Spider-Man could sit down. I realize he doesn't particularly like to sit down, preferring the wall or ceiling, but it's not like he's not in a situation where sitting down would be frowned upon. He's on a talk show, for god's sake. It's probably preferable for him to sit down. Also, don't they usually film those in the afternoon?
So the flu subplot and the Vulture thing might be clashing soon, maybe? Perhaps I was wrong, and the Vulture is going to attack Spider-Man on Maria's show. If only the Vulture realized that being inside a television studio removes his advantages of flight, maneuverability, and speed, then he may have been able to avoid capture. However, despite Spider-Man having a physical advantage there (it being spacious enough for him to move around pretty well, yet enclosed enough to hinder his enemy), the flu might prove to be his undoing.
In the comic book, there's an issue where Spider-Man is on a talk show and Electro attacks him on live television. How you want to bet nothing half that interesting is going to happen here? Oh no, what if he gives Maria Lopez the flu? The suspense!
Mary Jane is obviously annoyed at this turn of events. Does Maria Lopez still have a crush on Spider-Man? Probably. Yet another useless subplot to pad this Vulture storyline...
Spider-Man is whipped.
Totally ignoring Peter's comment in panel two. Okay, Jameson has finally gone around the bend. I'm sure they've fought before, and I'm sure Peter got pictures of that at the time, which means that there's documented proof in the Daily Bugle that Spider-Man and the Vulture have been seen together. And Jameson's picture just looks so gosh-darned smug in that picture. I'd sort of like to smack him.
You're supposed to starve a fever and feed a cold, Mary Jane. Seriously. No wonder you're a model/actress/whatever and not a nurse. I know it's just some... triangles and coffee, but still.
Yet he will do everything in his power to subvert this fate in order to go back out and fight a guy dressed in a Vulture costume. Whom, I might add, he did not tackle. He more sashayed in and totally blew it in every single regard. Also, it looks like Mary Jane is just a torso in panel one. Creepy.
Today, we have Jameson being a jerk, Peter being mopey, and Robbie Robertson being concerned about both of those things. So really, there's absolutely nothing worth noting today, as all that stuff happens all the time.
Jameson is overlooking the fact that he will have Spider-Man, and Maria Lopez will not. Also: are those just print-outs or something? How does selling digital photos even work?
Now, I realize that sometimes, when you get home from work, you just want to relax in front of the computer and so you don't change out of your uniform or work clothes or whatever. However, in most cases, walking around in your work clothes won't reveal your secret identity to nosy neighbors and whatnot.
I think Stan Lee is doing this to mess with me and people who read this Blog. Case in point: Spider-Man is back home and not sick at all, where all our estimates were for Spider-Man to be falling for at least a week. So, if Stan Lee or someone who works on this strip is reading this Blog: you should really take our suggestions and good-natured ridicule seriously. Make Spider-Man an effective super-hero again, and make the strip a bit more interesting. Please?
1) Yes, maybe you should patent the web parachute that you made with the world's only pair of web-shooters. You can't really sell them, either, because your webbing dissolves after half an hour or something. And you can't patent a more permanent model, because that would be a normal parachute. So yes, Spider-Man, go ahead and patent your web parachute.
As predicted yesterday in the comments section, Spider-Man has made a web parachute which really shouldn't work. You'd think he'd want to use both hands in order to make the process go a bit faster, though. He is falling from a great height, after all.
Yes, in the final panel, we insert a carefully thought-out piece of snark so that you, the comic strip blogger, can go off and do whatever it is comic strip bloggers do! Perhaps you play golf or something. Who knows? In any case, you can do it that much more with the Self-Snarking Comic Strip.
We're going to get a week of Spider-Man falling through the air and saving himself at the last minute. Part of me thinks this might be pretty funny, as we watch him tumble. Another part of me just wants to get to the next storyline, as this whole Vulture thing has kind of worn out its welcome. Then again, the next storyline is going to feature some sort of mobster. On the plus side, mobsters and whatnot have the best henchmen. On the downside, they're freaking mobsters and most of them are boring as heck.
The fact that it's a liquid nitrogen gun doesn't make this whole scenario any less stupid. Nor does the Vulture calling Spider-Man "Doomed One". The worst part is that, for the next week, we're going to watch Spider-Man fall and then save himself at the last minute while the Vulture gets away. If the Vulture doesn't get away, I'm going to be quite surprised.
All right. If you look closely, you can see that the briefcase is somehow tethered to his stomach, with some sort of loop thing coming out of his costume. Which is functional, but at the same time ridiculous. However, one has to wonder where he was keeping that web spray. I'm guessing he was keeping it in that ruffle of feathers on his neck, as that's the only possible place he could be keeping it.
I'll buy that the Vulture is able to stay aloft while carrying Spider-Man. He's done it before, after all, so there's no reason he can't do it again. What I won't buy is the increasingly terrible dialog. I mean it's usually not Shakespeare, or even close to Stan Lee's classic stuff, but it's been really terrible this week. I've been trying to figure out what the second panel even means. It's obviously a fishing analogy, but who is the fisherman and who's the fish?
I'm going to ignore the horrible dialog today, and the fact that New York City appears in a fog bank. Instead, I'm going to focus on the Vulture's loot, and the fact that he has somehow affixed it to himself. How the heck is he doing this? Anyone?
First off, welcome to all the new people who are coming here due to the Comics Curmudgeon. I realize this is the second time I've welcomed the new people, but text is free so I can welcome people as much as I please. In any case, let's get down to the business of this blog: pointing out the narrative and artistic shortcomings of two elderly men who have brought the world infinite amounts of joy.
That man is quite bright. The Vulture, however, is dumb as a rock because he honestly thinks that he could get anywhere throwing his body against the helicopter. While I know he can hover or something, you'd still think that doing such a thing would hurt quite a bit.
Either that man who is exclaiming that he's died and gone to heaven has mistaken the slightly demonic-looking green man for an angel, or he has a very specific fetish. In either case, that man is insane and in really no state to fly a helicopter, let alone anything more complicated than a wagon.
Spider-Man seems to have forgotten all about the whole secret identity thing, as he's lugging around that camera in plain sight. At the very least, it'll promote some awkward questions by those who see it. Namely, "Why is Spider-Man carrying around a camera?"
Mary Jane is an idiot if she thinks Peter's going to take a few photos and come right home. If she wasn't there, he would already be out there swinging around town to find the Vulture. Now, with a free ticket out the of the house, there's no way Spider-Man isn't going to make an appearance. Oh, not to mention the fact that Jameson is paying for pictures of Spider-Man, and Mary Jane should realize this.
"That's my wife! Yes, her greed overrules any sort of concern for my well-being, to the point where she can somehow hear anyone mention money. Yes, that's my wife."
Maria Lopez poses such a threat that she is no longer lumped into the Internet or the television, she is her own entity. Also, if the Daily Bugle is only being kept out of ruin by Peter Parker's pictures, then there is something dreadfully wrong with the way it's being run. I do like how Jameson counters Peter's claim of having the flu by saying that his newspaper is also ailing. That's kind of clever.
Jameson wants pictures of the empty television set, obviously. Either that, or he's going to send Peter to take pictures of Spider-Man's appearance on the Maria Lopez show, only for not-so-wacky shenanigans to ensue. Mary Jane is looking sick in panel two, as well.
The Vulture is going to do something to Maria Lopez which will require Mary Jane to release Spider-Man from his promise. Spider-Man will get his butt kicked, but will save Maria Lopez. This will lead to a confidence boost for the Vulture, Maria Lopez being sad that Spider-Man failed, and Jonah Jameson reveling in that very same fact. The Vulture will then go on a crime spree, which will only end once Spider-Man is feeling better. He will then fight the Vulture, restoring Maria Lopez's faith in him and making Jonah look silly.
