Monthly Archive:: January 2014

Superior Spider-Man #25: The Beginning of the End

January 17, 2014New Issues8 Comments

Everything is just falling into place now, isn’t it? Last week, an image of the cover to a new (and rebooted) version of Amazing Spider-Man leaks on the internet. A few days later, Marvel comes clean, as Dan Slott kicks off his, “ah, you caught me … yep, Peter

The Hunger and Paul Jenkins Saves Venom

By Mark Ginocchio

January 15, 2014Blind Spots5 Comments

Over the past two weeks, when I looked back at the two-part Amazing Spider-Man #374-375, I bemoaned the David Michelinie/Mark Bagley collaboration as the “last great Venom story of the 90s.” Notice how I made sure to set an arbitrary cutoff at the 1990s, because despite how poorly (and

Marvel Knights Spider-Man #4: A Tale of Two Narratives

By Mark Ginocchio

January 13, 2014B Titles1 Comment

I think I’m losing patience with the Marvel Knights Spider-Man miniseries. I say, “think,” because I’m not entirely sure. When reading Marvel Knights Spider-Man #4, there were moments of such stunningly awful characterization, I was absolutely certain that there was no way I was reading a Spider-Man comic, just

So It Looks Like I’ll Be Chasing Amazing Again

By Mark Ginocchio

January 10, 2014random reflections2 Comments

Amazing Spider-Man is supposedly coming back in April. In other news, water is wet and every day of the week ends with the letter “y.” I’m obviously not shocked by the rampant rumors that leaked earlier this week, including a plausible looking Humberto Ramos-penciled image of a smiling, mask-less

So is Spider-Man an Avenger or Not?

By Mark Ginocchio

January 9, 2014Spider-Man Guest Appearances3 Comments

Consider this entry not so much a piece of thoughtful analysis, but rather an open question to my readers: So what’s your takeaway of this scene from Avengers #24 (Now!)? It’s Captain America and Iron Man look at their board of Avengers team members and debating how many empty

Amazing Spider-Man #375 and How Do You Solve a Problem Like Venom?

By Mark Ginocchio

January 8, 2014Random Runs of Spidey, Remembrance of Comics Past7 Comments

People who follow my Gimmick or Good exploits at the Comics Should Be Good blog should know that I’m no stranger to the foil/embossed/chromium/polybagged comics of yesteryear. And yet, the gold, foil-covered Amazing Spider-Man #375 (the “30th anniversary of Amazing Spider-Man #1!!!), holds a special place in my heart

Gimmick or Good? – Sensational Spider-Man #0

By Mark Ginocchio

January 7, 2014Guest Blogs1 Comment

The latest installment of my Gimmick or Good? column at the Comics Should Be Good blog returns me to my Spider-Man roots and is yet another instance where I revisit the “Clone Saga” despite my initial hatred for the arc. In this post, I examine the lenticular-covered Sensational Spider-Man

Superior Foes of Spider-Man #7 … Meet the Beetle

By Mark Ginocchio

January 6, 2014Spidey Spin OffsNo comments

I’m about to come across like a stereotypical comic book fan that asks for one thing, gets it, and still finds ways to be unhappy about it. In my post about Superior Foes of Spider-Man #4 in October, I lamented about how the only character in the book that

Amazing Spider-Man #374 and Venom’s Last Great 90s Story

By Mark Ginocchio

January 2, 2014Random Runs of Spidey7 Comments

When Amazing Spider-Man #374 was released in February 1993, it had been more than four years since Venom was first introduced to the world by David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane. During that timeframe, Venom demonstrated his full range sociopathic tendencies, attempting to murder Spider-Man on countless occasions (including kidnapping