Superior Returns!
Plus Mark's first encounter with Dan Slott!
Hi, we are Dapper Dan Gvozden and Mischievous Mark Ginocchio, co-hosts of the Amazing Spider-Talk podcast. With each newsletter we hope to give you greater access into our thoughts on the world of Spider-Man!
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Alright, let’s get to it. In this SUPERIOR edition, we are using the launch of Superior Spider-Man Returns to set our focus on all things “Superior”. That means we’ll review the new book in Swarm’s B(ee)-Title Reviews, Mark’s Weekly Top 5 counts down his favorite Superior Spider-Man stories, Mark recounts collecting Superior Spider-Man #1 and how it led him to meet Dan Slott, and we answer your submitted questions!
Swarm’s B(ee)-Title Reviews
With every new edition of the Amazing Spider-Talk Substack, Dan and Mark will venture to write short reviews of all the various Spider-Man books (and major Marvel releases) that have released since the previous newsletter. Sometimes our arch-villain Swarm might chime in as well. So “bee” prepared!
Superior Spider-Man Returns
Mark: Based on some of the early chatter I’m seeing about this comic, I’m bound to catch some flack for this opinion, but this one-shot, which sets up an ongoing series from Dan Slott and Mark Bagley, didn’t really move the needle for me.
Let’s start with the 800 lb gorilla in the room which is the general bait and switch readers were presented with here. The comic is presented as the “return” of the Superior Spider-Man, aka Doctor Octopus masquerading as Spidey after swapping minds and bodies with Peter Parker in the now iconic “Dying Wish” arc in 2012. From the onset, in this current status quo of Spider-Man, I wondered what kind of “new” stories Marvel would have to tell about SpOck or Spider-Ock or whatever you want to call him. In fact, while this was a “new to us” story, in terms of continuity, we’re getting a flashback story.
Granted, I’m not opposed to flashback stories, or even an entire flashback series – Untold Tales of Spider-Man is one of my favorite B-books of all-time. All the same, I’m not sure 10 years – and really merely four years if you count the second volume of this book by this issue’s writer, Christos Gage – is really enough of a gap to create a true desire to go back to this time and place of Spider-Man storytelling. But I would have been infinitely more intrigued if Slott and Gage found some creative machination to bring back SpOck while still playing off the current status quo, but instead we got something far more predictable, and thus, less riveting.
A new villain in Estrella Lopez carries some promise, though, again, the creation of a semi-sympathetic villain as a result of Otto’s bravado feels like a concept I’ve seen before, not only in Superior, but in superhero comics overall. The art, which features a rotation of some of the all-timers in Mark Bagley, Ryan Stegman, Humberto Ramos and Giuseppe Camuncoli, is a total knockout, though the ongoing is going to be primarily manned by who was probably the least alluring of the quartet in Bagley.
I hesitate to call this a cash grab because even with its deficiencies, there’s way too much fun being had by Gage and artists alike (you gotta love Stegman immediately going back to illustrating Otto as Peter, which may be one of my favorite physical characterizations any Spider-Man artist has ever executed). But I also don’t quite get the “why” of this return and where it goes from here outside of MOAR CONTENT.
Dan: I’m going to echo the masses on this one to say that I found this issue a delightful bit of time travel back to 2013 and the Superior Spider-Man era. Hopefully, I can provide a bit more nuance to that enthusiasm, which is solely directed at the ideas presented in this specific plus-sized issue and not at the idea of endlessly digging into this particular nostalgic well.
So many of the wonderful themes, story tropes, voices, and artistic stylings that made Superior Spider-Man such a unique title a decade ago are at the forefront in this book. It’s easy to see why this relatively short period on the title left such an imprint on the minds of comic book readers everywhere, there was and is truly nothing like it. Otto’s back to his sinister attempts at heroism, nearly killing Spider-Man’s rogues, adopting their powers for his own, and continually expanding his reign over the Marvel Universe (including wiping out A.I.M. with spider-mechs). The book lacks the tension that the original series had, since we know how it all resolves and how relatively little, negative impact it had on Peter’s life, but co-writers Dan Slott and Christos Gage even have a clever answer for that lingering narrative problem of the original series.
Otto’s voice as Spider-Man is as distinct as ever and Slott and Gage choose to wisely fill in the one, major time-gap between Superior Spider-Man #13 and #14. (Though, continuity nerds will notice the error in the opening flashback chapter where Otto refers to Alchemax before it actually existed in the timeline.) Here we get to learn about Otto’s reasoning for a costume change, adoption of minions, and deeper rationale for his actions dating as far back as Amazing Spider-Man #3 and #600. All of it is smartly born out of Otto’s superiority complex, even the creation of a new villain to haunt Spider-Man in the upcoming run of Superior Spider-Man.
Each artist from that era has evolved so much over the past decade, but each one channels what made their work distinct during this era (is it me or did Stegman intentionally regress his approach for this issue?). This leaves Bagley looking like the odd duck out, but he’s smartly used only for the present day depictions of Otto, which do a great job of retaining the new design elements that McGuinness implemented in his latest Amazing Spider-Man story.
All-in-all, it’s a finely-tuned story with some great characterization, clear single-issue throughline, nostalgia-driven artwork, dynamic action, Living Brain laughs, and a solid tease for what might be upcoming in Slott and Bagley’s Superior Spider-Man (vol. 3). The most promising element of that is the character of the stepped-upon Estrella Lopez, established here as the villainous Supernova. She doesn’t have the most unique villain creation-story, basically being born of a flashback retcon, but consider me thrilled to see any consequences from the Superior era appear, even if they are retroactively inserted (as delayed as they may be).
I would have preferred that this issue stand alone as a one-shot “Returns” title, rather than spinning off into its own series, but at least I know the basic thrust of that title seems to be oriented on more modern Spider-Man stories dealing with repercussions of Otto’s actions than more retroactive inserts into Otto’s past. Dan Slott’s recent time on Spider-Man has done very little to convince me that he should have returned to writing the character. This issue has changed very little of that feeling, despite it’s qualities. I can’t help but feel that this issue would have been even more special if it was a rare return to his writing on the character. Time will tell on that upcoming title, but as a ten-year celebration of what Superior Spider-Man was… I had a fun time with this time-machine of a one-shot.
Spider-Man: India #5
Dan: This was a delightful blockbuster ending to this special, old-school mini-series. I say “blockbuster” because this really does feel like the conclusion to a Spider-Man: India movie, complete with the whole city banding together in Spider-Man masks, a new costume, a new mantra to define Pavitr’s life, and a big boss to take down. It all happens fairly quickly, but the characters get time to shine, bad jokes and all, with the promise of more stories in this world.
In the letters page, editor Nick Lowe peels back the details on the artistic process of the series. Apparently penciler Tadam Gyado worked exclusively in Manga Studio and then inker Scott Hanna printed the pages out for more traditional inking. Which is to say… Scott Hanna inked this title! While the style bears very little resemblance to his work on John Romita Jr.’s pencils in Amazing Spider-Man, that same care for detail and old-school line-work make the work here sing. Every line is as clean as a whistle and the pairing with Dee Cunniffe and Neeraj Menon’s watercolor-styled colors gave this title a unique look and feel.
Mark: This was a generally enjoyable miniseries for the reasons Dan outlined, but I definitely don’t share the full-throated enthusiasm here. This might seem a bit unfair, but Spider-Man: India as a general consumable pop-culture figure seemed to be of a time of place that came and went earlier this year with the release of Across the Spider-Verse. So, by the time this series reached it’s fever pitch conclusion, I had more or less forgotten why I was supposed to care about this pocket of the multiverse in the first place. I know that might come across as a damning statement on our collective attention spans, but it doesn’t make it any less true.
With all that said, I do wonder in these instances if there’s a way to package stories like these to augment their currency better… maybe a jumbo-sized one-shot or perfect-bound graphic novel like what we used to get back in the day. That way, you realize a story like this in the weeks following the release of the movie and you can capitalize on keeping interest high and eyeballs on the character.
Venom #26
Dan: With the recent departure of Ram V from the writing team on this book, the appointment of Torunn Grønbekk (who also took over Thor after Donny Cates’ departure) has left the title in a bit of a holding pattern. It’s not that these aren’t well-crafted adventure comics with beautiful art, they are… it’s just a far cry from the tightly crafted, puzzle-box storytelling that Ram V and Al Ewing were putting together.
It’s a shame because it really seemed like Ram V was working towards some kind of conclusion to his ongoing Venom and Carnage stories, with both lead characters gaining cosmic-level powers and learning to deal with the repercussions that go with them. Instead we got a punt downfield with Death of the Venomverse and this story seems to do the same with the Meridus story, at least until Al Ewing returns to the title.
This particular run of Venom is already difficult enough to follow on its own, between its two protagonists, various rules and powers that govern symbiotes, and an intentionally timey-wimey plotline that has run almost two years. Now we’ve introduced Toxin and Black Widow into the mix for a multi-part spy story that will take over the book at least until the end of the year. One can only begin to wonder if the primary story will ever truly come to a conclusion or meaningful finale that makes a coherent statement on Eddie’s time as the King in Black and Dylan’s time as Venom. I mean, heck, we’ve only ever seen Eddie as Bedlam and still have at least Tyro, Wilde, and Meridus to go. Remember those future versions of Eddie? I did. Somehow.
In the meantime, it’s weird to see Black Widow with a symbiote, but I’m glad someone has given her something substantive to do since the end of Kelly Thompson’s award-winning, but short-lived Black Widow run. I don’t love her characterization here, as she uses the symbiote to cold-bloodedly eat a man’s brain and absorb his memories, but the visualization from Julius Ohta of symbiote-spawned black widow spiders crawling over her body and those of her enemies is suitably creepy. Venom and Toxin get similarly goopy, spikey, and viscous illustrations here, fitting for a book this thematically dark and dangerous. It’s a good thing too, because the art has a lot of lifting to do to make up for a pretty forgettable plot despite solid scripting from Grønbekk.
Mark: Dan gives this a far more fair-argued analysis than I will, but here goes nothing. For the better part of this volume of Venom (aka, since the end of “King of Black”) I have found my attention for this series oscillating between being keen on the Eddie-focused stories and being uninterested by “everything else.” This issue, and what appears to be the setup of this next arc, is very clearly in the “everything else” category.
Bringing in Black Widow as a new host for the symbiote could be seen as good fun if there was actually any inkling or belief this would have long-lasting ramifications for the character beyond what will surely be a short-lived blip designed to create inorganic interest in a title that is otherwise floundering and unfocused. We’ve gone from cosmic-inspired existential wars involving Doom, time and other symbiotes, to what is now a pseudo-spy thriller with another anti-hero character in Natasha getting the symbiote and doing some bad things with it along with some “heroic” ones. As a concept, this is the quintessential, “Make it a What if…?” in Marvel comic book form.
Venom as a series is one of those books that I really wish Marvel would take a step back from and reevaluate what it is they’re trying to say about the character and the world of symbiotes. I have to assume sales dictate that Marvel needs to keep going here, as I’m aware that the “Cult of Venom” remains ever-strong, but less could mean so much more if this book was just given a clear, concise vision, rather than this current jumping around from gimmick-to-gimmick approach.
Mark’s Weekly Top Five
This week, Mark ranks his five favorite Superior Spider-Man storylines. At least one of these stories got a rare Double “A+” from Mark and Dan during the infancy of the Superior Spider-Talk podcast. Can you guess which one?
This Week in Spider-Man History
60 years ago, this week, Marvel published Amazing Spider-Man #8 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. This issue is most notable for introducing the Superior Spider-Man’s trusted sidekick, the Living Brain, as well as for its “B” story that further advanced the Silver Age feud between Spider-Man and the Human Torch.
Mark’s Comic Collection Meditations
When Mark launched Chasing Amazing in 2010, the blog chronicled his “quest” to collect every issue of Amazing Spider-Man and featured a series of posts that recalled memories and meditations around specific comics he came to own. As part of this newsletter, we’re resurrecting these remembrances with some new wrinkles, and will also occasionally chronicle some other comics Mark has purchased since completing his ASM run in 2014.
Here’s a dirty little secret I don’t really talk about anymore: during the buildup to Superior Spider-Man in the Fall of 2012, I was quickly losing interest in modern Spider-Man comics. I had started blogging regularly at Chasing Amazing about a year-and-a-half earlier, and from my perspective, Amazing Spider-Man as a book had peaked that summer with the “Spider Island” event. Following those comics, I found that the Dan Slott run had lost some steam with the “Ends of the Earth” event being downright disappointing (a trend I would eventually learn would be quite common during Dan Slott’s time scripting the main Spider-book events). I started blogging less. And when rumors about Peter Parker “dying” in Amazing Spider-Man #700 came to light with a new “darker” Spider-Man taking over in a new book called Superior Spider-Man that January, I just felt burnt out by the whole thing. I even wrote a post bemoaning a potential “end point” for my collection.
The death of my love for Spider-Man comics was obviously greatly exaggerated. And while I didn’t view it as a “perfect” comic by any stretch, the hysteria (and ultimately, the story) of Amazing Spider-Man #700 was probably enough in itself to keep me hooked on modern Spidey for the foreseeable future. But it was the events around the release of Superior Spider-Man #1 that reinvigorated my love for blogging about these comics, and of course, would lead to my eventual podcasting about them with Dapper Dan. (Hear Dan and me talk about Superior Spider-Man #1 on our podcast.)
Prior to the release of Superior #1, I had had a few small interactions with Dan Slott online (primarily on Twitter where he seemed to constantly be despite scripting the most popular double-ship book in the industry). Since I never found Chasing Amazing to be any kind of a “news” or even “review” blog, I never pursued more of a rapport with Slott beyond the occasional “tweet,” though I was also greatly amused by how mad some online Spider-Man fans would get about Slott (irrational online anger about Spider-Man was yet another trend line I didn’t see developing until it was very much in my face).
When Slott “killed” Peter in ASM #700, the absolute hatred and vitriol for him on Twitter was unlike anything I had ever seen before. And maybe this is just the innate contrarian in me, but this toxic venom made me gravitate more towards Slott — I didn’t necessarily feel “sorry” for him since he almost seemed to embrace it like he was a supervillain in his own real life comic book, but I was fascinated by it, and by him as a personality. So when I found out that Slott was going to be doing a comic book signing on the night Superior #1 dropped at a comic book store in New York City, I decided to leave work a few hours early and wait in line to meet him.
That’s right… I just wanted to meet him. I wouldn’t have a copy of Superior #1 to be signed because at that point in time, I was still in the final throes of my “home subscription” phase of new comic book purchasing, so I wouldn’t get my copy of Superior in hand until a week or so later. I didn’t want to wait in line for hours empty handed, so I did bring a copy of an ASM #700 variant (the Christmas cover) with me. But again, I just wanted to meet Slott, and most importantly, ask him if he was familiar with Chasing Amazing, or if the few interactions I had with him were more inflated in my mind.
Superior released on an early January day, and the line to see Slott was long and wrapped around the outside of the store. Aka, it was cold and I just remember feeling deeply uncomfortable standing on a line outside the building in the middle of Midtown Manhattan on a blustery winter day. And the line seemed to be moving in slow motion. At one point, someone a few spots in front of me jumped off the line and poked his head into the store to see what the holdup was and his report when he came back outside was, “Dan is just talking to everyone and signing like 50 books a person.” At one point, someone from the store came outside and had an “observational” look in his eye, but he assured us, we’d “probably” get a chance to meet Dan.
Finally, I was in the store and maybe about 10 people away from Slott. In addition to my copy of ASM #700, the store gave everyone in line a promotional postcard with the Superior #1 cover on it, so I decided to get that signed too (since other people were legitimately bringing 20 or so different comics with them for autographs).
When it was finally my turn, I still had enough energy and enthusiasm to lead with the statement I had hoped would give me the information I was seeking from Slott: “Hi, I’m Mark Ginocchio, and I write the Chasing Amazing blog.”
Pause…
“Chasing Amazing? Oh, hi, how are you., That’s a fun site … even when you criticize me.”
I mean … ok, not exactly the response I was expecting — again, I didn’t really “review” comics on Chasing Amazing back then though I guess I had “criticized” Slott here and there in just my general commentary.
But more importantly, he knew who I was. Or what Chasing Amazing was. Or he did a great job pretending. Either way, I was going to take the W.
The other last memory I have from the signing was that when he signed my ASM #700 variant, the cover was very dark and he only had a black sharpie with him. When I realized that, I sheepishly shrugged and asked Slott to sign it “if you could.” Slott called over a store employee and told him to “check this out” and he ended up signing (nice and small) inside the UPC code box in the bottom corner of the comic.
I was just genuinely excited and heartened by the whole meetup. My back was in tremendous pain from standing, and I probably had frostbite, but I was also inspired to get back to Chasing Amazing since, hey, Dan Slott was a reader (maybe). The very next day, I picked up a copy of Superior #1 from the local comic book shop near my office (and a few weeks later, I was officially transitioned to a traditional LCS “pull list” for good, for all of my comics, rather than rely on the Pony Express home delivery). And despite not being a “review” site, I transported myself back to my newspaper days when I had to turn around a story in less than a day, and had a proper “review’ (with the usual Mischievous Mark twists) posted on Chasing Amazing.
As for the comic itself, Superior #1 was a fine issue indeed, but in retrospect, I was most taken by the appearance of “Ghost Peter” at the end, which demonstrated to me that despite the histrionics around the events of ASM #700, Peter’s story was still going to be very much front and center in the “main” Spider-Man book at the time, even if Otto Octavius was the one manning the webs.
It was all such a wild, exciting time for comics. And of course, a few months after that I would be launching the very first episode of the “Superior” Spider-Talk with a review of Superior #7 and #8.
But perish the thought if I got to the front of the line and Dan Slott said “who are you?” which for whatever it’s worth, he’s kinda done to me a few times since that initial meeting (New York Comic Con 2013 is one instance that immediately comes to mind). But that doesn’t matter, because Slott thought my site was fun, even when I criticized him, at a time when I needed him to say such a thing, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Audience Comments/Questions Answered
With every new edition of the Amazing Spider-Talk Substack, Mark and Dan will answer your submitted questions about any topic that you might be interested in. They will prioritize submissions from the Amazing Spider-Talk Patreon (sign up), but lacking any queries there they will respond to questions asked in the comments below. To get your question potentially picked, the Patreon is the best way to submit them.
Alright, let’s get to our second batch of questions from the Patreon:
Steve Lambert
Are there any holes in your Spider-Man reading? Issues or series you have never read? Are they on your to-read list or so obscure that you don't really care?
Dan: There are so many!
One thing I like about our seasonal format is that it really helps me to fill those holes. Marvel Team-Up was a big hole for me for the longest time, but our episode on that series (with guest J.M. DeMatteis) saw me binge-reading 80 issues of that title. I don’t recommend doing this.
It’s not that I don’t care to read any particular Spider-Man stories that I’ve missed, it really comes down to time and attention. Outside of preparing for a show, I really try to pace how much I read Spider-Man comics. Frankly, I get a bit bored when I’m reading the same character over and over again, as much as I like Spidey, and I have a ton of other interests in comics, film, gaming, and… life outside of pop-culture. Because I know we are going to cover most of the major holes I have on the show, I am mostly just waiting until season prep to read them and kill two birds with one stone.
But, I’ll admit to the following holes that I’m currently looking to fill: most of Untold Tales of Spider-Man, much of the “Clone Saga” outside of Amazing Spider-Man, most of Spider-Girl, the original Spider-Ham stories (which I’ll be reading for this season of our show).
Mark: There’s almost an infinite amount of Spider-Man content so the short answer is “yes, of course,” though I struggle to call out a specific series or era where I struggle. When I was researching for my book, 100 Things Spider-Man Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die, I made sure I read through all of the main titles and series where major/recurring characters and concepts were introduced, and there are several B-books from the 90s and early 00s that I’ve read out of sheer enjoyment like Untold Tales of Spider-Man, Spider-Man’s Tangled Web and Webspinners. With all that said, when you’re binging on comics within a condensed timeframe with a deadline in mind for a book, I will admit that information retention isn’t always at it’s peak. So if you start quizzing me about some of these stories (I’m looking at you Tristan Mathews), I may not be able to come across like I actually read much of anything! So again, I’ve probably read upwards of 85% of all Spider-Man content that’s out there in this world, but my actual mastery of it is a far, far, lower number, so let’s just say, I have plenty of blind spots and I hope you’ll forgive me for it.
Tashoman Dimps
As people who have dedicated their entire lives to Spider-Man, I’m curious to know where you would recommend new readers start reading his decades-long comic history. What issues, trades or omnibuses do you consider perfect jumping on points?
Dan: First, I want to admit that I had a bit of an existential crisis reading that we have “dedicated [our] entire lives to Spider-Man.” I don’t know that that is remotely true, but yes… we’ve spent a lot of time talking about the character and our relationship with him. But, Mark and I, I think, have a pretty healthy relationship with the amount of time we spend on these comics and the impact they have on our lives. The fun thing about doing our show and now things like this Substack is that it lets us wave our freak flag in a very concentrated place. Most of the people in my life have very little knowledge that Spider-Man is something this important to me.
Yes, I probably spend more time than the average person writing, podcasting, and thinking about him, but I don’t really spend much time outside of those endeavors getting angry on the Internet, chatting with friends about comics, or really attending conventions in the manner you might expect. Poor Mark, and our Amazing Spider-Slack, tend to get the brunt of my passion for the character. I’m not sure why I felt the need to address this, but just wanted to say, “I’m just like you. I’m a normal person,” for whatever that’s worth. Frankly, if you don’t believe me, I don’t blame you.
As for my recommendations on where to start, this is a question that Mark and I get all the time. So, we even created a series about the 30 “essential” Spider-Man stories to get a new reader a full understanding of the character. If you listen to our Amazing Spider-Talk podcast, any episode with the title “Essentials” is our discussion of one of those stories. They range from obvious to obscure, but should be a fun way, we hope, to get a broad range of stories about the character.
But, that’s not really an answer to your question, and really giving a direct answer to that question is difficult. That’s mostly because: 1) there are so many good places to jump on, 2) each reader is going to have their own needs and comfortability with old comics, and 3) not all of the entry points are equally available in different forms.
That said, if this supposed person can handle reading old comics, there’s no better place to start than the Stan Lee and Steve Ditko run of Amazing Spider-Man all the way through Gerry Conway’s run (issue #149). They are classics for a reason: they are just tremendous comics that were decades ahead of their time. Reading those nearly 150 comics will cover the full backbone that forms nearly everything that came afterwards.
If this supposed reader is younger, or looking for a more modern retelling of the Spider-Man origin story, I highly recommend Ultimate Spider-Man. Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley’s retelling of Peter Parker’s early days as Spider-Man is probably the best version of the character that’s ever appeared in the pages of comics. That’s because they could operate with 20/20 hindsight and tie all the stories together magically, fleshing out Peter Parker’s world and characters in ways that would inform all the various Spider-Man movies over the past several decades. But, really, it’s the character writing for Peter Parker that is at the heart of this series and Brian Michael Bendis has a unique writing style that puts that characterization at the forefront. There are whole story arcs that don’t have Peter in his Spider-Man costume and… shhhhh… they are the best ones!
My last recommendation is the one I’ve bought the most for friends in my life, basically to answer this exact question you posed. The specific comic I recommend is the start of the J. Michael Staczynski run of Amazing Spider-Man, specifically (vol. 2) #30. Mark and I have talked about this story, “Coming Home”, as one of our absolute favorite stories in all of Spider-Man’s history. But this particular story is a great re-introduction/reboot of Spider-Man’s life. It does a great job of laying out the simple new status-quo for the character (he’s a high school teacher!), echoes back to his origins, and introduces a great new villain and twist on the mythos. This would be a great place to start for adult readers who don’t want to read the same origin stories over and over again. They’ve seen the movies, but want a modern approach on Spider-Man that’s going to give them something completely new. The only problem is that the trade collection is no longer in print, but can be found pretty easily as a used copy. Digitally, this thing is available everywhere.
Anyway, those are three. I could come up with dozens more. I’m sure some of our readers will provide their own answers in the comments.
Mark: Oh man, have I really dedicated my life to Spider-Man? Like Dan, this is a somewhat existential concept for me to think about.
This is going to be utterly shocking to hear, but I’m not sure I have much to add to Dan’s recommendations for “entry points” to Spider-Man. I mean, you HAVE to read Amazing Fantasy #15 and the original 38 Lee/Ditko issues (and two annuals, I GUESS) though I also acknowledge that many modern readers may struggle with the very Silver Age sensibilities of those comics. Doesn’t make them any less essential. And I agree wholeheartedly with Dan’s recommendations for Ultimate Spider-Man (though that series loses it’s juice for me probably around the end of the Venom arc in issue #39) and “Coming Home.” As we’ve discussed in our current season, the “Black Suit Saga” in Amazing Spider-Man #252-258 from Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz/Rick Leonardi also feels like one of those “back to basics” soft reboots of the series that makes it a fantastic entry point for new readers.
What’s New for the Amazing Spider-Talk?
This week saw the public release of Episode 6 of Season 6 of the Amazing Spider-Talk podcast. This one’s called “The Black Suit” and it is our discussion about… you guessed it… the black suit. We ask what it meant to introduce Spider-Man’s first real and all-time, favorite alternate costume. Plus, Dan asks, “Gun to your head, would you replace the red and blues forever with the black suit?” Tune in to hear our answers.
Plus if you are hyped for the new game and want more BLACK SUIT in your life… this should do the trick.
You can watch it on YouTube or listen to it wherever you listen to podcasts.
Plus, in our Patreon, listeners got to hear/watch our review of Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 6) #35.
Listen on Patreon, by clicking here.
You can watch a sneak preview of the review episode and Mark’s recap below:
We hope you enjoyed this second edition of the Amazing Spider-Talk Substack and that you’ll consider subscribing for our future newsletters.
And, if you haven’t already, please subscribe to our various podcasts, comment below, and consider joining our Patreon:
Mark: Superior One Shot came out too soon
Also Mark: Spider-Man India came out too late!
Timing is everything
I was laughing at Dan’s “timey wimey plotline” description and Mark’s “uninterested with everything else” comment on Venom 😂