Episode 1235 Talkback: Spotlight on Spider-Man in the Bronze Age
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We continue to celebrate Spider-Man's 50th Anniversary with his appearances in the Bronze Age. Chris from Wild Pig Comics joins us again as we cover from Amazing Spider-Man #101 through #200. (1:28:45)
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Great episode!
And I, too, love me some Spider-Mobile, especially because when Spidey utterly fails to drive it that first time, the Torch yells "Where did you learn to drive, Bangor, Maine?!?" Not sure why my home town gets insulted, but hey, we got a mention in the funny books. I'll take it!
Think Conway is like Mantlo,very under appreciated.
Thank you to all the Geeks.
Brought back some great memories of me and my buddies bying and reading a bunch of spidey comics in the early 80's at the local grocery store. I would get marvel tales.My friends would get amazing and spectacular and eventually web of. It was great reading the early stuff in marvel tales( at that time they had started reprinting from #1)and then reading new issues of amazing was so fun. we would get back issues when we went to the city or found some at yard sales or a friends friends friend had some to trade or sell. I always remembered the clone story it was great and the what if...? clone story and who could forget the spideymobile!!!
Ahhhh good memories!
Thanks a lot guys!!!!
I didn't have the Power Record with Man-Wolf, but I did have the one with Dragon Man!
And you'll have to talk about Sal Buscema more in the next episode. He only did 20 issue of Spectacular when it launched, but he came back to the title in the ’80s and did a 100-issue long run.
And btw, this was a great episode. Make sure to have Chris with you for all of these "Spider-Man in the..." episodes because he's adding quite a lot to each episode. And good luck on the Wild Pig re-opening, even though it means no Wild Pig convention this fall.
You guys commented on how it would be impossible today to not be spoiled by what happened to Gwen Stacy but I gotta say it is not that hard. Just do not go to those sites.
When it came to what happened to Cap, I did not find out until I read the issues...two weeks after it came out.
Well to be fair the clerk at my LCS let it slip as I was picking up my copy.
ASM #143 was the first issue Spider-Man comic I ever read. I was only two years old when it came out. My dad picked it up at a flea market when I was six. I was having a very hard time learning to read and he held on to some comics as an incetive to get me to learn and get better at it.
I've recently reread AMS from this issue going forward with my kids. It is just so much fun. This issue is always one the standout issues for me, Gerry Conway writing and Ross Andru did a terrific job on the art, the way he drew Paris is nothing short of amazing.
I'll also share again that it was through Spider-Man that I started standing up to bullies and helping others. I got some pretty bad bruises as a result of that but they were well earned I think.
Mike, the popularity of the Spider-Buggy had nothing to do with the lack of any space toys to occupy our imaginations.
Toy cars were cool for decades, like hot wheels and matchbox, plus Corgi cars, slot racing cars model kits, etc.
If anything I think the energy crisis and enviromental concerns are what hurt the subsequent decades of kids loving cars. We were taught more about their negative impacts on society, and less about them just being cool.
And BTW, once again this post Lucas generation thinks there were no cool space toys before Star Wars? Tell that to the kids who grew up with Flash Gordon since the 30's or Star Trek 's 10 year love from toy fans before Star Wars ever hit the screen? The Trek mego's were a very hot toy a full 3 years before Star Wars.
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Cops and robbers, cowboys, war were the thing to play. And cars were huge per star wars and post star wars.
Trek and flash and buck and so on did not sweep a generation so thoroughly as star wars did-still does.
Maybe it is where or how we grew up, but we craved vehicles for everything. Helicopters, choppers, cars, dragsters, vans, anything. But post sw we wanted spaceships. Any spaceships.
Look at some catalogs from back then. It's all there.
(ps, listened to a few weeks ago show yesterday and FYI space family Robinson was not based on the show, the show ripped it off. The comic came first :) )
Great work on these episodes and congrats to Chris re-opening the store.
I was interested, picked up the next issue of Spidey I saw (Marvel Tales #59) and brought it on the bus, pointing out that she was still alive. We ALL puzzled over this for a couple of months until we realized it was a reprint of the old stuff from the 60's. By then, I was hooked, reading the Bronze AND Silver Age at the same time.
I loved the Len Wein and Marv Wolfman runs, especially since Marv wasn't scared to make changes to the status quo. It's a damn shame his run was cut short, as I was looking forward to what he was building toward.
And Ross Andru was PERFECT for this time period. His art was grittier and darker than the Kane/Romita stuff that had come before as Spider-Man's world got darker and more dangerous.
Thanks for the memories, boys!
The comment about Andru's ability to draw every day things like rooms in an interesting way brought to mind the fact that if you look in the backgrounds of those early 70's Spidey's you'll see in several issues some billboards with writing - parts of words - and they were done by the background artist - his name is escaping me (and I can't seem to find it via google) - I want to say Tom Montilario, or something like that. So he put in parts of the phrase "Backgrounds by Tom Montilario" (or whatever his name is) throughout the cityscape. I remember figuring that out when I was around 12 or so and thinking how totally cool that was!
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