because when I was looking through the back issue boxes for said comic, I found a copy of Amazing Spider-Man #248, which has the highly praised side story, The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man. And I was just talking about this story a few weeks ago. Go figure.

This could be my Spidey biased kicking in, but I've always loved Black Cat more than Catwoman. Don't get me wrong, I like Selina Kyle and her feline alter ego. In fact, she stared in one of my favorite mini series, Selina's Big Score, but I find Felicia Hard to be a more interesting character. Be it the sexual tension between her and Spidey, or her simply being a good friend and coming to the wall-crawler's aid, the Black Cat is one of my favorite characters in the Spider books. My comic shop has had copies of Amazing Spider-Man #194-195 for over a year now so I decided to give them a good home. Along with Marv Wolfman's excellent return of the Bugler story, (which concluded in the epic Amazing Spider-Man #200) Black Cat was probably the one of the writer's biggest contributions to the books.

More Roger Stern goodness with Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16, which gives us a new (at the time, anyway) Captain Marvel. This issue was drawn by John Romita Jr. and inked by John Romita Sr. I love JR Jr's new stuff but I still think his old stuff looks fantastic even if it is almost a carbon copy of his dad's. I get all giddy when I see that John Sr. inked his son's art. They do make a great team.

Flipping through the book, I kinda wonder if this is really a Spidey tale, as Captain Marvel gets a lot of panel time and guest stars are all over the place. I don't want to jump to conclusions so I'll just have to read the story to find out what the deal is.


I picked up Amazing Fantasy #16 in 1996. I was never able to finish the story because I didn't get around to picking up issues 17-18. That really sucked because I can still clearly remember what happened in AF #16 even though its been more than 10 years since I've read it. Kurt Busiek wrote a heck of a starting tale and I guess that isn't much of a surprise. The guy did write Untold Tales of Spider-Man, one of my favorite Spider-Man books. This mini series was probably one of saving grace for Spidey fans since Marvel ticked off so many fans by doing something really stupid with the Clone Saga. Kinda reminds me how things are now, except we've got more options. But I digress.

Yes, it was a glorious day for buying old comics. I picked up some new comics as well, but I blog out those another day.

Comments

Dru Tan said…
Wow... Black Cat over Catwoman? You sure, dawg? That's... That's a serious statement right there, man. Wow.
June 11, 2008 at 1:25 AM
Reggie White Jr. said…
Ha ha! Well I will give Catwoman mass props for starting in Celina's Big Score, one of the greatest mini series of all-time.
June 11, 2008 at 4:53 PM
Tommy said…
I love reading about your new comic acquisitions, Reg!

It makes me think of the joy of getting new comics that is hard to feel with BND out there.
June 12, 2008 at 1:09 PM
Dru Tan said…
Did you ever read Brubaker's run on Catwoman? (COOKE and Allred did the art for the first arc.) Check it out if you ever decide to buy a non-Spidey book one day.

And what did you think of Kevin Smith's Spidey/Black Cat mini? I thought that was pretty entertaining, actually. I really enjoyed it, because I waited for the TRADE, BABY.
June 12, 2008 at 5:15 PM
Reggie White Jr. said…
In truth I haven't read a single issue of Catwoman. Ever. As much as I like Bats, I've never had the urge to check out a Catwoman comic.

Keven Smith's Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do. That's the one that took forever to finish, right? I read the first two issues. Never got around to finishing it. I heard the story was changed and Felicia's origin was altered as a result. Now instead of wanting to be like her dad, she was a rape victim.
June 12, 2008 at 5:49 PM
Dru Tan said…
You should definitely give the Bru's Catwoman a chance, especially if you like COOKE's graphic novel. He and Bru worked very closely when they relaunched Catwoman and Selina's Big Score came about because of their work on the revamp.

I don't think the stuff in Smith's Spidey/Black Cat retconned her origin. There's some stuff about rape in the story, but I don't think it blatantly throws a Superboy-Prime continuity punch over her entire history. And you know me - I'm no stickler for continuity, so even if I somehow misread it and there IS a retcon, it doesn't bother me. I just enjoy it for what it is. The more important thing to me is that the characterizations felt right in the context of the story.
June 13, 2008 at 1:48 AM
Sol (Frederick) Badguy said…
I have all the Amazing Spider-Man issues you posted their covers here, but only read those two holding Thunderball vs. Spider-Man story when Spider-Man thought he is the HobGoblin.

I love both Catwoman and B.C, but most of the time I lean more toward Catwoman (Selena)
June 15, 2008 at 3:09 PM
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