Secret Agents, Man! Untold Tales of Spider-Man Flashback Month Minus 1 Review

Richard and Mary Parker: The Amazing Parkers!

Marvel Flashback Month brings Untold Tales of Spider-Man Minus 1! A golden opportunity to see Peter Parker's parents performing in perilous predicaments! They are not quite Agents of SHIELD. Rather, they are CIA agents. Richard Parker was recruited out of Special Forces by Col. Nick Fury. Mary Parker used her education and late father's connections to land a job as a translator. Together, they become an Americanized version of John Steed and Emma Peel. They're a cute contemporary version of Agatha Christie's Tommy and Tuppence and Hammett's Nick and Nora.

On vacation along the French Riviera, they stumble upon The Baroness! A neo-Nazi sympathizer who may have deeper espionage connections - possibly to Hydra! She works for a Supreme Leader and is aware of the capture of an Agent Ten. Which leads Richard and Mary to Bombay, and a rescue mission.

There are a few "surprises". Agent Ten's identity. The Supreme Leader's identity and the inevitable surprise that will force Mary Parker out of action - forever!

Fred Hembeck provides an outrageously hilarious back-up story featuring adventures of Petey - way before he became Spider-Man. It's Hembeck at his finest and funniest.

"Danger", featuring The Amazing Parkers in Untold Tales of Spider-Man Minus 1 earns four stars!   

What Evil Lurks? The Punisher Knows! The Amazing Spider-Man 129 Facsimile Reprint Review!

Definitely a Classic!

You may be cool, but you will never be running around in just your boxers cool. The Jackal is just one of those characters. Namor, Hank McCoy as The Beast. Apparently, The Jackal is a green-furred, pointy-eared creature. He definitely hates Spider-Man. He's found a kindred spirit in The Punisher. Making his first appearance in comics, The Punisher has been hired by The Jackal to hunt and kill Spider-Man as a murderer. The Punisher is looking for justice. The Jackal just wants Spider-Man dead. J. Jonah Jameson just wants pictures of the newest sensation!

Spider-Man and The Punisher tangle. It looks pretty dire for web-head, until he summons the intestinal fortitude and strength to fight back. Although The Jackal wants to remain in the shadows, he comes right out and clobbers Spider-Man, announcing his intent. Which is just bonkers crazy. 

Later, Spider-Man helps The Punisher do some deductive reasoning, and he comes to the conclusion that The Jackal was just using him to kill Spider-Man. 

This is definitely a Classic, in the traditional bonkers style.

The facsimile reprint of Amazing Spider-Man 129, featuring the debut of The Punisher earns four stars! 

Behold! Lo, Cometh The Green Goblin! The Amazing Spider-Man Facsimile 14 Reprint Review

This one has it all! Everything BUT the kitchen sink!

Stand Lee and Steve Ditko present the debut of the mysterious The Green Goblin! Who is he? His plan is just bonkers crazy and wacky. He wants to lure Spider-Man out to Hollywood, by way of the desert, with hopes and dreams of the big time of fame and fortune. The real scheme is that The Goblin and his gang, The Enforcers, will put the fatal smack-down on him! It's an incredibly contrived and complicated plot to maneuver Spider-Man into fighting The Hulk. That's the whole point of "The Grotesque Adventure of The Green Goblin"! Everything else is just minor details.

The story also seems to be a send-up and parody of Hollywood and the film industry. B. J. Kosmojian is such a simplified caricature of a movie producer. Followed around by three toady "Yes"-men. It's just hilarious. 

Even funnier... one would think that since Peter Parker couldn't cash a check made out to "Spider-Man" why is he signing a big-deal movie contract as Spider-Man?! The whole story just lacks any and all common sense.

Still, it's wacky, off-beat and FUN. It's a brainless slugfest.

The selling point comes from the splash-page blurb of giving a full twelve cents worth of story and action. The Amazing Spider-Man 14, featuring the debut of The Green Goblin, leading The Enforcers toward a bombastic battle that includes The Incredible Hulk earns three stars!   

Access Back in Action! The Unlimited Access 1 Review!

Pat Oliffe's cover is very cool! Access is the keeper of the Amalgam Universe. "Inside" Access, too, is the gateway between the DC and Marvel Universes as well! The cover shows that within Access is The Amazing Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Wonder Woman and The Juggernaut!

The unique and fresh spin for Unlimited Access, is not just space. The two universes, Marvel and DC coming together and teaming up against mutual foes, but bouncing around - or, quantum leaping - through different time periods of each universe! What starts in the present, with Spider-Man and Wonder Woman facing Mantis and The Juggernaut, bounces to Coast City four years after Barry Allen died and Hal Jordan facing The Hulk! Next, Access encounters Jonah Hex and Two-Gun Kid! After sending Jonah Hex off into the future to end up as Hex, possibly, Access ends up with The Legion of Super-Heroes facing The Sentinels!

Karl Kesel, Pat Olliffe and Al Williamson make an enjoyable team for an enjoyable story. The time travel element keeps things fresh!

Bouncing around significant time periods in each universe is a brilliant idea. Okay, maybe not so much original, as Access is now following a somewhat typical story trope. Kesel, Olliffe and Williamson manage to keep things interesting. It's nice that they manage to bounce Axel's relationship troubles off Peter and MJ. There's another laugh when MJ calls out Spider-Man flirting with Wonder Woman.

It's a fun, exciting, thrilling story. "No Time Like the Present" Unlimited Access earns five stars.