The Big Guy Hits Two Big Milestones and Is Still Going Strong

 I have not at all hidden the fact that I am a huge Spider-Man fan and have been so since I can remember. Back in the early 80s we had Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends and I remember loving the show. I was drawn to anything Spider-Man, so it was no surprise that the first super hero comics I started seriously collecting were the three Spidey titles of the time, starting with the dark crossover event that has come to be known as Kraven's Last Hunt (Even though that title was made inaccurate due to them not letting comic characters stay dead. That Kraven is dead again and I so hope they let him remain that way this time). And with only a few brief gaps due to comic not being in the budget (Being an adult can really suck at times) I have been picking up the Spidey comics for about 35 years now.

This year Spider-Man the charter as well as Spidey's main title The Amazing Spider-Man, which really is the flagship title of Marvel Comics, hits two significant milestones this year.

Spider-Man as a character is 60 years old. Amazing Fantasy 15, the first appearance of Spider-Man, was released Aug. 10th 1962. I have said it before in this blog and so I shall repeat it again here, Amazing Fantasy 15 is the most influential comic ever. It was a huge surprise success with fans finding themselves drawn to character of Spider-Man and his related story, something that was considered a risky idea for its time.

Issue 1 of The Amazing Spider-Man would come out in March of 1963.

Issue 900 of The Amazing Spider-Man was just released on July 27th this year, right at the 60th anniversary mark for the character.

As I started shortly before the series hit 300, that means I have been collecting it for over 600 issues, even though there are a few gaps in there. If you factor in all the other Spider-Man series they have done over the years, with Spider-Man alone I have no doubt I should have over a thousand Spider-Man comics in my collection.

The Amazing Spider-Man is the first and so far the only Marvel titles to make that milestone. It got ahead of the older titles like The Fantastic Four or Thor due to various factors that reflect the series' popularity.

Issue 900 had some interesting ideas in it with the over all question of 'Who is Spider-Man' being literally asked over and over again. And answered in a fitting style for the character.

I'm not going to go into just what actual volume of the title we are in or how the legacy counting of the issues work, but Marvel just started the latest volume of the series and 900 is actually issue 6 of the new volume. They started this volume off after a gap of time from the ending of the last. During that gap Spidey did something huge that upset a lot of people, alienating many of his close friends somehow. We've not been given any details, just a flashback page of Spidey on his knees in a crater that it looks like he was responsible for creating. So it is clear there is a bigger storyline that is going to play out for the character right now and I am looking forward to seeing where they go with it.

New comic book sales are not very impressive right now, and the industry as a whole is not doing too great, with talking about how much longer they can keep going with such diminishing returns. Marvel has nowhere near the titles they did a decade ago and all of them have really low print runs, print runs at levels that not too long ago would warrant the cancelation of a title. Despite all of that I have no doubt that we will get to the big issue 1000 with the series, even if that ends up being Marvel's last comic.

Spider-Man has made his place in our culture as a iconic character that will live in some form or another for generations to come. There will be new stories for him in whatever methods will be out there for some time, as his influence will not just fade away. I plan to keep up with it all and continue to enjoy Spidey in whatever form is available to me as long as I am able to.

Nuff said. 

You Rarely Get This Great an Adaptation

 So this last Friday I spent the day sitting around doing nothing but watching TV and it was glorious. We watched the full season of Sandman, the long waited adaptation of Neil Gaiman's ground breaking, award winning comics series.

I found Gaiman a little late, early 2000s, but since then I have loved most of what he has put his name on. He is a brilliant writer. He was also a very hands on producer with the show because it meant a lot to him which is why it took so long for an adaptation to happen.

The show itself stays very true to the original comics, with some logical changes made that work with the concept being updated, as well as losing all direct references to the mainstream DC universe. At times the scenes feel very much as if they were taken straight out of the comics.

There were some casting choices that got attacked as being 'woke' because they were not identical to what was in the comics, but after seeing the show, I very much believe it when Gaiman said they cast to talent above everything else.

Kirby Howell-Baptiste was perfect as Death. While she is only in one episode in this first season, she nails the role. This idea of Death in this universe is a very non-threatening being, who is actually very kind and has a greater understanding of life and this is very much what we get to see in the show.

Mason Alexander Park, who got the role as Desire by asking for it on Twitter, nailed that role perfectly. Casting a non-binary actor as a gender fluid being was brilliant and works so well. They brought the role to life with a clear love and passion for the character that is reflected in the great performance.

Gwendoline Christie is perfect as Lucifer. She has an intensity that just works with the feeling of something deeper going on there.

Those were the more controversial casting choices, but the all worked so well.

The rest of the cast clearly put their all into the efforts, as there were such strong performances all across the board.

On every level this is the kind of adaptation we need to see more of. It is not surprising that it has been the number one show on Netflix in over 80 countries, breaking several Netflix streaming records.

Sandman is a highly entertaining show that is as true as it gets to the source material, but one does not need to be familiar at all with the comics to enjoy what they have put on the screen. I predict there will be awards coming for the show and enough seasons to get the full story of the comics adapted. It really is that good.