Monthly Archive:: February 2013

The mid-1990s were not a pleasant time for Marvel or its Amazing Spider-Man franchise. I’ve mentioned in the past that the Clone Saga really was a pivotal moment for me as a Spidey fan, in a negative sense. And when it was revealed, initially, that Ben Reilly was the

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I’m excited to announce what will hopefully be a recurring column that will feature some of my writing outside the usual confines of Chasing Amazing. Here’s the first installment of “Gimmick or Good?” over at the Comics Should Be Good blog, which is part of the Comic Book Resources

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Superior Spider-Man is hardly a flawless comic book series, but I think it’s a very good one, especially when the focus of the story is more on Otto Octavius combating Peter Parker’s instincts and ethics as Spider-Man, rather than physically combating some astral form of Peter instead. Of the

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Years before the birth of my son, I was told that nothing changes how a person views the world quite like having a child. While this idea always made a great deal of sense to me, I’m still amazed by just how profound the actual experience of having a

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Over the past two months, I’ve been stricken with an unexpected affliction that I hope breaks soon. I’m addicted to Amazing Spider-Man #700 variant covers. People who are familiar with some of my past opinions on variant covers are probably surprised to be learning this. Perhaps it’s just a

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I’m guest blogging again at the fantastic Escape Pod Comics site, this time talking about the involuntary memories invoked by my comic book collection. Check it out and everything else at Escape Pod.

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  The “tribute” to a national tragedy comic book issue has always come across to me as a very slippery slope for the superhero medium. Of course, I can’t think about one of these “very special” issues without immediately reflecting on Amazing Spider-Man #36 (volume 2), which was written/illustrated

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Spider-Man has long been perceived as a superhero comic book, but at its core, it’s also a love story. More so than any other comic book I can think of, there has always been an emphasis on romantic and familial relationships in Spider-Man – i.e. love – whether it’s

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It’s rare for a comic book to bring me such joy and frustration simultaneously as Superior Spider-Man #2, but the heart wants what the heart wants, so while I can’t necessarily sing the issues praises from the rooftops like I did when the series debuted last month, I’m also

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For characters who have been spawned from the Amazing Spider-Man series, Morbius the Living Vampire has always been on the lower end of my emotional attachment scale. It’s not that he doesn’t have an interesting back story, but I’ve always felt the character comes across better conceptually than in

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