Wallpaper Of The Week: A "Shockingly Destructive" Combo

The Amazing Spider-man sequel is well underway, with production recently starting. News has revealed we will see familiar faces along with new additions like Mary Jane Watson and Harry Osborn, along with two, pretty major ones. Check'em out, and enjoy!

The "Shockingly"

The "Destructive"

Review: Amazing Spider-Man #699

Full spoilers of issue follow…

Not great. Not bad. Just average, but necessary nonetheless. #698 left us with one of the greatest cliffhangers in recent Spidey memory: Spiderman reveals himself as Dr. Octopus, controller of Peter Parker’s body, while the real mind of Peter lies in the dying body of Doc Ock. I had big expectations for this issue, but maybe I expected too much. I imagined them going farther with the story then they did, so they must be saving all the good stuff for #700. As usual, Humberto Ramos provided excellent, animated artwork, especially the close-up shots of Dr. Octopus, which were very detailed. Writer Dan Slott did good too, but not quite “amazing”.

I don’t blame Slott himself, in fact, the story that he has created and the finale he is leading up to has been, and is sure to be, nothing short of spectacular. My biggest concern with this issue is that it was basically an “in-between” issue; a filler story that briefly gave us some insight on the secret of how Dr. Octopus switched their minds, as well as how Peter planned his escape with the help of some of his old foes. As I said, Slott didn’t do anything poorly, his only crime was holding off on the most important aspects of the story arc until the climax next issue.

There wasn’t much Slott could do dramatically with his title character lying motionless in a life support machine, barely able to speak, but he was able to come through some pretty decent content. As we all know, Spiderman is famous for having great thought-bubbles and narration, which was proven here. Peter imagining all the horrible things Doc Ock is doing in his body, as Spiderman and as Peter Parker, combined with Peter’s new ability to tap into Ock’s hidden memories added some good panels, giving Ramos opportunities to draw character sand situations other then a dying Ock.

Overall, this story was a great filler issue that took us another step closer to the big #700, which, as I stated earlier, should contain all the great action, storytelling and artwork that we’ve been waiting 699 issues to see. I give this issue:

7.5 / 10

The Amazing Spiderman #700 hits the stands December 26th.

See you then, true believers!

WOW: Spiderman #700, coming soon!

      What are the odds? Spider-man #700 being released at the very end of 2012, which also marks the 50th birthday for old Spidey. It truly is a story book ending, and a hell of an ending it will be. If you have been fortunate enough to be following the recent stories leading up to the big 700, you'd know that things aren't looking to bright for Peter Parker (as if they ever do). The advertisements suggest this is the "end" of Spider-man and judging how the stories are currently trending, the "end" is certainly near. But for confirmed answers you'll just have to purchase the comic on December 26th, as well as #699 on December 5th, or mooch of your friend. As for now, here is the confirmed cover of #700, enjoy.

The Future of Superhero Gaming

       From the Spiderman Atari 2600 videogame released in 1982 all the way to Batman: Arkham City and beyond. Superhero games have been around almost as long as Pong itself, evolving into what is an entertainment phenomenon today. Hundreds of millions of people, of all ages, play superhero videogames everyday and the total number will only increase as these games become more dominant and engaging and more reflective of their comic book counterparts. There have been a few misfires in recent years including: Green Lantern Rise of the Manhunters, Captain America, and Thor God of Thunder. Fortunately for hardcore fans, there have been even more games that have truly captured the essence of the characters its representing, making us forget all about those bad ones.

Within the last year we’ve seen the release of Lego Batman 2, a fun, comedic take on classic heroes and villains playable and enjoyable for children and adults. The Amazing Spiderman, a nicely developed “sequel” to the film truly capturing what it means to “do whatever a spider can.” And of course, Batman Arkham City, my personal favorite and the most realistic representation of the caped crusader ever. Never before have you been able to feel this much like the real vigilante. The key to a good superhero game involves staying true to the characters and doing what works. As the old saying goes, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” When the design and gameplay of a game works and sells, don’t alter it for the sake of altering it. We enjoyed it before and we’ll enjoy it again. Having said that, the right change in this business comes around quite rarely. The near future of superhero videogames depends on:

The Avengers: Battle For Earth (October 30th, 2012)

       Being released for the Wii and Xbox 360, Battle For Earth will mark the first anticipated superhero game for the Kinect. I’m not too sure how this game will do in the reviews or whether it will be fun, but I do know that even acting out the powers of superheroes and having them appear on the screen in front of you could be kind of cool. The game does allow you to play as heroes and villains, not just from the Avengers’ universe, but also from the entire Marvel universe.

What to do: If you liked the Avengers and are a fan of fighting games and are interested in how they will apply the powers of the characters, then you should get this game.

WOW: DC's Crisis

       Some of the most critically acclaimed DC Comics stories involve the word "crisis" in the title. Crisis On Infinite Earth's, Infinite Crisis, Identity Crisis, Final Crisis and so much more. All completed with the highest level of professionalism and standards. Stories, whose art and story have become so much larger and more renown then even their creator's could have foreseen. This is DC Crisis and these are the some of the best Crisis wallpapers released so far. Enjoy!

DC's "Final Crisis" written by Grant Morrison.

DC's "Infinite Crisis" written by Geoff Johns.

DC's "Crisis On Infinite Earths" written by Marv Wolfman.

Spider-Man's 50th: Thanks To Stan Lee

        Stan Lee- arguably the most recognizable person in all of comics, for without him we wouldn’t have many classic creations such as the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Hulk, Daredevil, Silver Surfer, Spiderman and literally hundreds and hundreds more. Stan Lee (along with the creative team of artists working with him over the years) has created an entire universe of heroes and villains, powers and events and storylines from scratch. Out of all of his many creations, many would consider Spiderman to be his most famous, most popular, most successful and generally his best.

    Stan Lee has stated that during his creation of Spiderman, many thoughts and variables crossed his mind. In wanting to use a new power, normally not seen in previous characters, he gave this character the ability to stick to walls, like an insect. From then on, such names like “Insect-man”, “Mosquito-man” and “Fly-man” initially entered his mind, until he finally cam across Spiderman; a name that had a scary, but heroic ring to it. Stan stated that he owes a lot of credit to a pulp magazine he read when he was younger titled: The Spider, Master of Men. Stan’s publisher at the time insisted that he change the character’s name, and basically the character himself. His reasons for this were: “people hate spiders. You cant name the lead hero after spiders because it wont sell”, along with “the hero cant be a teenager. Teenagers can only be sidekicks.” Lets just say that Stan and the millions of fans are glad he never listened to his publisher’s harsh criticism.

Happy 50th: Spider-Man's Best Movie

      Comic books and television can only do so much to market a superhero. As we have all learned quite recently that to promote anything effectively, make a big budget movie of it. Despite it’s conclusion, Sam Raimi’s Spiderman trilogy will go down as the second greatest superhero trilogy of all time (next to TDK of course), and with the Amazing Spiderman being almost as satisfying I cant wait to see the rest of the new installments. Keeping with the trend of this month, being Spiderman’s 50th birthday I’ve chosen what I believe to be, based on facts, common knowledge and overall personal opinion, the best Spiderman movie thus far: Spiderman 2.

      While Spidey 2 is my number one pick, we can’t knock how great the other three have been. Spiderman (along with the first X-Men movie) was really the first great superhero movie and without it we may not have all the Marvel movies we have today. Before the first film, fans could only read motionless panels and watch cartoons to see Spidey’s swinging action, but the first film introduced us to something we all dreamed about since August of 1962, Spiderman on the big screen. Along with great special effects (for it’s time) and an effective cast, the movie set box office records and became an instant classic. I’ll jump ahead to Spiderman 3; while it did not contain the gripping, almost flawless story that it’s predecessors had, the third and final installment of the Raimi films shattered the previous films’ records. Making up for a severely flawed story, a lot of redundant scenes and some poor portrayals of characters, the action and effects were nothing short of spectacular. No one can deny that everyone in the theatre received an excessive amount of chills when Peter woke up, upside down, in the black suit. In short, this movie was not a good movie with great scenes, but a mediocre movie with good scenes. About a month before it’s release I questioned whether The Amazing Spiderman was coming out too soon, too soon for a reboot and after viewing it several times my answer is hell no. Amazing had a stellar cast, more interesting then the original, a cool new Spidey in a “different” suit, and a new villain, never before portrayed in previous films. The story was intoxicating and the special effects were just awesome. I would have believed this was the best Spiderman movie yet, until I glanced at my DVD shelf, shattering my previous belief and making me realize I was very, very wrong.

Happy 50th: Spider-Man's Best Artists

      I'd been trying to collect the correct words to describe why each of the greatest Spiderman artists are, well, great, then it hit me. These are artists, some of the best in both Spiderman and Marvel comics' history so i figured i should let their art work do the talking for them. Please enjoy samples of comic art from legends such as John Romita, Steve Ditko and more.

Steve Ditko started us off as the first Spidey artist,
And he set the bar pretty high too.

John Romita was next in line. If Ditko "created" the look of
Spidey's world, then Romita perfected it, creating
designs that are still referenced today.

Happy 50th: Spider-Man's Best Stories

      I don’t think it is humanly possible to have a great superhero with no great stories, and Spiderman proves this. Not only does he have great stories, but he has countless amounts of them even from the very beginning. There are hundreds of legendary Spidey stories but, just as I did in my previous articles, have only chosen a select few; stories that were critically acclaimed at their time and stories that are just particular favorites of mine. So here they are, 5 renowned stories spanning the Webhead’s 50 years of publication.

Spider-Island

      If everyone is a “Spiderman”, then no one is, including the original. The Jackal, catalyst of the unforgettable clone saga arc, returns to cause even more mischief and mayhem for out friendly neighborhood hero. This time around, the Jackal has somehow created thousands of radioactive spiders, very similar to the one that gave Peter his spider-powers some 50 years earlier. The spiders spread across Manhattan like a deadly virus, infecting every civilian in their path turning everyday men and women into spidermen and spiderwomen creating the phrase: “if everyone is a Spiderman, then no one is.” This distinctively unique story spanned across the entire Marvel Universe affecting almost every hero in New York. An idea that everyone had superpowers was something that had rarely been explored in comics and worked particularly well in Spiderman’s world. Spider-Island may be one of the most recent of the story arcs, but for me, it became an instant classic, an arc that, 20 years down the road, I’m going to remember as a truly great Spiderman story.

The Clone Saga Epic/ The Ben Reilly Epic

     What began as “The Original Clone Saga” with the recreations of the late Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker clone turned into arguably the most confusing, controversial Spiderman stories of all time, but it was just so damn cool. What may have been frustrating for others were wonders for me. Was Peter Parker a clone? For the past 5 years, after seeing him drop his purposively dead “clone’s” body into that smoke stack, had we been viewing the life of a mere clone? Marvel really confused Spidey fans for one of the first times in the characters history. People really didn’t know the truth between Ben Reilly and Peter Parker and neither did they and frantically people didn’t think the writers were too sure of it either. This series did include a diverse group of talented writers and artists, introduced us to a now legendary character in the Scarlet Spider and made sure this was a Spiderman story that no one in their right mind would ever forget… And it probably doesn’t help that I seem to bring it up in every other Spiderman article.

Spider-Man: What We Want From "Amazing 2"

      It appears that The Amazing Spiderman didn’t do as well as some of us hoped it would at the box office. Some people may have just assumed it was going to be bad just because it was a reboot, which led to a negative attitude when they saw the film, resulting in a poor review given by that person, etc. I for one thought the film was really well done, and after looking past all the controversy, the doubts, the dislikes, and the haters it really is a good film. Dark and edgy with some light-hearted, funny moments, but I’m more concerned with where this franchise will go. Considering the majority of the public found more bad things with the movie then good, its up to the writers of the sequel to really step it up and prove the public wrong. I will explore some of the key elements of Spiderman’s rich history that should be introduced in the sequel as well as what I would personally like to see: (some minor spoilers follow)

-       Once we found out that Gwen Stacy would be the love interest of the film instead of Mary Jane we all just assumed we would see her meet her demise atop a familiar bridge at the hands of a familiar foe on a flying glider, but once the movie ended we realized we were mistaken, but that doesn’t mean it wont happen eventually. The film has already established that Norman Osborn will potentially play a substantial role either in the second or third film, which is why I believe that introducing Mary Jane in number 2, will pave way for Gwen’s end, either at the end of 2, or some time in 3. As much as we Spidey fans love us some “love triangles”, we do remember that Spiderman 3 didn’t do a great job with it, which is why if one is attempted in this franchise, maybe they take a different approach at it.

 

-       I couldn’t help but notice that there was no mention of the Daily Bugle. Hell, Jolly Jonah Jameson is almost as recognizable a character as Peter himself. I definitely missed seeing his rude comments and hilarious work environment in the original trilogy so I’m hoping they can somehow work the Daily Bugle into the story of the sequel.

-       One thing that did annoy me a bit about the film was the lack of “untold story” I saw, and how much “told story” I did see. They gave us a sneak peek at the life and disappearance of his parents, but I feel that they may no have given us enough. One thing I will say about this topic is that we need to see a heck of a lot more of the mysteries of his parents come May 2014.

-       Fan reactions weren’t too positive when the look of the costume was released. Now I’m very nostalgic and I’m crazy about the original threads, but even I was able to see some attractiveness to the new suit. Perhaps a little too “retro” for most fan’s taste, which is why I’ve come up with a brilliant solution. Come 2014, Peter will have been Spiderman for quite a while, and maybe in that time he has altered his original designs, perfected them (when I say “perfected” I mean that he could adjust it to look more like the original from back in the day… oohhh).

Happy 50th: Spider-Man's Best Characters

     Peter Parker wouldn’t be the same person he is today if it weren’t for his friends and family and the impact they’ve made on his life. Supporting characters are key when it comes to superheroes and Spiderman has one of the best casts of characters.

“Circle Of Friends”

      In the early issues Peter didn’t have what we would consider “friends”, just witty banters between Flash Thompson. Flash was the bully, the arch-nemesis of Peter Parker but ironically Spiderman’s biggest fan. Liz Allen was the coolest girl in school; completely unattainable by nerds like Peter, yet she was the first girl to fall for him, unfortunately at that point Peter only had eyes for Ms. Brant. Harry Osborn was introduced after Peter graduated high school, but quickly became Flash’s friend before Peter’s. Peter and Harry eventually became roommates, for a little while anyway, with all the expenses paid by Norman Osborn. Gwen Stacy was also introduced in his college days and soon had to compete for Peter’s affections with Mary Jane Watson. Peter and Gwen dated for a while, and just when everyone thought she would become the future Mrs. Parker, she was killed. Long after that, MJ became his new girlfriend, becoming the first member of Peter’s “circle of friends” to discover his secret identity. MJ and Harry, and even Flash are still present in the comics today and Peter has a new girl in his life, Carlie, who recently obtained some new spider-powers thanks to the Spider-Island story arc.

Happy 50th: Spider-Man's Best Villains

       The geniuses of the comic book world (writers, artists, producers and more) have stated that there are two heroes who have the largest and greatest rogue’s galleries: Batman and Spiderman. In his 50 years in the superhero biz, Spiderman has come across a large array of strange, creepy, unique and ultimately timeless villains; villains who have become just about as well-known or recognizable as Spiderman himself. I’ve chosen a select number of rogues based on their popularity, individuality, how much I personally like them and how large their impact were on our hero’s life.

Otto Octavious a.k.a Dr. Octopus

      Doc Ock first appeared in issue #3. He quickly became a fan favorite and soon appeared again, becoming the first villain to make a second appearance. His character is one of the more unusual of the rogues. A bright, scientific mind in control of four, unbreakable mechanical arms, capable of matching all of Spiderman’s acrobatic abilities. Counting all these factors and a lot more I didn’t mention, Doc Ock is definitely one of the best villains, not only in Spiderman’s comics, but in all comics.

Eddie Brock & Cletus Cassidy a.k.a Venom & Carnage

      Venom is the black suit bonded to Eddie Brock making him, what the majority of fans call, their favorite villain. Mainly because of his similarities to Spidey (same powers, similar design etc). Venom is one of the deadliest of foes and always seems to make an appearance in important story arcs. The black symbiote eventually had a red and black offspring that bonded to serial killer Cletus Cassidy, creating Carnage. An even more deadly and ruthless opponent then its “father”, it takes the combined force of Spiderman and Venom to defeat him. The Carnage symbiote even appeared in the “Ben Reilly Saga” after bonding with Reilly to create Spider-Carnage. Venom and Carnage certainly are “the world’s favorite symbiotes.”

Happy 50th: Spider-Man's Best Costumes

      The month of August marks the 50th birthday of the Amazing Spiderman, as you know, one of the coolest superheroes ever created. Here at Doomsday & Beyond, I’ve decided to dedicate August to the Webbed Wonder by stylizing a new website header, changing the background, and most importantly, writing articles focusing on Spidey’s best stories, villains and much more over his 50 years of publication. To start this month off I’ve chosen to examine 5 of Spiderman’s coolest costumes (coolest, my personal favorites or costumes that played intrical parts in Peter Parker’s life). Okay, without further adieu, Spiderman’s best costumes…

“The Old Red And Blues” (The Original Suit)

      No one can argue that Peter Parker had a good taste of fashion. When most try to think of his finest costumes, many overlook the very first one. Classic red and blues, and a web pattern making him the best character to draw. This costume has seen minimal changes throughout the years such as webbing under his arms, a slight change to his spider-logo or his eyes being shaped differently. Most of these changes occurred purely because of different artists drawing the character. But just the fact that Spidey’s original costume has more or less stood the test of time is proof of how ‘amazing’ it is, and apparently still is.

“Back In Black” (The Symbiote Suit)

       Its origin has changed over various forms of media, but the suit itself has remained the same. Originally bonding to Spidey on an alien planet during The Secret Wars Spidey brought this suit back home with him. After using the black suit as his primary costume for a very, very long time, he soon discovered it was a symbiote, alive and slowly taking over his mind. With the help of sonic vibrations Spiderman was able to rid himself of the suit. Soon after though, as we all know, Venom was created. Fans who enjoyed the black suit feared they’d never see it again after it bonded to Eddie Brock, but there were two more replicas made of the suit, not symbiotes, but almost identical in design. The first was designed by Black Cat when she and Spidey were working together and the second by Peter Parker in the storyline ‘Back In Black’. It was just such a good costume. Very simple in design, with a large new spider-logo stretched all around his chest and back at the fact it attempted to take over its host’s mind just makes it that much better.

Have You Read: Ultimate Spider-Man

     Back in the year 2000, Spiderman had been a character in comics for almost 40 years and people, including the hero’s writers, began to notice that the character was aging. He was still “the most relatable hero in comics” and yes, the children who read the comics back in the day have grown up with him, but writers wanted to attract the attention of kids and teenagers of today. One way to do this would be to reboot the character. Problem is, 40 years of the character has sparked a lot of fans and to suddenly change that character and revert him back to his teenage years would be almost insulting to the readers. So Marvel found a way to successfully reboot the superhero while still maintaining him at his current age: create a new universe, separate from the main Marvel world, titled the Ultimate Universe, thus creating “Ultimate Spiderman”.

     Ultimate took a fresh, modern take on the classic character, reverting him back to his origins and redefining other key characters such as MJ, Harry Osborn and many others. But while Spiderman remained the same wisecracking, pure-hearted superhero, most of the changes revolve around Spidey’s villains. Electro is now completely made of electricity, Green Goblin is transformed into a hulk/demon-like monster and Venom’s entire origin relates to Peter’s parents and is not from outer space. New villains and new characters allowed for fresh takes on classic storylines from throughout Spiderman’s history including famous story arcs like The Venom Saga, The Sinister Six and even The Clone Saga. This new universe opened many opportunities for artist Mark Bagley and writer Brian Michael Bendis. Ultimate Spiderman lasted 11 years, ending in June of last year and released 160 issues. Overall, if you are a fan of Spidey and haven’t read the Ultimate books, I recommend you start. It gives you a look back at his origins along with many new twists and turns that keep it different from anything we’ve seen from the character before. Check it out, it’s “Ultimate”.

Wallpaper Of The Week: It's Still Amazing!

       Yes, I realize that I've already featured The Amazing Spider-man in one of my previous Wallpapers Of The Week, but after seeing the movie for a second time (yes, a second time. Don't judge me its awesome), I'm so very thankful that the movie was successful, so the very least i can do to thank the movie is to feature it in yet another "WOW". Enjoy!

Inspiration To Heroes: Supporting Cast In Comics

      As we watch or read about our favorite superheroes we tend to overlook key contributions to their character. We tend to ignore the importance of supporting characters. I’m not saying we all do it, but they sometimes don’t get as much credit as they should. It is these characters that can help a hero in a difficult situation, guide them to overcome their greatest challenges or even contribute to the start of their superhero career. They can be the foundation and backbone of a superhero’s entire persona and they should never, ever be taken for granted. To effectively examine contributing casts of characters I have chosen to look at the supporters of arguably the three most recognizable heroes in comics: Superman, Batman and Spiderman.

Superman

        The last son of Krypton and the most powerful being in the DC Universe. Superman is the “All-American”, perfect superhero; he’s friendly to the people, well mannered and does not see failure as an option. Hell, he’s even risked his own life to save villains who wouldn’t have returned the favor, but he wouldn’t be this way if it weren’t for his supporting cast of family and friends. There have been several “What If” stories involving the Man of Steel, mostly revolving around where his spaceship could have landed on the planet. This is a great theory because if you change where he grew up then you change his entire personality, but more importantly, if he didn’t grow up under the loving parenting of Ma and Pa Kent then he wouldn’t be the “perfect” superhero he is today.

Lois Lane, on the other hand, has nothing to do with his evolution into super-heroism, but acts as his inspiration to continue it. It seems that every battle, dangerous risk or world-saving act has always come back to the overall safety of Lois, proving that without her presence in his life, Superman’s constant need to save humanity may not have been as strong.

Batman

         If not for the large supporting cast of the Caped Crusader, Batman would have become a murdering madman, unable to tell the difference between vengeance and justice. Luckily, his fellow crime fighters, assumed father figure and long-time friend have all been able to keep him from crossing the line that “once you cross there’s no going back”. After the death of Bruce’s parents, Alfred was thrust into the role of his father. He gave Bruce the confidence and the positive influence, surrounding that great tragedy, to become a masked hero to fight for justice, not revenge. But Alfred cant always be there for Batman, especially when out on patrol, which is why Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl and even Commissioner Gordon are able to comfort and assist him out on the streets and help take some of the weight of Gotham’s future off his shoulders.

Friends and family can only do so much though, sometimes it is a hero’s greatest enemy that can unknowingly support the hero and help him realize why he puts on a mask every night. The Joker, the greatest villain in the Dark Knight’s roster, has murdered innocent victims time and time again, but has also helped Batman see his parent’s death more clearly, fueling his desire to avenge them and bring murderous villains like the Joker to justice. Thanks Joker…?

Review Of "The Amazing Spider-Man"

      This movie is what you would expect just by hearing the title, amazing! For one thing, all of the actors played their roles incredibly like Rhys Ifans who effectively portrays the determined scientist mentor to Peter, as well as the mad man, bent on “evolving” the human race. Andrew Garfield brings a realistic, modern approach to Peter Parker and was even a humorous Spidey at times. He does a great job of drawing the audience into his characters problems and making us care for him. Emma Stone represents a likable Gwen Stacey and had good scenes interacting with Garfield. She was an intrical part to the story, as well as her father George Stacey, captain of the NYPD and played by Denis Leary, who also brought a bit of humor to his character.

        Spiderman, this time around, appears to be a little less “powerful” then in the Raimi films and a little more grounded, which fit well with the modern representation of the film. He does appear to be very acrobatic making for some cool stunts and exciting fight scenes. The visual effects were amazing and the Lizard looked great. The fights between he and Spiderman were done well visually and the constant motion and involvement of the camera added to the intensity and coolness of the fight. The first-person Spidey scenes were short and fast, but were effective in drawing the audience into the action and giving us quick glimpses of the world through the Webhead’s eyes.

       Some of the slower scenes seemed to have dragged on a little bit, not because they were too long, but because their would be one slow scene after another. Then again, if it were all fast-paced it wouldn’t have been very good at all so I guess it works out. The action scenes made up for those anyway. The origin may have been a little familiar, but some slight changes made it worth seeing again and the mystery of the disappearance of Peter’s parents is examined, but not fully explained (possibly because they are leaving some of the mysteriousness for future sequels).

"Amazing", Revolutionary: The Best Of Spidey's Games

       After playing and completing The Amazing Spiderman game for my Xbox 360 I realized how spectacular and revolutionary this game is and will be for future games, so I took a look at previous Spiderman games that were spectacular and/or revolutionary. They’re also just personal favorites of mine and if you (for some strange reason) haven’t gotten the chance to play any of the Webhead’s games listed below then go out, buy it, play it and enjoy it (but first finish this article).

Spiderman (PS1)

       By today’s standards this game wouldn’t seem so spectacular, but this is the first Spidey game of the “new” consoles and included the use of web-slinging from building to building, chasing a villain across several rooftops, a large number of levels and an even bigger roster of villains such as the Scorpion, Venom, Rhino and the Black Cat, along with two surprise villains at the end (I wont give it away). It has also been said that this game is supposed to take place during the 90’s Spiderman cartoon due to the fact that all of the characters are designed like the show. It was enjoyable because it was unique for its time. Like I said before, it wouldn’t be considered great by today’s expectations but I defy any true Spiderman fan to not have fun while playing this game. Plus, you have like 20 bonus costumes to choose from, it’s a little ridiculous, but awesome. So if you have not played this one, talk to a friend obsessed with superheroes, go through his stash of old videogames he wishes he wanted to play again but doesn’t, and try it out for yourselves.

Favorite Moment: You and the surprise villain must battle it out at the end, resulting in you fleeing for your life. That, and being able to select 20 other costumes including the classic symbiote.

Spiderman 2: The Game (PS2)

      The phrase “does whatever a spider can” never fully applied to the Spiderman videogames… until this one. Finally, you can set foot on the ground, interact with the people and objects on the ground, stop crimes on the ground! Don’t judge me, cause this was a pretty big chapter in the Webhead’s videogame career. You could go anywhere and do anything over the entire city. The graphics and the game play were a huge difference between the first two Spiderman movie games, and the swinging involved in this one set the bar for future Spiderman open-world games. The game is loosely based on the film and features guest appearances from Shocker and Mysterio, and Rhino and Black Cat (again!). The fighting however is really simple, meaning you hitting an enemy as you, and that enemy, progressively float higher and higher into the air until he “dies”, but that’s fine because the main focus is the open-world, go anywhere concept and the swinging.

Favorite Moment: Just like in the movie, the battle with Dr. Octopus on the train is just as entertaining, but for me personally, it’s climbing all the way to the very top of the Empire State Building, diving off and seeing how close I can get to the ground before needing to shoot a web.

Wallpaper Of The Week: 3 "Amazing" Screenshots

      Here are just three of my favorite screenshots from the recently released Amazing Spiderman game. Enjoy!

What If: The Amazing Spider-Man Tackled The Symbiote?

      Spiderman 3 left a bad taste in everyone’s mouths, the action and effects were there but the story was not, so when I ask: what if The Amazing Spiderman movie franchise dives into the symbiote story, it sparks some curiousness.

       Spiderman 2 set everything in place for a great sequel, a sequel that would involve the symbiote. If only they had followed in the footsteps of the great 90’s animated series and told the saga their way. The second film established John Jameson, the astronaut, as a character and gave us a cliffhanger showing that Harry Osborn would become the next Green Goblin. The sequel had so much potential following what is said to be one of the greatest superhero films of all time, which may have been the problem. In several interviews with the producers of Spidey 3, it was stressed that they “didn’t want to do the whole astronaut thing” and that the symbiote should just be a “it came from outer space” thing and that it needed no real explanation… oh okay…wait, WHAT? The pieces were there, use John Jameson, substitute Sandman’s subplot to focus on telling the true origin of the symbiote and you have a successful third Spidey film and we don’t have a reboot five years later.