Favorite Comics: Amazing Spider-Man #196-200

"The Spider and The Burglar"

Marvel Comics’ Flagship Hero, The Amazing Spider-Man has had many, many prolific stories attached to his incredible canon, such as Issue #50 (where Peter Parker gives up being Spider-Man), Issue #129 (which introduced the Punisher), Issues #96-99 (the infamous “drug” issues) and of course the tragic “Death Of Gwen Stacy” storyline told in issues #121-122.  There is ONE storyline that seems to always be overlooked though, and I think it is a shame as it is MY FAVORITE SPIDER-MAN STORY ARC of THEM ALL!

   I’ve always felt very strongly that The Amazing Spider-Man has been the most linear of all the Silver-Age Marvel titles in that there is no other comic out there that felt so much like ONE CONTINUOUS STORY.  From his debut in Amazing Fantasy #15 to Amazing Spider-Man #1 and beyond, each issue felt like it was written as a DIRECT continuation and every issue of Amazing Spider-Man that came out seemed to be adding to the first chapter introduced in Amazing Fantasy #15. 

When we first meet Peter Parker, he is a thin, shy wallflower type, but as each issue moved along, we saw him get more and more confidence. We saw him lose the glasses. We saw him “fill out” into his muscles. He graduated from High School and went to College. He moved into his own place- got girlfriends, got roommates! We are with Peter Parker every step that he’s taken!

   In fact, out of all Marvel Comics Titles, The AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is the one that most closely relates to its own history. People Pete has met, things he's discovered and lessons he's learned are always reflected back upon, and they are the primary reason for Peter Parker’s beliefs and motivations.

  It's hard to actually pin down exactly where my favorite storyline arc begins. Strictly speaking, the story is focused in issues #196-200, but actually begins around issue #194-195, which in turn sort of begins around #191-193. There are even elements in issues #189 and 190 that are relevant.

  Whenever I feel like reading this storyline, I myself always start from issue #191, because this is really where events start happening until they grow and snowball into the epic 200th issue. However, for this article, I'll stick to only scenes that are relevant to the 200th issue.

****AS ALWAYS,SPOILERS ABOUND!!!****

The Amazing Spider-Man #193

While May Parker is residing at the Nursing Home, they are renting out the house to make ends meet. But there is more to the current tenant than meets the eye, and when we first meet him, he is obviously up to no good. He is tearing up the Parker house looking for…something, and when he cannot find it, he decides to get the information from Aunt May herself.

 He crashes in on the Nursing home and introduces himself to the caregiver: He is the BURGLAR WHO KILLED UNCLE BEN!

The Amazing Spider-Man 194-195

The unscrupulous criminal we know only as “That Burglar” wants to interrogate Aunt May about a mysterious "package", but, hoping to deter the thief, Dr. Ludwig points out that her nephew comes every day to visit her, and so he should just leave her alone.

  The Burglar realizes this is true, and devises a cruel way to stop Peter from ever having to come to the Home again.

After a long, horrendous day, Peter slinks home, depressed over his apparent failure to rescue the villainess Black Cat from her death. But nothing can prepare him for the telegram that waits for him when he gets home…

 The ending that sent chills down my spine! Of course, part of me was immediately saying “Ahh, there’s NO WAY she’s really dead...is there…?” but I couldn’t deny the impact that cliffhanger had for me...

The Amazing Spider-Man #196

Peter immediately makes his way to the nursing home, where he is greeted with the sight of Aunt May in a open casket. Peter is shell-shocked.

 Peter’s grief really hits home.  Even now, after knowing the entire story, this scene still tears me apart! But there are more sinister things going on that Pete realizes…Upon returning to their old home, Peter finds that the last tenant has TORN UP the entire house! With his mind wildly thinking, he suddenly realizes something about the Nursing Home caretaker that he'd forgotten! He races back to confront the Caretaker, but is nabbed- by none other than...The Kingpin!

The Amazing Spider-Man #197-198

The Kingpin’s wife Vanessa (introduced way back in 174) has given him an ultimatum- leave crime behind him or lose HER!  The Kingpin has been given 24 hours to tidy up his criminal affairs, and of course he uses this time to eliminate the one thorn in his side, Spider-Man!

They begin a terrific battle together-each one taking his turn attacking each other as they hurl threats (and physical objects) at each other. I remember really digging the pacing of this fight, and there’s even this great page where there’s no dialog at ALL except for the sound effects of their punches! The editors noted “Sometimes we know when to keep our mouths shut!”

The Kingpin is about to deliver the killing blow to Spidey just as midnight strikes- suddenly Vanessa reappears, ready to have The Kingpin do good on his promise to leave crime. He knows it would take just one second to kill Spider-Man and have his record clean, but his love and respect of Vanessa is far greater than his criminal career.

  Spidey has barely recovered from the Kingpin's assault, when another villain from his past re-emerges- the master of illusions, MYSTERIO! It seems the caretaker of the Nursing home has been the old foe eking out a life bilking old folks out of their estates. After hearing of the supposed treasure the Burglar has been trying to get, Mysterio's curiousity piqued him enough to come out of retirement, but after several struggles, Mysterio has had enough, and opts to quit the battle while he is still ahead. He draws out a tranquilizer gun and shoots Spider- Man in the chest.

As Mysterio leaves, he laughs at Peter's attempts to detain him.Quickly batting away his hands, Mysterio declares:“Don’t you realize the basic truth? Spider-Man is DEAD!”

As Spider-Man falls to the ground,the blurb announces in big letters:

NEXT ISSUE: SPIDER-MAN #200!

What A cliffhanger! I was BESIDE myself with anticipation for the next issue!

The Amazing Spider-Man  #200

“ The Spider and The Burglar”

Well, this is it! The story that I consider the final chapter that began all the way in Amazing Fantasy #15. This story is that finally brings closure to all the trails and tribulations of Peter Parker that IS “The Amazing Spider-Man”.

The story begins with Peter realizing that the drug-dart Mysterio used to kill him has instead taken away his Spider-powers. But he cannot stop to be concerned about that because he has a lot of work to do- he has to find out who his last tenant was, and why the house was torn up. Using detective work, he is shocked to find the last tenant was the last person he thought he would hear about again- the burglar who killed his Uncle Ben!

Peter arrives home with new knowledge of the person who has re-entered his life. And who should be WAITING at home for him? The BURGLAR himself! Hoping to terrorize Peter, he confronts him face to face, but is unprepared for the explosive assault by him. Years of hatred has been building up inside of Peter and without a thought, he lets the burglar have it! But his anger blinds him, and without his Spider-strength, the crook knocks Pete out with the butt of his gun.

 The Burglar tries to get Peter to give him the information he had previously been trying to get out of Aunt May, but after repeatedly beating Peter, realizes he won’t get anything out of him.

200d

 He then realizes he has SOMETHING that might persuade him to talk.

  He leaves to get it, and in the interim, Peter finally breaks out of his prison. Peter has had enough-Spider-Man is out for the Burglar's BLOOD!

 While Spider-man is off trying to find the burglar, He has returned with the “persuasion” he needed to get Pete to talk-and it is none other than AUNT MAY, frightened but very much ALIVE! I have to say that when I read this, it blew me away! Aunt May alive was the last thing I expected to see, even with my earlier doubts about her “death”!

 But if the burglar is surprised that Peter has escaped, he doesn't have time to think about it as his worst nightmare appears on the scene- SPIDER-MAN has arrived-just like he did way back in AMAZING FANTASY #15!

The Burglar is flabbergasted! The spectre of Spider-Man has haunted him his whole life - He cannot see why Spider-Man would hound him forever for the death of one old man.

Then Peter drops the bomb on the criminal: Why does Spider- Man care so much about Peter's old Uncle's murder?

BECAUSE PETER PARKER IS SPIDER-MAN!!!

The  points of this scene cannot be underplayed- here we have the burglar realizing that the unimportant old man he killed years ago is the Uncle of his biggest nightmare. And of course, we as readers know that if not for this act, Spider-Man might never have become the amazing hero he is. This confrontation is one of the most significant moments in the Spider-Man 200 issue run!

 The burglar’s shock turns to panic and wide eyed fear- he believes Spider Man will kill him for what he has done, because it’s what HE would have done. But of course, Spider-Man won’t sink to the burglar’s level- because Peter IS a true Hero. But the burglar cannot see this, and as insane panic overtakes him, his heart gives out, and he dies.

Epilogue:

Aunt May finally remembers what the burglar must have been looking for- it was an old box hidden between some floorboards. But whatever had been stashed in the box had long ago been eaten away-by silverfish!

  The two have a good laugh, and Peter says “So all that heartache was for nothing!” But Aunt may points out that there was purpose in it, because it made them stronger. And Pete realizes she is right.

 The story ends with Peter swinging about town with a new resolution- during the time when He didn’t have his powers, he realized how much he needed them. And he know how much good he can do with them. He resolves that never again will he ever take them for granted, and makes a promise to be grateful every day for the gift that has been given to him.

  

He has made peace with Uncle Ben’s death, his identity as Spider-Man, and himself.

'Nuff Said!

Pagan Babies

 There was this great local band called Pagan Babies that played world / reggae “roots dansemusic” here in the mid-eighties. They played weekly at at a bar/club named Anna Bannanas and it was not unusual to see flyers for their gigs plastered around town, so one night, me and a couple of college friends went down to check them out!

It’s hard to describe Anna’s. Situated in Moilili, it’s not anywhere near Waikiki as most of the other clubs are, and set in this huge wooden  two story house, it almost seems more like a neighborhood restaurant (in feel) that a club. Really relaxed atmosphere, and PERFECT for a World Music band like the Pagan Babies! Perhaps that added to the whole picture, but we ended up really loving that band! They performed (I think) two separate sets (maybe three), lots of long songs sprinked with percussion instruments, and a handful of easily recognizable Bob Marley tunes, as well!

Craig

A few weeks later, I was down at the local record store (to pick up my special order of The Church’s Of Skins and Hearts CD import…but I digress), and while waiting to pay for it, noticed they were selling a cassette of the Pagan Babies! I pointed to it, and said “I’ll take one of those, too!”

Elyce

Well, we were promptly blown away by what we heard- for the most part, it was a small distilaltion of what we’d seen the few weeks before, a lot of great songs, a Bob Marley cover, and quite a few we hadn’t heard before. One of these songs was a tune called “Sushi By The Pool”, and when it started, my friend perked up, and said, “Hey, yeah! NOW I remember…I read a review in the paper and I think they were promoting this song, or something!” Which is odd, since  I’ve never heard them play this, at least not any of the many, many times I’d seen them, but what the heck.

Chris

Later, me and a couple of friends started working just down  the street from Anna’s, and it was SO convenient to just mosey on down to the club after work, hook up with friends, and check out the band!

I was alwways happy to hear favorite songs off the cassette like “Surfing in Tunisia” and “Vertical Jerk”, but  there were so many terrific tunes they performed live that they’ve never recorded  on ANY of their albums, and that’s really a shame! A personal fave was their take on a song called “Fire In Belize”, this song was such a crowd pleaser that the band would usually keep it saved for later in the night!  Or maybe it just SEEMED that way to me!

Then there were the more popular cover tunes like “Bed’s Too Big” and “Three Little Birds”, which is probably my favorite version of the song, period! Oh, and they closed many nights with the rousing “Hot! Hot! Hot!” Yes, that song that Buster Poindexter covered!

Ah, what memories…!

Comments From The Original VOX Blog:

Chris Planas wrote:

[this is good]

That's me holding the guitar. Any chance I could get copies of those old photos?

The Pagans were a special part of my life- I learned to play, and was fed the great positive energy by Anna's regulars every weekend. Thanks for posting.

zinkognito wrote:

HEY! Great to hear from you, Chris!

Thank You for all the great music you've created over the years!

I have a handful of photos of the Pagan Babies that my friend Shannon (the gal who shot all these wonderful pics) gave me many years ago, and I'd be more than happy to scan them and load 'em up somewhere you can conveniently access them!

Give me some time to dig up those pics for you and see what I can do!

Thanks again!

Sue Kocher wrote: 

OMG, I've been looking now and then to see what ever happened to the Pagan Babies! I still listen to the ONE CD I still have (my favorite tape blew out years ago, all those great songs lost

zinkognito replied to Sue Kocher’s comment:

Hi Sue!

It's GREAT to hear from another PAGAN BABIES fan out there! I'm assuming you were one of those crazy people who jammed into Anna's all those years ago, as well?

Ahahahahaa!

Yep, even after all these years, it's still great to break out those old Pagan Babies songs and give'em a listen, right?! Just takes you back...

Sue Kocher replied to zinkognito’s comment:

You kidding? I knew all the songs, every lyric and change and beat, as I was there pretty much every single weekend. I was the one with the loooong blond hair and a sunburn, dancing my little ass off and working up a sweat. If you were a regular in, let's see, I guess it was 1983-1985, then we probably met on the floor... or the back steps where the party was on breaks. I'm not sure if they got me through grad school, or just made it a miracle that I did. I still have a CD, but that old tape had some favorites that I miss. The Babies never had a bigger fan than moi!

Jon S. Walman replied to zinkognito’s comment: Mar 21, 2009 

Hey Z ! I was the drummer for the Pagan Babies back in '83-'85 ! That's me on the tapes.... cheers !

Jim Maisano wrote:

[this is good] Hey there, I just loved the Pagan Babies.

zinkognito wrote: Apr 26, 2009

Hey Jim!

Glad you dropped by!

I've been getting such great response and comments from fans and friends, I think I might have to rip this old cassette tape I have of the Babies performing and upload in in some future post!

Peace!

Cari Vallo wrote: 

[this is good] Aloha!

I was and still am a huge Pagan Babies fan.

 I danced to the Pagans every weekend from 1986 to 1993/4. When you mentioned the band mates, you forgot to list Bailey Matsuda who was the keyboardist after Seth. He was a very integral part of the Pagans.

Thanks sooo very much for posting this!!!

Mike Muldoon wrote:

[this is good] Hey, this brings back some memories!

Jason Woycke wrote:

Hey Chris!

Jason Woycke wrote:

Hey Chris! You should start a Pagan Babies Facebook Fan Page where you could collect all the old goodies/memorabilia. Elyce says hi to all.

Jason

elyce wrote: 

Hey zinkognito, thanks for doing this I wish I'd found this sooner. Hope you still read the comments. Thanks to all those who wrote in. What an amazing time that was. I'm glad to have been a part of it. Aloha

zinkognito replied to elyce’s comment:

Hi Elyce!

Nice to see so many people associated with this awesome group stop by and reminisce! Just awesome! We're still digging the sounds of your wonderful singing!

zinkognito replied to Mike Muldoon’s comment: 

Hey Mike!

Thanks for stopping by, and sorry I don't have any clear shots of you onstage there! Y'all were just awesome!

zinkognito replied to Cari Vallo’s comment:

Hi Cari!

You're right and I'm glad you mentioned Bailey! Thanks for commenting!

Mike Muldoon wrote:

No problem at all about the photos Z. It was wonderful to be a part of the Pagans for those years, a special group of folks to be sure!

Super-Vixens: Thundra

I first fell in love with the 21st century Femizon reading my friend’s back-issues of  FANTASTIC FOUR. In the first story I remember reading, The Frightful Four were holding auditions  for a member to fill the ever-revolving fourth spot originally filled by Medusa.

  It’s hard to explain the mood of those issues- the Frightful Four were almost more like a joke group, and the story was light hearted and humorous in tone! The running gag was that The Wizard, the leader of the Frightful Four, was such a pushover for the ladies, that he kept making bad member decisions for the group!

  And so it was that they recruited the gorgeous Glamazon, whom I found out had originally appeared to battle the Thing  before developing a high-school girl crush on him!

 In the end, it turned out that her love of the Thing was stronger than anyone thought, for it turned out that she’s only joined the Frightful Four to keep an eye on  their shenanigans! And so the Wizard ended up with egg on his face again!

This story was so fun and interesting, I developed a lifelong love of the Amazonian beauty!

And to think, stories illustrated by George Perez and John Byrne were still to come !

Thundra

First appearance          

Fantastic Four #129 by Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway

Favorite Actresses: Diane Baker

So years ago I was working with this guy that was a real classic movie buff, and we got to talking about our favorite Alfred Hitchcock movies. After realizing I hadn’t seen what he felt to be one of Hitch’s best,he generously lent me his copy of MARNIE to "turn me on to it".

This was that thriller starring Sean “Bond James Bond” Connery and Tippi Hedren as his kelptomaniac fiance…

 A few days later I was discussing the movie with him, and he said "Yeah, and isn't that Tippi Hedren a beauty in this movie?" I interjected by saying, Yeah, she was alright, but HEY, who was that super-fine chick with the black hair?" He paused. "Black Hair?" "You mean Diane Baker?!"

Well, yes, although I didn’t know it at the time, that's exactly who I meant, and after finding out just who she was, I delved deeper into her movies, checking out the incredible "Mirage" with Gregory Peck (another fine Alfred Hitchcock flick, that one!), and even the Walt Disney Movie "The Horse In The Grey Flannel Suit"! Now THAT’S Obsession!

Nowadays Diane is still keeping busy on TV shows, (Yes, that Judge on those Law and Order reruns is Ms. Baker, you betcha!) and I must say she still looks as good as she did then!

Yep, I Was In Love With Belle!

As I’ve mentioned a number of times on this blog,  I was a HUGE Disney fan as a kid, from live action movies like ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN, HERBIE THE LOVE BUG and THE COMPUTER WORE TENNIS SHOES to the classic animated features like ALICE IN WONDERLAND, THE JUNGLE BOOK and THE RESCUERS. But it wasn’t until around 1988 (About the time OLIVER AND COMPANY came out) that I dove head-on into the wonderful world of Disney Collecting, or Disneyana, as they call it.

  The format of choice for me at the time was the LASERDISC, a doomed format, to be sure, but my, did the Disc Jackets looked nice! I wanted to get every one of them! Unfortunately, as any collector of Disney Movies knows, I was to be rudely awakened  from my dream of owning all the movies, When I would find out that most of the films were OUT OF PRINT, or MORATORIUM, as they called it! Gasp!

Even worse was the fact that one of the titles that was out of print was SLEEPING BEAUTY, one of the MAIN motivators for me STARTING  my collecting dream!

Oh well, although there were a lot out of print, there were more than enough still available to keep me (and my checkbook) busy for awhile!

   Strangely enough, even though I was struggling in earnest to collect the Disney movies of my childhood, I didn’t have all that much interest in seeing the latest film THE LITTLE MERMAID, my friends had to practically DRAG me to see that one…I think at the time I was collecting from a “nostalgic” angle, and the “newer” didn’t really do anything for me. But of course, I ended up loving The Little Mermaid, and by the time I’d seen THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER, I was a rabid fan, collecting anything and EVERYTHING associated with my beloved animated films!

  We made a trip to Disneyland that summer,, and I blew almost all my money in the Disneyana stores on Main Street more than anything else!  I didn’t have time for rides- there were official Alice In Wonderland Teacup Sets  and Collectible Sleeping Beauty Plates to be purchased! Took a lotta pics inside Sleeping Beauty’s castle, though!

  Now that I’ve set the stage, you can understand just how excited and worked up I was when Disney announced it was beginning work on its 30th animated feature, a movie called BEAUTY AND THE BEAST!

  Disney was beginning this routine of always giving a “Sneak Preview” of the upcoming Theatrical release at the beginning of the latest Home Video release, and though I’m not sure, I believe it was on the release of Rescuers Down Under that we first got a glimpse of Beauty and The Beast, or more specifically, Belle, the “Beauty” of the film, in a partially done scene of the girl singing and walking through town.

I was…CAPTIVATED! I remember watching that sneak peek clip over and over…Couldn’t wait for it!

  Soon Disney released the Soundtrack to Beauty and the Beast, and I thought it would be great to get to hear some of the songs BEFORE we saw it, so I ran out and bought it! Now at this time I had just moved from a cramped little apartment into a big empty house, and didn’t really have much in the way of furniture. So all we did was sit around on  the bare (though carpeted) floor and play cards. I used this as a great opportunity to really get to know the tunes, and I have great memories of "Belle's Theme" echoing throughout that empty house as we dealt each other cards! Before you knew it, all of us had memorized all the songs and even had kind of worked out he whole story, through

the songs and snatches of dialog scattered within the score.

  It’s pretty interesting to learn songs without knowing the context.  I remember, when listening to “Belle’s Theme”, a lady cries “I Need…Six Eggs!” in a strangled voice, and my friend said, “What the heck is wrong with Belle?” I said I didn’t THINK it was Belle, but we just had to wait to be sure! (Turned out to be some anonymous haggard mother!)

Well, finally the day came around when Beauty and The Beast arrived in theaters (over here was at the WAIKIKI 3 Theater, long gone now…) and even with my high expectations of the film,, I was still completely and utterly overwhelmed! I don’t know how much of it was due to the fact that I already knew all the songs, but it was like seeing pictures of a place for years and then finally getting to visit the place for real- everything seemed so familiar, yet so vibrant and ALIVE!

All the songs came alive for me watching the movie, but there WERE a few songs from the soundtrack that were slightly different in the movie, For example, Gaston’s’ Song had it’s ending (where Lefou tries to cheer the letters of Gaston’s name and realizes he can’t spell) cut off when Belle’s father bursts into the bar, and I was especially annoyed at the ending of “Something There”(probably my favorite track in the movie), where the sweet ending is talked over by a whining Chip! Ahahahaha!

One of the greatest things about this movie was the CHARACTERS- every one seemed so well thought out and realized- especially the three main ones- Belle, Beast and Gaston.

Beast had to show you he was a raging monster who was gentle inside, and Gaston showed you a boor who went from a conceited buffoon to an all-out murderer!

 And Belle.

GEEZ, I have to say, Disney really created a masterpiece with her! One of the most perfectly developed (take that how you want) heroines ever, and the animation team really hit a home run here- her facial expressions and gestures were so realistic- my fave “quirks” of hers were the arching of her eyebrows when she was suspicious, and oh, that strand of hair that just wouldn’t stay in place! And I have to say, there couldn’t have picked a better voice for Belle than Paige O’Hara!

  Oh yeah, I fell in love! Yep. With a cartoon character! One of about five animated characters I fell in love with, actually. (And who were the other four? That’s for future entries!) After Alice (Of Wonderland fame) and Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty), Belle became one of my favorite Disneyana things to collect, I was that far gone!

I went individually with each friend who was part of that card- playing group, and they all agreed it was great! Then I went with fellow co-workers who hadn’t seen it, All in all, I went about 9 times, and you know what, I actually started feeling possessive of the movie! It got to the point where I was excitedly waiting for people to laugh at certain places (Like Gaston’s “Every last inch of me’s covered in HAIR!” line, for one) and Ooh at others (Belle appearing at the top of the stairs in her yellow ballroom gown) and even now, when I watch my home videos, I miss those reactions!

Disney had tied-in Beauty and The Beast to Burger King, and they were going to have Happy Meals (or whatever the Burger King equivalent of it was) featuring a different  BATB action figure each week. I have to comment that these were pretty quality dolls. Heavy plastic, DEFINITELY collectible. First week was Beast, so I picked up that one, then when week two featuring Belle rolled around, my friend Gerg (one of the card-playing gang), who was as infatuated with Belle as I was, decided to accompany me down to Burger King to get one too. When we GOT there though, he chickened out, mortified to be seen getting a Belle figure. So I rolled my eyes and said I would order for both of us.

  So I get to the counter, with Gerg sheepishly behind me, and we ordered two Happy Meals (Or whatever it was called), and were shocked when we were handed two trays with small drink cups, small fries, small cheeseburgers, and…no figures!

  Gerg’s face turned to a face of concern, and I went back to the counter, saying, “Uh, didn’t these come with toys?” The old Filipino lady looked at us from above her glasses, and, holding up a Belle doll in her hand, said, “But the toy is THIS, you know!” And me and Gerg said “Yes Please!” to which the confused lady handed over the two dolls to the two weird dudes. But it was totally worth it! The dolls hands were even molded so they could fit together, and as you can see, I still have these cherished figures on my shelf of Disneyana, see below:

Along with the figures, there were books and other collectibles to be found, and when Disney released trading cards featuring stills from the movie, I had to get those, too! My dilemma was how to get the whole set without buying pack after pack, and every friend I knew that collected cards said that if I just bought a whole box, I was pretty much guaranteed to get at LEAST a whole set, maybe even more If I was lucky! So I invested the money and bought a sealed box of packs, and though at this moment I can’t recall just how many individual packs were in that box, after opening every one of them, I was still ONE CARD SHORT of making the complete 95 card set!  Well, I wasn’t gonna go and buy any more individual packs, and I sure as hell wasn’t gonna buy another BOX!

 Luckily for me, a Comic and Card store up the street sold recent trading cards individually, and for 75¢ I was able to pick up that last card! Offhand, I can’t remember which one it was- funny, you’d think I’d have that card burned into my brain! But BOY was I satisfied when I completed that set! Oh, and I even bought one of those snazzy plastic boxes to  store/display the set, too!

 Disney decided to release the “Working-In-Progress” version of the film that was shown to audiences before the actual film came out on laserdisc months before the “real” movie was set to be released (I suppose as a sort of teaser), and I have to say I was the first in line to get my copy! First off and most importantly, since the Laserdisc was kind of a avant-garde release, it warranted a more mature cover, and the image, taken from the soundtrack, is probably my favorite of all the one sheets made! I even had a poster of it mounted and framed, and as you can see hangs where it’s hung for over 16 years in my little office corner.

When the Laserdisc finally came out, I bought them both in CAV (Deluxe format) AND CLV (regular Format), though no one knows why! It’s not like I was ever gonna watch the CLV version, but I was THAT excited when it came out! Ahahaha! It was years (and only rather recently) that Disney finally got off their duffs and released a good and proper Deluxe DVD treatment of this Academy Award Nominated (YES!) Animated feature, and when I got it, I made myself put off watching It till I was really in my Disney Mood. So just the other week I finally brought it out and soaked it all in, and folks, it’s real! It’s still as good as I remember- BETTER, even!

 Car found it quite amusing when the movie was over and I mumbled “Man, I FORGOT how much I was in LOVE with Belle!” Ahahahaa! Yes, It's true!

Super-Vixens: Silver St. Cloud

One thing that legendary master storyteller Steve Englehart always brought to a comic when he began writing duties was to create brand new characters for his run of the strip. Like he did with the oriental character Mantis in The Mighty Avengers, Steve created an interesting new character for the BATMAN storyline in DETECTIVE COMICS, a love interest, at that, in a girl called Silver St. Cloud.

  Love Interest? For The BATMAN? Yep, you heard right!  Well, more specifically, a girlfriend for Bruce Wayne, and when you factor in his “Playboy” persona, that’s even more unbelievable than a girl going out with Batman!

     Silver was a fully developed character (Take that any way you want, it’s correct in either one), Cool , Sexy (more on that later) and most of all, INTELLIGENT! In fact, it wouldn’t be too long before the smart platinum haired girl would deduce (correctly) that her beau was none other that the Dark Knight! It would be this knowledge that would push them apart- She  just couldn’t imagine having to worry about him EVERY NIGHT when he became his alter ego.

  When Marshall Rogers came onboard Detective Comics, his pencils, along with master Terry Austin’s inks, became THE look for Silver St. Cloud, just this GORGEOUS creature! Fans of Rogers’ later run on DR STRANGE will agree, when it comes to pretty girls with white hair whether it be Silver St. Cloud or Clea, Marshall Rogers had it down! And Oooh, that pic above with her talking to Bruce in bed…probably my favorite Marshall Rogers illo ever!

 Now, I don’t know what kind of significance Silver St. Cloud has for comic readers of today, but back in my childhood, Silver was THE ONE, spoken in that same reverence used when talking about Tracy De Vicenzo, AKA “Mrs. James Bond” in ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE, kind of like painted as “The great tragic romance of Batman’s life!”

 Silver St. Cloud

First Appearance: Detective Comics #470 (June 1977)

By  Steve Englehart and Walt Simonson & Al Milgrom

Moody Blues: To Our Children's Children's Children

The first Moody Blues album I ever owned was the amazing Long Distance Voyager, featuring the rocker “The Voice”. A friend of mine saw this interest I had with the group, and turned me onto the Moody Blues double album anthology “This Is The Moody Blues”, which covered the Moody Blues’ first seven albums, from "Days of Future Passed" to "Seventh Sojourn". At the time I dug it for the songs you’d expect the casual Moodies fan to like: “Nights In White Satin”, “Tuesday Afternoon”, and “The Question” among others.

  But once I started listening to the entire anthology as a whole, I  began to realize that EVERY song on the album was great. Great enough that I was curious as to what the individual albums themselves might hold! So I took the leap into the “classic” Moody Blues catalog, and I’ve been a MAJOR fan ever since! I love everything the group’s done, from “Days Of Future Passed” through “Octave” to “Strange Times”, but my hands down favorite album of all is their incredible “To Our Children’s Children’s Children”.

  This was the Moody Blues’ fourth album proper, and although ALL Moodies Albums have some kind of theme, this seems to be the most cohesive as a concept album. This album was released in1969, right as mankind had just set foot on the moon, and this album reflects the wonder and excitement of the amazing “leap for mankind”.

  The album opens with the thundering sound of a rocket taking off, leading us into the song “Higher and Higher”, about the amazing opportunities technology can take us. "Man with his flaming pyre has conquered the wayward breezes!"

Then off into “Eyes of A Child”, reflecting how small man is when thrust into the vastness of outer space. Then some fun moon dancing on the song “Floating” before the ultimate light-speed instrumental “Beyond”… Whenever I hear this song, I always get the rush of flying through space! This was terrific to hear for the first time in its entirety because on "This Is The Moody Blues", it was played only as a backing track to the poem "Om".

  For some reason, probably my favorite song here is Mike Pinder's “Sun is Still Shining”, a sitar-driven groover singing about enjoying life in outer space rather than being stuck bored at home on Earth. A cool song!

The second half of the album sees the Moody Blues getting quite philosophical with songs like “Gypsy”, ”Eternity Road” “Candle of Life” and the song Justin Hayward labeled the worthy successor to Nights In White Satin, “Watching and Waiting”.

  I remember when I first heard “Gypsy”, I thought it was about real gypsies moving from town to town, always looking for a place to call home. Then one day I realized it was about how in the future we will be constantly travelling to find new planets to colonize.

And with “Eternity Road”, I’d always imagined some Biblical road that led to the Pearly Gates, but upon closer listening, I realized they were singing about how space exploration is limitless in the infinite universe.

 Then there’s the epic “Watching and Waiting”. MAN, this is an awesome song. There was this great book writer George Gaylord Simpson penned called “The Dechronization of Sam MacGruder”

This novel was about a scientist who time-slipped back to the prehistoric age, and spent the rest of his life alone, knowing it would be millions of years before the creatures populating Earth would evolve into mankind…this song really seems to fit the theme of this story…It’s like Adam being born into a perfect planet, waiting for someone to share and appreciate life with him. An incredible closer to the album.

Candy Clark

The first time I saw American Graffiti must have been around 1978 on the telly, which would have made me about 12 years old, and I have to tell you, Debbie was everything a 12 year old kid could fantasize about: Super Cute, Loud, Naughty, Sassy, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, willing to give the unpopular loser (Terry the Toad, as played by Charlie Martin Smith) the time of day! Why, she was an…an…ANGEL! Ahahahaha!

So yeah, I was pretty infatuated with Candy Clark! I remember this one time, a kid brought to class the AMERICAN GRAFFITI novelized paperback that was the movie tie-in book, one of those books that had a bunch of pages with black and white pictures in the middle, you know the ones I mean. Anyway, I desperately wanted to see if there were any pictures of Debbie in that paperback, but that stupid kid refused to let me see it, because he was more interested in running around the class showing all the girls the picture from the movie of some guy mooning his butt out a driving car! Grrr…

I’ll tell you a funny coincidence… I was SO infatuated with Candy Clark: I remember a neighbor had a copy of HUSTLER laying around with a cute blonde on the cover, and the first thing my mind said was “WOW! that girl looks like…DEBBIE!” I remember wondering if it WAS Candy Clark! After all, this was the year when the scandal of Angie “Police Woman” Dickinson nude shots were all the buzz, so WHY NOT pics of Candy Clark?

Well, it wasn’t Candy Clark, and I would have forgotten all about it, but in an interesting turn of events, the model on the HUSTLER cover turned out to be none other than Dale Bozzio, she of MISSING PERSONS fame! I remember when they showed the cover of the magazine, I immediately recognized it, exclaiming, “Hey! Dale was that model I thought looked like Candy Clark!” (It’s the December 1982 issue, if you care to look it up) Funny thing though, looking at the cover NOW, she doesn’t look much like Debbie, after all! HAHAHA!

I remember a year or so after I’d fallen in love with Candy Clark, they released a sequel to American Graffiti called MORE AMERICAN GRAFFITI (how original!), and I really had to BEG my friends to come down with me to see the movie, because I desperately needed to see it!! One of the main reasons I wanted to see this, of course, was because Candy Clark was one of the cast members from the original movie that would be reprising her role.

Well, I’d like to say that It was great and I was blown away, but the fact of the matter was, I hadn’t realized that the Debbie character was wearing a fluffy blonde WIG in the first movie, and no such wig was found atop the head of Candy Clark in the second one! GASP! Why, I didn’t even RECOGNIZE Candy when she first appeared…it was only after watching the scene that I figured it out, and folks, I mean to tell you…I WAS CRUSHED!

But to be honest, it wasn’t just her- the movie was supposed to reflect the late sixties hippie-culture, peace, Vietnam War, etc, and well, it just didn’t have that magic the first one had.

Oh well…I still had the original movie to keep me company!

Years later, the American Graffiti Movie came out on Laserdisc(!),and I was able to enjoy the movie without having to either rent it or wait for it to appear on TV, and once again, I was instantly taken back to my Debbie-obsessed days! THEN, even MORE years later, when the Collector’s Edition DVD came out, I watched it, and yep, fell in love AGAIN!

I may pass on ever needing to see “More” American Graffiti again, but the original will always remain one of my very favorite movies of all time, and you can be sure that each time I re-watch it, I will have Candy Clark on the brain, as well!

Favorite Songs: "Undertow" by Ivy

Years ago, a cool co-worker made me a tape mix of a peculiar new group by the name of IVY. They struck me as a sort of 4AD sounding band, and of course I fell in love with them immediately. The tape she'd made for me was from Ivy's first ep LATELY, and songs like "Wish it All away" and " Can't Even Fake it" are faves even to this day! From there I got their album REALISTIC, and wallowed in their dreamy, ethereal sounds...loving it all!

 Fast forward to 2001, and Ivy's come out with a new album called LONG DISTANCE. I didn't know what to expect, but NOTHING could have prepared me for their "new" sound- HUGE, droning, and TOTALLY ATMOSPHERIC! Songs Like "Blame it on Yourself","Lucy Doesn't Love You"and "Digging Your Scene"still retained that jangly IVY sound a bit, but it was in songs like "Edge of the Ocean", "Midnight Sun" and the incredible album opener called "Undertow" that I realized just how much IVY had "evolved" from its earlier days, and in a totally good way! 

This new sound has been more or less the direction the group has gone, with albums like APARTMENT LIFE and IN THE CLEAR, as well as side groups like PACO expanding their horizons even more!

Favorite Songs: "Sort of Haunted House" by Too Much Joy

 I  had about three or four different friends who would regularly make cassette tape mixes for me just like John Cusack in that High Fidelity movie, and over the years I’ve been introduced to many, many terrific groups (many of which I have mentioned here on this blog!)!

   Now, it doesn’t happen very often, but once in  a while there will be a certain group or artist that will appear on ALL my friends mixes at one time. None of these friends know each other, and a couple of them don’t even live here, but somehow, sometimes there is something in the air and  ALL my friends will get “turned on” to a new artist simultaneously! Even stranger was that most of the groups didn’t have radio or TV airtime, so most of these songs reached my friends through “the vine” as it were!

  Some of the groups I remember appearing simultaneously on two or three cassette mixes at the same time  were groups like Suddenly Tammy, Throw That Beat In the Garbage Can, Voice of the Beehive, and more recently groups like Bishop Allen.

  Anyway, back in 1991, one of the groups that appeared on a bunch of tape mixes was a insanely wacky and catchy group called Too Much Joy. Apparently, their album Cereal Killers managed to make its way to three friends of mine at the same time, and they in turn, all attempted to turn ME onto it…and I liked it, I liked it! With Songs like “Long Haired Guys From England”, “My Past Lives” and  “Crush Story” , this was certainly a GREAT way to be introduced to the band, to be sure!

  Afterwards, I would see TMJ appear regularly on tapes and I got to know other songs like their zany take of “Seasons In The Sun” and the downright cracked “Take a Lot Of Drugs”, but the song that really stood out for me and became my favorite track from the group was a ditty called “Sort of Haunted House”.

   Although the song appeared on the Mutiny Album somewhere in the middle, my friend Gerg had used the song as the cassette mix closer, and what a melancholy closer it was! Filled with catchy guitar picking, groovy bass riffs and that traditional Dark Humor TMJ was famous for, it instantly won me over the very first time I heard it!

 The song is about a guy whose house is haunted by the memory of his late girlfriend, He welcomes her ghost because he loves and misses her, but as the song progresses, we find she got killed by a stray bullet when he shot her lover in their house! He is riddled with guilt and wants to be punished, but when he gets acquitted of the crime, he decides to make amends by  killing himself. He wants to join her wherever she is, stating, “I join you now, in Heaven or in Hell”, but in true Too Much Joy black comedy fashion, adds the thought, “I pray HE’S not there as well!” Hahaha!

 As I recall, the album Mutiny didn’t fare that well, and many blamed it on Too Much Joy’s change from a zany punky band to a more insightful (if not still decidedly skewered) outlook, but whenever I hear this bittersweet, brilliantly crafted song, I always feel that they were heading in the right direction!

 A perfect song to get you all into the Halloween Spirit!

Sort of Haunted House by Too Much Joy