So, here’s a blogicle several weeks in the making.  Actually, since it’s about every issue of The Amazing Spider-Man I ever read, let’s say it’s a lifetime in the making.  If I had to list the comic books that have had the most lasting impacts on my throughout my life, they’d have to include, in some sort of order, The New Teen Titans, Punisher Max, Cerebus the Aardvark, Twisted Tales (a very short run), The Avengers, Daredevil, The Dark Knight, and maybe (maybe) Moon Knight . . . But The Amazing Spider-Man would have to be #1.  Issue in and issue out, it drew me in and brought me back, even when it went through low periods.

Sure, the first comic book I ever read in my entire life was Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man #1, and PPTSS wasn’t a bad book.  But it was the sideshow for the main event.  Always was.  And it’s been cancelled.  Along with dozens of other Spidey books.  But Amazing has stuck around.  It’s the flagship book for the most interesting character ever to wear tights.  I got to thinking one day whether I’ve read every single issue of Amazing.  I bet I have, just about.  I don’t own them all—sadly, many are available only as black and white reprints rather than in handsome, glossy color volume—but I’ve read them.  So why let this expertise go to waste?  It is in that spirit that I offer a week’s worth of posts on my favorite title.

So, here’s the first of five posts reviewing every major run on Amazing Spider-Man.  Hit the break for the early years.

Read more…

Wait! Don’t go!  I know the name of Stereoflower’s 2010 indie-psychedelia release makes it sound like an obnoxious mouthful, but don’t go!  It’s actually really good Stone Roses-ish indie psych-rock from Australia.  It feels a little like jam rock but without the extended jams, and with better hooks.  Plus, it’s got that wicked cool album cover.  Not many bands put effort into record covers anymore, and the fact that Stereoflower does is telling: They’re old school, making a record not a collection of singles and filler.

This is their debut and personally, I can’t wait for the next one.

Cocaine Bebop