2/23/15

Bill Mantlo, The Spectacular Spider-Man?

Okay, so you all remember one of the big play-ground rumors back in the day, that you had no way of knowing wasn't true at the time, about how The Human Torch was replaced by H.E.R.B.I.E. in the Fantastic Four cartoon because they were afraid  kids would light themselves on fire.  -Same thing was said about Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends having Firestar instead of Ol' Match-head.
There's also the one that seems to come up every few years- you'll hear about some kid who died after trying to fly like Superman and jumping off of a building/out of a window. (I first heard this one in reference to why the 1988 Superman cartoon was canceled.) I tried searching the interwebs to see if it has ever REALLY happened... and I could only find this one, rather recent, instance.
I only bring these up because I want them fresh in your mind...

...because this happens in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #61 and I don't know why:

By Roger Stern, Bill Mantlo, and Ed Hannigan
(((embiggen any image: Right-click/View Image)))

With Spider-Man's growing popularity at the time- was children imitating him in such a manner a legitimate fear?  Was this a preemptive-strike PSA? Were they buying into the urban legends I mentioned above?  Were they just covering their bases? Was it mandate??  Was it Mantlo??? 
Why does this exist? 
I find it very odd.


-At least I get to break this out again:

http://littlethingsincomics.blogspot.com/2014/02/speedball-tobounceornottobounce.html
"Maybe I should have let you fall..." -Spider-Man, 1981
 
 What?  -It still works! Death by your own lack of intelligence, or ignorance, is still suicide...  kinda


Anyhow, speaking of very odd things... Bill Mantlo's take on The Punisher is...... ehhh...

Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man #82, pencils by Al Milgrom.


Dude, take a chill-pill! Seriously.

I know The Punisher has to be bat-shit-crazy to do what he does, but I prefer my Frank more like this than like this.

Back to issue #61 though; in which we get a classic scene of an "incognito" super-villain breaking into a place; baggy coat and pants, brimmed hat pulled down to hide his face, sticking to the shadows... you know, like they do:


But all is not as it seems:
"You!  You're a..."

 CAREFUL, Spidey!  That kind of honest reaction to someone being of a different gender than they were presenting themselves to be makes you "transphobic" according to some way too serious/way to the left/up their own ass comic bloggers! Don't let them see this or they'll try to force Bill Mantlo to apologize!


 That's all for this week, stay-tuned for next week with some more Al Milgrom, The Spectacular Spider-Man!  I'll leave you with this awesome Bullpen Bulletin that John Byrne did back in the day...

You should definitely embiggen this!



5 comments:

  1. Oh that almost hurt how Spidey so thoroughly dissed Moonstone! by the way i need you to follow up with your comment left over at the ROM blog you'll see what i'm talking about when you read my reply.

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  2. Did Spidey just passively-aggressively call Moonstone a whore? Good for you Peter, make your dear Aunt May proud;)

    That Mantlo it with Punisher definitely was too far out of character for Frank(believe or not) but I can kinda' see where maybe Mantlo was going with that angle. Frank was Marvel's Rambo 10 years before the world knew who Rambo was...or the darker ending they newer went with in the movies.

    Frank was that severly tramuatized vet who never got or wanted to get the help he desparately needed to seek for his PTSD.
    I think Mantlo was trying to say this was a natural line of progression with Frank; where he has to punish every single crime commited, no matter the size of the offense.

    Steve Grant would later use this another outburst to his advantage, He explained that it was some drug kingpins drugging Frank, that caused him to lose his shit like this.
    It was revealed in an article I read @comicbookresources.com a few weeks back:
    http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2011/12/20/the-abandoned-an-forsaked-did-punisher-just-shoot-that-litterer/

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    Replies
    1. Did he? Oh, the Want(ed) Ads pun??? I guess you could take it that way...
      You know- Moonstone was really a strong female character at the time. She refused to be treated inferiorly because she was a woman in the crime-game, and since she took over for a guy; she always had this urge to really prove herself as strong and independent. Well, until Bendis got a hold of her and made her totally psychotic. He's such a fucking hack writer.
      Anyways- thanks for the link about that Punisher arc! I don't have the issues that immediately follow- I was just taken aback by how differently he was writing the character. "Frank was that severly tramuatized vet who never got or wanted to get the help he desparately needed to seek for his PTSD..." -Couldn't have said it better. But you can add onto that "...and is then thrown into a world of costumed super heroes and villains!"
      -Poor guy.
      You know, I really hate the cop-out of "a bad guy drugged me!" or "I was mind-controlled" or "It was a clone that did that" or "an alternate reality version of me!" that comics use all the damn time. Let the character grow, make mistakes, learn, have layers- you know?
      But, in all fairness: Littering IS a crime against society.

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  3. Fuck me, did they even show wh he did to jaywalkers? Sweet weeping christ! The horror....the horror....

    I hear ya, and I guess they just wanted Movie Rambo(Punisher) over Book Rambo(Punisher)

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