DeFalco/Frenz Retrospective: Amazing Spider-Man #256

 


Writer: Tom DeFalco
Penciler: Ron Frenz

Synopsis: The Puma is hired by the Rose to kill Spider-Man. 

Comments: That guy is strong to not only lift that crate above his head, but also lift it above his head with Spider-Man's additional weight. I guess it could be explained away that the guy is a mutant with super strength or an early test subject of the Power Broker. 



Spider-Man's rejection of his blue and red costume in favor of keeping the black one seems to be Tom's message to the hardcore fanboys: suck it up and move on! 


When the Rose's true identity is revealed, you can see why he seems so defensive when asked if he has to clear a hit on Spider-Man through the Kingpin. 




Puma is another character from the famous animal safari deck.  I guess Puma's never done much for me. He seemed a little too derivitive of Kraven the Hunter and Tigra. Kraven was still alive at this point, so there's another hunter after Spider-Man? Puma is even introduced fighting big cats like Kraven would do. 









I do think Puma influenced the TV show The Spectacular Spider-Man's take on Kraven as a mutated cat man. Although Greg Weisman had used mutated cat people in his previous show, Gargoyles. When fans asked Greg Weisman if Puma inspired his version of Kraven, he did not confirm or deny it. 









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Guest Star Spider-Man: Strange Tales Annual #2

Image
 I thought it would be interesting to see how Spider-Man was portrayed as a guest star in other comics during the first 100 issues of The Amazing Spider-Man.  Writer: Stan Lee Penciler: Jack Kirby Inker: Steve Ditko Looking at the cover, there's not a spider insignia on the front of Spider-Man's costume. Other than that, it's a solid cover. The story is just 18 pages. The rest of the 72 pages advertised on the cover is for reprints, monster stories before the Human Torch took over Strange Tales.   I haven't usually drawn attention to who the inker was, except it was Steve Ditko which helps bring Spider-Man closer in line to how he looked at the time.  So the story begins with the Human Torch jealous because Spider-Man has been getting favorable write ups in magazines and newspapers, which kind of contradicts how Spider-Man is portrayed in his own comic. Outside of Amazing Fantasy #15, Spider-Man seemed regularly vilified in the press, led by The Daily Bugle's J. Jo...
Read more

Tom DeFalco Cancels Barbie?

Image
  "Bye Bye Barbie"  May 1994 Writer: Barbara Slate Penciler: Mary Wilshire Inker: Trina Robbins Editor: Hildy Mesnik Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco Plot: Barbie and Barbie Fashion editor Hildy Mesnik has to break the news to the artists who produce Barbie that it is canceled.  This is probably the only related Barbie post I will do, because it features Tom DeFalco. DeFalco, then editor in-chief, tells editor Hildy Mesnik that they are canceling the Barbie titles. DeFalco remarks that girls will just have to read Fantastic Four , a title he was writing at the time.  Devastated, Hildy calls all the talent on the Barbie comics and tells them that the comic has been canceled.  However, Hildy decides that she's going to try and save the Barbie comics after all and marches down to DeFalco's office. However, it turns out to have been an April Fool's Day prank that DeFalco and characters of Barbie have played on her.  There are some interesting codas to this sto...
Read more

The Randall Frenz Interview

Image
  Superman #149, brothers Randall and Ron Frenz credited on the cover. The Randall Frenz Interview When I first read the issues of Thor #400 and #401 back in high school (this would have been in the early 2000s, years after they were first published in 1989), I saw the name of Randall Frenz. I was familiar with Ron Frenz, the penciler of Thor , The Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Girl , but who was Randall Frenz? Was it Ron's real name? Was it his alter ego? I even admitted as much when Ron wished Randall a happy birthday on Facebook.  However, I saw that there was confusion from others online as to who Randall Frenz is. The above commenter is correct, but they should have written  is, not was.  Years later, with the advent of YouTube and a book written by Tom DeFalco titled  Comics Creators on Spider-Man , I also learned that Randall Frenz is Ron's older brother through various interviews that Ron has conducted.  Randall wrote 13 published comic book stor...
Read more