Kurt Busiek - Blog Posts

Neat.

Starting soon I will begin a new (very off and on) project of checking out the ‘Untold Tales of Spider-Man’ anthology book from 1997 and providing my thoughts on each of the prose stories contained within. The book was inspired by the comic book series of the same name back when it was a hot property and was even edited by its author, Kurt Busiek. In fact a few stories in the book were written by comic book alumni.

The agenda reads:

Untold Tales of Spider-Man 01: Side by Side with the Astonishing Ant-Man – by Will Murray

Untold Tales of Spider-Man 02: After the First Death… – by Tom DeFalco

Untold Tales of Spider-Man 03: Celebrity – by Christopher Golden and Jose R. Nieto

Untold Tales of Spider-Man 04: Better Looting Through Modern Chemistry – by John Garcia and Pierce Askegren

Untold Tales of Spider-Man 05: Identity Crisis – by Michael Jan Friedman

Untold Tales of Spider-Man 06: The Doctor’s Dilemma – by Danny Fingeroth

Untold Tales of Spider-Man 07: Moving Day – by John S. Drew

Untold Tales of Spider-Man 08: The Liar – by Ann Nocenti

Untold Tales of Spider-Man 09: Deadly Force – by Richard Lee Byers

Untold Tales of Spider-Man 10: The Ballad of Fancy Dan – by Ken Grobe and Steven A. Roman

Untold Tales of Spider-Man 11: Poison in the Soul – by Glenn Greenberg

Untold Tales of Spider-Man 12: Livewires – by Steve Lyons

Untold Tales of Spider-Man 13: Arms and the Man – by Keith R.A. DeCandido

Untold Tales of Spider-Man 14: My Enemy, My Savior – by Eric Fein

Untold Tales of Spider-Man 15: The Stalking of John Doe – by Adam-Troy Castro

I will be covering the stories from the audiobook put out by Dreamscape and Audible and copying over the plot synopses from Spiderfan.org to save myself some time.

Hope you enjoy!

Reading Pile Pt. 5

Astro City Volume 09: Through Open Doors One of my favorite series! I've loved it since it began in the '90s. This volume collects the 1st six issues from when the series moved from Image to DC/Vertigo. Contains what is probably my favorite Astro City story ("On The Sidelines"). Highly recommend. DC/Vertigo - Hardcover $24.99, Softcover $16.99

Booster Gold Volume 01: The Big Fall Collects the first 12 issues of the 1980s series. This was one of the first DC books I got into when I started collecting (mainly because it had just started) and I loved it then. Rereading it now... it's not that good. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad. There a lot of great ideas in this series. It was one of the first comics to tackle the "super-hero as superstar" idea (in modern parlance, he'd probably be considered an influencer). But this is clearly a first effort by Dan Jurgans. There are hints of the writer he'll become though. Plus the art is good. DC Comics - Hardcover $39.99 (Out Of Print), Kindle $9.99

Jessica Jones: Pulse, The Complete* Collection When Alias (the comic) came to an end, Brian Bendis pretty much stated that he had told all of the stories he could under the Max label, mainly because there were characters Marvel wouldn't let him use in an "adult" book. The concept is, after having helped him find his adoptive daughter (during the Alias series), J. Jonah Jameson hires Jessica to be a consultant for a weekly supplement on super-heroes (called "The Pulse"). Since she's pregnant and needs the health insurance, she takes the job. * - While called "The Complete Collection", it is actually missing issue #10 which was a House Of M crossover issue and focused on Hawkeye and didn't have Jessica in it at all. It does include New Avengers (2005) Annual #1, the issue where Jessica & Luke get married. Marvel - Softcover $34.99 (Out of print), Kindle $8.99

My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies: A Criminal Novelette I love the Brubaker/Phillips line of books ("Kill Or Be Killed" being my favorite), but this one didn't hit for me. Not bad, it just didn't grab me as their stories usually do. The story takes place in a rehab center. That is until Elle decides she's had enough of the place and convinces Skip to join her in escaping. The story then follows the two teens as they rob stores & fall in love. There is a nice twist ending though. Image - Hardcover $16.99, Softcover $12.99 (both out of print), Kindle $10.99