sonotadream

MRL - Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #16-23

2026-06-03T10:52:18Z

Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #16-23 - Stan Lee/Steve Ditko

Spider-Man returns with a team-up with Daredevil against the Ringmaster.

The Circus of Crime is in town and the Ringmaster plans to have a full house by advertising an appearance by Spider-Man. He doesn’t plan for Spider-Man to actually appear. The Ringmaster has a hypnosis-wave generator mounted in his top hat and his scheme is to use it to put the audience in a trance in order to rob them. The hat works on Spider-Man, but not on Daredevil.

There’s a short fight - because, of course - but, at least, once Daredevil ends Spidey’s trance, they part as friends. Spider-man proceeds to fight the circus performer’s and everyone gets arrested.

The Green Goblin returns and it's a better showing than last time. He’s been practising against a Spider-Man dummy, but now he's ready to face the real thing.

At the same time, Flash Thompson decides to start a Spider-Man fan club and announces it with a big splashy newspaper ad that promises Spider-Man's presence. He showed up for a charity circus performance, why wouldn't he show up for his fans?

The first meeting attracts a big crowd, including Johnny Storm and his girlfriend Dorrie, J. Jonah Jameson, Betty, Liz and, of course, the Green Goblin. The audience thinks it's a performance, but Johnny gets suspicious and decides to interfere.

Spider-Man takes advantage of the distraction to change clothes and make a brief appearance as Peter Parker. He's worried - and maybe a little paranoid - because Liz noticed Peter and Spider-Man are never seen together. In the process, he implodes his relationship with Betty, who now believes Peter didn't invite her to the meeting because he wanted to come with Liz.

Peter changes back and rejoins the fight with the Green Goblin, only to overhear a phone call looking for Peter Parker: his aunt had a heart attack and is in the hospital. Without a second thought, Peter abandons the fight and races to the hospital, leaving everyone to believe that Spider-Man is a coward.

Everyone but Johnny, who later tries to contact him through sky message and gets stood up, and Flash, who eventually decides to go out dressed as Spider-Man, hoping to get some positive publicity for his hero. That plan doesn't pan out, but Flash doesn't give up on Spider-Man.

Unlike Peter. He spends weeks worried about Aunt May and how to afford her medicine. He tries to use Spider-Man's image, but that's not selling anymore. He tries to sell the formula for his web, but manufacturers aren't interested in a glue that dissolves itself - I guess post-its aren't a thing yet.

And Betty is now going out with Ned Leeds.

But Aunt May gets better and tells Peter is time for him to stop worrying. She's not ready to give up, and he shouldn't be either.

Just like that, Spider-Man is back.

The news finally wipes the smile off Jameson's face, to the relief of his employees, who didn't know how to deal with a happy boss.

The criminals don't change their plans. The Sandman and the Executioners plan to take out all the heroes. They start with the Human Torch (tired from Strange Tales #127), who they trap in a glass tank without enough air for him to flame up.

Hearing they're out and about, Spider-Man tracks the Executioners to their lair and an obvious trap. He's still surprised by the Sandman, but he frees Johnny and together, they stop the criminals. Also, they get tangled in Spidey's web together.

A new classic villain is introduced: the Scorpion. Mac Gargan was hired by Jameson to follow Peter around and discover how he takes the Spider-Man pictures.

Peter never finds out what that's about, because Jameson comes up with a plan to end Spider-Man. He learns about the work of Dr. Stillwell, who's capable of inducing mutations in animals - give a rat the ability to breathe underwater and a fish the ability to breathe on land - and offers him money to give Gargan powers superior to those of Spider-Man.

Stillwell is conflicted, but the money convinces him. He devises a serum that gives Gargan strength and durability,. but also affects his mind, i.e. turns him evil.

He also comes up with the mechanical scorpion tail.

The Scorpion and Spider-Man fight, with the Scorpion knocking out Peter a couple of times. Dr. Stillwell's conscience gets the better of him and he tries to give Gargan an antidote. He's too far gone though. He chooses to start a life of crime and kills the doctor. He then goes after Jameson, the only one who knows his secret identity.

By now, Peter has figured out he can't rely on brute force alone to beat the Scorpion, so, when he corners him in Jameson's office, Peter uses his agility and glues him to the floor with liquid web.

Jameson gets away without his involvement being revealed and learns an important lesson: absolute power corrupts absolutely, and Spider-Man is bound to get corrupted,. sooner or later.

Peter’s love life is looking good again, since Ned was sent to Europe on assignment and Betty is talking to him again, but then Peter gets embroiled in another love triangle and he goes back to a nihilistic funk. The Beetle - remember him? From Strange Tales? - is released from jail and immediately goes about seeking revenge on the Human Torch. Learning the Beetle is free, Johnny immediately flames on and goes searching for him, to the chagrin of his girlfriend. Dorrie then demands he spend 24 hours without flaming on - sorry Doris, but if you have a problem with costumed heroes, don’t date one.

During that day, Dorrie happens to have a run in with Peter, who returns a lost wallet to her. She invites him to her house for a refreshment. Johnny sees him leave and Dorrie tries to make him jealous - she wishes Johnny was more of a gentleman, like Peter Parker.

It works. Johnny finds Peter and goes off on him for trying to get in with his girl. Betty overhears them and gets upset, easily believing Peter is seeing yet another girl - she needs to work on her self-esteem, honestly. Peter, on his turn, goes off on Johnny for upsetting his girl. Knowing Johnny won’t fight him because he believes Peter to be a regular guy, he decides to get back at him by having Spider-Man sweet talk Dorrie.

Before that happens, the Beetle finally shows his face and two get on a fight outside Dorrie’s house. She tries to call Johnny for help, but he thinks she’s just testing him. When he shows up at her place, the Beetle has taken her hostage and is on the run. Johnny thinks Spider-Man is responsible and the two fight, Johnny too heated to listen to Peter, until he sees Dorrie being dragged by the Beetle.

Johnny and Peter manage to take down the Beetle, but Dorrie is suspicious of Spider-Man and Johnny doesn’t entirely disbelieve her, which sends Peter further down the aforementioned nihilistic funk.

So, that was a lot of relationship drama, but they’re teenagers, you know?

And it should be noted that Betty and Peter are in good terms by the next issue. In the one following that, Peter is the one getting jealous because Betty forgets to tell him she received a letter from Ned.

In similar fashion, the Ringmaster and his crew aren't getting along so well. The Masters of Menace are tired of the Ringmaster's incompetence and elect the Clown as their new leader. Their first robbery - of Jameson's sponsored art exhibition - is successful, but things fall apart. They're found out by Spider-Man, the Ringmaster and the police, and can't help but to betray each other.

Another two villains return next. There's Falwell - the Big Man - remember him? He worked for the Daily Bugle and wanted to take over as Kingpin of crime? Well, he's free and working for the newspaper again. Jameson likes to keep up his image as do-gooder.

Well, the Green Goblin is taking a page from his playbook and making a play to take over the city's gang. He leaks information about a mob gang to the police through Falwell - unclear how they're working together. Peter is suspicious of Falwell, but has nothing concrete to base that on.

He's also wondering if the Green Goblin changed sides and ends up following to a mob hideout. As he deals with the mobsters, he learns the Goblin is actually trying to take over the gang.

Spider-Man and the Green Goblin fight and it ends in a stalemate: the Goblin empties his bag of tricks and Spider-Man runs out of web fluid.

In the end, the Goblin's plan fails because it worked too well: all the gangs are disbanded and there's nothing for him to take over.

And Peter is back to feeling sorry for himself.

comments

May Book Report

2026-06-02T13:10:11Z

Air Logic - Book 4 of the Elemental Logic series - by Laurie J. Marks

Very nice ending to the series. It wraps everything in a satisfying way and leaves (most) characters in a better place, which is something I always enjoy.

A Power Unbound - book 3 of the Last Binding series - by Freya Marske

Another satyrfying ending. The thing about this series is that I was really into the fantasy plot, but the romance plots were a case of diminishing returns with each book.

Hickory Dickory Dock by Agatha Christie

Fun mystery with an interesting setting, at residential for international students. Just try to ignore the way the POC characters are depicted…

World’s Finest: Return to Kingdom Come by Mark Waid and Dan Mora

Another fun Batman/Superman team up (the theme this month: fun, but not exceptional). I think it made for a good prequel to Kingdom Come.

comments

MCU Rewatch - Hulk (2003)

2026-06-01T22:42:27Z

Hulk (2003) directed by Ang Lee

Written by John Turman, Michael France, James Schamus

Starring: Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott, Josh Lucas, Nick Nolte

Synopsis: Bruce Banner, a genetics researcher with a tragic past, suffers a lab accident that makes him transform into a raging, giant green monster when angered, making him a target of forces seeking to abuse his power.

Did I watch it when it first come out? Nope. I’m not a Hulk fan.

Highlights: the credits scene is cool, as is the comic book look editing.

Bruce’s father being the villain is a nice little twist. Usually, you’d expect him to be trying to fix his past mistakes, but no, he just wants to steal the Hulk’s powers.

Little things that stood out: it’s Jin from Lost!

The Plan: Banner Sr was trying to create genetically-modified super-humans. Not very successful.

The Other Stuff: overall, I found this movie very boring. Kudos to Ang Lee for going for something different than dumb action flick, but I wasn’t into it.

Also, I don’t think the Hulk was very good. His shade of green was unconvincing.

Ranking (for now) (100% subjective; based on personal enjoyment only):

X2 (2003)
Spider-Man (2002)
X-Men (2000)
Daredevil
Blade (1998)
Blade II (2002)
Hulk (2003)

comments

MRL - Daredevil (1964) #1-4

2026-05-31T11:22:48Z

Daredevil (1964) #1-4 - Stan Lee/Bill Everett/Joe Orlando

Daredevil came about due to the success of the other superheroes. Searching for inspiration, Stan Lee reached out to Bill Everett - the creator of Namor - who hashed out some details with Jack Kirby, and Daredevil was born, partially inspired by the experience of Everett's blind daughter.

The first issue covers Daredevil's origin story. It's the same story retold by Frank Miller, but there's some details of note:

Young Matt randomly finds out he's good at gymnastics one day; it’s all genetics
After he loses his sight and develops his super-senses, he has no trouble adaptin and never gets overwhelmed by loud noises and such
He can tell fabric colours apart by touch, very useful when he's putting his costume together
He turns his cane into a billy club
Matt and Foggy don't have to worry about getting a job; Foggy’s dad sets them up with their own law firm
Daredevil first case is finding the men responsible for his father's death. The Fixer suffers an heart attack and he tricks the shooter into confessing in front of the cops
No Stick, no Elektra, no ninjas

The Fantastic Four show up in issue #2. They need a lawyer to look at their lease before renewing (I guess they don't own the Baxter Building after all?). The Thing takes a photo of Matt to show their security system. That way he can get inside while the FF are in Washington getting medals.

When Matt gets to the Baxter Building, his senses alert him to danger - I guess he also has something akin to the spider-sense. The danger is due to Electro. Daredevil had busted his stolen cars operation, so he decided to take advantage of the FF's absence to rob them. His electrical powers allow him to bypass the security system and to knock out Daredevil. Electro then puts him in the FF's rocket and sends him to outer space.

Still, once he regains consciousness, Matt is able to navigate the rocket back down to Earth and land it safely in Central Park. He returns to the Baxter Building with the aid of a sightseeing helicopter and times it perfectly to land trough the skylight - for a moment, he's like the Mad Thinker; also, New York helicopters must be very punctual.

Electro made his way into Mr. Fantastic's safe, but Daredevil stops him and hands him over to the police before he can get away with Reed’s notes. Matt returns the papers and seals the safe, but the FF return before he can clean anything else - or do the job he was hired to do, for that matter. So, looks like the firm of Nelson and Murdock will not have the Fantastic Four as clients…

Matt's next client, the Owl, is a different beast. A financial genius whose crimes are finally coming to light, he hires a random lawyer from the phone book. He's not worried about his problems with the justice, because he decided to come out as a villain. Besides his intelligence, the Owl has the ability to glide in the air, like his namesake bird - although he got his name due to his appearance.

He hires a couple of goons and decides to find himself a new patsy - his last one was his accountant, who committed suicide after being framed for the Owl's crimes. He settles on blind lawyer Matt Murdock and has him kidnapped. Of course, things go wrong and he ends up capturing Daredevil and Karen Page instead.

Matt gets them free and sends Karen to fetch the police, while he deals with the Owl and utterly fails to conceal his identity. Karen, however, decides that if Daredevil reminds her of Matt, she must be really in love with Matt (see, there’s a love triangle going on: Foggy is into Karen, who’s into Matt, who’s into being Daredevil, until he realizes Karen likes him, but he mustn't do anything about it, because Foggy has dibs; no one is into Daredevil, at least yet).

Next up, the Purple Man. He used to be a spy, but he got dosed with some experimental gas in his last mission and he gained the ability to control other people through pheromones. The control disappears once they're out of the Purple Man’s presence, though.

Also, he’s now purple.

Matt gets involved when Killgrave when he’s arrested for robbing a bank, although all he did was ask the cashier for money, which is not a crime. Still, he walks out of prison and takes Karen with him. He also gets himself an army of body builders and takes over the Hilton Hotel, all the while working on a plan to take over the world.

Daredevil seems to be the only one immune and, in the end, defeats him by covering Killgrave with a plastic tarp, which negates his powers.

So, one thing this series has going for it is the art. Orlando, maybe inspired by Everett, gives it a different feel from the other Silver Age books. On the other hand, it has too much text - it really over-explains what’s going on. Also, the text goes out of its way to give Matt zero downsides to being blind, and that flattens his character.

I’m mostly keeping up with it because I really like Daredevil as a character.

comments

MCU Rewatch - Daredevil (2003)

2026-05-28T21:59:44Z

Daredevil (2003) directed by Mark Steven Johnson

Written by Mark Steven Johnson

Starring: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrel, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jon Favreau, Joe Pantoliano

Synopsis: A man blinded by toxic waste which also enhanced his remaining senses fights crime as an acrobatic martial arts superhero.

Did I watch it when it first come out? I don’t think so, but I had the DVD.

Highlights: when this movie gets over-the-top fun - Daredevil suiting up and back-flipping through the city; Elektra training to Evanescence; the playground fight; every time Bullseye is on screen - it's very good and entertaining. When it tries to get serious, well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Also, Michael Clarke Duncan makes a good Kingpin.

The “sonar sense pov” effect looks very cool.

Worldbuilding Notes: Daredevil is the only vigilante around and mostly rumour. He does have a good setup going.

Little things that stood out: all minor characters were named after comic creators.

No idea what’s going on with Matt's place. Looks like a bunker, has cherub sculptures in the walls. All the living-as-a-blind-person details were neat. The isolation tank might be too much, but it also makes a lot of sense.

The Plan: there isn't much of one. Kingpin decides to pin his crimes on Natchios Sr because he's trying to leave. (Also, maybe because there's a journalist sniffing around?)

The Other Stuff: oh boy!

First, Foggy is annoying and mercenary.

Second, the romance is a rollercoaster: starts with stalkerish tropes, gets fun and flirty, devolves into cutesy and cheesy, and they don’t milk the fact that Elektra believes Daredevil killed her father for all its worth.

Third, the story never quite comes together. there are connections between the different plots, but it never clicks.

And, this might be mean, but Ben Affleck is a better actor when he’s wearing the mask.

Also, the movie forgets that Matt is a very good lawyer. There is one courtroom scene and, besides not being very good, knowing the defendant is lying is not the same thing as proving it. That guy didn’t need an expensive lawyer to get away with it.

And one more thing: Daredevil has no qualms about killing, except at the end, when he decides to spare the Kingpin. Could be character growth, except Matt never expresses guilty about murder.

Ranking (for now) (100% subjective; based on personal enjoyment only):

X2 (2003)
Spider-Man (2002)
X-Men (2000)
Daredevil
Blade (1998)
Blade II (2002)

comments

MCU Rewatch - X2

2026-05-24T22:00:23Z

X2 (2003) directed by Bryan Singer

Written by Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris, David Hayter

Starring: Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Anna Paquin, Rebecca Romijn, Brian Cox, Allan Cumming

Synopsis: When anti-mutant Colonel William Stryker kidnaps Professor X and attacks his school, the X-Men must ally with their archenemy Magneto to stop him.

Did I watch it when it first come out? Yes. And I owned the DVD, so I watched this one a lot. Also all the extras - my favourite tidbit is about all the standing still extras: they're mimes!

Highlights: almost everything.

Mystique is still the most competent person ever.

They did a good job seeding Pyro's heel turn.

Nightcrawler! Just Nightcrawler. And the entire opening scene.

Worldbuilding Notes: According to Cyclops, it’s been a month since Liberty Island and Jean’s powers got stronger. That raises the question of how long has been Stryker making plans, because it must have taken longer to develop Magneto’s plastic prison and all associated protocols.

Little things that stood out: the fact that Stryker realizes the dam is about to implode and immediately abandons his great plan to escape really illuminates what kind of man he is.

Human looking Hank McCoy is on the TV! And Remy LaBeau’s name is on Stryker’s files (and a bunch of others, but that’s the only one I noticed).

Kurt is really hurt Wolverine didn’t care he was “The Amazing Nightcrawler” in the circus.

The Plan: the kill-all-mutants plan is definitely effective, although short-sighted - eventually, more mutants will be born.

The kill-all-humans might work better, although it wasn't been established in movie canon if mutants can have human babies.

Either way, Magneto is the MVP for even thinking about it.

The Other Stuff: I have nothing bad to say about this movie. I didn’t even mind the love triangle bits - Logan/Jean might feel a bit forced (although I think their chemistry is fine), but it’s also not taking over the plot.

Ranking (for now):

X2 (2003)
Spider-Man (2002)
X-Men (2000)
Blade (1998)
Blade II (2002)

comments

MRL - Fantastic Four (1961) #28-30, Annual #2

2026-05-22T21:22:11Z

Fantastic Four (1961) #28-30, Annual #2 - Stan Lee/Jack Kirby

It’s the Fantastic Four vs the X-Men! But only because the Mad Thinker and the Puppet Master are interfering.

The Mad Thinker has come up with another plan to destroy the Fantastic Four. First, using his powers, he deduced the appearance of the leader of the X-Men - Professor X hasn’t been photographed in action, unlike his students. Second, the Puppet Master sculpts a doll of the Professor with an extra dose of his radioactive clay - which is an interesting look at how his powers work.

He takes some effort, but the Puppet Master takes over the Professor’s mind and the Mad Thinker’s plan is put to execution.

The X-Men take their helicopter to the Baxter Building, where the FF are happy to receive them - at first. With the element of surprise on their side, the X-Men attack and manage to take Sue hostage. They take their helicopter to a seemingly empty plain, that just happens to be booby trapped against the FF.

The Dreadful Duo make their appearance, in order to gloat. The X-Men - who had not been very happy about the Professor’s orders to fight the FF - are dismayed to learn he’s under the Puppet Master’s control. They receive a mental command to sleep, but Beast is strong enough to resist it and destroys the Professor’s doll.

The X-Men and the Fantastic Four briefly team-up to fight the Mad Thinker’s Awesome Android - who can absorb and use the powers used against him - while the duo escapes. Professor X uses his mental powers to defeat the android and the two teams depart in friendly terms.

Nest, the return of the Watcher - and the Red Ghost and his Apes. The story starts in Yancy Street, where the FF are investigating crime reports - and being “attacked” by the Yancy Street Gang. They return home, defeated for the moment.

Alicia and Ben have a bit of trouble - both think they should break up, because the other would be better off - but they work things up. Johnny tries to distract everyone from the mushiness with the mail, and the FF get lured back to Yancy Street.

Only, it wasn’t the local gang, it was the Red Ghost, looking for revenge. He kidnaps the FF - although Johnny is the taken hostage this time - back to the Moon, where he plans to abandon them.

Sue protects the team with an invisible shield, trapping enough air that they can (barely) make it to the Blue Area, where the Watcher lives. The Watcher isn’t home, but he projects his image from a distant galaxy, and warns the FF to be careful with the many inventions that are too advanced for them to understand.

Still, there are some things Reed recognizes. He uses a power ray to bring the Red Ghost’s ship back down and the FF fight the Apes to a stalemate. The Red Ghost confronts Reed, Sue tackles him and the Red Ghost falls trough some kind of portal. The Apes get the ship working again, leaving the FF stranded - until the Watcher interferes, because he doesn’t want squatters in his place.

The FF take a vacation to Transylvania, where they hear about Diablo, an alchemist so dangerous he has been trapped in his castle for a century. Unfortunately, he manages to put the only person strong enough to release him on a trance. The Thing then pledges to serve Diablo for a year, in exchange for a potion that returns him to normal - he’s halfway there already, and it’s firmly uncanny valley fuel.

Diablo starts peddling his potions, promising all kinds of miracles, to everybody. The problem is they only work temporarily. Once they start wearing off, the FF feel free to attack him and rescue Ben. He’s imprisoned in an unbreakable glass coffin and, guess what? The potion wears off, Ben gets free and chases Diablo back into his crypt. He then makes the castle collapse on top of it and Johnny melts the rubble, trapping Diablo forever - or until next time.

The Annual is all about Doctor Doom. First, backstory!

Doom’s father was a Romani healer who couldn't save a Baron's wife. Fearing retribution - rightly so - he runs with little Victor. The Baron's men don't catch up with them, but the weather does, and the older Doom dies due to exposure.

The younger Doom swears revenge on the world. And he has the means to accomplish it: smart, charming, good looking and with a chest of magical artefacts, inherited from his sorceress mother.

Doom grows up and his inventions seem to fall in two camps: snake oil/trinkets to mess it other Latverians or arms to defend his tribe. He attracts the attention of an American professor, who invites him to attend college in the US.

Doom accepts, dreaming of what access to better tech will allow him to do.

In the first day of college, Doom meets Reed Richards and it's enemies at first sight. On Doom’s part - Reed was just trying to befriend a fellow scientist, but Doom has no time for his inferiors, i. e. everyone else.

Reed befriends Ben Grimm instead and they're both the better for it.

Doom does a dangerous experiment and gets himself disfigured.

NB we never see his face. His disfigurement could be on par with movie!Phantom of the Opera and Doom’s ego is just filling out the rest.

His recklessness gets him expelled from college, so Doom travels to Tibet to study the mystic arts - not with the Ancient One, to be clear. There he forges his armour and his mask, with a secret mechanism so that only Doom can open it.

Then he returns to Latveria and becomes its secret ruler - secret in the sense that there's a prime-minister and there's also rumours that the real ruler of Latveria is a mysterious tyrant in an iron armour.

It should also be noted that every time we see Latveria, the story is suddenly set 100 years in the past.

Last time we saw Doom in present day, he was hurling away in the deep space. Lucky for him, Rama-tut is passing by and rescues him before Doom runs out of oxygen.

The two men talk long enough to realize they might be related. After all, Rama-tut inherited his time travel machine from his ancestor, Doom. Doom wonders if they're not, in fact, the same man and, in that case, they being together might cause some sort of temporal snafu. (Also, wouldn't one of them remember time travelling to become the other?)

Still, they leave in good terms, each to his present time. Rather remarkable for two egotistic villains.

Back in New York, Doom comes with an infallible plan to destroy the Fantastic Four, once and for all. Again.

We find our heroes almost crashing the Fantasticar in the middle of the highway. Fortunately, only one car suffers light damage. The owner is very displeased, though, which sets Ben off and he causes greater damage to the car.

A bystander intervenes and buys the car. He then asks the Thing to finish destroying it, hoping to get a modern art piece out of it.

The FF receive an invitation to attend a dinner in their honour at the Latverian embassy. Sue is excited about showing off a new evening gown, but they’re asked to attend in their uniforms.

The next step in Doom’s plan is a toast to the FF with a special drink.Reed is the only one suspicious enough not to drink and, therefore, is the only one not to be plagued by Doom engineered visions.Ben and Johnny start a fight and Sue sees Reed kissing another woman and then making fun of her for being distraught.

This could be the end of the Fantastic Four, but Doom takes a moment to angst and looks at his face for the first time in years. It looks the same and he fires a gun at the mirror, breaking the tension between Sue and Reed.

They burst into Doom’s room and Sue uses her shield to protect Reed and to force Doom - who wasn't aware of this power - out of the window.

Sue and Reed make peace, despite her foolishness - because, you know, when Sue acts upset or emotional, she's a female; when Ben and Johnny fight up and down the hallways over a joke, it's just business as usual. Later on, Reed tries to leave Sue behind for the final confrontation with Doom, to which everyone objects, rightfully. It's like Reed decided to channel the worst aspects from the Fantastic Four Season One comic and I don't like it.

Anyway, Doom is waiting for the FF in the Baxter Building, protected by a force field. Reed has a device for such an occasion, but he needs Johnny to charge it with his nova flame. Johnny doesn’t let go in time, leaving out of combat, but Doom is susceptible to both Ben and Sue now.

But his real fight is with Reed. He offers Doom a toast, before they embark on a mental contest with the Encephalo-gun: the participant with lower intellectual ability will be destroyed.

Doom believes himself the winner and leaves victorious, but Reed had spiked his drink with same berry juice Doom used on the FF and proves to have the greater mental capability.

Unlike Doom, he has no need to gloat. And he still hopes Doom can change. Which is a better note to end on than the chauvinistic crap from earlier.

comments

MCU Rewatch - Blade II

2026-05-17T20:19:34Z

Blade II (2002) directed by Guillermo del Toro

Written by David S. Goyer

Starring: Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Ron Perlman, Leonor Varela, Norman Reedus, Luke Goss

Synopsis: Blade forms an uneasy alliance with the vampire council in order to combat the Reapers, who are feeding on vampires.

Did I watch it when it first come out? No.

Highlights: Snipes and Perlman seem to be having a who’s-the-coolest contest; Perlman is only hindered because is character is the villain.

The concept of Blade teaming up with the vampires and having to confront the fact that he is part vampire is cool.

Worldbuilding Notes: vampirism is caused by a virus.

Little things that stood out: bringing Whistler back, only to spend most of the movie casting aspersion on his character is a bit mean.

The Plan: it’s the same basic plan as the first movie. Only using genetically modified vampires, instead of ancient superior ones. And, this time, the turning everyone else in the world into vampires it’s an unforeseen side effect.

The Other Stuff: Karen - the sidekick/love interest from the first movie - is replaced by an annoying comic relief guy. The fact he’s a traitor doesn’t improve his character.

The romance angle is very under-developed.

Ranking (for now):

Spider-Man (2002)
X-Men (2000)
Blade (1998)
Blade II (2002)

comments

MRL - Strange Tales (1951) #126-128

2026-05-15T13:18:16Z

Strange Tales (1951) #126-128 - Stan Lee/Steve Ditko

Doctor Strange must travel to the Dark Dimension and battle the Dread Dormammu, who not even the Ancient One could vanquish.

His mission gets complicated when a mysterious woman warns Strange that defeating Dormammu will have dire consequences. On the outskirts of the Dread Dimension live the Mindless Ones, who want nothing but to cause destruction and violence. The only thing keeping them at bay is the barrier constructed by Dormammu.

However, Strange's loyalty is first to Earth and he can't allow Dormammu to invade his home.

They fight, and although Strange was a lot of courage and valour, he's not powerful enough to defeat Dormammu. Still, the power Dormammu uses in the battle causes his barrier to weaken and the Mindless Ones start rampaging over the Dark Dimension.

Strange could take advantage of Dormammu's distraction, but that would be too underhanded. Instead, he lends Dormammu his own strength to keep the Mindless Ones at bay.

Dormammu hates that he needed Strange's help and vows to avenge himself, but his own moral code prevents him from continue to fight he owns such a debt to.

To repay this debt, Strange asks that Dormammu stays away from Earth and that he spares the mystery woman, who thanks Strange, but refuses to leave her home.

For proving his worth, the Ancient One gifts Strange a more powerful amulet and a new cape, that grants him the ability to levitate.

Strange uses his new gifts to help the former disciple of a man that calls himself the Demon. He has studied the Dark Arts in secret, but with his existence revealed, he thinks he’s ready to take down Doctor Strange. He’s wrong and Strange puts a mental block on him.

There’s very interesting things going on with the art and colours in this series; Strange’s character just needs a bit more fleshing out.

comments

MRL - Strange Tales (1951) #126-128

2026-05-14T16:18:28Z

Strange Tales (1951) #126-128 - Stan Lee/Dick Ayers

The Human Torch and the Thing face off against the Mad Thinker and the Puppet Master.

The Mad Thinker has a new plan to defeat the Fantastic Four: take them out one by one, starting by the youngest. The Puppet Master has his doubts, but also keeps working with the Mad Thinker so 🤷‍♂️

Johnny, Ben, Dorrie and Alicia have a standing double date on Saturdays, so the Puppet Master creates a puppet of the Thing and orders him to strike Johnny and push him out of the Fantasticar - a new model.

As Johnny is falling, part of Ben keeps thinking there's something wrong. His subconscious takes over and he turns back human, which allows him to shrug off the Puppet Master’s mind control and rescue Johnny just in time.

The two return to the Baxter Building, where Reed uses his thought-projector to uncover the Puppet Master’s presence on Ben's mind. Reed has an idea and, when the Dreadful Duo realize their plan failed and try to take over Ben's mind again, this time with extra-strength radioactive clay, Reed invented a helmet the directs that power back to the Puppet Master, ending the duo's plans (for now?)

Johnny gets tired of Reed’s leadership - again. He and Ben go off on their own and immediately get tricked into participating in a charity race, that turns out to be a scheme to trap them in a couple of autonomous sports cars racing towards a mountain.

A door opens at the last second and they get trapped inside, along with a mysterious figure that brags about being the only one capable of defeating them.

And he's right, because the Mystery Villain is Reed, demonstrating why he's the leader of the Fantastic Four - again.

In the last issue, Ben and Johnny face off against Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. They’re both dissatisfied with being part of the Brotherhood of Mutants, but Wanda feels she can’t leave while she owes Magneto a debt of honour, while Pietro feels that following Magneto is dishonourable. However, they’re still mutants and have no one else to ask for advice.

Except, maybe the super-powered heroes with the public address?

Unfortunately, you can’t just walk up the Baxter Building to the FF’s private quarters, so the twins force their way inside, which immediately puts Ben and Johnny on the defensive.

Fighting ensues. Pietro is too quick for the other two and Wanda’s hex power basically does anything, so she’s conveniently conked out for most of it. She wakes up in time to release Pietro from the fire cage Johnny eventually made and the twins leave, once again convinced that Homo sapiens can’t be trusted.

comments

MRL - Untold Stories of Spider-Man (1995) #15-16

2026-05-07T16:40:52Z

Untold Stories of Spider-Man (1995) #15-16 - Kurt Busiek/

Gordon returns - you know, the guy who used to hang out with Betty and her brother and got him into trouble? Well, he has been hanging out with some mob types, getting experimented on and he wants to gain control of the Daily Bugle.

For this, he threatens Betty to give him access to J. Jonah’s coffer, where he hides fake evidence of embezzlement. Jonah gets arrested and the plan could have worked, if, as Spider-Man later points out, Gordon had let things run its course.

Instead, he tries to threaten Jonah into ceding control of the newspaper to Gordon’s boss. It doesn’t work because J. Jonah Jameson can’t be intimidated. Spider-Man stops Gordon from throwing Jameson out of the window and they fight, until Peter traps Gordon under a pile of blank newspaper’s rolls.

All end well, except for the fact that Jonah is convinced that Gordon and Spider-Man were working together, as usual.

Next, the lovely Mary Jane Watson makes her entrance and we learn why she faked a headache to avoid a date with Peter. See, she knows that Peter is Spider-Man because she saw him crawl out of his window that night Uncle Ben was murdered - which is a later retcon, btw - and MJ’s having a hard time reconciling serious, nerdy Peter with wise-cracking, carefree Spider-Man.

Meanwhile, Peter is trying to prevent the Radioactive Man from going nuclear in the middle of Manhattan. Some people flee, others barely register the threat - which is a nice way of showing how the regular people are dealing with the Marvel Age of Superheroes.

MJ doesn’t feel ready to meet Peter face to face yet, but she’ll some day - which is a flimsy way of dealing with the story constraints.

comments

MCU Rewatch - Spider-Man

2026-05-04T22:22:59Z

Spider-Man (2002) dir. by Sam Raimi

Written by David Koepp

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe, James Franco, Cliff Robertson, Rosemary Harris, J. K. Simmons

Synopsis: After being bitten by a genetically-modified spider, a shy teenager gains spider-like abilities that he uses to fight injustice as a masked superhero and face a vengeful enemy. (from imdb.com)

Did I watch it when it first come out? I think so, but I’m not sure. I’ve watched it several times since then.

Highlights: Willem Dafoe and J. K. Simmons are perfect casting for sure.

The cast is overall very good - except James Franco, he just sounds bored most of the time.

MJ goes through a lot: shitty family, shitty boyfriends, her silly superhero crush results in her being tossed of a bridge and then Peter is only interested in being friends.

The entire sequence with the robber - from Peter’s little smirk when he talks back to the promoter guy, to the horror movie vibes in the warehouse, to the way Peter doesn’t kill him, but also doesn’t not kill him - it’s great.

The people on the bridge sticking up for Spider-Man against the Green Goblin and the boat guys helping rescue the kids - it's a perspective the modern MCU is lacking.

Worldbuilding Notes: it takes forever for Spider-Man the vigilante to show up,but it makes sense when there aren’t other superheroes around to inspire him. That’s the annoying bit about the solo superhero movies that aren’t part of a shared universe: there’s one super powered good guy and everyone else with powers is a villain.

The Plan: The Green Goblin doesn’t have an overarching plan, per se. First, he’s saving Oscorp; then, he’s destroying Spider-Man. Both actions mostly require a large number of explosives.

The Other Stuff: some effects look dated and the Green Goblin costume looks a bit silly in daylight. Besides that, I don’t have anything negative to say.

Ranking (for now):

Spider-Man (2002)
X-Men (2000)
Blade (1998)

comments

Abril Book List

2026-05-01T21:58:25Z

Destination Unknown by Agatha Christie

Never been a fan of Christie’s thrillers. This one starts interesting, but the resolution is meh.

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

Still one of my favourite Discworld books.

Off the Edge by Kelly Weill

Nice overview of the modern flat Earth movement. I wish it digged more into how conspiracy thinking works and the movement ties to the alt-right.

The Secret Chapter - book 6 of the Invisible Library series - by Genevieve Cogman

The world building keeps getting interesting and Irene is still the best. I wish I could care about her relationship with Kai, but I just don’t. There’s a lot of more interesting side characters.

comments

MRL - Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #14-15, Annual #1

2026-04-27T20:35:06Z

Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #14-15, Annual #1 - Stan Lee/Steve Ditko

Finally, the Green Goblin is here! 😜

Interesting that he's real identity is being kept secret from the readers 🤔

The Green Goblin bursts into the scene and joins forces with the Enforcers to take down Spider-Man. The first step is to head to Hollywood and convince producer BJ Cosmos to make a movie starring the real Spider-Man.

Step two is get Spider-Man's attention. The Goblin accomplishes this by flying over Manhattan in his mechanical broom.

Peter

The story makes a point of keeping his identity secret, which is interesting 🤔 (apparently, there was some disagreement between Lee and Ditko on who should be the Green Goblin - a know entity or a random person; his identity only gets revealed after Ditko leaves the book). Lee first envisioned some kind of supernatural creature, but Ditko made him a regular person - just a weird mask that doesn’t look like a mask, a lot of gadgets and a mechanical broom.

The Green Goblin teams up with the Enforcers (can’t believe these guys are still around, lol) to destroy Spider-Man once and for all 🤷

The first step of the plan is to get Hollywood producer BJ Cosmos interested in a movie featuring both the real Spider-Man and the Enforcers. The second step is to get Spider-Man to sign up for the movie, not realizing that the villains are real.

The Green Goblin gets Spider-Man’s attention by flying over Manhattan. Once he catapults himself to the Goblin’s broom and learns of Cosmos’ offer, Peter is ready to accept - 50 000 dollars is nothing to sneeze at.

Antes the news about the movie deal come out, J. Jonah sends Peter on assignment to get pictures and he uses that to convince Aunt May to let him go.

Production starts in New Mexico and the Green Goblin suggests they rehearse the fight while the crew sets up.

He and the Enforcers treat this as the real thing, of course, but the element of surprise is not enough. Still, Peter retreats, hidden by one of the Goblin's smoke bombs, straight into the cave where the Hulk is hiding.

Peter tries to reason with him, but Hulk is not interested in dealing with people at the moment. He blasts the entrance of the cave open, allowing both Spider-Man and Green Goblin to escape, although Peter goes back for the unconscious Enforcers.

He returns to the producer's office to discover that, with his cast missing, he decided to change directions and make a movie with the Hulk instead.

Honestly, not a great first showing for the Green Goblin. He looks interesting, but his plan his needlessly convoluted and the Hulk is a tacked on.

Kraven the Hunter makes a better entrance. He’s called to New York by his buddy, the Chameleon, whose criminal career is being stymied by Spider-Man.

Kraven made his fame by hunting wild animals. He has some super-human powers that he acquired by drinking a potion he stole from an African shaman, which he demonstrates right there in the port, when a couple of gorillas get loose.

He also announces that he’s in New York to hunt Spider-Man, which gets him Jonah’s interest, although he reminds Kraven that hunting humans is illegal in the US.

Still, Kraven is undeterred. He stalks Spider-Man and fights him. Spider-Man is stronger, so Kraven injects him with one of his special potions, that makes Peter woozy and his hands tremble. Thinking taking down Kraven might be impossible, Peter decides to use one of his spider-trackers to avoid him.

Kraven manages to surprise him by using Chameleon as a decoy. He first traps Peter with a net, then with a special set of cuffs, but the adrenaline surge clears Kraven’s poison out of Peter’s system and he traps the Hunter in a web.

He and Chameleon get deported, but Kraven is back in the Annual, now as part of the Sinister Six.

The group is Doctor Octopus idea. He escapes prison because, despite being surgically separated from his arms, he’s know capable of controlling them mentally. He contacts other villains defeated by Spider-Man - Vulture, Electro, Mysterio, Sandman and Kraven - with a plan.

Each one of them is going to fight Spider-Man in a location chosen by Octavius to give the bad guy the advantage. If he wins, Spider-Man will get a card with the next location, all leading to the last lair, where Octavius is keeping Betty hostage - along, accidentally, with Aunt May.

(Aunt May is taken because she was meeting Betty to ask if she knew what was going with Peter. He was feeling down because his spider powers has disappeared, but that turn out to be psichosomatic - he was feeling guilty about Uncle Ben’s death. It’s unclear if Aunt May realized she was being kidnapped, btw)

So, two obvious flaws with this plan. Spider-Man has already defeated all of these guys individually - they should just storm him at the same time. And two, he doesn’t actually need to defeat them to get the card - he can just steal it, which he does with Kraven.

Meanwhile,Jonah - worried about Betty and tasked with contacting Spider-Man - keeps calling every other superhero in town, so everyone has its own cameo and the Human Torch even offers his help, but Peter feels he must act on his own. In distress, Jonah resorts to talking to spiders and gets scooped out, when every other paper puts out a special edition, except the Dayly Bugle.

Peter makes it to the final lair, where Doctor Octopus tries to surprise him with an underwater fight. Peter gets Octavius’ arms all tangled up in his web and escapes. He finds Betty and Aunt May - who thinks Spider-Man is horrible, compared to the fine gentleman Doctor - and gets away, in order to wait at home as Peter Parker for Aunt May.

Peter and Betty are on again, after Betty spent a couple of issues feeling jeaoulous of Liz Allen, who know thinks Peter could be a better date than Flash Thompson. Flash is not happy, and keeps trying to fight Peter, who keeps ignoring him. Also, Aunt May wants Peter to take out Mrs. Watson’s niece, but she has a convenient headache. (Unclear why Aunt May is trying to get Peter dates when she knows he’s going out with Betty, who she also seems to like.)

comments

MRL - Fantastic Four (1961) #27

2026-04-23T13:15:36Z

Fantastic Four (1963) #27 - Stan Lee/Jack Kirby

Finally, the end of the Namor/Sue/Reed love triangle (I hope).

Reed invented a machine that projects the user’s thoughts. (His projection is Sue in a bathing suit, btw.)

This leads to him getting teased by Johnny and Ben, because Sue must be tired of waiting for him to propose.

(Although, I thought that was because Sue couldn't decide between Reed and Namor?)

Anyway, Reed is ready and plans to go out and buy a ring that same afternoon.

Meanwhile, Namor is reflecting on why things went wrong and decides that he needs Sue by his side to make things right.

Like the fact that most of his people abandoned him when he put Sue’s well-being above them. Anyway, he makes his proclamation and the rest of his followers abandon him…

Alone again, Namor must have Sue. He makes his way to the Baxter Building, wearing a suit as disguise and a gun that counters the Fantastic Four's powers, he leaves Johnny and Ben unconscious and kidnaps Sue.

When Reed returns from ring shopping and learns what happened, he goes mad with anger. How dares Namor take the girls he loves?

He immediately starts searching for Namor's palace, planning to confront him alone.

Worried about him and Sue, Johnny and Ben need to find a way to accompany Reed. Johnny thinks of Doctor Strange and leaves him a sky message, asking for a meeting. Strange answers in his spiritual form and is able to find Namor's underwater palace, where Namor is trying to convince Sue to give him 24 hours to prove he can be a better partner than Reed.

Reed is determined to prove is the better one by defeating Namor in battle. Luckily for Namor, his guards return. Luckily for Reed, Ben and Johnny arrive, courtesy of Doctor Strange's magic.

More fighting ensues. While Johnny rescues Sue from the glass dome where Namor trapped her, Ben deals with the Atlanteans and Namor deals a fatal blow to Reed - that turns out to not be fatal at all.

Reed and Namor's fight continues, until Sue finally separates them with her invisible shield. She then declares Reed is the only one she loves and Namor doesn’t have a chance with her.

Before Namor can retaliate, Doctor Strange interferes and sends Namor’s palace away, while putting the Fantastic Four in their submarine.

They return home, but things between Sue and Reed are up in the air. He can’t trust she was telling the truth; she doesn’t know how to make him believe she was…

comments

MCU Rewatch - Blade

2026-04-22T13:14:22Z

Blade (1998) dir, by Stephen Norrington

Written by David S. Goyer

Starring: Wesley Snipes, Stephen Dorff, Kris Kristofferson, N'Bushe Wright, Donal Logue

Synopsis: A half-vampire, half-mortal man becomes a protector of the mortal race, while slaying evil vampires. (from imdb.com)

(Yes, this movie came out before X-Men, but it wasn't included in the first list I checked. I've since discovered the relevant wikipedia page.)

Did I watch it when it first come out? No.

Highlights: Donal Logue is clearly having a lot of fun every time is on screen.

I don’t think Wesley Sis a good actor, but he plays cool looking action hero very well.nipes isn't the best actor, but he does play cool action hero very well.

Worldbuilding Notes: it bothers me a little that the vampires aren't suscetible to crosses. Does this means they have souls and the blood lust is enough to make them irredeemably evil?

The Plan: so, if you turn every person in the world into a vampire, what are you going to eat? Rats? (it’s explained in a deleted scene is not a valid answer)

The other stuff: my biggest problem with the movie is that I don’t generally like pure action movies, so most of my gripes are a bit irrelevant.

That said, the effects are very silly and the fake blood looks really fake.

Ranking (for now):

X-Men (2000)
Blade (1998)

comments

MRL - Untold Tales of Spider-Man (1995) #10-14

2026-04-21T21:50:51Z

Untold Stories of Spider-Man (1995) #10-14 - Kurt Busiek/Pat Ollife

Checking back in the what else was going on in Peter’s life? series. ngl, I’m enjoying it. It both fleshes out aspects of the original and manages to tell a coherent story, despite the constraints of its premise.

While waiting for Doctor Octopus to return to New York, Spider-Man contends with Commanda, a beautiful jewel thief with flying drones and a force-field generating diadem. Peter doesn't succumb to his hormones, but he can't win against a woman who fakes distress and blames Spider-Man for her crimes.

Meanwhile, Sally discovers that Peter is the one taking Spider-Man's photos and gets onto phase 2 of her plan: become Blue Bird - her own costumed superhero - and have Peter take her photos, so she can become famous. Her qualifications are that she's a gymnast and she got Jason (and his engineer father) to build her some gadgets.

Peter forestalls her attempt at blackmail by telling people in school that he's the one taking Spider-Man's pictures. This has the unintended consequence of making Flash want to be Peter's best friend, so he can be introduced to Spider-Man, greatly impeding bit Peter’s and Spider-Man’s careers.

Things get more complicated when the Eel - the electricity powered Human Torch villain - springs Electro out of jail and the two hold the city's electrical grid hostage. Peter manages to sneak out, but gets joined by Blue Bird, who doesn’t acquit herself very well. One of her gadgets is an ether bomb - it does nothing - and, when Spider-Man comes up with a clever solution to neutralize the villain duo’s powers, she ruins it.

Finally, Peter blows up at Flash. Peter’s not introducing Flash to Spider-Man because he doesn't’ know him: he hides and takes photos and sells them to Spidey’s biggest critic, so Spider-Man doesn’t even like Peter. That gets Flash to leave him alone.

We learn a bit more about Betty’s reasons for leaving school. She and her brother were friends with Gordon. He was nice, but he also had a devious streak - he has the one who got Bennet hooked on gambling and embroiled with Blackie, to the point goons came to their house because of Bennet’s debts and hurt their mother. With her brother stuck working for Blackie, Betty has to take care of their mother, so she takes over her old job as Jameson’s secretary.

Betty sees a lot of Gordon in Peter and that makes her worry about him, even if she’s not ready to open up to him about everything.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man has Blue Bird to worry about. She keeps showing up to his fights and thinking everything’s fine, because Spider-Man is always there to help her out. Realizing this, Peter lets her get hit by a random goon, which gets her to put the costume aside. Instead, Sally’s going to be a daring photographer.

Things take a bad turn when she and Jason are trying to get photos of a Spider-Man/Black Knight fight and get hit by a car. Jason survives; Sally does not.

Peter spirals down, blaming himself for Sally’s death. He stops Black Knight’s plot of the week, leaving him badly hurt. The Human Torch is the one who pulls him out of his funk, by giving him a bit of tough love. After all, he did help Sally, he just couldn’t save her from herself.

We finish with the return of the Scorcher, from issue #1. He has a chip on his shoulder because he turned to a life of crime after being wrongly accused of theft at his former job as a respectable chemist. This only matters because it helps Peter find the words to help Tiny, who had ran away from home and dropped out of school. Just because his father tells him he's worthless it doesn't make it true.

comments

MRL - Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #11-13

2026-04-16T22:11:59Z

Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #11-13 - Stan Lee/Steve Ditko

Now, on Spider-Man, the return of Doctor Octopus!

Peter finds out Doctor Octopus is being released from prison and heads down to talk the warden out of it, which doesn't really work. He comes up with plan B - a little spider-shaped tracking device.

On the night of Doctor Octopus' release, Spider-Man is waiting. There's a car waiting and Peter is startled to find that the driver is Betty Brant!

He learn that Betty's there because of her brother. He's a lawyer, but his gambling debts put him under the thumb of a criminal called Blackie, that wants Doctor Octopus to free him from jail.

Peter tracks the signal to Philadelphia, where he meets up with Betty. She finally confesses her secrets to him. Peter reassures her that Spider-Man is on the case and everything will be fine. He even thinks it’s time to tell her his own secret.

He misses the jail break, but he tracks Octavius and Blackie to an old ship. Unfortunately, Betty and her brother are being held hostage there. Spider-Man struggles with Blackie for his gun, and Betty’s brother gets fatally shot while trying to protect her. In the heat of the moment, Betty blames Spider-Man for killing her brother.

He tries to defend himself, but he also has Doctor Octopus to deal with. In the end, he escapes, but Blackie is back in police custody and Betty is cleared.

She admits to Peter that Spider-Man is not at fault for her brother, but she also says she couldn't stand to see him again and be remembered of her pain.

She goes back to New York and gets her job back, while Octavius goes on a crime rampage all over the country.

However, since Peter doesn't have the funds to follow him, he also returns to New York for the opportunity to end Spider-Man once and for all.

He barges into the J. Jonah Jameson's office to kidnap Betty. He then orders Jameson to put an ad out for Spider-Man to come find him at Coney Island. And to send a photographer to document his victory over Spider-Man.

Jameson complies, hoping to get an exclusive, and Spider-Man pretends he doesn’t already know what’s going on.

Unfortunately, Peter is coming down with a virus that saps his spider-powers and Doctor Octopus defeats him easily. He unmasks him in front of Betty, Jameson and a random policeman, but everyone assumes Peter was just pretending to be Spider-Man. That earns him Betty’s gratitude, a scolding from Aunt May, and new found admiration from Liz Allan at school, much to Flash Thompson’s chagrin.

Once Peter gets better, he’s ready to tackle Doctor Octopus again. Doc Ock decided to take a page from Namor’s playbook: he released a bunch of animals from the zoo and is now causing random mayhem all over the city to get Spider-Man’s attention.

Their fight takes them to an abandoned sculpture studio, where they inadvertently start a fire. Peter barely escapes and Octavius gets trapped under a statue. He gets rescued by firefighters and arrested again, while raving that Spider-Man didn’t defeat him, the fire did.

We finish with the introduction of Mysterio. Formerly a stunt performer turned special effects supervisor, Mysterio figured he could imitate Spider-Man. He developed the gadgets necessary and embarks on a life of crime, putting the blame on Spider-Man - to the point Peter thinks he’s leading a double life!

(He even checks out a psychiatrist, but figures it would be a bad idea to let his mouth run off around the wrong person.)

Jameson is having a good time. He reprints his editorials detailing how Spider-Man is a menace and partners with Mysterio for an exclusive, when he challenges Spider-Man for a fight on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Having uncovered the secrets of becoming Spider-Man, Mysterio decides to build a costume of his own and become a hero/secret villain under his own name. The fishbowl helmet allows him to see without being seen and he develops a thick gas that also interferes with Peter’s spider-sense.

Mysterio wins the first fight, but Peter wises up for round two and gets Mysterio monologuing into a recorder, clearing his name, before defeating him.

comments

MRL - Tales of Suspense (1959) #52-53, #57

2026-04-13T13:28:33Z

Tales of Suspense (1959) #52-53, #57 - Stan Lee/Don Rico/Don Heck

Checking the Iron Man adventures for the introduction of two future Avengers.

First, the Black Window, a soviet operative dressed like an extravagant femme fatale, who doesn’t really do much on her first story besides distracting Tony Stark a couple of times.

The real work is done by her partner, Boris. Basically, they waltz into Tony’s factory ans ask for a tour. Natasha then gets Tony to take her for dinner, while Boris infiltrates a secure area and kidnaps Anton Vanko, the Crimson Dynamo - former soviet agent who defected and is now super loyal to Tony and America. Boris then wears Vanko’s armour and starts destroying stuff in order to attract Iron Man.

Iron Man, of course, thinks it’s Vanko inside the armour and doesn’t expect to be stabbed in the back. Or, more accurately, have his transistor’s energy depleted. Boris takes Iron Man to the same submarine where Vanko is being held, and returns with Natasha to finish the job, i. e., kidnap Tony Stark.

Tony manages to re-energize his suit with a convenient light bulb and rescues Vanko. They return to the factory for a final confrontation with Boris, where Vanko sacrifices himself to save Tony, while Natasha flees.

She wastes no time trying to get back in her leader's good graces.

Tony invents an anti-gravity ray. Very useful, but he can't reproduce it. The information leaks out and Natasha steals it, by the very simple method of meeting Tony while feigning remorse. He doesn't believe her, but she acts too fast for him to react.

Iron Man is unable. to find her, despite the trail of destruction she's leaving behind. However, she meets up with a group of soviet agents and they muck things up.

The leader decides to play with the ray, which leads Iron Man to their location. Natasha regains control of the situation and drops a building on top of Iron Man.

Thinking their enemy is defeated, the group moves on to their next target: Fort Knox.

Iron Man survived the building drop, though, and saves the day by arresting the spies - except Natasha, who disappears again - and destroying the anti-gravity ray.

The next time Natasha appears is teaming up with Hawkeye.

Tony gets dragged into the little love triangle going on with Pepper and Happy. Happy asks Tony to put a good word for him, but Pepper thinks Tony is asking her out and they end up in Coney Island, where Tony ditches her because Iron Man has to emergency repair the ferris wheel.

Hawkeye is the world's best marksman, but his show doesn't seem very successful. Watching Iron Man, he thinks he could also get a colourful costume and some gadgets and become… an arch villain? At least, according to the narration. The first thing he does while out in the street is stop a jewellery thief.

Of course, the police mistake him for the robber and he runs straight into the Black Window's car.

She needs a partner to help her take down Iron Man and Hawkeye readily accepts, because she's just that beautiful and he's totally in love with her already.

She helps him getting some more trick arrows - seems like her communist overlords haven't abandoned her, although she still looks nothing like a communist spy - including explosive arrows and rust-causing arrows.

The last one really gets Iron Man on retreat mode. He manages to replace the rusted pieces and catch up+ with Hawkeye, who then sends an explosive arrow Iron Man’s way. It doesn't affect the armour, but the blast does hit Natasha and Hawkeye picks her up and carries her away - maybe it is real love!

Tony ends alone, reflecting that he should stay away from Pepper. He likes her, but the only thing keeping him alive are his transistors, and who knows how long there going to last?

comments

MRL - Strange Tales (1951) #123-125

2026-04-09T12:58:01Z

Strange Tales (1951) #123-125 - Stan Lee/Steve Ditko

The return of Doctor Strange. First, he faces Loki. Trying to escape his prison again, Loki projects his image to Strange, claims to be a prisoner of Thor, the real bad guy, and convinces Strange to steal Mjolnir, which Strange does.

However, is not entirely trusting of Loki, and quickly confirms the evil in his heart and they have an illusion face off. Strange wins, sends Loki packing and returns Thor's hammer, all in the span of sixty seconds or less.

Thor never finds out what happened, but he has his hammer back, so things must be fine 😋

Strange finds a woman under a trance while on a spirit walk one night. He can't break the spell, so he asks the Ancient One for advice. They agree the answers lies in the past, so Strange travels back in time in his spirit form. He must return before a candle stops burning, so, of course, he barely makes it, and must use his amulet to light the final stretch.

His time in the past proves fruitful - he learns what he needs and brings down a tyrant with some mind control. Strange breaks the spell and sends the woman back to her time. She turns out to be Cleopatra, btw.

We finish with an appearance by Strange’s archenemy, Baron Mordo. He managed to kidnap the Ancient One and Strange must reach him. They fight in the astral plane all over the world, until Strange’s amulet finally locates the Ancient One. Then, it becomes a light vs dark magic brawl.

Light winds, and Strange proves himself superior to Mordo once again.

comments

MRL - Strange Tales (1951) #120-125

2026-04-09T12:50:11Z

Strange Tales (1951) #120-125 - Stan Lee/Jack Kirby/Dick Ayers/Carl Burgos (creator of the original Human Torch)

Time for more Human Torch solo adventures.

First, a team up with Iceman. They're both in a cruise around Manhattan - apparently, the place to be for teenagers at the time. Johnny is miffed about being compared to Iceman in the newspaper; Bobby is miffed because the only girl he managed to talk to was Johnny’s date.

Then the boat is attacked by pirates and they have to work together to defeat them, which they manage after a couple of misshapes and despite a fairly competent pirate captain. Bobby leaves and Johnny laments the fact that the X-Men have secret identities and he can't just call Iceman up.

Next up, the return of the Plantman - Johnny’s girlfriend's father's former gardener who has the power to control plants, now with upgraded costume. The costume is cool, but mist of his plans consist of getting Johnny wet so he can't burn his plants.

After that, the return of Doctor Doom’s henchmen - remember them? Doom gave them powers, then send them to another dimension, from where they returned after Doom was sent hurling through space. Wanting to impress them when he returns, the three (they don't have a group name 😐) decide to capture the Fantastic Four one by one. They start with the Human Torch, thinking he'll be the easier target. Well, joke's on them, because they get soundly defeated. Although, to their credit, not because they turned on each other.

A new bad guy gets introduced: the Beetle (not the musical sensation). His shtick is his helmet, that augments his strength, a pair of wings and a pair of suction gloves. His plan is to rob the World Fair and to become famous by defeating the Fantastic Four. He only gets the Human Torch and the Thing - in the middle of a double date with Dorrie and Alicia - and he doesn't get famous.

It also announces the start of the Thing/Human Torch team-up adventures.

After helping the Avengers (in Avengers #6), Paste Pot Pete got paroled and decided to return to his life of crime, but with an upgraded suit and gadgets.

Ben goes to Johnny’s place to warn him. Since Johnny doesn’t answer the door right away, Ben decides the best way to wake him up is to pick the house up and slam it back down. Johnny finds this method a tad unnecessary and they fight.

Johnny is more concerned with his date with Dorrie than with Paste Pot Pete, so Ben washes his hands of the situation. However, Pete's plan is to kidnap the Thing to attract the Human Torch into a trap. The first part goes well and Pete drags the Thing with a glue rope behind the Fantasticar.

The second part fails because the Fantasticar has a silent alarm in case someone unauthorized takes control of the wheel and Johnny is able to arrive in Pete's lair - an abandoned glue factory - before he's expected.

In the end, Pete's glue is no match for the Thing's strength and the Human Torch's flame. And Johnny doesn’t even get in trouble with Dorrie for abandoning their date!

Next issue, finds Ben and Johnny hanging out at the Baxter Building, engaging in their favourite pastime - fighting each other!

They're interrupted by a couple of reporters from Life magazine, but they're here to interview Sue and Reed, so they get kicked out.

Next interruption comes when their security system detects Namor on the surface. Fearing he might be leading another invading army - and not wanting to give Sue and Reed more media attention - Ben and Johnny go after him by themselves.

They fight in the middle of the ocean, where Namor is stronger, but they still manage to overcome him. Both Namor and Johnny get knocked out, so Ben has to drag them to a little island. He’s holding Johnny by his uniform, but it’s unclear how he’s dragging Namor along…

Reed and Sue finally track them and Namor uses the distraction to escape. Reed reveals Namor wasn’t leading another invading army. He had come to the surface to meet with Reed in hopes of making peace, but, now, thinking himself betrayed, who knows if peace is possible?

Also, the journalists wanted to interview Sue and Reed for a story about Ben and Johnny…

comments

MCU Rewatch - X-Men

2026-04-08T22:09:00Z

X-Men (2000) dir. by Bryan Singer

Written by: Tom deSanto, Bryan Singer, David Hayter

Starring; Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Rebecca Ramijn, Bruce Davison

Synopsis: In a world where mutants (evolved super-powered humans) exist and are discriminated against, two groups form for an inevitable clash: the supremacist Brotherhood, and the pacifist X-Men. (from imdb.com)

Starting a new project, where I watch the MCU. Starting with X-Men, because everyone’s coming back for Avengers: Doomsday. Will I be done before Doomsday comes out? Not likely. But I may finally finish that sweater I started two years ago…

Did I watch it when it first come out? Yep. I’ve been a X-Man fan since watching the animated series growing up, I wasn’t going to miss the chance to see them in the big screen.

Highlights: the cast, obviously.

Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen work perfectly as Professor X and Magneto. Their tense confrontation at the train station is probably the best scene in the movie.

Hugh Jackman is still playing Wolverine for a reason. It’s nice that one of Wolverine’s characteristics they chose to highlight it’s his rapport with teenage girls.

It’s overall an entertaining movie. The effects are good, the story is coherent and the movie holds up.

Worldbuilding notes: mutants are a know entity at the start, although it bothers me that there's a big generation gap between Xavier and his first students - no middle aged mutants?

Little things that stood out: The moment when Cyclops introduces himself to Wolverine looking like the perfect boy scout, only to get rebuffed... of course, he hates him forever.

Wolverine warms up to Scott when he finds the “turbo” setting in his bike.

The way the team acts in the final act - that's their first real field mission, right?

This is bringing future knowledge, but the way Sabretooth is obsessed with Wolverine and his army tags - does he know they're brothers?

The Plan: even if there weren’t fatal side effects, I don't think Magneto's plan would work. Turning all the world leaders into mutants wouldn't

The other stuff: Halle Berry doesn't get a lot to do as Storm. And, as someone who usually doesn't notice these things, her wig is kinda bad.

Not sure if Anna Paquin is doing a southern accent (not sure if I'd recognize it, tbh)

The love triangle stuff between Jean/Scott/Logan is meh. Logan relentless hits on her, mostly annoys Scott, and, at the end, Jean is like, maybe into him?

Ranking (for now):

1. X-Men (2000)

comments

MRL - Untold Tales of Spider-Man (1995) #1-9

2026-04-04T20:57:30Z

Untold Tales of Spider-Man (1995) #1-9 - Kurt Busiek/Pat Ollife

After Amazing Fantasy, Busiek keeps working his way in the gaps of the Lee/Ditko Spider-Man run.

When Untold Tales was first coming out, there were four other Spider-Man titles ongoing at the same time, it was the middle of the Clone Saga, and editorial thought it would be good to take a look at how it all started. It also opened the door for new character synergy, so that’ll be interesting to see ~~in a few years.~~

The first issue picks up after the Lizard’s introduction. Spider-Man wants to rehabilitate his image in the eyes of the law, after Jameson harassed the police into issuing a warrant against Spider-Man, and swings into Captain Stacy’s (as in Gwen’s father) office in order to offer his services. He, for obvious reasons, refuses, so Peter tries to show his worth by interfering in a police operation. He catches the bad guy, but the police were after the big boss, so the entire thing is a bit of a blunder.

Spider-Man’s reputation takes another hit when he fails to help a councillor apprehend Bat-Wing. At first, it looks a like a giant, mutated bat, but it turns out to be a kid that turned into a bat monster after drinking some toxic water in a cave. Distrusting everyone - including Spider-Man - he runs. Distraught at the thought that he failed the kid, Peter ends up trying to help one of his bullies. Tiny is being abused by his father and that may be a problem too big for Spider-Man, but Peter can at least be there.

Next, the Sandman escapes (after being caught by the Human Torch back in Strange Tales) and launches a reign of terror over the city. He even beats Spider-Man, which sends Peter into a depressive spiral and he almost tanks his first date with Betty Brant. She gives him a pep talk, though, he beats Sandman - with the help of an industrial fan - and things are looking up again, to the point that even NASA is interested in potentially recruiting Spider-Man as an astronaut.

John Jameson is sent to evaluate Spider-Man. He also tries to talk his father out of his hatred, but with no luck.

At the same time, a new group of space themed powered people shows up, promising to catch Spider-Man. Jonah throws the Bugle support at them, but Spider-Man reveals they were frauds and robbers.

In the end, NASA doesn’t recruit Spider-Man: although his physical abilities make him a good candidate, they're still at the point in the space race where they need to study how space travel affects regular humans.

After that, it's the Vulture's turn to escape prison. This time, he stashed a pair of remote controlled wings beforehand. Peter goes after him, of course, but the Vulture escapes. He baits him with the knowledge of his nest target: an atomic accelerator being transported by the army via train.

Spider-Man tries to warn the man in charge, General Ross, but he assumes Spider-Man's doing some extortion - he offers his services at a reasonable rate.

He still goes after the Vulture. He gets caught by the soldiers guarding the transport and the Vulture takes advantage of the distraction to steal the accelerator, leading Ross to assume they are working together.

In the end, Spider-Man prevails and he leaves the accelerator all webbed up for General Ross.

Meanwhile, there's drama brewing in the friend group. Jason - Busiek's OC that might have been named in the original run - plays a prank on Peter by stealing his clothes after gym class but no one else finds it funny (Peter is touched the others stand up for him as he steals his clothes back). Jason is resentful, thinking everyone would have a laugh if it had been Flash's idea, and plans something…

… that turns out to be teaming with another student, Sally, to unmask Spider-Man and collect the reward from the Daily Bugle.

Spider-Man and the Human Torch also team up to stop the Wizard. He still wants to prove he’s better than Johnny, so he challenges him with a series of riddles about the location of mortal traps. Johnny is put out about Spider-Man interference at first, but he vastly prefers his help to that of the team of experts assembled by the Mayor. He even asks Peter to come see his convertible collection, but Peter would rather visit Reed Richard’s lab…

The next villain to return is Electro. He teams up with a guy named Wrinkler who has a hypnotism machine. Under the guise of free eye exams, he uses it to control people around the city into committing several robberies at the same time. Spider-Man becomes one of the victims because Aunt May has been nagging him into getting his eyes checked since he stopped wearing his glasses.

He's rescued by Jason and Sally and their camera flash. They have been following Spider-Man around. They don’t unmask him, but they get to claim credit for taking down Electro. Jason is satisfied, but Sally is still planning something…

With the Big Man behind bars, another man decides to take control of the Enforcers and the criminal underground: Norman Osborn.

After his partner is put away for embezzlement and he takes sole control of his company, Norman goes power hungry and decides to play by his own rules.

He has a enforcer of his own, the Headsman, and Norman tasks him with recruiting the other Enforcers and destroy Spider-Man.

Unfortunately, his plans are foiled by both Spider-Man and his son, Harry.

Harry has been trying to connect with his father for a while now - it seems his personality did a 180 lately. When he sees the Enforcers approaching his building, he sends a flare to get Spider-Man's attention. He tries to tell his father, but Norman's too busy designing a costume for himself to pay attention to Harry.

We finish this batch with the return of the Lizard. Dr. Connors is in New York for a lecture and Peter reaches out, hoping he can help Batwing. Connors develops a serum, but Batwing accidentally breaks the flask and the serum touches Connors' bloodstream, turning him back into the Lizard.

Spider-Man and Batwing go looking for him after hearing about a break in at the zoo. They follow a trail of reptiles through the sewers to the Lizard’s location.

He gets the upper hand on Spider-Man but Batwing - maybe because he's scared, maybe because he heard Spider-Man talking about Connors son - calls for his dad while begging the Lizard not to hurt his friend.

It distracts the Lizard long enough for Spider-Man to shove the antidote into his mouth and cure him.

Batwing, feeling that Connors understands what he's going through, travels with him to Florida, hopefully to a cure.

Honestly, I think this series is fun. Trying to work around the gaps of the original run might be awkward, but it also helps to fill the world.

comments

March Book Report

2026-04-03T18:33:05Z

How Tyrants Fall by Marcel Dirsus

Really informative about the workings of authoritarian regimes and how they can be dismantled. I like the real life examples sprinkled through.

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King and Bliquis Evely

The art and colours are amazing, really make this book beautiful to look at. I like the verbose narrator, although it’s a pity he never really get Kara’s POV. The ending seems to be giving big twist energy, which seems a tad unnecessary.

Girl on Girl by Sophie Campbell

A look at the intercession of pop culture and feminism/post-feminism in the 21st century. Interesting and depressing.

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

Kara and Simon are a fun pair of protagonists who stumble into an alternate dimension. Horror ensues.

comments

Ranking the Monsterverse movies

2026-04-01T18:15:34Z

I decided to watch a bunch of big monsters movies, so here they are ranked from worst to best:

Godzilla (2014) dir. by Gareth Edwards

Not enough Godzilla and none of the human actors were that compelling.

Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) dir. by Adam Wingard

Starts by making Godzilla look like the bad guy, which is unfair. On the other hand, it makes the big private corporation the bad guys.

The theme of child endangerment continues and it’s made worse; the Skull Island natives are killed off-screen; and Alexander Skarsgard is also there.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) dir. by Adam Wingward

Godzilla and Kong spend most of the movie apart, but Mothra is back, as are the Island natives, and Kong finds his family, so that’s neat. Skarsgard got replaced by Dan Stevens, who seems to be having a lot of fun.

Kong: Skull Island (2017) dir. by Jordan Vogt-Roberts

Nice MCU reunion happening. Samuel L Jackson has a full Captain Ahab arc going on. Lots of full shots of Kong. The island natives being pacifists that worship Kong because he’s their protector it’s not the worst choice. Giving them zero lines of dialogue is.

John C Reilly has an entire enemies-to-best-friends arc entirely off-screen.

Overall, it was fine.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) dir. by Michael Dougherty

The best one. Lots of monsters being awesome. It firmly establishes the secretive organization managing the Titans as the good guys, which is interesting. World building happens mostly in the credits sequence.

comments