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Well, I couldn’t find the next Superman Sugar Smacks comic…at least the one I was looking for from the 1960s. Found a 1980s one I need to research. At any rate we’re still going DC but instead of the Man Of Steel it’s the guy a version of him once put a fist-sized hole through. I guess this counts as payback?
For those of you who missed our previous trips into this toyline’s minicomics, Super Powers was a Kenner produced line based on the DC Comics superheroes, made popular for kids thanks to Superfriends and being more fun. The last two seasons of Superfriends even rebranded to help push the toys, first as “The Legendary Super Powers Show”, the last season to be titled Super Friends, and Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians, an end of series rebrand with upgraded animation and new character models but retaining the same actors and what little continuity this series ever had. (Although Adam West took over as Batman for these two seasons while previous Batman Olan Soule took on the role of Professor Stein, one-half of Firestorm.)
“Blast it, this is Harley’s perfume! I’d smack her for the mistake if she had been created yet!”
Each action figure, hero and villain alike, received their own minicomic and we’re up to the seventh in the series, focusing on the Clown Prince Of Crime himself, the Joker. (He would have his only appearance in the show in the last season, but he spent most of it playing a different character.) So what is the villain up to since he appeared in the Batman minicomic? Let’s find out. Once again, no credits so let’s hop into the action.
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“This guy has surprisingly sweaty hands.”
Knuckles The Echidna #9
Archie Comics Publication (February, 1998)
“Dark Vengeance” finale
WRITER: Ken Penders
PENCILER: Manny Galan
INKER: Andrew Pepoy
COLORIST: Barry Grossman
LETTERER: Vickie Williams
EDITOR: J. Freddy Gabrie
Also, here’s all three covers from issues #7-9 collected into one image.
I don’t mind when these poster covers happen over consecutive issues. Just not as variant covers for the same issue, which I’ve seen at least twice and it’s twice too many!
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Spider-Man is having something of a comeback as Marvel’s flagship superhero. Movies, video games, a…preschool kids show, and a whole lot of other people with spider-powers lately. Wait, doesn’t that last one diminish Peter as Spider-Man? If everyone has the same but greater powers than Peter Parker, what does that make him? As Julia Carpenter, the current Madame Web, once stated: “…my champion has learned the first lesson of Spider-Island: Even though he shoulders great responsibility, while he’s here all of his great powers are absolutely meaningless.” At that point practically everybody had spider-powers in New York as part of a plot to ruin Spider-Man. To also paraphrase Syndrome from The Incredibles, when everyone’s spider, nobody is. Okay, that sounded better in my head. The point is you delude what makes Peter special by spreading his powers around. Superman’s powers are a dime a dozen in both the DC and Marvel universes as well as superhero fiction in general. If anything, Superman is basically the basis for most superpowered heroes throughout fiction. It’s how he uses those powers and his personality that separates him but there’s also a lot of characters tied to him. I could do one of these articles on him. Hmmmm.
Right now, and I will totally admit I’m taking a lot from the Marvel Database (despite Fandom wikis being a total pain in the webspinner to use these days–WHAT THE @$#@%#% IS PLAYING AUDIO WHEN THE POP UP VIDEOS ARE MUTED!!!!!!! and why is it all whispering like the site is possessed!) since I can’t follow them all, there are six active spider heroes in 616 alone. That’s still less than the Batman Family’s current roster but at least they all have unique skills and identities. While the Flash has three people sharing the name (hmmmm) we have two Spider-Men, one Spider-Woman, a former Spider-Girl, a clone, and a spider-partridge in a pear tree. We won’t even get into the multiverse because they don’t count…although one of those current Spider-Men are from another universe. It’s confusing, annoying, and unnecessary. However, if I can find a use for every active member of the Bat Family (and one whose dead and shouldn’t be) finding a use for the active Spiders shouldn’t be too hard.
Admittedly these are a bit more on the fly (I’m sure there’s an unintended pun in there somewhere) than the Bat Family but I think this could work. I’ll go over Peter Parker last. We have five others to get through and a lot of what I’m going to suggest may actually be already in effect or close enough that my ideas won’t be that earth-shattering. That’s fine. I’m not here to join the EPIC storytelling obsession. I just want to take what we have and make some good use out of it that won’t dilute Peter Parker as Spider-Man…provided we’re done with 616 spider heroes. The only ones I’m not bothering with is whatever Ben is going by this month, whoever is Venom this week, and the “Uncanny Spider-Man”. Let Kurt go back to being Nightcrawler without having to go back to the X-Men if he’s really that sick of them. Otherwise, he’s just helping turn the Spider-Man brand into a team name like the X-Men and our boy Pete deserves better. As for Ben Reilly, I can’t tell if he’s alive or dead, good or evil from one storyline to the next so I’m not even going to try to work him in. They really ruined a great character and I so could have used him as a wandering hero. As for the rest…
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If justice is supposed to be blind, does this mean she isn’t justice?
She-Hulk #1
Marvel Comics (December, 2005)
“Many Happy Returns”
WRITER: Dan Slott
PENCILER: Juan Bobillo
INKER: Marcelo Sosa
COLORIST: Dave Kemp
LETTERER: Dave Sharpe
ASSISTANT EDITORS: Aubrey Sitterson, Molly Lazer, and Andy Schmidt
EDITOR: Tom Brevoort
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Arad also claimed to be a big Marvel fan, which you can see in the shows he produced before the MCU, even if he also kept the toyetic nature of the shows in mind. My guess is Arad knew loyalty to the comics would increase the audience, and thus the buyers. Perlmutter was the guy who replaced Terrance Howard with Don Cheadle because Howard wanted too much. Howard was the better Rhodey. It’s why I think too much credit is given to Perlmutter for the MCU and not enough for Arad. When he left, the MCU producers and writers stopped caring about comic accuracy.
BW Media Spotlight 
BW’s Daily Video> The Immaturity Of Modern Adult Media (not that kind of “adult media”)
It’s the Critical Drinker. Expect swearing, drinking, and Tatyana.
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I feel like he could have compared the animated series, the old Star Trek show for KIDS, versus an adult-targeted Star Trek show from today. Even what I’ve seen of Prodigy was better and that show STARS kids.
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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on November 8, 2023 in Movie Spotlight, Television Spotlight and tagged commentary, Star Trek.
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