Amazing Spider-Man Collection - Annual #6 1969

So, I just recently visited a comic convention here in my home town and while it's usually nothing too special I was able to snag some deals, including my new copy of Amazing Spider-Man Annual #6 circa 1969:

I just finished reading it and it's of course one of many classic Stan Lee, Steve Ditko team ups; also featuring the first appearance of the Sinister Six!  I love reading old Spidey comics and I can't help but hear Stan Lee's voice when I'm reading some of Spider-Man's more outlandish thoughts like, "The aura of villainy which he exudes is almost too strong to bear!  Whoever he is, he represents a grave danger!  I'd better tackle him NOW!"  Right?  Don't you hear Stan's voice?

Anyways, this is a great read and contains some amazing Steve Ditko full page portraits of Spidey battling each member of the Sinister Six!

The classics just never go bad.

Until next time,

~Steve

Green Lantern & Green Lantern Corps New 52

So, I am WAY behind in my reading.  You don't even want to know how many brand new comics are just sitting boxed and unread BUT I've finally gotten to my Green Lantern books and I have not been disappointed!  In the Green Lantern series Hal Jordan is basically at the mercy of his hated arch rival, Sinestro.  The blue and bald Guardians have kicked Hal out of the Corps for being "too emotional" and now he only ring slings at the whim of Sinestro who has created a ring for Hal which only works when Sinestro wants it to.

The story goes on from there and so far it's pretty cool.  I think Geoff Johns will be taking us deep into the mind of Sinestro as the story continues.  I've come to expect a lot from Johns so I'm hoping he takes this story into more character depth and doesn't give us yet another tale of two enemies who are "basically the same" except one wears crazy pants.

 Now on to my favorite of the two so far, Green Lantern Corps.  I love the Corps and not because of the other three human lanterns typically featured in this book but because of the multiple races and species of sentient beings that make up the Corps.  It's always so exciting to see what new Lanterns are in the Corps and each of the unique abilities and characteristics they bring to the story.

This first arch starts with John Stewart and Guy Gardner making an attempt to fit in to Earths society even though their identities are publicly known.  It doesn't go very well.  Dissatisfied, they head to OA looking for some action and immediately turn their attention to a sector where Lanterns have turned up dead or missing.  Now, I'm not typically a fan of the villain that stays in the shadows but Peter Tomasi has done a great job pacing this story and it's been a great mix of action and intrigue.  Everything comes to a head in issue 3 when our team of Lanterns finally goes head to head with this hoard of crazy willpower sword wielding ninja bad asses and the action ensues!

 Which in turn produces some pretty awesome splash pages:

That last one is currently my desktop background in which you'll find one of those unique Corpsmen I was talking about earlier.  His name is Porter and while things are looking grim for him at the end of the issue I really hope we see more of him in the future.  Anyways it you're a fan of Green Lantern you really can't go wrong with either of these titles.

Already digging into another issue,
~Steve