Spider-Oracle Petitions (08-Sep-2012)
From thuwa
hey my name is thuwa, first time writer long time fan of spider-man.
i have a question will we ever see the return of Mattie Franklin. i know those guys resurrected Kraven and Kaine. why not Mattie, she should not have died like that in the first place. I hope they return her back from the dead she was good in the loners group cos she had real potential for being a leader. anyways i would like would we see her "return" in the near future.
It is true, the mighty Oracle is sometimes gifted the power to forsee death.
But the act of resurrection is an unnatural act which defies all that is decent. In such matters, even the Oracle fears to tread. But two things can we say.
Firstly that the only Spider-Man character who will never be returned from beyond the dark veil is Uncle Ben. No other soul can truly rest in peace.
Secondly, Marvel is very good at keeping its own dark secrets. If Mattie is coming back, most likely we shall know nothing of it until Marvel wishes it so.
From spidergeek2000
Recently, I purchased a copy of ASM #372, Invasion of the Spider-Slayers Part 5. Inside each issue of the arc, there are back-up stories of how the people around Peter are affected by the return of his parents, who are later revealed to be pawn of the Chameleon. In the back-up for ASM 372, Flash tells Peter about his Dad while he boxes with Peter. Apparently, his father was an intelligent man who looked down on Flash for playing football and later died.
But, in Rick Remender's run on Venom, Flash's father is still alive and is nothing like the first version of himself, the exact opposite actually. He is an alcoholic who abused Flash for not playing football well enough. I was curious about it, and read Flash's character bio on your website, and you went with Remenders version of Flash's father. I was wondering if his origin story was revealed before the back-up from the 90's and Al Milgrom ignored it (which wouldn't be a surprise), or if Remender ignored it so he could tone the problem to his abilities.
Ah, continuity problems. The scourge of a 50+ year running story.
In fact, it was not Mr. Remender that made Harrison Thompson an alcoholic ex-cop, it was John Marc DeMatteis in Spectacular Spider-Man. Harrison's back story with alcoholism was introduced in 1997 when it appeared in both Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #248 and in the "Minus 1" issue Flashback - Spectacular Spider-Man #Minus 1.
Clearly that occurred several years after the ASM 372 story. We can only assume DeMatteis was unaware of the original background for Harrison, or decided that his version was so much better that it deserved to replace the earlier one.
From Daniel
I was wondering in what Spider-Man comic does Spider-Man reinvent his webshooters to hold 5 cartridges? I tried Google and couldn't find anything. I'd appreciate it if you can find out for me.
The best candidate appears to be Amazing Spider-Man #297 which features the line "Now I can either rotate my wristband, moving a fresh webbing pouch into place — or replace the empty with one of the spare "baggies" on my camera belt!"
These web shooters were also plastic to avoid metal detectors and had an LED light to warn Pete when a cartridge was almost out.
The LED is wonderfully practical, but appears to have been conveniently discarded because the "oh no, I'm out of web fluid at a critical moment" plot point is just so darned convenient when you're trying to create a crisis to heighten the tension.
From TDEMB
In the oldest spiderman story, according to the movies, the guy that killed uncle Ben was the sandman... before he became the sandman... But that aint the original/authentic story... Who killed uncle Ben? Is he who killed uncle Ben the oldest spiderman villian? Anyway, if not who is the oldest Spiderman villain that has got no powers? (chronologically oldest, both in-story and in publication date, i.e. many stories show spiderman initial crimefighting before he started fighting against superpowered and/or customed villians or even the mafia... but I want the oldest in both publication and in-story writing, which should include obscure villians) Oh yes and since I doubt the list has villians with a name (and by name I mean a civilian identity's name, not a villina name or alias), could you provide such? I mean, really unpowered villains, not like Flint Marko (which is not even his real name) that was originally powerless but then developed powers...
In the comics, Uncle Ben was killed by The Burglar. He originally had no name, but later he was given the surname "Carradine" when his daughter Jessica Carradine was introduced as a supporting character for Ben Reilly's stint as Spidey starting in 1996.
If The Burglar is Spidey's first non-super-powered villain, then Jameson, J. Jonah is quite possibly Spider-Man's his second "non-powered" villain. He first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #1.
If you didn't really want to consider him a true villain, then The Chameleon from that same issue would be your next option for number two. He didn't really have any "powers". Sure, he had the "ability" to change his appearance. However, there was nothing extra-ordinary or magical about the way that he did that, he simply changed his clothes and put on a mask exactly as any other human could do.
And if that didn't appeal, then The Tinkerer from Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #2 (Story 2) is a pretty good "non-powered" candidate too. Again, he has no enhanced or magical abilities - he is merely very good at electronics.
After that, there is a long run of genuinely super-powered villains - Vulture, Doc Ock, Sandman, [[Dr. Doom], Lizard, Electro. The next non-powered villains were The Enforcers from ASM #10, all of which were particularly talented, but definitely without any "super-powers"!
From Dave
i have been trying to collect original spider-man appearences from the UK books, i.e., not reprints. i have some but missing others. Do you have a list on the original SM appearences on your web site?
By far the vast majority of the stories printed in the UK are reprints. The UK-published original Spider-Man material is limited to essentially the following:
- 223 issues of Spectacular Spider-Man (UK Magazine), perhaps 805 original.
- 36 issues of Marvel Heroes (UK Magazine), approximately 50% original.
- At least 29 issues of Rampage (UK), perhaps 50% original.
- 63 issues of Spider-Man & Friends (UK Magazine), 100% original material (for very young kids).
- 60 issues of Spider-Man Heroes & Villains Collection (UK), 100% original (and 99% terrible).
In addition, Spider-Man Annual (UK) and Marvel Super Heroes Annual (UK) featured reprinted comics, but also occasionally included some original text-only stories that technically are "original UK-published Spider-Man material".
There was also a one-shot promotional give-away Marvel Heroes Exclusive Collector's Edition (UK Promo) that was advertising for the aforementioned Marvel Heroes (UK Magazine).
From Rod
I had a game back in the mid 70s that had the Fantastic Four along with Spider-man where the object was to collect villain cards as you went toward the center. I've seen the game online but my real question is "who are the villains on the cards?" Would anybody on your staff know? I can't find any of that info, just that the cards are part of the game.
Ah, yes. The Fantastic Four & Spider-Man Board Game by Milton Bradley.
The are twelve villain cards which feature character names only, no pictures. Of the dozen foes, there are six Spider-Man villains: Boomerang, Ringmaster, Prowler, Mysterio, Green Goblin, and the Cat Burglar (ASM #30). These form a somewhat unusual selection, but at least all are easily recognisable Spider-Man foes.
In addition, there are six other villains that I can only presume are supposed to be Fantastic Four foes. Their names are: Thunder Bull, Warlord, Shooter, Shotgun, Lion Face, and Slugger.
None of these six appear to refer to any well-known Fantastic Four character that existed at the time. A character named Andrew "Slugger" Johnson was a pawn in the games of "the Shaper" as related in Fantastic Four #136. However, that comic wasn't printed until 1973, which was six years after the game was released!
Thee other five really do not seem to have any basis in Marvel comics at all. Man-Bull was an early Daredevil villain. Shotgun was a Daredevil Villain two decades later in 1989 (DD #271). But really, it seems like the game creators just didn't care enough to actually go and read some comics before making the game.
As for the game itself? Sadly, the same amount of effort appears to have gone into the game mechanics as went into the villain selection. Roll the dice, move your marker, pick up the cards. It has all the intellectual stimulation of a pack of chewing gum.
From Sherrykatz
How much $ is the current issue going?
Hmm... let me see. Does Google Translate support a "gibberish" option? Ah yes. It appears that you're asking what the cover price is for current issues of Spider-Man comics?
If my interpretation is correct, then the answer you seek is that current issues of the main Spidey title (known as Amazing Spider-Man) sells for $3.99 retail.
From Cody
I recently bought Spiderman Inside the World of Your Friendly Neiborhood Hero. Inside, many two-bit villians were listed. I found it interesting how the White Dragon was listed, considering how incredibly dumb his only appearance was(which I bought by the way, because it looked stupid and followed the Big Wheel story). I just noticed that it said that he is now a servant of Mister Negative. I was just wondering where he appeared, and which writer bothered to bring him back. (I assume it is Dan Slott. He's continuity-wise.)
Big Wheel (first appears in ASM #183 doesn't work for Mr. Negative. However the White Dragon (first appears in ASM #182 did (although not under his own will).