Ann Nocenti

The Man Without Fear’s reputation is put to the test like never before in Ann Nocenti’s psychologically driven take that stands as one of the all-time-great eras in DD’s storied history — not least when artist John Romita Jr. comes aboard to help put Matt Murdock through fresh hell! Together, they unleash the burning touch of Typhoid Mary! She’s a lethally seductive assassin loosed by the Kingpin in his latest campaign to break his enemy — and destined to become one of show more Daredevil’s classic foes! While Mary has demons of her own, Daredevil faces literal ones when Inferno rages in Hell’s Kitchen! But that’s nothing compared to locking horns with the devil himself, Mephisto! This iconic era for Daredevil also features clashes with the Punisher, Wolverine and Sabretooth!
COLLECTING: Daredevil (1964) 234-266, Punisher (1987) 10 show less

This was a nostalgia-fueled ride for me. I remember reading most of these comics in the early 90. as a kid. I've read The Amazing Spider-Man #300 (issued in Poland as 4/91) several times a day for weeks and some panels are imprinted in my brain probably for the rest of my life. However, flipping these pages as an adult... that's a completely different experience.

First of all, #300 is actually the only issue featuring Venom as the main villain in this collection (so the title is at least show more misleading). It's arguably the only memorable confrontation in this book and, I'm surely biased, but it's also the one with the best art. Other stories are OKish, but there is nothing special about them - they are rather simple, the writing is sometimes really awkward or cringeworthy, and there is no real impact that they make on the character or the world they live in. Revisiting those stories after 30 years breaks their charm a bit and reveals that they didn't stand the test of time.

Todd MacFarlane's art is something that saves this collection IMHO. This is his beginning with Spidey, so it's still very "safe", far from Torment-level stylization or the incredible details of McFarlane's Spider-Man series. This was the style that I grew up with and started to love comics, so I might be adding a star for nostalgia's sake ;) I wish there was better material to illustrate here, tough.

Overall, it's a fine collection to revisit childhood memories but these stories don't make such an impact anymore. My kids were not impressed reading them and I guess new readers won't be satisfied either. show less

I picked up the High Times Reader thinking it would be interesting to read about a freer more adventurous time. This is a collection of mostly interviews and essays from the 60s and 70s. The understanding of addiction just wasn’t there. The total hedonism of experimentation and staying as high as you can all the time regardless of consequences is hard to grasp now and seems naive. The legal and cultural issues that occupied everyone then just seem tiresome and sad in the age of corona.

So, the writing might be a little dated and choppy, and the art might be a little rough around the edges in some places, but Ann Nocenti and Art Adams' Longshot may still be one of my favorite stories from the 80s. We are introduced to Longshot, Spiral, Mojo, Arize and the rest of the Mojoverse characters, setting the groundwork for some of the quirkier and more fun X-Men adventures down the road. As far as I know, this was the first series for both Nocenti as writer and Adams as artist, and show more you can clearly see them both flexing their respective creative muscles and can clearly see the beginnings of Art Adams' signature style coming through his work already.

This story picks up with Longshot arriving in our world from a mysterious alternate dimension, with no clear memory of who or what he is. This is Longshot long before him joining the X-Men, when he is still desperately trying to piece together the puzzle of his past. During these early adventures, Longshot runs into Spider-Man, She-Hulk and Dr. Strange, learning what it means to be a hero in this world.

This book probably wouldn't be for everyone, even some X-Men fans, but for a glimpse into the early development of a character, it's a fun book. show less