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Showing posts from March, 2024

Daredevil: The Pill Popper Without Fear!

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 It's well known that when asked by the government in 1971 to do an anti-drug story for Spider-Man, Stan Lee obliged and released the comics without the Comics Code approval, because the Code did not allow for any portrayal of drugs, even negative. In the story, Peter Parker's roommate Harry gets addicted to pills first abusing amphetamines and barbiturates and then getting pills from a dealer to make him feel "on top of the world."  If someone brings up drugs and Daredevil, they'll probably think of the "Born Again" storyline where Daredevil's ex-girlfriend, Karen Page, sold his identity to the Kingpin for a fix of heroin.  However, Daredevil and drugs started much earlier. In Daredevil Annual #1, published in 1967, while battling Electro and his Emissaries of Evil, Daredevil stops and opens his billy club to pop a pill into his mouth. The dialogue says those are "nutrient capsules" that fill his stomach since he doesn't have time to e

Guest Star Spider-Man: Strange Tales Annual #2

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 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