#osbon

[renee0vo]

[measuringbliss]

Spider-Man Read-Through 008: Medusa and Mysterio

MASTERPOST

ASM 62-67

This entry's very compelling, but what a mess.

In this first issue, Peter says that he has ~never fought a female before~.

*snickers* Oooh this is going to be a good one.

This Medusa attacks with her hair and is apparently part of the Inhumans.

...THOSE Inhumans?

Oh Lord.

So she's there to test the Average Joe or something, which Peter definitely isn't.

More importantly, someone has my name! Love his suit, less fond of his face. He's giving Magnus McGilded (real name) or whatever name you know him under (Cosney Megundal for me).

See the likeness? To be fair, I dig the suit.

So Medusa's here for peace and giggles, but capitalism immediately rears its head and that blond guy above ask her to participate in a shampoo add. Which causes all sort of questions. How would she get paid? She doesn't have a human bank account (presumably), she doesn't care about human money (for now, presumably) and she sets up even more unrealistic standards for the human race (which. is interesting. there's something there. but anyway). And when McGilded/Bliss (...) offers to make a contract, she doesn't care and he's overjoyed. This story better hope it's a communist manifesto.

Even with these panels, I can say Peter's a handsome guy.

Meanwhile Osborn and Jameson are acting like an old married couple and I never thought I'd say this but it makes sense! Do they have a ship name? Osbon? Jamesorn? I'll listen to your suggestions!

The source of Norman's internal conflict is that he's progressively remembering about the times he dressed in drag and was a queen of BDSM with young jock DILF-seeker Peter Parker as partner. Norman hasn't been slaying for a while, and it's time he dons the cloth once again!

*snickers*

McGilded says he'll pay Medusa in fame, which is absolutely a scam, younglings, don't fall for it. She agrees with me and tells the producer to get rekt.

The producer motivates Peter to go fight Medusa fists first, questions later (which makes complete sense, remember when he fought the Human Torch?) and Peter has this to say:

"That's the trouble with women... they just can't keep their mouths shut!"

That is not very slay of you, Peter. Give back your woke badge, you're making me want to go read The Killing Joke.

By now, Peter begs every being he fights to not use up all his webbing, as it's very expensive. Peter, you sound like a broken record.

Peter also accuses me, a respected member of the Homiesexual community, of being a liar. This is a hate crime.

In the end, Peter gets back at McGilded, but can't get his mind off Gwen. This issue is gold and we, commies of the 21st century, deeply appreciate it.

This is a good thing, since the Vulture (apparently still alive) is going all Shadow the Hedgehog on us.

So here I was, enjoying a dark story about the Vulture avenging his name and Spidey having trouble with the rain when I was assaulted by an advertisement:

This sent me in a deep dive: who was Donald O. Bolander?

"Donald O Bolander is the author of books such as Instant Synonyms and Antonyms."

Fascinating biography. Don is/was like that one author you subscribe to for one article, who spams you every week with incredibly boring newsletters, but you can never seem to get the courage to suppress them from your daily life. Somehow, they've become part of your waking hours.

We got a bit more information here if you're curious. Anyway, he died in 2010, but look at you, Donald. It's 2023 and you're still making an impact on our lives. Godspeed!

Anyway, Peter goes back home and goes to sleep in his drenched Spidey costume, which is probably bad but I can't say I ever had this specific experience so you do you. He can't fall asleep because his brain keeps acting up, and this is once again proof that Peter has ADHD, thanks for coming to my TED talk.

Peter has internalized homophobia and thus can't ask Harry to give in to his urges and massage his back, but one other interesting thing happens: Vietnam.

So War on Vietnam has been mentioned a few times during these comics. It's not condemned, which is interesting because by 1968, there were definitely people speaking out against it. I think the writers might have wanted to speak out too, but weren't necessarily allowed to do so -- at least, not at that moment. I'm curious to see if the characters go against it.

Someone knocks, and it's Norman, who's considerably less nice than before. Repression!

So that issue was a fun one, the final battle (Vulture vs Vulture vs Spider-Man) incorporated well both Peter's Spidey and civillian lives. I don't care for the Vulture, but the soap opera is great!

The Vulture's attack continues and Robbie Robertson gets a chance to appear, to my usual delight (although I haven't mentioned him until now, he's a reasonable figure in Peter's life and these are usually rare in these comics. In fact, he directly notices that Spidey mentions him by name and figures it's someone he knows. Good going!

Meanwhile MJ gets a dated haircut, Anna and May are still in love with each other, and Anna really thinks her niece's hair are too masculine. Aaah, the Sixties. Gwen still has her long hair and shows off her legs, so she's a much better candidate for a Parker romance, obviously. Gwen's father suddenly recovered from his memory loss - as is known to happen, see the previous arc - so everything's fine again between Peter and Gwen.

Peter uses his smarts and beats the Vulture, but falls unconscious in the street... Will he get unmasked?

I mean, I could absolutely see it, SM2-way.

It so happens that Papa Stacey is here and will *not* let anybody unmask his favorite hero in his presence. He says he wouldn't do it without a legal expert. I wonder what he means by that.

One character mentions it's election year, and I wonder if it's going to be a prominent storyline. Is Osborn mayor already? Is he going to become mayor? Hm.

At this point, both Peter and Norman have been absent for a while and I have to wonder if people thought they had eloped or something. A politician, having a secret relationship with a younger male? Never seen that before!

Meanwhile MJ cameos to scare all of us. Is she in her Cats costume?

So Peter's in prison, he fakes helping prisoner so that he and Captain Stacey get out safely, but Spidey reaffirms his distrust in the legal system by saying that nope, he's not gonna wait for Stacey to testify to his innocence to leave prison. No way.

What a chad.

In the next issue (66), Mysterio's back! Which is nice.

I'm side-eyeing everyone who says TASM2 had too much going on.

Afterwards, the Marvel editors try to figure out how to give fanservice while not summoning their cis male reader base's homophobia. So far, the results have been middling. Either stick to what you were doing before, or show us more skin!!!

He loves dramatic entrances, and I'm here for them!

However, Peter once again questions his character development. Uncle Ben's principles are nice and all, but Peter's starving and needs money.

At least, Peter and Gwen are finally together! That's nice to see, at last. They didn't kiss yet (due to the CCA? nah). At the coffee shop where they go, Robbie and Captain Stacey talk together and reassure themselves that their interest in Spider-Man is strictly professional (in bold in text, twice!!). These men are not doing anything to beat the allegations.

Meanwhile... the Goblin is back! Norman talks to himself and says that his son is "lily-livered" and I'm sure he'd use a gay slur if he was allowed to (he'd be right, but that's not the subject).

Afterwards, Peter finds back his aunt who's absolutely terrified by the telly, which is a Thing that May Does. She's ridiculously fragile, but she's also gay so I can't help but love her.

Here's a small tangeant: we've been seeing the No More outfit (yellow vest, blue pants) for a while now. It's nice to see continuity like that!

So Peter's dead.

I mean. Not really. He's just miniaturized and placed in an amusement park. It's just like in Silent Hill 3! He has now a six inches............... size. Of course.

The visuals are very entertaining - Romita is creative.

Meanwhile, Aunt May is with her ~dear friend Anna~, who takes care of her. Yeah, I'm sure.

Randy, Robbie's son is introduced! Didn't expect that, but I'm happy that Robbie gets some development. The regular (soap side) cast keeps getting bigger...

Overall, it was a quite entertaining series of issues.

After a very entertaining fight, this issue - and post - ends on this. I had a vague feeling of déjà vu when I saw that, so I checked the cover and first page of the next issue and yeah - we're about to enter year 1969 and its Tablet storyline! I've read this one (as told in the masterpost) but I'll be curious to revisit it, especially as I don't recall the Goblin having any involvement.

But before we get there, we have three issues to read in the next post: Spectacular Spider-Man 1 & 2 + Annual 5.

Next time: Black-and-white pages?! :(

[rantechradio]

http://youtu.be/TSdW--lh7E8 A stupid distraction as I work on the Dark Souls Ragequit.  Shut up...

[danosbon]

Too pretty to eat! (Nakamura sweets)

I return again from yet another travel to talk about  sweets!

I stopped by a little confectioner at the Taipei Main station and discovered some rather beautiful little treats... scope it!

I'm not exactly familiar with metallic chocolates, but I simply had to have some! Each one of these has their own unique filing of an exotic nature. The silver hearts are still a mystery to me. I am told it is some sort of flower by the locals. The gold bells are pistachio cream The red hearts are a rose ganache So I decided to get one of each and try my palette on them!

Look at this cute little box they put them in for me! A girlfriend would love this! Now if only I had one here to give it to! haha. So they wrapped it all up with a nifty bag like this... and I took it home.

I noticed it was COLD for some reason and decided to investigate.. turns out they added a little ice gelpack to keep the candy from having a meltdown in Taiwan's absurd warmth. How awesome of them! I then got home, and pulled out the candy box which was wrapped nicely with a cute red ribbon in a box that matched the bags theme.  

And here is the ribbon untied

Here is the box decorations

And here is the pretty display your girlfriend would see if it was presented to her.

Here is the rose ganache chocolate with its lovely ravishing red color

here is the pistachio cream chocolate with its glorious golden color

And here is the mystery flavor chocolate in a stunning silver

I attempted to do this neatly, but the warmth and humidy of Taiwan is unforgiving on sweets, so they were very fragile. Here is a display of the creamy exotic centers of each one of them. Each one of them had a very distinct and unique flavor of its own that was well worth savoring. The rose ganache was surprisingly....rosey but sweet and pleasant! 

All in all, pretty damn good sweets that I would happily get for some sweetheart girl. If you run into one of these Nakamura confectioners, check them out.. the array of stuff is stunning! I think that's all I got to say about that for now!

[danosbon]

Don't F**k with the mini bar!

HEYO~ Dan here! On my travels through Taiwan I occasionally get stuck with  my elder business partner who makes me scratch my head as he chooses some of the most absurdly expensive places to be at times! Today, we poke briefly at the Sheraton in Taipei. Cost?  About $200 a night!! USD that is! It's pretty lavish, having one of those fancy Japanese toilets that wash and dry your posterior or womanly parts while sporting a heated seat and such. A whirlpool bath tub with a snake shower head, marble out the wazoo and all that. The room features two japanese cabinets which hold clothing, an iron, ironing board, a safe, etc. They light up when you pull the door open. The rest of the room is the standard big hotel design with the desk, tv, 2 beds, internet cord, blah blah blah. The same stuff you get in any $58 hotel in the USA these days on priceline. But then there is the mini bar!

All located right in between the closets all homely like.

Seems pretty nice and shiney right? Everything seems like it comes with the room and you're all ready to get stinkfaced and juiced....

DON'T TOUCH IT!!

Under the seemingly welcoming array of refreshments and goodies.. there lurks a sinister evil!

Yes, placed inconspicuously on the middle of the mini bars shelving, there is a black book with no distinct markings visible... The devil is in the details! 100NT = $3.39 USD  You do the math... That's over 3 dollars for a Snickers!! And 12.99 if you want a tiny bottle of whiskey! Bewarrrreeee!  Ahh, the only thing you will find free in your room is the TV and a few bottled waters!  

Behold little man with the big wallet! Here is your free! (Their was a tiny fruit plate too somewhere in there)

So this is Dan, saying "watch what you touch when you are at a classy hotel, for it may cost you dearly!"

[rantechradio]

Nintendo: Grasping at straws.

http://www.ign.com/videos/2013/05/17/game-scoop-lets-not-play-nintendo-games So I see stuff like this and I think to myself "What is the difference between a Let's Play and having friends over to watch you play the game?" Because it is online? Because it is...recorded? Because it is more publically available? What about games being played at major public events? That is shared with many people to watch if they choose. It is recorded in our minds and we have seen the content.  Since when has gaming become something that the content should be secret? Games are about fun! I could watch games all day and never have as much fun as playing them and experiencing the variables for myself. I think this is using IP for irresponsible cash grabs.  Defending your IP from competitors? Well, I ask "What is to stop competitors from buying a copy of your media for themselves like a regular customer?"  Nothing!  This is using legal work for cash grabs.. just another attempt at monetization. The problem is with said monetization is it will upset the customer base and cause people to boycott companies that choose to be overly stern about their policies. Even though by legal terms of service with many games we technically never OWN a game we purchase, many customers like to feel as if they do since the prices are usually pretty high to them. Paying $39-60 to  "Rent the privilege of playing the game" always feels absurd to the typical customer. They paid for it and they feel they should be allowed to share their enjoyment of the product with others.  Also onto the idea of media and games. Demo's are always fairly biased sections of a game, commercials rely far too much on the cutscenes and most intense moments of a game, and  professional game reviewers are often either biased, bribed, or far too lenient on games to be an accurate representation for the masses.  I myself admit to buying over a few hundred games thanks to watching a few lets-play type games. I also like to record media of my friends and I screwing around in games and having fun!  If Let's Play videos are a target, what is to stop Machinima from being next? I find this all pretty shameless and pointless. Any company who has this mentality, I am happy to boycott until they wise up that when it comes to entertainment media, you have to have a good relationship with your customers! I want to hear your thoughts on this. What do you think?

[rantechradio]

Every holiday is just a damn holiday and holds little to no weight with me unless the presents are awesome and the family time is fun.However, my birthday, July the 21st... is the most sacred day of the year.. on that day, there is no set tradition, there is no ritual, there is no scheduled work day, there is no labor or work to be done... it is just me, taking a day away from all the bullshit to enjoy being me and possibly have somebody with me that enjoys me being me... or a few drinks if that falls short! July 21st... I move for no man on the day of my righteous creation!

Cyrus - Dan Osbon