tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19126516062141255122011-11-27T19:55:17.380-05:00Thoughts on everything from Spider-Man to Linux. But mostly Spider-Man.Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.comBlogger811100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-355798229492173252011-09-30T22:11:00.000-04:002011-09-30T22:11:36.036-04:00

No one reads this anymore, and I'm okay with that.  I'm putting this here for posterity.  This is a message I wrote for the Nielsen folks for their DC New 52 Survey when it asked for general comments to go to DC. -------------------------------------------- You guys, you're doing it wrong.  Seriously.  I'm not just some internet fanboy who can't handle when his old continuity is wiped away. 

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-71819729723221235312011-01-19T19:29:00.002-05:002011-01-19T19:29:26.639-05:00

(An open letter to Spider-Man editorial folks...) Dear Guys Who Just Don't Get It, Now, recognizing that Roderick Kingsley is, when thinking straight, quite risk-averse, and recognizing that he loves the Winkler Machine and that any future author who wants to can make the now-headless Hobgoblin into "Righty" Donovan, I grant that some author in the future may choose to undo what you have

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-75261675946579238782011-01-16T23:41:00.000-05:002011-01-16T23:41:17.555-05:00

Ooooh, rant, rant, ranty-rant.  I feel a RANTING comin' on!  Nevertheless, I'm going to try to keep this cogent. Jeph Loeb's Ultimatum and its lead-in, Ultimates 3, absolutely destroyed any hope of the Ultimate universe ever having any relevance ever ever ever again.  I finally read the two of them this evening.  But let me start at the beginning... I read comics from worst-to-best, generally

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-48437105125235853512010-10-10T21:32:00.000-04:002010-10-10T21:32:13.231-04:00

W.T.F. You now know as much as I do.  The sigil is different than it was six or seven years ago.  Disney owns the CG material, but there may be trademark issues involved there.  Who knows? Will we ever get an end to Negation War, that's my question!

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-59442154709981159642010-10-07T22:27:00.001-04:002010-10-07T22:27:18.999-04:00

...and I intend to prove it. John Seavey writes a wonderful blog called "Fraggmented" right here on good ol' Blogger.  But he's blaming all sorts of stuff on the Batman 1960's TV show, and I disagree with him.  So we're going back and forth in his comments. The conversation can be found here. Please join in, all two of you.

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-74484856289313303322010-10-04T21:42:00.000-04:002010-10-04T21:42:12.933-04:00

When Julie Benz's character, Overworked Workingmom, runs fast out of her office building, the flags on the tops of the fifty-foot tall poles wave in the wind her passing creates.  This woman's powers are shown pretty clearly to be a danger to everyone around her.  But when she moves fast enough through her office that no one "sees" her (despite the huge amount of wind she creates that scatters

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-487187539724923022010-09-27T23:07:00.000-04:002010-09-27T23:07:06.158-04:00

Spider-Man: Missing In Action Okay, Spider-Fans (all two of you who still read), Quesada has started releasing an interview with CBR regarding the full nature of One More Day, Brand New Day, and One Moment In Time, and he has demonstrated more clearly than ever that he really does not get it.  The full interview (part one) can be found here:  CBR: Cup O'M.I.T. Some responses: Joe Quesada: 

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-27488574443734364552010-08-17T23:03:00.003-04:002010-08-17T23:09:09.890-04:00

...or "Why Wonder Woman Was Totally Justified in Killing Max Lord and How That Story Ruined Both Characters"This whole post is in response to a thread at CBR.com Maybe it's still there, maybe it's not. Feel free to ask questions. I do still find out about comments on this moldering blog.This post makes excessive use of the second-person "you." It's not meant as a personal thing against any

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-22554535150411221182010-01-09T21:53:00.002-05:002010-01-09T21:56:38.769-05:00

I have thoroughly enjoyed downloading every old Power! Records mp3 I could find this weekend. Listening to old stories like "If Music Be The Food Of Death" just takes me back. If you're an old super-hero fan like me, you owe it to yourself to Google the blogs (which will not be linked here for fear that I will jinx them with takedown notices) that have the files and download to your heart's

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-13708396451946592192009-11-06T22:54:00.001-05:002009-11-06T22:57:01.632-05:00

My friend Cortney requested a story to help her sleep. This is one I wrote a few years ago and liked back then. I have no opinion of it now except that it is pretentious. Oh, well.Formatting needs work. I'm not going to bother. Enjoy."Closer To Heaven"Shinobu-san and I each carried a backpack. In mine, our tent, stove, and charcoal; in hers, our food and water, along with some plastic and

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-35400128051183846892009-06-08T00:50:00.002-04:002009-06-08T00:55:06.648-04:00

Below is a post I wrote for the Action Figure Insider Forums. It's too long to post and starts to go off topic, but it's stuff I've been thinking for a LONG time, and I want to put it up for me, if for no one else.Schwondalia said: You are exactly right about the business goals and it does seem like everything is becoming more digital and disposable.Collectible values are relative and

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-30627883865378065872008-11-14T22:35:00.001-05:002008-11-14T22:36:56.287-05:00

I wrote a post about the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, over at Peter David's always entertaining blog. Click on the title of this article to go there.

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-66316569455511208082008-07-27T21:43:00.004-04:002008-07-27T21:57:39.133-04:00

Any review of the new X-Files movie that gives it more than a C is written by someone who's high. Check out The Onion's AV Club website review for some funny comments, including this one, written by "Jessica the Dork":SPOILERS (minor, and you won't care anyway, as the movie sucks):That "It's all about your sister" line was so out-of-nowhere, you know there is no argument Scully doesn't play that

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-74978184550040532292008-07-27T14:34:00.002-04:002008-07-27T14:37:11.193-04:00

Anyone who hasn't seen Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog yet is absolutely missing out. Make sure you head to iTunes and pay the paltry $4 sum to view this coolness.There are also some helpful folks out there who've transcribed the lyrics. Check them out.Eric

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-10369706420301799102008-07-18T23:02:00.002-04:002008-07-18T23:23:33.352-04:00

Well, I saw The Dark Knight today, and I can say with a fair amount of confidence that it is just about the best superhero/comic book movie... ever. I may not feel that way six weeks from now--when I first saw Spider-Man 2, I thought that was the best comic movie ever, and now much about that film bugs the crap out of me.Let me get my basic comments about TDK out of the way before I move on to

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-46725098833786064662008-07-18T23:00:00.001-04:002008-07-18T23:02:07.261-04:00

Since I've not been updating much and have not been updating the Spidey part much at all, I changed the name of the blog. There you go.Eric

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-21832465579628876152008-07-04T21:25:00.001-04:002008-07-04T21:27:21.865-04:00

If you aren't reading Darths & Droids and finding it very amusing (although not always "ha-ha" funny), then there's no talking to you. ;-)Eric

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-71667061606225670682008-06-10T22:15:00.003-04:002008-06-10T22:52:45.516-04:00

Here's a response to reader Rainbow Quiver's question: What great Spidey stories are out there for my friend who's relatively new to comics?My standards for this list:1) Accessible to new readers (no mid-run JMS stuff here)2) No crap (Maximum Carnage is OUT)3) Must be available to order IN TPB-format from Amazon (used is acceptable)4) Exemplifies some core aspect of SpideyHere we go (in no

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-58886550055214735642008-05-15T22:23:00.004-04:002008-05-15T23:01:27.765-04:00

I know I haven't updated for a while, and I know this issue has little to do with Spider-Man. However, it's an important issue for me, so I wanted to note that the California Supreme Court has declared that any statute that makes a distinction between "opposite-sex" marriages and "same-sex" marriages is unconstitutional in that state.Wow.I support the majority's basic decision, and when reading

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-42499914369088179882008-02-27T22:44:00.003-05:002008-02-27T22:47:21.165-05:00

I won't lie: I've hated Garfield for the better part of twenty years, now. I remember that I thought he was funny and hip in like 5th grade... and then I started to realize that the strip just isn't funny. It's not funny, that is... until you remove the title character from his own strip. From the site:Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-54847292529949853962008-02-25T22:32:00.002-05:002008-02-25T22:40:52.736-05:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 123-127 Aaaand... We're back! Thanks for bearing with me for the last few weeks. I didn't realize that I had quite so much to deal with on the whole Gwen/storytelling responsibility issue. Anyway, we're back to straightforward Spidey goodness this week, although it's interesting to note that this will

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-25793622166664505382008-02-21T23:31:00.001-05:002008-02-21T23:33:35.456-05:00

Prepare yourself for the greatest revelations since people found out that "Go hang a salami" could be spelled backwards to reveal that "I'm a lasagna hog."Okay, I don't want to give everything away, but here are some definite clues to Jackpot's 100% true, unquestionable identity. Consider that her supposed "secret ID" name, Sara Ehret, can be turned into:Errata She - Jackpot must be the leftover

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-42744081387679895232008-02-18T22:40:00.002-05:002008-02-18T22:52:07.742-05:00

While I finish reading my "required" Spidey for the week, you should definitely consider spending some time with Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. While the show stumbled for a few episodes after the very fun (and very derivative) pilot, it is quickly turning around to become this fan's dream Terminator series. A couple of points that are really drawing me to it:SPOILER ALERTSummer Glau.

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-64642439892677783942008-02-13T22:21:00.004-05:002008-02-13T22:32:58.699-05:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 121-122 (For the last time, I promise!) Part One: Eric and Gwen: A Love StoryPart Two: The Necessity of Death (and Life) in FictionPart Three: Growing Up: Continuity and ConsequencesPart Four: Playing Nice, Playing SmartIn Part One, I tried to establish the mind-set with which I first encountered the fact of

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-38894596095650461382008-02-06T21:50:00.000-05:002008-02-06T21:58:09.090-05:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 121-122 Part One: Eric and Gwen: A Love StoryPart Two: The Necessity of Death (and Life) in FictionPart Three: Growing Up: Continuity and Consequences In Part One, I tried to establish the mind-set with which I first encountered the fact of Gwen's death and my own prejudices regarding it. In Part Two, I

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-73127902752200993882008-02-05T20:04:00.000-05:002008-02-05T20:08:41.486-05:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 121-122Part One: Eric and Gwen: A Love Story Part Two: The Necessity of Death (and Life) in Fiction In Part One, I tried to establish the mind-set with which I first encountered the fact of Gwen's death and my own prejudices regarding it. It apparently caused some people some confusion when, at the end,

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-65404303181201555512008-02-05T19:18:00.000-05:002008-02-05T19:30:01.001-05:00

So I'm in the middle of writing the next installment of the 121-122 review, and it occurs to me that I've been reading the whole series of events during which, according to JMS, Gwen got pregnant by Norman, went to Europe to have the babies, came back, told Mary Jane, and then got killed. And at no point in the preceding twenty or thirty issues did I see a place where she might have gone through

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-58574588054012182442008-02-04T20:40:00.000-05:002008-02-04T22:49:42.174-05:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 121-122 The end of the Silver Age. 'Nuff Said. (This post is going to be... a little long. I'm mostly through with what we might as well call “Part One”, and I'm at six pages, which is long for a For Better or For Worse post. Clearly, I'm going to have to break this one up, and I might as well post it

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-50286706123554323252008-02-03T22:39:00.000-05:002008-02-03T22:41:08.334-05:00

Believe it or not, I actually watched the Super Bowl. I'm not a huge football fan, but it was a good game and I watched it with my wife. A good time was had by all.Unfortunately, that means no post this week. I'll have the big ASM 121-122 post for you next weekend, and there's sure to be a new SM:MIA post up when I get my next subscription issue.Eric

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-33153541848531617742008-01-30T21:34:00.000-05:002008-01-30T22:00:17.292-05:00

Spider-Man: Missing In ActionThis week's reading list: Amazing Spider-Man: Swing Shift (Director's Cut)Well, I actually had to buy this at the shop this week, hence the on-time post. I'm a little irked that I spent $4 on something I got for free last May, but it has some minor updated dialogue, so that's worth it, right?The story itself is basically the same as last year, and it was dissected

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-39595545006278400902008-01-30T10:22:00.000-05:002008-01-30T10:27:11.974-05:00

Here's a short excerpt from a very funny post from CrazySugarFreakBoy! over at the ever-popular Spider-Man Message Board:Fans: How can you say that divorcing Spider-Man is wrong, when you had him make a deal with the Devil?Quesada: Because divorce means that you're a quitter, and that makes you a bad person. Besides, if they just gave up on their marriage, then it would show that there's no

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-24256538870247632972008-01-27T21:08:00.000-05:002008-01-27T21:17:28.257-05:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 114-120 Hello, and welcome to our special “hodge-podge of mediocrity” week here at the Spidey-blog. Hammerhead and Doc Ock fight it out in a gang war. The original Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine #1 gets massacred in its transformation into a three-part Amazing storyline, and then Peter Parker fights the

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-53901908994237032462008-01-23T21:57:00.001-05:002008-01-28T18:11:45.525-05:00

My copy came Monday. Not cool, Marvel. Not cool at all.BTW, in case you haven't figured this one out: SPOILERSSpider-Man: Missing In ActionThis Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 548Amazing Spider-Man 548 is much the same as 547: Virtually nothing in it is related to the marriage in any way. The main story is serviceable, but not inspired. Mr. Negative has created a DNA-based "blood

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-49886033847827151652008-01-21T22:41:00.000-05:002008-01-21T22:45:18.124-05:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 108-113 Greetings, true-believers! Well, we're back to read about those good old days of Spider-Fandom where there weren't alternate continuities, memories, and deals with the devil. The stories might not always be good, but at least they're honest attempts at having fun. This week we visit some some

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-61525441863287356072008-01-16T22:16:00.000-05:002008-01-16T22:29:31.564-05:00

Spider-Man: Missing In ActionThis Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 547Sigh. Damn it, Marvel. Quit making Brand New Day actually good. Now, let's get something straight right from the get-go: ASM 547 is not a groundbreaking comic. It is not fantastic art. What it is, unfortunately for those of us who HATE the set-up of BND, is entertaining and fun. I still maintain that getting rid

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-63289728931504778632008-01-13T23:12:00.000-05:002008-01-13T23:15:31.582-05:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 103-107 We start off in the Savage Land with Gwen of the Jungle, then we move on to a new and “improved” Spider-Slayer for three issues. Okay, so the first storyline here is a two-parter where Gwen, Peter, and JJJ are three out of four members of a team headed to the Savage Land to track down a giant

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-79260599873492096672008-01-09T19:34:00.001-05:002008-01-09T21:14:25.052-05:00

Spider-Man: Missing In ActionThis Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 546All right, friends and neighbors. It's a Brand New Day, and the real Spider-Man is NOWHERE to be found. That's right: Amazing Spider-Man 546 is out on the stands as of today, and I'm here to blog about it.Let's get one thing very straight from the outset: This is NOT the Spider-Man that we have read for the last...

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-44773185338146463782008-01-06T21:17:00.000-05:002008-01-06T21:21:52.418-05:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 99-102 You know, I'm a pretty forgiving guy when it comes to old comics. I remember reading many of them when I was eight or nine, and I can put myself back in that mindset in order to enjoy older stuff. With this week's so-called storyline, however, I'd have to actually bash my own brains out to enjoy my

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-89892735145744862212008-01-04T00:01:00.000-05:002008-01-04T00:09:53.299-05:00

So I saw Sweeney Todd today. Really enjoyed it, Depp is awesome, Bonham-Carter is good at acting insane, etc. Here's what I noticed: She keeps calling Sweeney "Mr. T.", and it occurred to me that Harley Quinn is very, very much the Joker's Mrs. Lovett. Can anyone offer any actual evidence that Lovett was the inspiration for Harley Quinn?Because if she's NOT, then it's a hell of a coincidence.

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-46770497281153591102008-01-02T23:39:00.000-05:002008-01-03T00:30:28.685-05:00

Sigh. So the third part of the OMD-Quesada interview is up at CBR, and he spends the entire time essentially sticking his fingers in his ears and screaming "fans want this! Nyah-Nyah!" while simultaneously flipping the bird at anyone who disagrees with him. The whole time I'm reading his bullshit, I'm thinking, "Oh, I have to write about this. I'm going to show him why all his arguments are

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-87425284051178844062008-01-01T22:37:00.001-05:002008-01-01T22:44:01.329-05:00

Well, I didn't get a new SM:FBFW post up this week. I'll be back next week. I have spent the last few weeks drinking some different kinds of Kool-Aid that have sucked up my time:1) I got an iPod Touch. For those of you who don't know, it's more fun to check your email at McDonald's on a 4-inch screen. Seriously. I've already wasted entire days organizing the music on this thing--I shouldn't

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-14884409719254706182007-12-29T19:51:00.000-05:002007-12-29T20:00:47.621-05:00

The marriage is officially kaput. For now. Probably the most disappointing thing about all of this is how bad the writing has been. JMS has said (I believe so, anyway) that he didn't like the idea behind "One More Day" and from the way he wrote it, I believe him. I've also never bought into the idea that Peter and MJ are somehow "fated" to be together, so Mephisto talking about their love

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-72084517994391794572007-12-23T21:56:00.001-05:002007-12-23T21:59:01.782-05:00

BTW, I hope everyone out there has a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, et cetera. I'm spending the holidays with relatives, and I hope that all of you guys are also lucky enough to spend this time with loved ones. I further hope that you'll be receving plenty of Spidey comics for Christmas. (My daughter and I splurged on the final fifty issues of Spider-Girl, so we'll have fun reading that over

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-19498782959326664252007-12-23T21:45:00.000-05:002007-12-23T21:55:57.167-05:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse?This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 96-98Ah, the famous pill-popping drug saga to which the Comics Code of the time would not give its seal of approval. Good times, good times. For the next sixty issues or so of ASM, btw, I'm going to be moving in and out of my trusty volumes of Essential Spider-Man. They're handy in terms of packing in a lot of

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-39631430769743357312007-12-17T21:07:00.000-05:002007-12-17T21:15:03.469-05:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 90-95 We wrap up the current Doc Ock storyline this week before moving on to a two-parter featuring Sam Bullit, evil DA candidate. Three one-offs follow in which Spidey faces the Prowler, the Beetle, and more terrorists in Britain all while he searches for Gwen, who moves there after the death of her

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-71693431219675139082007-12-09T19:34:00.000-05:002007-12-09T20:01:24.473-05:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 84-89 The Schemer, the Kingpin, the Black Widow, the Flu, Doctor Octopus. Not a bad line-up for a run of Spidey-issues. There's something old, something new, etc. Again, these comics are not the absolute best Spidey comics ever created, but it's clear that the quality of a so-called “average” Spidey

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-66307998413715002262007-12-02T22:27:00.002-05:002007-12-02T22:35:57.925-05:00

BTW, I have to add that I almost forgot to post this week's SM:FBFW because I spent my Sunday evening reading Before Dishonor, the new Star Trek TNG book by Peter David. I mention this because it appears that they're actually doing things--story things, character development things--with the Star Trek novels now. I knew that Riker had moved on to the Titan, but I wasn't aware that they'd be

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-81597217616840538162007-12-02T22:18:00.000-05:002007-12-02T22:26:38.189-05:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 78-83 Okay, the hits just keep happenin' this week, cats! We start out with the conflicted two-part origin of the Prowler, then we move on to a string of villains of the month including the Chameleon, the Kangaroo, Electro, and the Schemer. I have to say right up front that these next couple of weeks may

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-77214366771835415942007-11-25T20:58:00.000-05:002007-11-25T21:06:40.771-05:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 73-77, Marvel Super Heroes 14. We've got three basic storylines here this week: The finale of the ancient tablet, the return of the Lizard, and a one-off from Marvel Super Heroes. I'm sorry to say that the quality of the stories goes steadily down as we work our way through the list, but it does start

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-34930044095347999562007-11-18T14:27:00.000-05:002007-11-18T22:29:47.792-05:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: None. First things first: This is a rant. This was originally the scorekeeping post, but it really wasn't about scorekeeping. The problem is, I'd read it and re-read it, and it still said what I think. I couldn't just delete it. So I moved it to this post. Sorry if you're getting tired of just reading my thoughts as

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-46725079261490627892007-11-11T19:48:00.000-05:002007-11-11T20:21:03.478-05:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: None. First things first: I'm going to try to put a bit of a scoreboard up in this post. If anyone has trouble reading anything, please post a comment to let me know ASAP. I'm no web-guru and I don't know how much I can get away with. Okey-dokey, here we go, folks. A scorekeeping week. This week we're taking a look

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-55952808881045799432007-11-04T22:22:00.000-05:002007-11-04T22:28:03.568-05:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 68-72. Okey-dokey, here we go, folks. All the Lee/Romita/Mooney team can offer us this week is... an action-packed page-turning* saga of crime, greed, and desperation! Holy cow, did they knock it out of the park this week as the Kingpin searches for a mysterious tablet. Lots of done-in-one A-plots with

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-72578011066056126082007-10-31T21:39:00.001-04:002007-10-31T21:47:17.713-04:00

Just a quick note--I just bought Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume I: The Long Way Home, and it's awesome. Excellent story, character, dialogue, everything. If you like fun comics, do not miss this one. The link above takes you to Amazon to buy it, but I'd recommend your favorite local comic shop.I'd write a review, but it's Halloween and there's just not time. The short version

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-44542799919783998122007-10-28T19:55:00.000-04:002007-10-28T20:01:58.564-04:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 66, 67, Amazing Spider-Man Annual 5 and Spectacular Spider-Man (Magazine) 2. Okey-dokey, here we go, folks. Up this week are a quick little Mysterio yarn and two longer pieces. Nothing this week rises to the level of last week's awesomeness, but neither does it fall to the levels of dreck we've had to

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-66146262745460206332007-10-22T22:20:00.000-04:002007-10-22T22:23:03.212-04:00

Anyone who's enjoying my blog needs to check out this Gwen-centric series by Julio Barone. I'm only reading it up to the issues I've already blogged, but it's an interesting take that definitely goes into more depth than mine! Keep it up, Julio!

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-20573872297030306742007-10-20T22:44:00.000-04:002007-10-20T23:09:41.502-04:00

Venom posted this on the Spider-Girl board and Jeffers provided the online info, but here's the short version: Go to this link, choose a worthy school, and you can subscribe to any of the Marvel Adventures books (Spidey, Avengers, or Fantastic Four) or Amazing Spider-Girl for only $20 for 12 issues! That's What's even better is that the school gets 40% (or $8) of the price!I haven't done a post

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-20479303633738075742007-10-20T21:17:00.000-04:002007-10-20T21:27:16.416-04:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 62-65 and Spectacular Spider-Man (Magazine) 1.BTW, don't get too excited over a Saturday post. I'm still just trying to post once a weekend, but it's one of those Saturday nights where I have nothing better to do then post, so here you go. ;-)Also, I've added a little bit of Java to the site so I can track

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-63305988465040417172007-10-16T12:32:00.000-04:002007-10-16T12:33:27.044-04:00

At this thread on the Spider-Man Message Board, I ask some questions about downloading comics. I'd love any extra responses from readers here!

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-4163238447107108972007-10-15T22:03:00.000-04:002007-10-15T22:12:36.295-04:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 56-61BTW, sorry for the late post, but my whole family is currently sick with random viruses, and this weekend was a bit on the looney side.Also, on the podcast front, the general lack of interest from everyone in the world sort of nixes that idea. That's okay--less work for me.Okey-dokey, here we go, folks

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-23447547326790172472007-10-09T16:54:00.000-04:002007-10-12T21:20:38.733-04:00

Would anyone reading this blog (all three of you) download a podcast of the episode(s)? Does anyone think that anyone NOT reading this blog would download a SM:FBFW podcast?I originally thought about doing this as a podcast, but I thought I'd give the blogging thing a shot, first. Now that I'm doing this on a more-or-less regular basis, I'm reconsidering the podcast.LMK what you all

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-1302482608370181642007-10-07T20:20:00.000-04:002007-10-07T20:27:19.815-04:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 51-55, Amazing Spider-Man Annual 4 Okey-dokey, here we go, folks. Well, well, well. Ask and ye shall receive. Last week I complained about annoying villains, boring issues, and noted that the soap-opera was on some kind of maintenance cycle. NOT the case this week. We have the first confrontation with

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-43831652720463462452007-09-30T21:55:00.000-04:002007-10-01T20:35:57.036-04:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 46-50 Okey-dokey, here we go, folks. These books don't deserve a ton of individual discussion, but they touch on a couple of trends that have been going on at Marvel for years now, so that provides something useful. First and foremost, what we have in these five issues is run-of-the-mill Spider-Man

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-70649381248899648292007-09-16T16:32:00.000-04:002007-09-16T19:38:37.335-04:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 41-45, Amazing Spider-Man Annual 3 Okey-dokey, here we go, folks. After several “milestone” posts, the Spider-Man saga seems to have settled into a bit of a groove. If my memories from being ten serve, the Stan Lee/John Romita, Sr. years provide a steady stream of entertaining, if slightly shallow and

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-41784336307348088412007-08-27T16:08:00.000-04:002007-09-16T19:27:41.477-04:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 36-40. Okey-dokey, here we go, folks. The first three issues are relatively run-of-the-mill. First, let's talk villains. The Looter is pathetic, but he's obviously meant to be. No decent villain really uses a helium balloon as their escape vehicle (or as transport to the Arctic, I might add.) Stromm is a little more

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-22998701104848364692007-08-14T18:04:00.000-04:002007-08-14T18:15:14.124-04:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 31-35 Before we really get started, let me apologize for the lack of posts the last couple of weeks. Again, summer, summer, summer. As a teacher, my rule in the summer is that fun and weird-schedule stuff comes before everything else, because I have to be exactly the opposite for the whole school year.

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-23148788683182409852007-07-24T00:05:00.000-04:002007-07-24T22:48:05.345-04:00

The following message was posted on the ever-awesome Spider-Man Message Board, and it deserved a good answer:> I just yesterday found the out of print Origin of the Hobgoblin trade, which stops at #251, right before Secret Wars 1 and Saga of the Alien Costume. What are the other important issues that I should get?>> I already have the Saga of the Alien Costume paperback(which continues the Hob

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-12405474623082987682007-07-23T23:49:00.000-04:002007-07-23T23:55:16.451-04:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 25-30 and Amazing Spider-Man Annual 2! Okey-dokey, here we go, folks, our first all Lee/Ditko week in some time, and at the rate ASM is about to start going, there won't be too many more of these. Ah, the pain of creative changes. Knowing what's going to be coming actually makes it a little bittersweet

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-8811825138970358672007-07-15T22:13:00.000-04:002007-07-15T22:21:38.055-04:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: None Okey-dokey, here we go. This week we have a special treat for the blog: A question-and-answer session with the writer of Untold Tales of Spider-Man, Mister Kurt Busiek! Mr. Busiek, as some of you know, is a reader of this very blog, and he has been kind enough to answer some questions for me to mark the end of our

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-71007884870591915982007-07-09T22:49:00.000-04:002007-07-09T23:03:59.992-04:00

I had a question on an item I'm currently selling on eBay, item number 220129266273, a copy of Stephen King's The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass. This is the original Donald M. Grant Books hardcover first edition. "Mike" wanted to know if there are any flaws in the book. I noticed four teeny tiny ones, all of which are in the pictures below, even if they can't be seen. I'll describe them

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-13852075258510955022007-07-08T23:18:00.000-04:002007-07-09T01:28:39.510-04:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 22-24 and Untold Tales of Spider-Man 24-25 Okey-dokey, here we go. The big news on the FBFW front this week is that I've reached the end of Untold Tales. This is good, in that I'll finally be able to make some headway in Amazing, which has seemed to move at a snail's pace to me because of UTSM, but also

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-16604993042362982202007-06-30T23:58:00.000-04:002007-07-01T00:10:58.274-04:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 20-21 and Untold Tales of Spider-Man 23, '97, and '96 Okey-dokey, here we go. Well, ASM this week features one sci-fi story and one comedy romp, and that's okay by me. Stan and Steve were not only having fun with the book, but they were really showing Peter growing into his role as Spider-Man. Both of

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-32452611177670290502007-06-24T19:36:00.000-04:002007-06-24T19:56:40.140-04:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 17-19 and Untold Tales of Spider-Man 19-22 (as well as -1). Okey-dokey, here we go. While there's not a ton to talk about this week, we do have the first major three-part story in Spidey history with 17-19, and it's one of my personal favorites. UTSM gets back into the swing of things a bit, and we get

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-34870584522865864782007-06-19T00:02:00.000-04:002007-06-19T00:11:17.537-04:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 15-16, Amazing Spider-Man Annual 1, Untold Tales of Spider-Man 15-18, and Untold Tales of Spider-Man: Strange Encounter.Sorry for the late post this week. I just finished up another school year and got to dive right in to my daughter's third birthday party and everything that went along with it. Crazy, crazy,

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-42593403765286260552007-06-10T21:11:00.000-04:002007-06-10T21:22:52.663-04:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse?This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 13-14 and Untold Tales of Spider-Man 12-14Okey-dokey, here we go. Not much to talk about on the ASM front this week. ASM 13 is the last of my Pocket Books memories, and it's just plain difficult for me to take Mysterio seriously, even in the stories of the time. He is a villain who is designed specifically to

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-72418009929236351232007-06-03T22:19:00.001-04:002007-06-03T22:26:13.911-04:00

Check out this blog: http://fraggmented.blogspot.comThis guy is awesome. I'm not sure that much of the stuff he says is "new", but he puts a ton of stuff into the right words. Take, for example, his series of posts on the concept of a "story engine," which is"the setting of an open-ended series, the status quo of the [comic/TV show/book series/movie franchise/add open-ended series here]." The

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-83192046030380201902007-06-03T19:46:00.000-04:002007-06-03T20:44:02.206-04:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 10 and Untold Tales of Spider-Man 5-8A quick note on this post, since you may notice it's out of order: I actually write these a bit in advance so that I can post them regularly. If I have a light week at work, I might write three or four columns. With a heavy week, I might write none. But I can post a new

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-67801251828499759242007-06-03T12:50:00.000-04:002007-06-03T13:03:50.951-04:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse? This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 11-12 and Untold Tales of Spider-Man 9-11Okey-dokey, here we go. In ASM 11 and 12, we have more ghosts of my childhood, as these are also included in the Pocket Books collection I owned as a small boy. Apart from Amazing Fantasy 15, ASM provides the first real tragedy of Spider-Man's young career: the death of

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-46949488050110707742007-05-28T20:17:00.000-04:002007-05-28T20:44:59.083-04:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse?This Week's Reading List: Amazing Spider-Man 7-9 and Untold Tales of Spider-Man 3-4 Okey-dokey, here we go. UTSM 3 and 4 fit right into the gaps of ASM 7, 8, and 9, so I won't be discussing each story on its own this week. Let's take a look at the good in ASM and then the good in UTSM, shall we? It's interesting to actually read these issues of Amazing

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-15979676560331418652007-05-20T21:11:00.000-04:002007-05-20T21:26:44.242-04:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse?This Week's Reading List: Amazing Fantasy 16-18, Amazing Spider-Man 6, and Untold Tales of Spider-Man 1 & 2.First and foremost, a bit of explanation. It is my intention to basically move from the 60's to the 2000's in the order the books were published. Within reason, I will keep the books in continuity. What this means is, if Spectacular goes for three

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-42992711385296501692007-05-06T22:25:00.000-04:002007-05-06T22:43:04.607-04:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse?This Week's Reading List: Amazing Fantasy 15 and Amazing Spider-Man 1-5.Okay, so here we go. It's a little tough to read these with even an ounce of objectivity. Any Spider-Man fan worth his salt probably owns or has owned anywhere from two to five copies of these stories in one way or another over the years. The first ten issues of Amazing, coupled with

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912651606214125512.post-32604437506732616942007-05-06T22:08:00.000-04:002007-05-28T20:42:18.390-04:00

Spider-Man: For Better or For Worse?Spider-Man comics are not as good as they used to be. I don't know about you, but I find myself thinking this a lot. I've been thinking it ever since the Clone Saga, and I guess that twelve years of thinking it means that I really believe it. Sure, there've been some decent stories, and the first fifty issues of Ultimate Spider-Man gave me some hope, but

Eric Teallnoreply@blogger.com2