The Amazing Spider-Man (a look by Michael Samuel)

Today I’m looking at the first 4 Volumes of Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider Man, Collecting Amazing Fantasy #15, The Amazing Spider-Man #1-40, and The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1-2.

Upon first reading these stories, I was less than impressed. I couldn’t get past the art. My first Spider-Man comics were from the John Romita Era, so I kept holding the comics to those standards.

Ah yes. Fond memories...

Eventually I was able to read the stories without bias. I saw Ditko's work for what it was: simple, effective art. Without further ado, onto the plot!

Peter Parker is a Nerdy Teenager at Midtown High in Forest Hills, New York. One Day he goes to a Science exhibit with experiments in radiation and is bitten by a spider that was accidentally hit with radiation. Instead of giving him cancer, this spider bite gives him superpowers. He then does what any sensible person does: Try to make money off of this. First he wrestles Crusher Hogan for $100. Then he lands a gig showing off on the Ed Sullivan Show. At this point, Peter is clearly in this for the fame and fortune. But when a security guard is chases a burglar, Spiderman valiantly… does nothing.

In a twist of Irony (That we all probably have engraved in our brains) the same guy that robbed the studio later burgles the Parker residence and kills Peter’s Uncle Ben. It is then Peter learns that with great power there must also come great responsibility (unless you are selling your marriage to the devil apparently, but that’s a different, more stupid story).

I could have put 1 of 1000 jokes here, but I couldn't choose.

I just keep asking myself why this story even exists.

Beyond that, The Amazing Spider-Man had several developing stories, despite each issue being a stand-alone story. Continuity plays greatly into many stories without getting confusing. Some plot elements or details for some of these arcs are laid issues in advance such as Aunt May’s blood transfusion or Norman Osborn’s cameo 14 issues before his formal introduction. One major story arc that lasted artist Steve Ditko’s entire run (the resolution of that arc was covered in the first two stories drawn by John Romita) was the mystery pertaining to the identity of the Green Goblin. It is a story arc that lasts from issue 14 all the way to issue 40. Another famous story arc was the Master Planner story, where Spider-Man had to race against the clock to save his aunt from dying of radiation poisoning (That she got from a blood transfusion).

If you haven’t guessed by now, our hero is Peter Parker (who is secretly the Amazing Spider-Man). Other supporting cast include His Aunt May (Who is elderly) and his Uncle Ben (Who is dead). We also have Peter’s peers, Flash Thompson, Liz Allen, and later Harry Osborn and Gwen Stacey. Mary Jane Watson (a girl Aunt May tries to hook Peter up with) is also present with her face always obscured. At The Daily Bugle we have J. Jonah Jameson, Betty Brant, and Frederick Foswell. Many of these characters have their own arcs and side stories. They are fleshed out, having their own goals and ambitions. And that’s not even counting the villains.

Many of Spider-Man’s greatest villains were created in this first era, when Ditko or Romita were behind the Artwork. In the first 4 Marvel Masterworks collection we were introduced to many Iconic villains: The Chameleon, The Vulture, Doctor Octopus, The Sandman, The Lizard, Electro, Mysterio, The Green Goblin, Kraven the Hunter, and The Scorpion. Even Doctor Doom (Nemesis of the Fantastic 4) faces off against Spider-Man.

Other great villains include The Big Man, The Enforcers, The Spider Slayers, the Molten Man, and Professor Stromm. While these baddies aren’t as famous, they have become reoccurring villains or have impacted the Spider-Man Mythos in a great way. The Big Man (renamed Mr. Big) had an important (mostly posthumous) role in Ultimate Spider-Man. Dr. Stromm even got a role in the first spider man movie.

Then there are villains such as the Living Brain, the Meteor, The Cat and Just a Guy named Joe. These antagonists are probably best left forgotten.

Lies. That's a robot, its not alive. And its not a brain.

Themes for the Amazing Spider-Man are pretty straightforward. Teenage hardships are a common occurrence in these early stories as well as the pressures of life in general. Peter has an Aunt he needs to care for, High School and later College life to deal with, Romantic tension, Working for the Daily Bugle, etc. Despite later writers seem to think, writing Spiderman isn’t simply writing these pressures as the world being out to get him and many miss the fact that Peter Parker is a very determined as a character. He gets buried under a pile of Lab Equipment; he struggles to free himself, persevering after 5 tense pages. That is an element Missing from many modern Spider-Man stories (I’m looking at you, One More Day)

Why yes, I am still beating this dead horse.

Never really had a chance to vent about this 'till now.

Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, and Jack Kirby were the creators of Spider-Man, with Stan and Steve being the first writer and artist for the comic, respectively. Today Stan Lee is a personality in and of himself. He cameos in every Marvel Movie. Other creations attributed to him include the Fantastic Four, The Hulk, The X-Men and Daredevil, though he is hardly the sole creator of these works. On the other hand, Steve Ditko is less known to pop culture. He was the creator and artist for Doctor Strange. After leaving Marvel, Ditko went on to make the Question and the 2^nd Blue Beetle for Charlton Comics, two characters who later became heroes in the DC Universe and were the inspiration for Rorschach and Nite Owl from Alan Moore’s Watchmen.

Text and Art blend well rather than one becoming dominant over the other. The text narration can get annoying at times, but it never feels as if there is too much text just for the sake of text. As for the art, it is simple yet highly emotive. While one might hesitate to call the art outright cartoonish, Steve Ditko’s art certainly strays closer to the cartoonish than later Spider-Man artists. Like I said above, I wasn’t a fan of his art at first. Compared to Romita’s artwork, I felt as if Ditko’s art was amateur in comparison. It didn’t match the realism of Romita’s work. But I learned to appreciate Ditko’s style as it captures the tone of these early issues.

While on the subject of Ditko, a distinctive Ditko element works well in these stories. I personally am ambivalent to the philosophies of Objectivism. While some aspects are a bit too conservative, the Idea of a man being able to persist in the face of adversity is relatable to anyone. While I’m unsure if it is an Objectivist thought, it is used often in these stories, Notably Doctor Octopus’ first appearance and the Master Planer story arc.

On the down side, these stories haven’t aged that well. Little things, like communist spies, the slang used by the characters, and references to 60’s pop culture (such as Ed Sullivan and Soupy Sales) date the comic severely. However the core stories themselves are strong enough that with a little retooling they can be enjoyed by modern readers.

The Old 1960s Version

The New 2000s Version

For that, I recommend Marvel Age Spider-Man for younger Spider-Man fans and people who want to read the classics told in a modern setting. Personally though, I prefer the older stuff.

The Amazing Spider-Man had a profound impact on not only comics history, but pop culture as a whole. If Stan’s story on Spider-Man’s creation is even half true, then Spiderman was one of the first superheroes to deal with problems relatable to the reader. Today, Spider-Man is an icon.

Digger, by Ursula Vernon

Digger, a webcomic by Ursula Vernon which ran from Feb 2007 to May 2011. It is also available in print form spanning six volumes. It follows the adventures of a talking wombat who gets lost underground and digs up through the floor of an ancient temple.

Then it gets weird.

Characters: There are many characters in Digger, so here are a few important ones:

Digger (Of-Unnecessarily-Convoluted-Tunnels)

A female wombat, and the main character. She's an extremely straightforward thinker, but her tendency to interfere complicates her journey. A lot of the humor comes from her attitude towards the world she's thrust into, as well as her attitude towards problem solving.

Statue of Ganesh:

A statue of the elephant headed god Ganesh. 

The statue of Ganesh is just that, a statue, and therefore cannot move its face. Instead Vernon uses shadows and changes in angle to convey feeling. 

'Ed'

A male hyena, cast out by his tribe and stripped of name and identity. Before Digger names him Ed, he refers to himself as 'It'.

Shadowchild

This is the shadow child. No one is sure what it is.

Shadowchild is probably my favorite character. It has unknown and unearthly powers, it literally crawled out of an animal corpse, it is made of pure darkness, and at the same time

SO CUTE XD

Murai: A female human, and former member of the Veiled, a warrior order, now a worshipper of Ganesh. She looked on the face of a goddess known as the Black Mother, and went mad. Certain things still trigger her

The Plot

The plot unfolds pretty slowly, and is told from the point of view of Digger. We follow her efforts to find out where she is, how she got here, and how to get home. These efforts are curtailed by her compassionate and rather interfering nature. Since the story is in essence a mystery, I'm reluctant to give away the ending. 

The Art style is notable for the black and white visuals, textures evocative of both woodcuts and ink paintings, the use of splash pages, and the switches in style depending on who's in charge of

narrative

Ed tells a story:

Murai tells the story of the Black Mother:

There are quite a few nods to comics and other works of literature:

I love this comic. it's online for free. READ IT

http://www.diggercomic.com/

The Sandman Preludes and Nocturnes

1) The comic begins in the year 1916. Roger Burgess, an English magician, is looking for a way to live forever. He comes up with the idea to kidnap Death. He hopes that this will allow him to reach immortality. The “black magic” ritual that included rat claws and angel wings, inevitably backfired. Roger Burgess comes to find out that he captured Death’s brother Dream instead. Burgess decides to keep Dream locked up. Seven decades go by and Dream is still incarcerated, but in 1988, Roger Burgess dies and his son Alex Burgess takes over the responsibility of watching his father’s prisoner. The switching of “wardens” allows Dream a moment to escape, which he does successfully. He decides to punish Alex Burgess with a curse of never-ending nightmares.
Dream, also referred to as Morpheus, has been extremely weakened because of his lengthy incarceration. Attempting to get back to his home realm, Gregory, Cain and Abel’s gargoyle, finds Dream and together they nurse Dream back to health. Dream returns back home only to find everything in ruins. Lucian, the librarian, brings Dream up to speed about the ongoings of his realm since Dream has been away.
After his visit with Lucian, Dream goes out on a mission to obtain his items of power that were taken from him at the time of his capture. Dream has three items-a pouch of sand, a helm and a ruby. His pouch of sand was found with a former girlfriend of John Constantine, an antihero. Dream travels to Hell to retrieve his helm. Here he runs into his lover Nada, but has not yet forgiven her and refuses to free her. The demon, Etrigan, guides Dream to Lucifer where Dream explains that one of the demons in Hell has his helm. After battling Lucifer with a game of wits, Dream wins his helm back. Lucifer is now angered that he lost and swears vengeance upon Dream.
The last item to be recovered is the ruby. Dream finds out that the ruby is in John Dee's possession. John Dee recently escaped from Arkham Asylum and decides to torment customers at a diner by distorting reality to the point that the people became savages, murdering each other and ultimately commiting suicide. Dream arrives on the scene and demands his ruby back but Dee is overpowering. During the tussle, Dee shatters the ruby in hopes that it would kill Dream, but instead it returns the powers back to Dream. Dream decides to show mercy, since it was Dee who technically returned his powers back to him, and returns Dee to Arkham Asylum.
Dream is visited by his sister Death while reflecting upon his recent . Death talks Dream out of his slight depression and persuades him to go out and explore the world.

2) The Sandman Series titled Preludes and Nocturnes is a collection of eight issues. It has been published by DC Comics. Written by Neil Gaiman. Illustrated by Sam Keith, Mike Dringenberg, and Malcom Jones III. Colored by Robbie Busch. Lettered by Todd Klein. Issues one through five were penciled by Sam Klein, whereas issues six through eight were penciled by Mike Dringenberg. Issues one through four were inked by Mike Dringenberg, and issues five through eight were inked by Malcom Jones III.
Gaiman’s most notable works include The Sandman Series (comic book series), Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book. He has won many awards such as the Hugo, Nebula, Bram Stoker, Newbery Medal and Carnegie Medal in Literature. He was the first author to receive both the Newbery Medal and Carnegie Medal in Literature for the same novel, The Graveyard Book. Max Kieth is known for The Maxx and Zero Girl. Mike Dringenberg and Malcom Jones III are both known for Gaiman’s Sandman series. Jones is also known for inking Denys Cowan’s pencils on “The Question.”

All are continuing their work. Gaiman just announced at Comic-Con this year that he is writing a new Sandman series. He is teaming up with artist J.H. Williams III (Promethea, Batwoman) to do an epilogue mini-series setting prior to Sandman #1.

3) Gaiman has chosen to have his comic be more about the art than the text. The picture dominates over the words, which explains why he has such a large group of people that specialize in everything from drawing to inking to colouring. But he treats his text just as important by adding a lettrist to the group of people who help put the entire comic together.
The art is an even blend of cartoon realism, meaning it is as realistic as cartoons can get without crossing over to the completely realistic realm of drafting comics. Some of the creatures like Gregory the gargoyle, is more cartoonized with his disproportionately sized body and cartoon expressions. Yet, the members of the Endless family seem more realistic with their defined detailing, very different from Schulz’s oversimplified cartoon character Charlie Brown from The Peanuts.

4) This comic is not a comic to just breeze through. The art is very detailed and I found myself having to reread some of the text bubbles because I was too caught up with looking at the artwork. There is no one page layout that is used, but rather every page is slightly different. The panel sizes and shapes vary page to page as well as the different sized gutters. I did not find this to be too distracting or difficult to figure out the sequencing of the panels, but I could see how this style could pose problems for other comics.

5) "Could I do another five issues of Sandman? Well, damn right. And would I be able to look at myself in the mirror happily? No. Is it time to stop because I've reached the end, yes, and I think I'd rather leave while I'm in love." -Gaiman, 1996
Sandman is a critically acclaimed masterpiece. It is one of the very few comics to ever make it on the New York Times Bestseller List. It has also been one of the five graphic novels to make Entertainment Weekly’s “100 Best Reads From 1983 to 2008.” When analyzed, this graphic novel series had an audience that was half comprised with females, something that separated it from it’s competition. Many of it’s audience members were also in their twenties who do not read comics generally speaking. Some critics have even reviewed the Sandman series as an “intellectual’s comic” for both adults and youths. Gaiman raised the bar high with his Sandman series. As a direct response to it’s publication, there had been many spin-offs made. Most of them have Neil Gaiman as the writer with numerous artist’s working under his leadership.

Blankets

 

By Craig Thompson

• Craig Thompson: Craig is the main character, who is depicted from childhood to a young adulthood. Craig struggles with his Christianity, and with his belief that the Christianity that he has been surrounded with his whole life is not what he believes it should be. At a Baptist Christian winter camp he meets a girl from a similar background named Raina who becomes his first love.
• Phil: Craig's younger brother. Like Craig, he likes to draw, and the first portion of the story details their childhood together, though they later drift apart. Their adventures are also recalled at least once in each chapter throughout the book.

• Raina: Craig's first love, a fellow Christian whom Craig first meets at a church camp. Like Craig, her family is not well-off financially, and her parents' divorce causes her stress. She also takes care of her mentally disabled sister and brother. Although she believes in God, she does not believe as strongly as Craig does.
• Craig's parents: Craig's parents are strict, devoutly religious Christians who are not very tolerant of liberal Christianity.
• Raina's father: Raina's father is a man who is loyal to his own beliefs and is hoping to salvage his relationship with his wife
• Raina's mother: Raina's Mother has no interest in helping her relationship with her husband, and is trying to move on. Both Her and her husband are very focused on this, and leave Raina to take care of her adopted siblings, as well as her niece.
• Laura and Ben: Raina's adopted sister and brother. Both of which are mentally handicapped. Ben is a far more quiet and collected person, whereas Laura is far more energetic.
• Julie and Dave: Raina's sister and brother in law.

Blankets is an autobiography of a young boy/adolescent growing up in a Evangelical Christian family.  He finds himself faced with torment at school for being poor, torment at night in the form of sharing a bed with his brother, and torment in between in the form of a pedophilic babysitter.   Craig begins in his childhood describing his life sharing a bed with his younger brother Phil.  As the story progesses Craig shows the reader how he continually fails to fit in with his peers until one winter when he finds outcasts like himself at his annual Bible camp.  There he meets Raina and she becomes his first love.   

Craig finally has someone to talk to in his life and he begins developing his first real relationship with someone outside his family.  During the winter Craig visits Raina and her family in Michigan for a couple weeks.  He meets Raina's parents, her biological sister Julie and her husband, as well as her adopted brother and sister, both of which are mentally handicapped.  Due to her parents' divorce and her sister's flighty behavior Raina feels responsible for her brother, sister and Julie's daughter.  Craig becomes someone Raina can lean on and share everything with but despite them growing closer during their visit Raina breaks it off shortly after Craig returns home.  Craig burns everything that reminds him of Raina except for the quilt she made him for his visit, this he hides within the walls of his childhood home.  Once Craig leaves home he comes to terms with his religion and returns more at peace with himself.
 

One of the main themes throughout the book is Spiritual Identity.  Craig often references the Bible at times quoting specific verses that he felt relevant to the situation.  

The creator, writer, artist, and originator of Blankets is Craig Thompson.  In 1993 Thompson wrote and illustrated Goo-Bye, Chunky Rice, in 2004 he wrote and illustrated Carnet de Voyage, and in 2011 he wrote and illustrated Habibi.  Before being published Thompson worked for Nickelodeon, OWL, and National Geographic Kids.

Throughout Blankets the art is very painterly, Thompson's lines are expressive and active.  He often uses more imagery than words to make his story come to life.  Most of his characters are very stylized especially his peers in school.  They become caricatures of the types of people one would expect to come across in rural Wisconsin.  It isn't until he introduces Raina that he begins to draw with more detail.  While she is still stylistic when placed next to other characters in the story even himself she stands out as more well rendered.  As Craig ages in his novel he becomes more centered around his religion and his drawings reflect that using halos around the heads of characters at pivotal moments.  There are other moments when his mind is at conflict with itself especially when Raina asks him to spend the night in her room, at these times he brings in other religious figures like angels and an image of Christ himself.  

In the example on the left we see Craig and Raina wrapped together in sleep amidst one of the repetitive patterns found in the quilt she gave him when he arrived at her house.  Their heads are framed in a halo alluding the innocence of the two even though they are lying together nearly naked.  The small panel on the bottom is surrounded by large gutters to draw attention from the descriptive pattern because it symbolizes an acceptance from them that what they are doing is not a sin and that they should be ashamed.  

   

In the example on the right we see a young Craig envisioning Christ sad because he draw a naked woman got caught when he tried to throw it out on the bus.  Because he was raised Christian he is devastated when he imagines Christ turning his back on him in sadness especially since his whole life his teachers and peers have been telling him he is messed up and wrong and that they would expect better of him because of his parents.  In the final panel Craig is haunted by his drawing while he claws at the wall beneath Christ's image.

In the example at the below we see Thompson's stylized versions of Raina's peers as she and Craig make their way through the crowd.  We understand their movement because of the two framed images mirrored across the solid page in which the characters are highlighted.

In this graphic novel all of the lettering is handwritten.  All of the writing is either dialogue or Craig's inner voice.  Many times it blends right into the panels themselves and he often uses different "fonts" to differentiate between the storyline and religious texts or fables he feels relate.  Thompson also uses flashbacks to allow the viewer deeper insight into his past and explain his actions in the present.

Thompson's ability to explain himself through his past is phenomenal.  He allows the reader a glimpse into his life that is both humorous and serious enough to engage the reader and make them care.  His skill in writing an autobiography while not getting carried away is a real skill.  Many times an autobiography is about fueling one's ego but Thompson makes his about his discovery and his adventure to find who he needed to be as a person for himself not others.
One thing Thompson could have done was use the entire page instead of always leaving a gutter leaking to the edges of the pages.  There was never a moment when he colored the whole page and I think some of the moments in the story would have been greatly effected if he had covered every inch.  The image at the left is one of the moment I think could have been more powerful it was a full page or even a two page spread.

Thompson's work is one of the first graphic novel autobiographies that I have seen and it reads like a work of fiction making it very versatile for readers.  Most critics considered it a milestone in the progress of the American graphic novel, not only in length but also in visual grace and technique.  His work isn't like that of other graphic novels out there: no zombies, no blood, no guts, no world ending tomorrow.  It simply is. Blankets was a way for Thompson to gracefully tell his parents that he had given up his religion.  Many comic artists praise his work for it's difference and I believe it may influence future graphic novelists to not be afraid of writing about the everyday.

Urusei Yatsura  by Joseph Okin

Urusei Yatsura is about a boy Ataru Moroboshi who has the worst luck in the world, he is chosen to play a game of tag with an alien girl to save the world from an alien invasion, he wins, but the girl he beats (Lum) ends up falling in love with him and ends up chasing him everywhere, to his chagrin. Lum also has electrical powers, and shocks Ataru anytime he does something that angers her.  Ataru is extremely girl crazy, and chases after any good looking woman he meets. Because of Lum’s chasing him, and her alien connections and technology, he ends up getting into all kinds of wacky bizarre situations. The story also incorporates a lot of mystical elements and creatures from Japanese folk legends, which are also the source for crazy situations and plot lines. The plot mainly involves getting into some kinds of crazy situation or mess, Lum chases after Ataru and tries to get him to like her, and Aataru runs after the Attractive women of the weak

. As the series progresses, the plots involves a myriad of interactions between a number of characters. Ataru and Lum are the main characters; Lum who is an alien is also a demon, or rather an alien race that has strong demonesque qualities. Other main characture include Cherry, a monk that always seems to worsen the situation for ataru, always after a free meal, he always predicts more misfortune befalling him. Shinobu, Ataru’s former girlfriend, who frequently gets mixed up in his troubles, a typical girly girl,  she used to be angry with lum, but later loses interest in ataru. Sakura, a priestess and school nurse, extremely attractive, she is cherry’s niece and a foil to ataru, the young adult has a stern personality, and is always fending off kids chasing after her, especially ataru, she has the ability to exorcise spirits. Shutaro mendou, a super-rich class mate and rival of Ataru, smooth noble and refined, he is extremely popular with all the girls, he is from a noble lineage, and can wield a samurai sword, which he carries all the time, he has a vast army of resources at his disposal, literally. Ran, Lum’s childhood friend, and also an alien, on one side of her personality she appears a sweet soft and delicate dainty and fine pretty little girl, but underneath she is vacuous forceful loud angry and vindictive she blames lum for ruining her childhood and stealing her crush and vows revenge. She has the ability to steel someone’s youth and vitality by giving them a kiss on the lips. Jaraten Lum’s younger cousin he’s bratty and mischievous, and contantly fights with ataru, he has the ability to breathe fire. This story was started in 1978, written in japan; it takes place in a wacky sci-fi fantasy and mythical japan. The series ran to 1987, and takes place in the then contemporary 1980’s. 

The series was written by Rumiko Takahashi, one of, if not the first major female comic artist in japan, and perhaps the world.  She is the original creator of this work, both writes and draws the whole series. Urusei Yatsura was her first major work, other significant works she’s done include, Maision Ikkuko, Ranma ½, and Inuyasha, currently she is working on a comic called Rin Ne. This work is an excellently balanced blend of words and pictures, the pictures are blended with a substantial amount of text in word bubbles, a full blend. The art is more toward the cartoon side, and not so realistic, except for the background which is pretty realistic. The characters are drawn more cartoony but the background is more realistic. It is also stylized in a unique way.  If anything it this style helps the story and exhibits its events vividly. This story comes together excellently the art style is vivid and full, the characters are written very well; their personalities are built so fully and drives rub together well. The stories are very funny and extremely entertaining, their twist and turns unfolding rapidly revealing spectacular occurrences. The plots, characters, intrigue, writing and style work together so well. I really can’t think of anything that doesn’t work, everything about it seems successful. This work was done from 1978 to 1987. It was written at a time after manga in Japan had been established after the tezuka era; and was the leading work in a boom that saw the medium continue to grow and soar upwards. Every work in japan made after the early 80’s holds a huge debt to this series. It was the biggest work in japan at the time, innovative and sensational, it was much more spectacular and outlandish, with its wild comedy and faced paced plots and intricate characters, then other works in the same country, and was certainly more so than comics anywhere else at that time.