Spider-Girl #69

 



Writer: Tom DeFalco
Penciller: Ron Frenz

Synopsis: Dr. Jade and the new Doctor Octopus kidnap John Jameson. 

Comments: John's wife is Ashley Kafka, who was a psychiatrist for supervillains at Ravencroft Institute. I don't think Ravencroft ever caught on like Arkham Asylum. 



First appearance of Chris Jarkoer who looks like a young Ron Frenz to me. 




Surprised "whipped" in used in that context for an all ages comic. 



The rogue genetic engineer Ashley is referring to is probably Arnim Zola. Zola kidnapped the homeless in Thunderbolts #4. 







Carolyn Trainer (or Trainor) first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #406, which was written by J.M. DeMatteis. However, most of her appearances in the 90s were written by Tom DeFalco. 




John's alter ego Man-Wolf first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #124 (John himself first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #1). He also went by the name Stargod when he was in werewolf form. Not to be confused with Starlord (Peter Quill). 





Comments

  1. frogoatNovember 17, 2021 at 8:12 AM

    I can't remember why, but I assumed it was a reference to the High Evolutionary. Maybe I should revisit the issues again some day soon!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RichardNovember 17, 2021 at 10:27 AM

      The short lived Spider-Man Unlimited TV show made the High Evolutionary the main villain and John Jameson had a history with him. While the H.E. has experimented on some humans like Burce Banner, Wanda and Pietro, the mutating humans seemed more Zola to me. Dr. Hydro is a bit more obscure but another candidate. Mark Gruenwald said they (H.E., Hydro, Zola, Mr. Sinister, Magneto) all had the same benefactor in Phaeder when it came to genetics research.

      Delete
    2. frogoatNovember 17, 2021 at 10:56 AM

      That's very interesting! I wish I had my OHOTMU with me all of a sudden.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spider-Girl #59

Image
  Writer: Tom DeFalco Penciller: Ron Frenz Synopsis: It's death and life as Spider-Girl has her showdown with Seth and a new character is born.  Comments: Spider-Girl's fight with Seth takes its cues from Amazing Spider-Man #229-230, written by Roger Stern and drawn by John Romita Jr. where Spider-Man fought the Juggernaut and Amazing Spider-Man #269-70 by DeFalco/Frenz, where he fought Firelord. These stories deal with a fight against a much stronger foe on a construction site and in all three instances the hero thinks they've killed the bad guy, but is mistaken.  I have re-read this comic multiple times, but I never noticed Spider-Girl kicking Seth in the groin until frogoat pointed it out . It's juxtaposed with Mary Jane giving birth, so there's a lot going down there.  Seth definitely overcompensates for Spider-Girl kicking in the groin by turning into his giant snake form, calling it his "unfettered glory." May isn't impressed. Seth does have a...
Read more

Spider-Girl #15

Image
 Writer: Tom DeFalco Penciller: Pat Olliffe Synopsis: Spider-Girl teams up with Speedball against Mister Abnormal.  Comments: May has a big black eye from her fight with Kaine.  May is finally spelling "Kaine" the correct way.  The "pulling a Clinton" line makes me uncomfortable. Not that I think it's untrue, just seems weirdly inappropriate for a comic marketed to youngsters. That's just me. Today, it might be changed to "pulling a Trump."  Everyone seems to know Moose thinks Courtney is Spider-Girl, except Courtney.  Hat tip to frogoat for seeing the connection of Mister Abnormal to Plastic Man when he is trying to steal Police Comics , which had the first appearance of Plastic Man. 
Read more

The Amazing Spider-Girl: The Dance

Image
  Writer: Tom Defalco Penciller: Ron Lim Synopsis: While planning and attending a high school dance, Spider-Girl has to contend with Claw, the world's greatest cat burglar.  Comments: This a prose story from Amazing Spider-Man Magazine . I got the story in full from frogoat's blog . frogoat places it after Amazing Spider-Girl #13, so I'm doing that as well.  The format of this story is a throw back to the text stories that were published in comics in 40s and 50s. According to Paul Kupperberg , they were apparently used as a loophole to get cheaper postal service in shipping comics. Stan Lee's first comic book credit was a Captain America text story. Tapping into nostalgia factors, Grant Morrison and Alan Moore have also done text stories. Alan Moore does not surprise me since his love of old super hero stories is well documented.   Spider-Girl's comment about about Claw looking like a young Keanu Reeves in The Matrix is funny since Reeves was 35 when the first ...
Read more