Rusty Staples – Mike Writes About Comics!
Everything you ever needed to know about comics (limited to the stuff that I know and am willing to tell you)!
When the Fantastic Four's creators Jack Kirby and Stan Lee were on top form -- specifically around the middle of their 102-issue run as a team -- the comic truly was spectacular stuff, with scenes and storylines that have rarely been surpassed since. Not that the rest of their time together was ever less than … Continue reading Noncomics: Marvel Chillers – The Frightful Four
In the first part of this highly-acclaimed-by-me series, we looked at how the Doctor Who Weekly comic evolved into the Doctor Who Magazine magazine. This time, it's the turn of another staple of the Marvel UK publishing group, Spider-Man Comics Weekly. A spin-off from The Mighty World of Marvel -- launched four months earlier -- Spider-Man … Continue reading Branding: Spider-Man Comics Weekly
"The what timeline?" I imagine that I hear you ask. Wonder no more, chum: those four-letter words that look a bit like they might be the names of Welsh TV stations are the commonly-used shortcuts for The Mighty World of Marvel and Spider-Man Comics Weekly, the first two titles released by the British wing of … Continue reading The MWOM & SMCW Timeline
Spider-Man: Bells of Doom!! is one of a series of audio adventures based around your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. When I was a very young kid I thought that phrase meant that he was only the Spider-Man for friendly neighbourhoods, and I always wanted to see the Spider-Man who swung around the hostile neighbourhoods. Over four … Continue reading Noncomics: Spider-Man – “Bells of Doom!!”
Having recently featured the first two novels based on Marvel comics -- The Avengers Battle the Earth Wrecker and Captain America: The Great Gold Steal -- I decided it might be interesting to take a look at a few of the other noncomics in my collection. What is a "noncomic"? Well, that's the industry-standard term … Continue reading Noncomics: X-Men – Morlock Madness
A follow-up to The Avengers Battle the Earth Wrecker, which was the first novel based on a Marvel comic, Captain America: The Great Gold Steal was published by Bantam Books in July 1968. Clunky title aside, it's actually a rather good adventure. It's better written than the Avengers novel, but the plot's a little more … Continue reading Captain America: The Great Gold Steal
Stan Lee was the first comic-book creator whose name I knew. I was about six and a half years old when I was given my very first superhero comic... this one: That's The Mighty World of Marvel issue #5, dated November 4, 1972. So a little over forty-six years ago. By some miracle, my copy … Continue reading Stan Lee, 1922 – 2018
