I have already talked about my fantastic time at Terrificon and the creators I met and interacted with.
But I didn't mention any of the books I bought. Today I will focus on the main book I bought, Amazing Spider-Man #306.
Now I know what you are thinking, what is a Spider-Man book doing on a Supergirl blog? I should thank Twitter friend @gcmcallis for telling me about this issue.
Amazing Spider-Man #306 was written by David Michelenie with art by Todd McFarlane right when the artist was making major waves in comics. I won't review the whole issue just the parts that make this worthy of being mentioned here.
We can start with the cover, clearly an homage to Action Comics #1, with McFarlane giving a hat tip to Siegel and Shuster next to his name. Perhaps this alone should have let Superman fans that some cool Superman homages are inside!
At this point, Peter is happily married to Mary Jane. He is currently a mini-celebrity because of a best-selling book he has had published called 'Webs', a collection of the pictures Peter has 'taken' of Spider-Man.
Peter is on a signing tour which has taken him to Cleveland (of course, the home of Superman).
There he is stopped by someone who can't make the signing portion.
The fan can't make the signing because he is heading to a comic con to sell some of his books.
It turns out that Peter was a comic book fan in his youth. He even had a crush on the 'girl in the mini-skirt'.
If you squint, you might see the book he is looking at.
That afternoon, Mary Jane comes to the signing with a gift.
She has bought Peter that issue ... clearly Action Comics #285, the issue where Supergirl is announced to the world! Now that is a supportive wife!
But this is clearly a Supergirl-centric issue, including the 'girl in the mini-skirt' Peter had a crush on!
Spider-Man is a Supergirl fan!!!
Truly amazing!!!
I can add this to my growing collection of Action Comics #285 references and homages!
As for the rest of the issue, I can see why McFarlane was a hit.
This is exactly the sort of bendy, gangly look I want in my Spider-Man. The action, even swinging around the city is very dynamic. And I am a sucker for a crazy tendril of webbing.
Still, Spider-Man is a Supergirl fan! How cool is that!
What a great bit or trivia, well done @gemcallis for noting it!
ReplyDeleteSo this means someone at comics Marvel in the Marvel Universe is dreaming about DC’s Earth One… now I’m trying to remember if Peter met Kara in the DC/Marvel crossovers.
I think (I am not sure) Supergirl only other even non canonical appearance in a Marvel Comics was as a satiric walk on in "Not Brand Ecch" #7 where she showed up in a cameo as "Stuporman's Kissin' Cousin, Stuporgirl"...as I recall it was a two panel appearance and she was drawn like a blonde Little Orphan Annie...but its been years and my memory is not the best.
ReplyDeleteJF
It’s bonkers that they’ve never so much as had Carol Danvers refer to ‘Cousin Linda’.
ReplyDeleteMart
In that Not Brand Echh appearance, Stuporgirl was accompanied by "Sneaky the Stuporcat".
ReplyDeleteRoy Thomas wrote that parody. He also introduced Carol Danvers in Marvel Super Heroes # 13 around that same time, though I believe he has said that the Danvers name was just a coincidence.
To get back to Amazing Spider-Man 306, I have to wonder if either David Michelenie and/or Todd McFarlane are Supergirl fans. Has McFarlane ever drawn Supergirl? Has Michelenie ever written her? I'm not aware of any. And I can't think of any other Supergirl appearances in Marvel comics.
Interesting to learn about the Brand ECchh stuff! Another something to search for.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it was Michelinie or McFarlane. Michelinie did write Action for a while. Matrix was the Supergirl then.
Here is a 'solo' issue: https://comicboxcommentary.blogspot.com/2015/04/back-issue-box-action-comics-706.html
Thanks for all the comments!