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Letters : To The Editor : Letters to the Editor [11]

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Welcome to our letters page. These letters are answered by Jonathan Couper, who uses them as a chance to sharpen his otherwise dull wit. If you want a serious response, your chances will be increased by posing your question, respectfully, to our Spider-Oracle.

Before we get into the letters, as usual we have other fan contributions that we need to mention. For example, there's new Fan Art from new artist Kevin W, and updates from regulars Willi Gerrard and Adam McCaffery.

Plus, we have two new Fan Tattoos, proudly worn by Kurt Bouchard and Kahz Brito. Go on, you know you want one! I would, but I couldn't stand the pain. Not the inking, but the pain when my wife found out what I had done!

Last but far from least, there are two new/updated entries on our Fans In Costume page. We have a new Spider-Man Manga costume by Shinji Ikari, and Beks from last month is back again as Black Cat, this time with her Amazing Spider-Man.

From JTemer

My daughter loves spiderman, do you know if any of the electric company episodes with spider man are available on DVD or VHS?

Heya JT. This question pops up now and again, but the answer is sadly, "No". I know there are newsgroups and bulletin boards out there where people trade episodes of all sorts of shows taped from TV. You might be able to get a few there, but it will be a lot of effort, and the quality will probably be rather poor.

With the recent release of the 60's Spider-Man TV show, I'm starting to think we'll eventually get all of Spidey's cartoons released on DVD in the next few years. However, it's a bit of a stretch to imagine TEC coming out. I guess it could happen, but I wouldn't get my hopes up.

If anybody out there does know of any place to get these episodes, do drop us a line!

From Gina

I am starting a web site of my own, and need permison to make the web site. If possiable please e-mail me the place that gave you permission so i could make a site to.her email.

Heh... you already DID just send an email to the place that gave me permission, and now I'm replying!

From Amanda Hudnall

To whom it may concern,

I am very much hoping that this question can be answered. I am currently working on an extensive paper, I am a college student at the University of Charleston in Charleston, WV, on the topic of sexual abuse. I have heard from several sources that apparently a weeklong run of the comic strip Spider Man that ran nationwide in the United States featured a story about the main character being sexually abused as a child. From what I have been told, it would have ran in the mid to late 80's or even early 90's. Can you tell me if this story is accurate and if so can you provide any information on this particular strip? I will need to know basic content, dates ran, and so on. Thank you very much for your time and help with this matter.

Heya Amanda. I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the storyline you refer to. There was a NCPCA Comic Book released (and re-released). But I didn't know of any story in the King Features strip by Stan and Co. It sounds like unusually heavy material for the strip.

If anybody out there knows any more about this, perhaps they might drop us a line here at SpiderFan. We'll pass on any info we get.

From Robert C

Hello, im sorry to bother you again. Im the one who recently asked you about advertising etc. I would just like to know what powers your website?

Tonight, a couple of glasses of cider. Last night it was gin. Depends on what I feel like drinking when I get home.

From RingReader

Say, you may want to check out your poll engine. Every percentage on the recent one (don't know if others were like that) adds up to just 99%.

Aha... yes, you see that's because we don't count the votes from the 1% of readers who are nit-picking pedants!

From ERIBA

If you first go into "Comics/Books", and later into "Ongoing Titles" You can see among other Spider-Man Titles, Amazing Spider-Man [which I will call "A", in the rest of this message] and Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) [which I will call "B", in the rest of this message]. Well, If you look into the "p18" and "p19" of "A", you will see, reviews of comics that really are of "B". To Justify that, in the last page of "B", "p3" are reviews of numbers from #46(or #487) to #58(or #499), and in the "p18" of "A" the last review of the page is of the comic that has number #500 in USA numeration [appart of this, his tittle is one third, while the last two comics rewiwed in p3 of "B" are the first and second part]. Finished "p18" of "A", comes "p19", the reviews of the comics from #501 to #507.

I think that you should try to make another page (as minimum) on "B" and put the reviews in their correct place. It would be better to you.

Aha... you see, that's because you're in America. In Europe, using the metric system, "A" would be "C.IHS", and the square root of that would be the difference between #46 (negative #499) and the natural log of #487. Quad et demonstratum, ipso facto coito sum.

And hence, we will move all those Volume 2 issues back into Volume 1 one day soon, and we will forget that ASM Volume 2 ever existed. Of course, that means that we will get emails for people saying they can't find ASM Volume 2, and then telling us it belongs in a section of its own. Can't win, sadly.

From Thanoseid

Regarding your recent poll question: "What's your guess for "Spider-Man 2 ...A worthy sequel, like LOTR 2 & 3? (Yes or No)".

I say this not as an LOTR geek, but as a movie geek: The Two Towers and Return

of the King weren't sequels. They were a pre-planned part of a single story arc. A worthy sequel would be more like Terminator 2 or Aliens. Something that was thought up, written and filmed after the first movie was already financially successful.

This is an interesting point, and one that was very much in my mind when I wrote the poll. Yes, LOTR is in one sense not a sequel like Spider-Man. On the other hand, Spider-Man was also created to be a series of movies. I understand that the cast were contracted for three movies. There's now talk of up to seven Spider- Man films. The LOTR movie were consistent throughout, and I expect the Spider-Man films to be similar.

By comparison, the other question "...A lame sequel, like Matrix 2 & 3? (Yes or No)" is the opposite case. The runaway success of the first Matrix was rather unexpected, and the second and third film give all the signs of being "cash-in" sequels that were a bit of an afterthought.

From Cary Kingdon

Another question: In Ultimate Spiderman 39, Conners offers to keep Pete's secret since Spidey kept his. But did that lizard stuff ever happen in the books? I have the trade paperbacks of the issues before that, and I don't recall ever reading about the Lizard. Could you help me?

I think this one has come up before. This happened in Ultimate MTU #10.

From Tony

I am beginning a collection of Marvel Comic major heroes and villians Mini- busts, and I would like to know for reference, who were the original members of the Kingpin's Sinister Six. It is very important that I find out, and if possible the Sinister Seven too.

Lesson one. TV and Comics are not always the same!

You can read our review of Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1. That will give you all the info you need. You'll be interested to note that it occurs at least two years before the Kingpin ever appeared!

From David Loesch

Hi, like your web site! I keep hearing about how Overstreet considers the newsstand and direct editions to be the same, but I don't care, I want to collect both versions. It has been generally established that February 1977 was when direct editions began. This is when Amazing Spider-Man #165 was published and that was the earliest direct I could find. However, I have been told that these issues were never available as directs (182 190 191) can you comment on this.

I have also never been able to find these directs: 176 177 and 178. To your knowledge, were they ever made? Overstreet lists a second printing for Spider-Man 2099 #1. What do you know about this? I have a reprint that was packaged with a Toy Biz toy, is this what they're referring to or was there another second printing.

Moving to more recently published books, I have also been told that Ultimate Spider-Man was not issued as a newsstand edition until issue #9, the earliest that I was able to find was #10. I have found newsstands and directs for most of the comics published since 1977, but how can I find out for sure which books were available both ways and which were not? I'm pretty sure that incentive issues like the Sunburst issues of Amazing Volume 2 and Peter Parker Volume 2 were direct only.

The same goes for the Red Webbing Spectacular #0, Spider-Man #1 Platinum and the White Amazing #400. I also believe that second printings were limited to direct sales, but I'm not so sure about polybagged editions, Collected Editions and alternate covers.

I wrote to Marvel. The Consumer Relations Representative who's name I was given is David Gabriel, but he was not helpful, and claimed to know nothing, or anyone who knew anything. I thought that you might be a collector who took this same path, who moved from alternate covers to incentive issues to newsstand and direct editions. I thought you might know the answers. Can you help?

You "like" our web site? You like our web site? LIKE!

No wonder the Marvel guys didn't help you... you probably told 'em you thought Marvel comics were "not bad", or "pretty reasonable". Sheesh! You should see our fan mail. It is absolutely conventional to open with "Hey, I really love your web page!". And that's just when writing to the editor... if you want some real info, from the Spider-Oracle, you'd better get with the honorifics scene real fast!

Sheesh! As it happens, I asked around, and nobody on our staff is crazy enough to collect both newssstand and direct editions - and we have some pretty hard-core collectors on the team. Looks like you're alone in your curious compulsion. To be honest, I'm not too surprised that Marvel couldn't help... they make comics, they don't distribute them, and don't collect them. Not really their scene.

If anybody writes us with info, we'll send it out to ya. Maybe.

Like? Gosh darn it, the next letter-writer had better tell me how much he loves this page!

From Anonymous

I luv your age...

Its so cool

Aaargh! No more letters!

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