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Letters : The Spider-Oracle Answers : Spider-Oracle Petitions [8]

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Letters : The Spider-Oracle Answers : Spider-Oracle Petitions [8] (16-Jan)
 

From Cayden

I bought an published art piece (I think?)... The inker is Rick Magyar! It is a splash page of Spidey, and what seems to be the Vulture in the background. If I sent you the scan of the page, could you help me figure out what issue this is from? It has been driving me crazy ... please let me know!

Here is the link to the website I have the page posted on as well ...

This sure is a tough one. The Oracle's wisdom knows no bounds, but this one might just take a little longer than usual!

Looking at our list of Rick Magyar Credits and our list of Vulture Appearances there is no obvious overlap.

This looks like recent art - more recent than any of the Magyar credits listed. You have it referenced as a splash page, but it actually looks very finished - I would have imagined it as poster quality or cover art. Unfortunately we don't track posters at all - and we rarely record cover art credits. We're primarily comic books rather than art work.

The most likely explanation is that this is: (a) A cover that we just don't have credited for Magyar, or (b) A poster-only, or (c) Artwork for a magazine, or (d) Artwork that was done for one of the Marvel Art collections.

We'll throw this one open to the public. Does anybody out there recognise this work?

From Keith

I hope you can help me out, I am giving a presentation to some high school teachers still in graduate school. I want to refere to an issue where Peter Parker is a teacher. In this issue he has issues with the school gym teacher who has given up hope for all his students, in contrast with Parker, the new teacher who hopes to inspire his students. I think you see where I'm goin with this. Anyway, if you can help you get a no-prize, and honorable mention in the presentation.

Well, it took us a while to get back to you on this one, so we've probably missed your presentation, for which we are most apologetic. However, at least we think we can answer your question, for what that's worth.

Most likely you're thinking of JMS's first story "Coming Home", specifically Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #31. There has just been a shooting at the school, and the gym teacher thinks it was inevitable - that the shooter was a nerd that got bullied until he snapped - but Peter has just applied as the new science teacher. In the next issue we see him trying to reach out to his class through science.

Alternatively, you might be thinking of the recent paperback novel Spider-Man: The Darkest Hours, where Peter is co-opted as an assistant basketball coach, and has to struggle to help a particularly talented but attitudinally-challenged basketball player. But it sounds like the JMS story is most likely the one you want.

From Steve Giordano

Hey, I hate to bother you with a stupid question, but this has been bothering me for a while. I've been reading all the old Amazing Spider-Man issues, and I'm passed the whole Jackal/Gwen Stacy Clone arc, and my question is, does it ever say how he figures out that Peter is Spider-Man? He seems to just... know.

This has been retconned way too many times. But according to the Jackal profile in OHMU: Spider-Man (2005), the explanation given in the letters page of Amazing Spider-Man #153 is still essentially accurate.

In Spectacular Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #149, Peter finds the Jackal's Journal, which simply describes how he followed Peter, and how Peter seemingly ignored the mild buzz from his Spider-Sense, and changed to Spider-Man before Miles Warren's surprised gaze.

Of course, subsequently the Journal was determined to be a complete fake, as part of the modern Clone Saga. However, none of the events of the clone saga seem to contradict the explanation from ASM #153, and so that is still the official version at this time.

From allenajyvon

Did spiderman ever turn into a vampire? because when i was little they had a toy of him as a vampire

Spider-Man has battled Dracula in Giant-Size Spider-Man #1, and Morbius on several occasions. He was bitten by Morbius once and given a nasty case of virtigo, but in neither case did Spider-Man ever actually become a vampire.

More recently in Blade (Vol. 2) #1, Spidey crossed over with Blade and grew a pair of fangs. But he "got better" thanks to his radio-active blood. Did he become a full vampire in that story? Perhaps. A more difficult question might be to ask if the Blade crossover is actually in regular MU continuity at all. I think there's plenty of evidence to suggest that Blade (Vol. 2) is actually an alternate universe tale.

The Spider-Man Vampire Figure you refer to is part of the 1990s Spider-Man animated series line of figures, which sold versions of Morbius and an anti-Vampire and Vampire Spidey (which didn't happen in the animated series either).

From Holly

The only books I can get my 8 yr old to read are the spider-man graphic novels. He is behind in his reading & all of a sudden has showed interset, so I'm trying to support his "habit" now.

I was in borders and saw a vol. 8 & 9 hardcover ultimate spider-man book, so I asked if they had vol.1, they had no clue what I was looking for. I've spent hours & days on the marvel site and many search engines/sites to try to find the right name for this book. Everywhere I've looked I've found what they call "hardcover", but they're the normal flexable graphic novels.

I myself use to collect comics years ago, so I try to explain to my son that they can also be fun to collect & he should try to find a series to start with at the beginning. I've tried to explain to him that even bending the cover back isn't good for the book cause it will permanently crease it. I know he will unintentionally destroy the novels I have already bought him, which is why I am trying to find out what these hardcover ones are (vol. 1-7) or if I'm just on a wild goose chase.

All of these hardbacks are available from Amazon.Com. The ISBN for the first volume is 078510898X. They're available second hand from Amazon dealer starting at US$20. From the link for volume one, you can find links for all the other volumes.

Hope your son enjoys them!

From KsaWarrior

The Scarlet Spiders that are being used by the Initiative are clones. Not Peter Parker clones, but clones.

This is what I've heard, and I'm starting to worry if Marvel needs real writers soon.

Correct, they are indeed clones of a former Initiative Team Member. However, fear not. Writer Dan Slott is handling the storyline very well indeed. We recommend Avengers: The Initiative,especially if One More Day has you depressed.

From Admriltobski

I just got the Spider-man Spectacular and he kills the the giant thug and his two controllers by fighting and making the building collapse

Reading between the lines of your vaguely-phrased supplication, I can only conclude that you refer to The Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine #1, and propose that it be added to the response of our F.A.Q. F.A.Q. : Has Spider-Man Killed?.

I'm afraid I must disagree with your assessment of Spider-Man's actions. When you say Spider-Man killed someone, I take it as an action directly done by him, not whether or not he was as successful as can be in his heroic endeavors.

For starters, it was Richard Raleigh's machinations that led an unnamed thug to be transformed into a hulking monster of a man. It was also he who sent him after Captain Stacy leading to a confrontation with Spider-Man. When Spider-Man deduced a connection between his adversary and Richard Raleigh, he went to Raleigh's townhouse.

Raleigh chose to ignore the warnings of the scientist that worked on the overgrown thug and continued pressing a controller which induced pain to the thug. This controller overloaded and was useless. As the thug went wild, tossing aside Spider-Man, Raleigh chose to stay firmly planted in place, refusing to accept defeat. His partner-in-crime tried to escape through an exit hidden in a nearby bookcase, but when the thug punched Raleigh, the impact caused the hidden corridor to cave in on the scientist as well. Thus, both of these men perish.

Spider-Man is not responsible for any of these men's actions, he is only responsible for his own. While you can debate whether or not Spider-Man should have webbed Raleigh to him, I do not see how this makes Spider-Man directly responsible for Raleigh's or the scientist's deaths.

Now for the giant thug himself.

He dies from the strain of the experiments done on him. Spider-Man merely finds the area the device was implanted in through a chop to head, which, upon striking, knocks out the thug. Spider-Man did not experiment on this man, nor did he overload him with the energy from the controller. Therefore, to blame Spider-Man for this death is unfair.

From Pinki

Hi there, greetings from Germany!

I'm not good at writing mails and such, so I'll just jump straight to the subject: I just finished Amazing Spider-Man #540, and although I love the story as well as the art, that LOT of continuity failures up to complete rubbish kind of unnerved me. So I wrote down my thoughts while I was reading this issue as well as 439. Okay, I must admit that I am picky and most (or maybe all? Did I miss something?) of those mistakes will be common among the fans, but I just have to tell somebody or I'll never be able to look at that story again without crying out loud. ;)

So, what did I think while reading ASM 439? Let's see: Oh yeah, that sniper. So he shoots May, and while Peter stands in front of her, being an easy target, the sniper does what? Have lunch? Brush his teeth? I don't know. However, he waits until Peter kneels down (thus making it harder to aim at him) and then decides to fire a few shots IN A ROW, which is not only pretty pointless, but also, what is shooting with? A mashine gun? And if he is, then why not fire a lot more bullets at once while Peter was at the window? Why wait until he's dodged? Seems that guy is just not the man to do the job, huh?

Then there is that jeep. Don't get me wrong, I love that scene! It just bugged me that when Peter throws the jeep, it is on its side. When it comes crushing through the wall, it is more diagonally and almost on its wheels. But later in this issue, as Peter checks the room for hints, the jeep is back on its side. What, I told you I'm picky!

At the next page we have something I call the common error. It shows Peter swinging at a webstring with both his gripping posture and the charactaristics of the webstring make it look like he is swinging at some kind of liana. Sheesh guys, where did he affix that web on, the moon? Or maybe it's just hanging up there in the sky. Come on!

Two pages later. It looks nice, really. I like that. But honestly: Peter can't stick to walls with his shoes! And one would think he can't stick with his butt either, since he's wearing jeans. That picture would be so great if he wouldn't have his shoes on.

Then there's Mary Jane. Would'nt she usually try to stop Peter from swinging around, trying to "hurt someone"? She should at least say something about it. Her just standing there and doing nothing doesn't seem right. That's like, "Okay, you go ahead and smash up some bad guys, honey, be back for supper! Oh, and if you get shot or arrested... never mind, just send me a message so I won't have to wait for you!" Right...

It's also not very convincing that Mary Jane can run around all through the city and in the hospital without being discovered.

Last but not least: The page where Peter gets his black costume. First of all: What is he doing with that webstring again? Well, never mind, because the bad part is the costume itself. It has already been mentioned that the web dissolves after an hour, but even if we ignore that fact, there is one thing that doesn't seem right to me. I mean, okay, with his unmasking and the civil war and all, we all know that Peter is supposed to be on the run. Now, imagine you were Spider-Man and everybody's after you. They know your face and your costume and you don't want to be caught, right? So what would you do, create a NEW costume that looks completely different so nobody will know it's you-- or rather change into another recognizable costume that has a giant spider on it? You might as well stand in the middle of a street and hold up a blinking billboard while bouncing up and down and shouting "Come and get meeeee!!!"

Alright alright, that's all I have to say about 439. Now for Amazing Spider-Man #440:

Page 8. What was it again that would happen if you were stopped in midfall by a single string of web? Let me think... I know it had something to do with a "snap"... So, okay, maybe Peter is willing to risk that, but still... would he really risk that? I mean, he still needs that guy!

Two pages after that, he is doing the lianas again...

Also, how did he create that perfect web to obstruct the policemen? Especially since the hole in the middle suggests that it was made from inside out.

Some more of that "Woooohooooo, here I aaaam! Arrest me! Arrest meeeeee!" at the train station.

But that's okay, no more complaints about this issue.

Although I would like to submit that when Peter was injured during the civil war (I don't know which number, I mean the one where he gets rescued by the Punisher), it is mentioned that everything from that scene on happens top him the same day, and that is just ridiculous! He would definitely need more time to recover from THOSE wounds, he isn't Wolverine after all!

Now I'm good, no more grouching. ;)

Ah, sometimes it's good to be Spider-Oracle, especially when the fans do all the work for you.

 
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