Archive for the ‘Amazing Spider-Blog’ Category
Posted by meekrat on May 2, 2010
Another Sunday, another weekly recap. Are you excited about Free Comic Book Day Man Month? You darn well should be.
Wow, that was a really short fight. I do like the panel where Spider-Man is getting hit with the crate, but other than that, this whole thing is sort of weird. I appreciate the speed at which they’re going (long, drawn-out fights is not a forte of this strip) but having Spider-Man be taken out by one blow is sort of weird. We’re now going into a whole convoluted “Mary Jane is kidnapped!” plot again, so… there’s that, I guess. This whole thing could have just been taken care of if Spider-Man or Mary Jane cared more about his secret identity.
Wait, so does anyone know if Doctor Hi-5 was a real person, or was he always just Lothar in a hooded sweatshirt and ball-cap? Also, wouldn’t a bodyguard be the one to go to the talent? I realize this would slow down the storyline and possibly undo this scheme before it began, but still.
OH SNAP! SHE JUST SMACKED HIM! Now, on a more serious note, this whole sequence was just sort of awkward, which might be what they were going for. It can’t be easy telling a loved one’s parents that their child is dead due to your actions or inactions.
The Phantom knows that sometimes it’s better not to punch people.
Well, this explains how Durok survived. I’m glad they cleared that up.
Posted in Amazing Spider-Blog, Comic Strip Commentary, Whatever Happened to the Defenders of the Earth? | Tagged: Mary Jane Watson-Parker, Spider-Man/Peter Parker, The Phantom, Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, Sabretooth, The Return of Doctor Hi-5, The Dirty Half-Dozen, Terror Cells of New York | 1 Comment »
Posted by meekrat on April 25, 2010
Sorry this is sort of late. I was working on something top secret and, really, more important to me than doing comic commentary. Here we are, though, so let’s do it:
This week, the inevitable happened as Sabretooth tracked down Spider-Man at a carnival and began breaking things. Since this is pretty much all Spider-Man’s fault (at least, leading Sabretooth to the carnival) any death and destruction is squarely on his head. Hopefully he’ll be able to take out Sabretooth before too many people get hurt and before too much stuff gets broken. Also, Mary Jane is such an enabler. Shame on you, Mary Jane.
Okay, this is just delightful. Here I was, thinking Doctor Hi-5 was some sort of mad scientist, but he’s a rapper? Er, a hip-hopper. He’s a hip-hopper, as Hojo says. This whole little sequence is probably the best I’ve seen in Mandrake yet, and that includes throwing dynamite at volcanoes and robots from Dimension-X. Here’s hoping that Doctor Hi-5 will prove to be a better character, long-term, than the Tourist.
Seeing Lee Falk doing his thing again is pretty nice, but if you’ve been reading this blog, then you don’t really need it. Still, it’s a good thing to have. I wonder if they’ll explain how the Phantom vanished from the chopper without it being smashed upon the ground.
And now we have shape-shifting. Marvelous. You can’t tell me that guy didn’t hear how odd “Just a moment” sounded.
The Phantom makes exceptions for white-collar criminals, apparently.
Posted in Amazing Spider-Blog, Comic Strip Commentary, Whatever Happened to the Defenders of the Earth? | Tagged: Mary Jane Watson-Parker, Spider-Man/Peter Parker, The Phantom, Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, Sabretooth, The Return of Doctor Hi-5, The Dirty Half-Dozen, Terror Cells of New York | Leave a Comment »
Posted by meekrat on April 18, 2010
I was on the DCR Podcast. Shocking, I know. Click here to listen to it.
How does Jameson always have the Parkers’ phone number? Not their cell phone number, either: the number of their current residence. I suppose Peter could supply it, but why? There’s pretty much no reason for him to do so. We can look forward to Peter donning some cruddy disguise to fight Sabretooth at the carnival, though.
Hold on a second, look at that guy in the blue in the middle of the final row of panels. Is that guy wearing a Phantom shirt? Do they… do they know I’m commenting on their comic strips?
Hey everybody, it’s Lothar! Say hello to Lothar, if you wish! Other than that, this storyline is actually moving at more than one plot point per week, so this is pretty good. Ruffshod’s silver eyes have some sort of mystical power, and only Mandrake will be able to defeat that power. Either that, or Ruffshod is a robot, which would be pretty good. Robots are nearly always a good time.
I wonder what the new adventure will be. This one was characterized by Savarna coming on way, way too strong and, at the end there, probably freaking the Phantom out. I’m guessing a good portion of the new adventure will feature Diana’s attempts to escape the jail, and her resulting fugitive lifestyle. She’ll probably be recaptured at some point, but only after sending a message to her husband. Good times, hopefully.
You know darn well that Barin’s going to end up helping to save the day, somehow.
I bet what the Phantom will have to say about it involves him going after the criminals. The Phantom’s kids should also be less jerk-ish towards their father’s lack of knowledge about technology, too, though I realize it’s only good-natured ribbing.
Posted in Amazing Spider-Blog, Comic Strip Commentary, Whatever Happened to the Defenders of the Earth? | Tagged: Jonah Jameson, Mary Jane Watson-Parker, Doctor Octopus, Spider-Man/Peter Parker, The Phantom, Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, Sabretooth, The Return of Doctor Hi-5, The Dirty Half-Dozen, Phantom at Sea | 4 Comments »
Posted by meekrat on April 11, 2010
What’s the 4-1-1? It’s today. Today is 4/11. Comics follow.
I like the kid in the Monday strip, and how he thinks people who wait for the light are losers. That kid is so stupidly rebellious. I can only imagine him being all like, “Only fools don’t run with scissors!” or “Only lame-os keep forks out of light sockets!” That kid’s going to be so dead, unless Spider-Man and the GI Joes keep showing up to keep him from killing himself. Also, the idea that Sabretooth can just waltz in and buy a plane ticket to Miami is ludicrous.
This Mandrake storyline is moving at blazing speed! I’m guessing Ruffshod is an agent of this Doctor Hi-5, and is somehow sending his charges to Hi-5 for nefarious purposes.
This week, Savarna realized she should have maybe backed off a bit. Also, the Phantom swam around and whatnot. Is new adventure ahead? Perhaps!
Will Flash get out of this alive, or will the anti-Ming forces have to rescue him? I have no idea. Probably a bit of both.
I like how thrilled the Phantom is by the webcam. It’s not that low-tech, though. Perhaps we’ll have a thrilling sequence where the Phantom goes on Chatroulette. That would be terrible.
Posted in Amazing Spider-Blog, Comic Strip Commentary, Whatever Happened to the Defenders of the Earth? | Tagged: Spider-Man/Peter Parker, The Phantom, Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, Sabretooth, The Return of Doctor Hi-5, The Dirty Half-Dozen, Phantom at Sea | 4 Comments »
Posted by meekrat on April 4, 2010
Here, Peter Parker displays rare common sense by coming to the realization that New York doesn’t really need him. Jonah Jameson also gets to print out his dream headline, which all but confirms that Spider-Man is gone, supposedly meaning that Sabretooth will high-tail it to Miami soon enough. Then again, he might not have, except Peter has decided to just forgo any sense of subtlety or stealth and just leap out as Spider-Man. There’s several things I like about Sunday’s: that one woman declaring that it’s perfectly logical for Spider-Man to be in Miami, since she and her husband did. Two, the guy who’s driving recklessly. Three, that guy just walking right into the path of a speeding car. Well, I don’t like that last one as much as think that guy is incredibly dumb. Look both ways, will you?
The most notable thing that happened this week was Lothar’s appearance on Monday. The conversation with Mel moved surprisingly quickly, though, but Mel is sort of foolish if he didn’t think that someone telling him to tell someone else not to believe a word they said wasn’t suspicious. Mandrake is on the case, though, because empty words mean nothing to him. I’m also glad he’s wearing his full magician’s get-up. It makes the strip so much better.
I’m pretty sure that the Phantom had no idea what the heck he was doing when he leapt from Savarna’s ship, deciding that jumping off the ship before she became too celebratory was better than actually having a plan. He just noticed that the pirates had another helicopter as he jumped and thought, “I can use that as an excuse to get out of here.” It’s also worth noting that, for one reason or another, I just read the last two strips before the others, so I had no idea what the heck was happening until five minutes ago.
I am a big fan of triceratops, as well as triceratops-like aliens. Even the one in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which are all war-like and stuff, so I hope Captain Wuldar sticks around for a while. Isn’t it also sort of silly to say to shoot anything that moves, since that includes your own men? I mean, I’m sure most soldiers and whatnot would be smart enough not to do that. But you’d be bound to get one or two idiots, or even people who are just darn too literal, who’ll start shooting everyone regardless of alliance.
Ah, so his plan is to… be arrested? Is that it? Still, a storyline about tax evasion during tax time! It’s a story ripped from the headlines, though more news stories need to involve men in purple body-suits.
Posted in Amazing Spider-Blog, Comic Strip Commentary, Whatever Happened to the Defenders of the Earth? | Tagged: Mary Jane Watson-Parker, Spider-Man/Peter Parker, The Phantom, Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, The Return of Doctor Hi-5, The Dirty Half-Dozen, Phantom at Sea | 1 Comment »
Posted by meekrat on March 28, 2010
Here’s the first new-format comics commentary, and I think it’s pretty successful. I actually have things to say about the comics when they’re clumped together, and I’m not so sick of writing about them every day that I actually feel like doing a decent job of writing them! I do hope you’ve been checking the site daily, still, as in addition to Time-Mind Sync-Warp, we have March Meekrat Madness going on (which I really hope you’re reading and voting on) and other tidbits, such as two reviews I wrote for the Examiner. So yeah. Here’s your commentary.
Why would the city care about the dinosaur head enough to pay a ransom for it? I mean, yes, it’s valuable, but it’s not as if it’s the city’s property. Is it? Also, Iron Man’s comment about expecting Spider-Man to go after Sabretooth comes across as imbecilic and mildly petty, as Spider-Man told him outright that he wouldn’t be in town for a while. Peter’s reading the paper should do nothing but assure him that, while he’s away, the city is in good hands.
The “NEXT” box, however, is just plain silly. What does that even mean, sharper than a sabre’s tooth? Sabres don’t have teeth. They’re swords.
“Perhaps by driving around aimlessly, I’ll just happen upon Ginger. I am a magician, after all.”
Ruffshod is probably going to end up either being, or working for, Doctor Hi-5. This is already better than the whole “Idol with No Name” business, as we’ve gotten right into things without some long prologue where we get fed a bunch of information which, in the end, could have been taken care of in a line or two of dialog. Also, it’s moving pretty quick for a Mandrake storyline. Mandrake meets with Ginger (who is much better drawn than Hilda or Hildy or whatever her name was) and Ginger is scared off by Ruffshod, while Mandrake realizes something’s up and sets out to make it right. Hopefully this brisk pace will be kept up, and we’ll likely have mad scientist shenanigans happening by the end of April.
I’ve noticed this before, but seeing a bunch of comics like this just drives home the fact that the Phantom has a rather odd-looking nose. I don’t know what it is about it, but it’s just strikes me as weird, at least in profile. I also have to wonder about the ethics behind the decision to leave a bunch of pirates floating around a rubber boat in the middle of the sea. I don’t remember how close they are to land, but it just seems that a few of them will probably be dead by the time they reach any land, and that’s only if they have reasonably good weather until they get there. Wouldn’t a better decision would have been to put them into the same hold the Croccos had been in, then take them in to be brought to justice? Considering the Phantom’s recent decision not to go after the terrorists who killed his wife because he was afraid he might go over the edge and kill them, that probably would have been the better choice. Then again, it is Savarna’s ship, and he might just be honoring her wishes.
I like how Flash Gordon is dressed sort of like the Mighty Thor. I’m also a fan of the narration box censorship, hiding the naughty bits of that (I’m guessing) nude woman poster. Also, Durlok appears to have survived that fall from the Hawkpeople’s City in the Clouds (whose name wasn’t mentioned once during that storyline), so his demise was far from ensured. Prince Thun also looks a bit more raggedy than he did, but that could be to disguise his identity.
The first two panels, detailing the Phantom’s origins, are pretty neat and I don’t recall seeing them before. I’m sure they have been, but not during my time commenting on the strip. As for the rest of the comic, it looks like a bunch of guys in suits, not having anything to do over in “Spider-Man”, are taking a little vacation in Mawitaan. Their hubris will be their downfall, as it’s never a good idea to proclaim that you’re smarter than the law and that you and your companions will get away with something in a public place. Supposedly, all the guys in the final panel (save the pilot) are the titular Dirty Half-Dozen, but at this point, it’s just as likely that the brown-haired guy standing off to the side just happens to be walking by. I guess we’ll have to see.
Posted in Amazing Spider-Blog, Comic Strip Commentary, Whatever Happened to the Defenders of the Earth? | Tagged: Mary Jane Watson-Parker, Spider-Man/Peter Parker, The Phantom, Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, Sabretooth, Iron Man, The Return of Doctor Hi-5, The Dirty Half-Dozen, Phantom at Sea | Leave a Comment »
Posted by meekrat on March 21, 2010
First of all, I have an announcement. I’m getting tired of doing the comic strip commentary everyday. Most days, it just amounts to me saying, “Oh look, Spider-Man isn’t living up to his potential, but there’s Mary Jane in a bikini,” “Mandrake is drawn and written terribly, and wastes any potential as soon as they get it,” and “The Phantom is pretty good, though.” So, from this point forth (until whenever) I’m only doing the commentary every week. I hope you all continue to come back every day for the other stuff that goes up (and will go up), though.
According to the “NEXT” box, it looks like Sabretooth is going to eat a dinosaur skeleton this week. That’s insane, and I’m glad it’s happening. Isn’t “Dinny” the name of the dinosaur in “Alley Oop”, though?
You could even say that Ricky is insecure about his security. You really shouldn’t, though, because that’s all sorts of lame.
Yep. We’ve spent like a week of them exchanging playful banter with each other, and heavy fire with the pirates. Good, but right now, pretty slow moving.
This Ming is a lot better than the one from the “Defenders of the Earth” cartoon. At least, in my opinion. Then again, the other Ming did have a giant snake and an army of robots and stuff.
Well, a new adventure next week in the Sunday Phantom. Do you think they’ll go ahead and give us a Heloise-centric adventure, or not?
Posted in Amazing Spider-Blog, Comic Strip Commentary, Whatever Happened to the Defenders of the Earth? | Tagged: Mary Jane Watson-Parker, Spider-Man/Peter Parker, The Phantom, Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, The Lost Kingdom of Avaria, Sabretooth, The Return of Doctor Hi-5, Phantom at Sea | 1 Comment »
Posted by meekrat on March 19, 2010
I like Mary Jane’s look of confusion in panel two. Some time has obviously passed between her wearing that bikini and them leaving, so for all we know, Peter has just started blathering on about Wolverine again. The second word balloon in that panel, though, is where things get really bad as he’s actually commenting on something he said. Poor Mary Jane. Also, why is Peter wearing the Sandman’s shirt?
I called it, sort of. At least, I remarked that Ricky should be more afraid of the security guy than anyone else.
Attacking pirates really brings people together.
Posted in Amazing Spider-Blog, Comic Strip Commentary, Whatever Happened to the Defenders of the Earth? | Tagged: Mary Jane Watson-Parker, Spider-Man/Peter Parker, The Phantom, Mandrake the Magician, The Return of Doctor Hi-5, Phantom at Sea | 1 Comment »
Posted by meekrat on March 18, 2010
Here’s some catch-up. New MMM stuff should be up later.
They wouldn’t have to worry about the spider-suit if he hadn’t bought the darn thing in the first place.
I’ve searched for expressed at midnight many a time, and no one is making a comic strip about my exploits. They’re more exciting than Mandrake’s, at the very least.
I like how Savarna isn’t wearing her captain uniform when she’s blasting the helicopter. I guess doing so is a special occasion.
Posted in Amazing Spider-Blog, Comic Strip Commentary, Whatever Happened to the Defenders of the Earth? | Tagged: Jonah Jameson, Mary Jane Watson-Parker, Spider-Man/Peter Parker, The Phantom, Mandrake the Magician, The Return of Doctor Hi-5, Phantom at Sea | 4 Comments »
Posted by meekrat on March 15, 2010
Hey there. Here’s your weekend recap. Have you been keeping up with all the other stuff on this site? You really should be, since that stuff takes actual effort and talent.
Ah. So the Master is Ming. That’s sort of a let-down, but not entirely unanticipated.
If you happen to knock down the wall of a jail with a cannon, don’t you dare let Heloise Walker find out about it, I guess.
If you did that sort of thing without Mandrake’s wife, though, she’ll just sort of deal with it. Adventuring is man’s work, I guess.
At some point over the weekend, Savarna let her hair down. Which is good, she looks better with it down. Hopefully it won’t get in the way of the pirate fighting.
That is a terrible reason why, and Mary Jane is quickly becoming the most sensible character in this strip. Look at her apathetic face in the Sunday strip when she sees what her husband was doing, and how she’s totally befuddled when she finds out he bought a Spider-Suit when the whole reason he came to Miami was because he didn’t want Spider-Man to be seen for a while. I doubt his spider-sense made him do it, either.
Posted in Amazing Spider-Blog, Comic Strip Commentary, Whatever Happened to the Defenders of the Earth? | Tagged: Mary Jane Watson-Parker, Spider-Man/Peter Parker, The Phantom, Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, The Lost Kingdom of Avaria, The Return of Doctor Hi-5, Phantom at Sea | 2 Comments »
This week, the inevitable happened as Sabretooth tracked down Spider-Man at a carnival and began breaking things. Since this is pretty much all Spider-Man’s fault (at least, leading Sabretooth to the carnival) any death and destruction is squarely on his head. Hopefully he’ll be able to take out Sabretooth before too many people get hurt and before too much stuff gets broken. Also, Mary Jane is such an enabler. Shame on you, Mary Jane.
Okay, this is just delightful. Here I was, thinking Doctor Hi-5 was some sort of mad scientist, but he’s a rapper? Er, a hip-hopper. He’s a hip-hopper, as Hojo says. This whole little sequence is probably the best I’ve seen in Mandrake yet, and that includes throwing dynamite at volcanoes and robots from Dimension-X. Here’s hoping that Doctor Hi-5 will prove to be a better character, long-term, than the Tourist.
Seeing Lee Falk doing his thing again is pretty nice, but if you’ve been reading this blog, then you don’t really need it. Still, it’s a good thing to have. I wonder if they’ll explain how the Phantom vanished from the chopper without it being smashed upon the ground.
And now we have shape-shifting. Marvelous. You can’t tell me that guy didn’t hear how odd “Just a moment” sounded.
The Phantom makes exceptions for white-collar criminals, apparently.
Weekly Recap 5/02
Posted by meekrat on May 2, 2010
Another Sunday, another weekly recap. Are you excited about Free Comic Book Day Man Month? You darn well should be.
Posted in Amazing Spider-Blog, Comic Strip Commentary, Whatever Happened to the Defenders of the Earth? | Tagged: Mary Jane Watson-Parker, Spider-Man/Peter Parker, The Phantom, Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, Sabretooth, The Return of Doctor Hi-5, The Dirty Half-Dozen, Terror Cells of New York | 1 Comment »