Comic Book Resources

You know why this weekend’s festivities were so awesome? Because there was no karaoking involved.

comic cover homage:

Ultimate Spider-man #100 (that was too easy!!!)

Homage: Marvel Zombies #1, second printing.

Sorry I couldn’t come to the get-togethers…I ended up getting home around 11. Maybe next year, I can clear out of the Javits Center, party with you guys, then go back to the Javits Center around 5 a.m. so I wouldn’t have to wait on line for over an hour.

Team: Probably Cap.
By himself.
It’d work, you know.

Who is it?

My Guess: Andromeda on hint 3

Ooh, I’ll finally get one!

Spider-Man #13.

Homage: Spider-Man #13. Black costume. Really pissed off Mary Jane as I seem to recall.
I think this was shortly before I took a “hiatus” from comics as the early 90s were about getting you to buy more comics through ridiculous crossovers. I learned about the Clone Saga about the time Ben Reilly died.
Anyway it’s sitting in my parents’ house waiting for my mom to throw it away. Then it’ll be worth thousands.

Homage: Ant #5. And god help me, I just dug through Image’s solicitation archives, staring at Ant covers to find that.

Okay. Unless I’m wrong, Spider-man (written and drawn by
Todd McFarlane) # 1 debuted in 1990. Therefore preceding
Ultimate Spider-man # 100 or Ant # 5. by at least 15-16 years.

If Mr. Cronin posted either USM # 100 or Ant # 5 and asked what cover is this a homage to which would be Spider-man # 1 (1990).

So, it would have to be earlier than 1990.

No way am I ever touching this one.

Spawn #8 and Gen 13 #1 (of the first ongoing) variant E both homaged that Spider-Man cover as well.

It’s hard to remember who has powers and who doesn’t these days.

Bullseye and Hawkeye because they never miss.
Elektra and Shang Chi because they can do a 720 degree jam from mid-court.
Kingpin in the paint

I have no clue on the covers. That Tomb of Dracula introduces Hannibal King, right? That was a great comic that kind of lost its mind towrds the end. I love how Gene Colen drew Dracula as this head and hands coming out of a voluminous, billowing mass of coat and cape.

Homages: In addition to those that have already been identified, there’s also Spawn #8 by McFarlane (homaging himself)http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=52561&zoom=4
G.I. Joe Special #1 (1995) (Sorry, don’t know who drew it) http://www.yojoe.com/comics/joe/joesp1.shtml
and my favorite, Mighty Mouse #6, by Milton Knight http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=49373&zoom=4

I assume that the covers all have to do with revenge…

For the basketball team I’d have to pick:
Point guard: Captain America
Shooting Guard: Bullseye (or Hawkeye)
Small Forward: Black Panther
Power Forward: Shang-Chi
Centre: Titanium Man (it’s noted in OHTMU that he’s like 6′8 and 270 or something like that)
Sixth-Man: The Punisher…. sometimes you need an enforcer on your team.

And the mystery woman is Valkyrie, isn’t it?

I dunno about a best basketball team, but the worst would probably be Hornet, Annex, Wildstreak, Silhouette, and Hitmaker.

Okay. Unless I’m wrong, Spider-man (written and drawn by
Todd McFarlane) # 1 debuted in 1990. Therefore preceding
Ultimate Spider-man # 100 or Ant # 5. by at least 15-16 years.

You’re right but Brian asked for comics which pay homage to Spider-Man #1, not the other way round. He started doing these backwards (and more fun for me with my limited knowledge of older Marvel comics) challenges a few weeks ago

Just checking, but is “(one cool point per commenter, so one single commenter can’t just blow it all in one fell swoop)” too vague?

Should I be clearer that I do not want folks to give more than one cover choice?

Oops, my mistake, didn’t mean to blow it for anybody else (though there are still a few homages to this cover out there). I took the “because if you can think of more than three cover homages to this cover, then your cover homage mojo is strong” bit as a challenge.

I didn’t spot that bit so I’d probably have waded in if I’d known more than one (or indeed any) - especially with the prospect of douuble points!

Sorry, but I’ll plead the same excuse as JR. But do I get any forgiveness for providing links to the homage covers?

It’s a damn shame we can’t pick Stilt Man in his Costume.

And the winner of the Slam Dunk Contest: Batroc ze Leaper!

You know, it’s a bit odd that the only Marvel character I can remember actually playing basketball in the comics is…

…Professor X.

(But I’d want Flash Thompson on my team, please!)

Marvel Comics star Godzilla took on Charles Barkley.

The Mutt said…
“Marvel Comics star Godzilla took on Charles Barkley.”

By that time, The Big G. had been traded for cash and DH’s second-round draft pick that year, as Marvel clearly felt G’s best days were behind him.

Cover homage: The Amazing Spider-Man Super Special #1 (which was sort of an annual for 1995, I think) had a flip cover featuring the Scarlet Spider in that pose.

Here’s a link to that cover; I get a cool point!

You’ll probably get one, if the link works…
Naah, have one: .

I think the three covers are alike in that they all attempt to break the ‘fourth wall’. In each one, something is coming out at the viewer - morbius’ claw, thor’s hammer (or whole body), and daredevil falling. It’s a perspective thing, and I’m sure there’s a fancier term for it that I don’t know.

My starting five….

Point Guard: Hawkeye. Dead eye shooter, but unselfish and probably could distribute the ball well.
Shooting Guard: Bullseye. Again, as said before, he doesn’t miss. But has a “me-first” attitude that wouldn’t be good at the point.
Small Forward: Black Panther. The quickness to play the 3.
Power Forward: Captain America. Rebounds. And if you think about it, throwing that shield around and knowing the angle it’s going to bounce back at? Very Rodman like.
Center: Tombstone. He looks like a white Yao-Ming to me.

Coach: Tony Stark. I mean, the guy just puts together great game plans. He’s a futurist you know.
Ball Boy: Rick Jones

Cover theme game:

former allies are fighting each other (if only temporarily) in the books.

“former allies are fighting each other (if only temporarily) in the books. ”

That’s every Marvel book, so if that’s the answer, you’ll win nearly every time.

““former allies are fighting each other (if only temporarily) in the books. ”

That’s every Marvel book, so if that’s the answer, you’ll win nearly every time.”

Ha! Yeah, that’s very true.

Team: Probably Cap.
By himself.
It’d work, you know.

No, it wouldn’t.

He’d get fouled, cry, and quit.

Brian - do you ever post the answers to these cover challenges anywhere? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one.

Nah, I leave them until someone comes up with an answer.

I do repost them after a couple of weeks on the Comics Should Be Good forums, so people can continue to attempt to solve them.

In fact, I never really tell folks they’re right, as usually, the correct answer, once guessed, is so clearly the correct answer that I do not really have to SAY it, ya know? Like this one - once someone figures it out and guesses it, it’ll be clear that s/he is correct, even though no one might ever figure it out.

If it counts for anything it’s never been clear to me that someone’s had the correct guess. I’ve always assumed they’re wrong since you hadn’t said they’re correct.

What copy of USM100 are you looking at, garbanzo? Neither of the covers is that pose.

So can we still get cool points by naming all the extras that the reading comprehension crew named (what with them only getting credit for the first one)?

Oh, and my guess for the Who Is It: Valkyrie on #3…

Cover contest:

Well, each one seems to be breaking the 4th wall…Morbius’ claws, Thor is walking out of the title, and Daredevil is falling thru it.

All covers show the lead characters being defeated? (At least, I *think* that’s the issue where Bete-Ray Bill kicks Thor’s hiney.)

If it helps anyone, the Hannibal King cover is Cronin’s second choice, apparently–early on, he had a cover from another issue with Hannibal King.

Thor, Daredevil, and Hannibal King have all appeared in movies which were not about their characters (probably the only Marvel characters to do this, if you don’t count individual characters in the X-Men movies).

Thor and Daredevil were both in ‘Hulk’ movies (Daredevil was supposed to be in Elektra as well), and Hannibal was in ‘Blade 3′.

I was thinking that Matt Murdock walks with a cane, and Don Blake walks with a cane, and I feel as if Michael Morbius walks with a cane as well, but I can’t find anything to confirm that.

Also, Thor, Hannibal King, and Black Widow all premiered and went on to star in comics which weren’t self-titled. Thor had “Journey Into Mystery”, Hannibal had “Tomb of Dracula”, and Black Widow started in “Tales of Suspense”, had a run on “Daredevil”, and then got a book called “Amazing Adventures”.

If it helps anyone, the Hannibal King cover is Cronin’s second choice, apparently–early on, he had a cover from another issue with Hannibal King.

Yeah, someone said it wasn’t Hannibal on the cover, so I wanted to make sure (even though I was pretty sure that was Hannibal), so I picked a different cover, but I needed one without Blade on it.

All three of them have had arcs in “Journey Into Mystery”.

I confess, I had to look up the Black Widow to confirm that, but Thor premiered there and later took over the book, and when Thor died, they kept the number going and changed the title back to “Journey Into Mystery”. I don’t know how long Hannibal’s tenure on the title was, but I had a habit in the late ’90’s of collecting final issues, and he’s definitely the star of the final two-part arc. And Black Widow apparently had an arc in there, if not in an earlier incarnation as well.

This is a lot of fun, because I’m sitting at work with only a computer to entertain me, and no work to actually do.

But, man, I’m really curious what the answer to that impossible Archie one is.

You got it, Sean!

And the Archie one IS a toughie.

The covers feature Hannibal (King), (Matt)Murdock, and Mr. T(hor).