Jon Reads Comics

“I almost wish for an opponent who’d give me a run for my money!”  Oh, poor Spidey, be careful what you wish for.  Because this week, Jon, Bertone, and Donovan wrap up their first round of episodes with Doctor Octopus and the Sandman!  And they will both send Spider-Man running away with his spinnerets tucked between his legs.

Since there was no episode last week, perhaps a word is due on the schedule of this podcast.  It’s gonna be near-weekly.  Every month, Jon is gonna go through a stack of issues with a team of cohorts, and those episodes will be released over the course of the month.  So expect two, three, or four episodes every month, on not quite a weekly schedule.  This wraps up March’s episodes.  And if all goes well, there will be more in a couple of weeks.

A note from this week’s convo.  The team speculates on Liz Allan’s future after Peter Parker’s graduation, but no one takes the time to actually look up the info, cuz we’re too busy having fun.  So, for the record, Liz Allan says good-bye to Peter in Amazing Spider-Man 28 after graduation.  She appears again as a surprise in issue 30.  But then she’s gone from Peter’s life until Amazing Spider-Man 132.

If you’re new to the show, Amazing Spider-Man Classics is devoted to covering every issue of Spider-Man’s feature titles, as well as every guest and cameo appearance we can find.

We hope you’re continuing to enjoy the show.  Please leave comments here or email us, and hear your heartfelt missives on the air!  Plus it’ll make our little spider-hearts leap to hear from you.  You can also subscribe to the show in iTunes.

Coming later in April: Strange Tales Annual 2, Amazing Spider-Man 5-8, and more!

The Webhead is back!  Six months after his one-off story in the cancelled Amazing Fantasy, Spider-Man was granted his own book, which hit shelves in late 1962.  Jon, Bertone, and Donovan take a look at the introductions of such essential characters as J. Jonah Jameson and Betty Brant while laughing at Ditko’s cooky villains like the Tinkerer and the Chameleon.

Amazing Spider-Man Classics is devoted to covering every issue of Spider-Man’s various titles, as well as every guest appearance or cameo in other books that we can find.

Some notes:  Right at the beginning of the discussion, I say that Jack Kirby draws Spider-Man with Steve Ditko inking.  I meant to say “on the cover” somewhere in there.  The interior arts are, of course, Steve Ditko’s.  At one point, we discuss the Chameleon’s career immediately following this story, but we aren’t positive of our facts.  Turns out that after this book, he showed up in Amazing Spider-Man 15 and then gave Iron Man and the Hulk a few troubles.  He didn’t show up in Amazing Spider-Man again until issue 80, and then 186, and not again until 306.  So the Chameleon was a pretty scarce villain until the late 80s.

We’re amazed at the rapid attraction of the show and are grateful for the support received from the Spider-Man Crawlspace, which has a great resource of Spidey news and fan items and their own podcast that is more than worth checking out.  We hope we can continue to live up to your hopes and dreams.  If we do, we wanna know!  And if we don’t, you better tell us how we failed!  Comment below, or email us!