The Secret society Comics Vault: Spiderman Annual Number 13

 Amazing SpiderMan Annual Number 13

Cover Art By Keith Pollard and Bob McL eod
Interior Art By John Byrne and Terry Austin
Written By Marv Wolfman

Cover dated for 1979 , Amazing Spiderman Annual may be one of the last comics Mr. Wolfman wrote before he left for DC to revamp Teen Titans with George Perez. (Note: If you come across some early issues of Wolfman/Perez Teen Titans? Get them. I predict that series will be great and valuable one day. The second issue is pretty good.)

While I am not sure if it is Wolfman's last Marvel book, I know one thing for sure. I have almost never had so much fun turning the pages of a Spiderman Adventure. 

In 1979 I was 11 years old. If I recall I bought my 75 cent cover price copy from 7-11. A few years later I would buy another copy at The Creation Comic Con in Philly and John Byrne was nice enough to sign my copy. (I think he said he would not sign anything for anyone unless they also bought Alpha Flight number one...but that was gonna happen anyway.)

At 11 years old, I appreciated a great story with wonderful jaw dropping art and “The Arms Of Dr. Octopus” did not disappoint. The action was riveting but the way Wolfman told the story and crafted the non action parts still kept me on the edge of my seat.

Each page had me yelling at my comic book (and my mother yelling “What’s Wrong?”
Wolfman with elements of The Twilight Zone and Detective Comics made a double sized issue a read too quick. Needless to say John Byrne and Terry Austin’s pencil and inks also made me yell at my comic book as well and I wished their art went one for another 50 pages. Today I can appreciate the value of everyone’s art style. Shoot, the cover by Pollard and McLeod is what made me buy the book (and by “buy” I mean beg my dad for comic book money.) I had however, never seen comic book art that left me so breathless as Byrne and Austin (I was not quite yet collecting X-Men but then this was one of the books that drove me to X-Men.)

All these years later when I reflect on Amazing Spiderman Annual Number 13. The book is still a fun quick read. The story is still as compelling as it is fun. Even though the ending would not be nearly as strange to me after watching every episode of the original Twilight zone. The art is still one masterpiece page after another.

I do not read my copies or open them much because the way the larger annuals were stapled, every read damages the book more. If I come across a reprint version in a Spiderman collection? I will be picking that up.

I don’t want to tell you any more details about the book because I would hate to spoil a single panel for you.

Oh yes and as I back up they have a gallery of Spiderman foes that was also great to read. This predates the Handbook To The Marvel Universe so it’s pretty much a listening of Spidey Foes from his first decade plus with great art and fun facts about their encounters with Spiderman.

If you read Amazing Spiderman Annual Number 13 what did you think then and now?

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 14

1:00 to 2:00 PM | Black Girl Genius with Yesenia Moises, Robyn Smith, Greg Burnham, Okema Moore, Adewunmi Roye Okupe and Erika Hardison

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The Secret Society Of Fiction and Science
BIG COMICS

Marvel's Magazine Masterpiece History

                      A Quick History Of Marvel's Masterpiece Paintings
                                words By Raymond Tyler

Art By Earl Norem
From Rampaging Hulk No 9

Marvel Comics produced some very provocative magazine's in the 1970's and 80's. These were not 25 cent comics but full magazine size adventures that mostly had new black and white interior content. This content was even more cinematic and adult than basic news stand books. Honestly, at times the content was shockingly violent, sexual and real world. 
    To accent the reality Marvel usually went to fully painted covers by illustrators like Earl Norem. Mr. Norem's work became the go to for fully painted covers during the 1970's and 80's. Mr. Norem's work made you feel like The Avengers were about to leap off the page or that Dracula was about to reach out and grab you. Or in this painting from Marvel's Haunt Of Horror it looks like the bats are flying off the page and at your neck.

    In 1994 Marvel Comics released issue number one of Marvel's.
The idea was brilliant. They charged writer Kurt Busiek with penning a 4 issue story of the grand Marvel universe and how their universe would look and feel to a mere mortal.

It's one thing to read about Spider-Man in "the funny pages." Marvels gave you page after page of the experience that you might be opening your window on a hot July afternoon and not only does a full size Green Goblin fly by on a real glider but as you open the window a Spider-Man crawls up the side of the building close enough to touch. A Spider-Man moving so fast you feel the rush of the wind as he passes. The man they charged to bring these images to life was Alex Ross.

His life like paintings made the 4 issue series Marvels a game changing instant /must have classic and made Alex Ross a very rich, famous and busy artist.
    In researching for this article, I went back and revisited some of those paintings for Marvels. Spider-Man, still looks close enough to touch, and The Hulk looks like I can smell his breath and feel the earth shake with his each step. 

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 I am excited about what Marvel has planned with the new series The Marvels. It promises to be great story telling as Kurt Busiek is one of the top story tellers alive. However, I hope that maybe for the 30th Anniversary of the original Marvels series...Marvel comics can find a new writer/painter team to attempt that rarest of tricks...making lightning strike twice.

Story Teller Extraordinaire Kurt Busiek is Returning to The Marvels

 

Marvel and Kurt Busiek Are Teaming Up Again for The Marvels.

 

Acclaimed writer Kurt Busiek’s new ongoing series, THE MARVELS, will debut this April. The previously announced series will be one of the most sprawling series ever to hit the Marvel Universe, telling stories that span the decades and range from epic adventure to intense human drama, from the street-level to the cosmic, starring literally anyone from Marvel’s very first heroes to never-before-seen superstars of tomorrow. The Marvels and Astro City writer will be joined by artist Yildiray Cinar (X-Men, Iron Man) and the series will feature iconic covers by legendary artist Alex Ross.

 

“The whole idea of THE MARVELS is to be able to use the whole Marvel Universe — not just all the characters in it, but all the history of it. The sweeping scope of the whole thing,” Busiek said when the book was first announced. “Big stuff can happen in the Marvel Universe, but we usually see it confined largely to the Avengers in AVENGERS, to the FF in FANTASTIC FOUR, and so on. THE MARVELS is intended as a freewheeling book that can go anywhere, do anything, use anyone. It’s a smorgasbord of Marvel heroes and history.”

 

THE MARVELS will feature Captain America, Spider-Man, the Punisher, the Human Torch, Storm, the Black Cat, the Golden Age Vision, Aero, Iron Man and Thor, and the startling introduction of two brand-new characters. Plus: Who (or what) is KSHOOM? It all starts here. Check out never-before-seen interior artwork now and be sure to pick up this one-of-a-kind new series when it hits stands in April! For more information, visit Marvel.com.

                                                                                   

5 REASONS WHY WE RING IN THE NEW YEAR IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE

 

The Secret Society Of Fiction and Science:5 Reason Why We Love The Twilight Zone and Marathon

 Words By Raymond Tyler

I first came upon The Twilight Zone as a teenager watching WPIX channel 11 out of New York City but I was living in Atlantic City , NJ.
I had always loved comics and every since my kindergarten teacher Miss Barbara read us the story of Bremen Town Musicians  and 3 Billy Goats Gruff , I loved "odd stories" with not the "usual characters." The idea that trolls could live under bridges made the world exciting if not always safe.
    By the time I was a teen I was into Reggie Jackson and Yankee Baseball was  my passion.

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    During a rain delay...I heard the great broadcast announcer Phil Rizzutto say..."We'll be back and hopefully finish the rest of this game. In the meantime we're going to show The Twilight Zone...already in progress."
    That is my earliest memory of The Twilight Zone. Watching the last 15 minutes or so of In Praise Of Pip with Jack Klugman.
    Through the years I happily celebrated Dec 31st/ Jan 1st and July 4th's in the Twilight Zone. First on WPIX Channel 11 and then on Sy Fy. I am not a teen any more but this grown man is still swept away by a series that was old by the time I was born. It has inspired several revivals and none as good or impactful as the original 156 episodes. 
    I could easily give you 500 reasons but here are 5 Reasons myself, my friends and enemies still enjoy The Twilight Zone.

1. The Black and White Is Spooky

The Black and White and lighting adds to the wonder and awe somehow. 

Here's a production note to Jordan Peele. Man do one episode a season in Black and White, no cursing, for a half hour. It would be the greatest Easter Egg of all for all of us original TZ heads that watch the new show.

2. The Marathon Brings Us All Together
I could do a list  of 5 reasons why The TZ Marathon brings us all together. One thing I know is that when The New Year Marathon is on ...we're all nerds. People I would have never guessed enjoy the show start tweeting and facebooking about it. The amazing thing is some of us can identify an episode just from a line. 

Some of us have seen our favorite episodes a hundred times or more and we still watch as if the ending this time will be different.

3. The Acting Performances
The list of great acting performances is astounding and surprising. You have Robert Redford in Nothing In The Dark and Ivan Dixon in The Big Tall Wish. You have Collin Wilcox-Paxton from the film To Kill A Mockingbird in the episode Number 12 Looks Just Like You , you have Johnathan Winters in a dramatic role as pool player Fats Brown.

The two performers I always come back to are Jack Klugman and Burgess Meredith who both appear in 3 episodes. 

You will see actors from other series like Star Trek, Bonanza , The Beverly Hillbillies and Bewitched all on TZ. 

4. The Prophetic Writing
The things that came to pass in the years since still spook me. 
TZ was supposed to be a warning that human nature was often on the wrong path. Rather than change course more governments have decided to embrace their inner "super villain." 

We seem closer to being the type of civilized people that would lock the door on our neighbors and listen as they died than we did in the 50's and 60's. 

5. Rod Serling/Plot Twists
Rod Serling and the plot twists at the end.

Now despite popular belief all of the episodes were not based on or written with crazy plot twists.
I think because of the ones that do have surprise endings...they pay off the viewer so well...that people are disappointed when the story ends the way it has too to be ground in reality.

And there is no better person to explain the 5th Dimension in opening and closing  a story, with such dead pan timing than Rodman Edward Serling.

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What ever your reason. I hope as always you enjoyed our annual trip to the black and white world of multiple talking dolls, alternate earths that blew up, astronauts trying to get home and humans facing the odd and unusual within the 5 dimension.