Make Mine Marvel!

When I was a kid, you could either be a DC Comics loyalist or a Marvel Comics true believer. We were all firmly entrenched in the Marvel camp.

I absolutely loved the old EC comics like Tales From The Crypt and Haunt Of Fear. But they were collector's items by the time I was a kid. The reprints are great however.

Spiderman, The Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four and The Silver Surfer had it all over the DC stable. Besides, Superman was a giant pussy and never killed anyone. And this was before Batman became "The Dark Knight" and became more of a vigilante. But Marvel had The Punisher and he was actually looking to shoot the bad guys. And Marvel wasn't afraid to kill off characters like Spiderman's girlfriend Gwen Stacy. Of course, then they had to clone her and Aunt May must have almost died about 300 times, but still; Marvel kicked ass. And Doctor Strange was THE acid comic. He's even on the cover of Pink Floyd's Saucerful Of Secrets

And, the girls in Marvel comics were ridiculously hot (yeah- I know they weren't real; but when you're 14 years old...)

I like the current threads in Spiderman alot... he absolutely kicked the shit out of Kingpin a few issues back and seems to be going into a "vengeful retribution" phase.

Now that I have kids, I get to relive my old comics plus check out the new stuff. The Marvel Zombies line is bad-ass, if a bit silly. Some of the Marvel character movies have been disappointing as well. But, all in all:

MAKE MINE MARVEL!

Toonage:

The Jam - Batman theme

Ramones - Spiderman

Queen - Flash

Foo Fighters - My Hero (acoustic)

Down By Law - Superman

Goldfinger - Superman

The Incredible Hulk TV Theme

It's Spiderman's world, we just live in it

So, I saw the new Spiderman 3 movie last night at the premiere in Astoria last nite. As Peter Parker, The Ramones and little old me are all from Forest Hills, Queens, NY; I feel a kinship with the Webhead.

I'm no star-f#cker, but it was pretty cool to be "on the black carpet" as it was. Seeing all the anoxeric entertainment show interviewers was no great shakes. It was fun to have people look at me as if I was a celebrity. I actually had people coming up to me and asking who I was (and not in the usual "who are you get the hell outta here" way!) And the free popcorn and soda's were swell.

It amazes me how many people got all dressed up to sit in a dark movie theater, but that's show biz.

If you're watching any coverage of the nite and you hear someone yelling "END THE WAR"... well, that was me!

Anyway, the movie was pretty cool...about what you'd expect if you've seen the other two. Aunt May as the voice of compassion, Mary Jane and Peter's romance (yawn), Harry's split personality (and I do mean split!), etc. While some of the movie was a little slow, the action sequences were amazing. There is a fight scene at the end of the movie with Spidey and an ally who shall remain nameless versus Sandman and Venom that is freakin' crazy and worth the snoozefest of the MJ/Peter/Harry love triangle.

I wish there was more Venom in the movie, but Sandman was actually a more developed and sympathetic character. The fx for both villains were spectacular.

I'm sure the movie will more than get a return on the supposed $300 million budget.

Toonage:

The Ramones - Spiderman (live)

Jerry Garcia - Spidergawd

The Monocles - The Spider & The Fly

Lemmy (from Motorhead) - Enter Sandman