Spider-Man Pewter Chess Set
August 14, 2006 | 6 Comments
SOTA Toys is releasing a $499 pewter Spider-Man themed chess set this August. I have to admit, the geek in me was intrigued… at first.
I really like the board itself. It’s themed like a rooftop in fairly ornate detail. This includes a non-flat surface creating a much more three dimensional and real experience. I was surprised to have not seen this idea sooner, it’s just brilliant.
The cast for pieces is good, at least on first glance:
Heroes
King: Spider-man (red & blue)
Queen: Symbiote Spider-man (black)
Knight: Punisher
Knight: Moon Knight
Bishop: Daredevil
Bishop: Black Cat
Rook: Cloak & Dagger
Rook: Blade
Pawn: Spider Tracer
Villains
King: Green Goblin
Queen: Doctor Octopus
Knight: Scorpion
Knight: Sandman
Bishop: Electro
Bishop: Lizard
Rook: Venom
Rook: Rhino
Pawn: Spider Slayer
This list is where I became frustrated. To begin with, why have both red & blue suit and black suit Spider-Man? What a terrible cop out. Let’s instead put Black Cat in that spot. Hell, if Spider-Man wasn’t also Peter Parker Black Cat would still be attached to Spidey. Alright, don’t like Black Cat? How about Spider-Girl? Or one of the three Spider-Woman characters? Surely any of these would be better. I’ve got no love for the clone-saga, but frankly I’d take Scarlet Spider over two Spider-Man’s on the chess board…
Next, what’s with Moon Knight?!? I suppose they fought alongside each other occasionally, but I’d much rather see Human Torch, Silver Sable, or even Firestar in this lineup. Cloak and Dagger seemed strange at first, until I realized they first appeared in a Spider-Man comic, leading me to accept them far more readily. The rest of the heroes are good choices.
On to the villains… this is a tough one. Spider-Man has one of the deepest rogue galleries of any super hero I’ve ever encountered. The ones chosen here are a solid list. At first I really wanted a female in the “Queen” slot, but as I poked around in my head, I couldn’t come up with an A-list (or even B-list) female villain for Spidey. Don’t get me wrong though, I’m not free of complaint when it comes to the villain list…
First off, we have Blade on the good side, but no Morbius on the bad? Who did Blade show up to fight? The dude kills vampires exclusively!
This lack of match-up has me concerned for Daredevil, Punisher, Black Cat, Cloak and Dagger, and Moon Knight. These guys all fight organized crime. That’s their shared niche and where Spidey teams up with this crew. Where are the major crime villains? Where’s Kingpin? Tombstone? Hammerhead? The Enforcers?
As I said before, there are a lot of villains, so I can understand them leaving some out. What I don’t get is why, knowing this, they would decide to make all the pawns the same? One or two unique spider-slayers is tolerable, but why not pull some other thugs up as pawns when you got all these other big names to choose from: Beetle, Chameleon, Carnage, Shocker, Hydro Man, Mysterio, Morbius, Man Wolf, Kraven the Hunter, Vulture, or Hobgoblin?
Back on the hero side, I’d love to see them use regular people, friends, and family as pawns instead of the lame spider tracers. For instance, take your pick from these: Mary Jane, J Jonah Jameson, Aunt May, Gwen Stacy, Betty Brant, Flash Thompson, Robbie Robertson, or Harry Osborn. Wouldn’t that be a lot more fun? Imagine having to sacrifice Gwen Stacy to take down the Green Goblin. It just begs to be setup this way!
In conclusion, with the stiff $499 price tag, they could have, should have, gone the extra mile to make this chess set irresistible to all fans. At this price they need to do something, their target market will all have similar complaints to mine… Save your money or buy more comics.
Tags: "black suit", aunt may, Beetle, Betty Brant, black cat, blade, Carnage, Chameleon, chess, cloak, Cloak and Dagger, dagger, daredevil, doc ock, Doctor Octopus, electro, enforcers, firestar, flash thompson, game, goblin, Green Goblin, gwen stacy, hammerhead, harry osborn, hero, heroes, hobgoblin, human torch, Hydro Man, j jonah jameson, kingpin, Kraven the Hunter, lizard, Man Wolf, mary jane, moon knight, Morbius, Mysterio, organized crime, osborn, pewter, prowler, punisher, rhino, Robbie Robertson, Sandman, scarlet spider, Scorpion, Shocker, silver sable, spider slayer, spider tracer, spider-girl, spider-man, spider-woman, spiderman, spidey, the enforcers, tombstone, vampire, vampires, venom, villain, villains, Vulture
Spider-Man: Identity Revealed
June 19, 2006 | 6 Comments
As a side effect of needing to choose a side in Marvel’s Civil War event, Spider-Man has been put in a position where he needs to reveal his identity to side with Iron Man’s pro-registration views, or become a criminal with Captain America and the other super heroes who are anti-registration.
Amazing Spider-Man #532 is the big lead in to his monumental decision. They brilliantly cover the topic from many angles as Peter Parker and family explore the many facets of his character. In the end, Peter has made his decision, he’s going to run. Until Aunt May meets him on the way out the door. To her their is clearly no option about the decision he has made, he will reveal himself, she believes more in his character than he does. This is the last bit of reassurance he needs to make the hard decision. It then cuts to him at the press conference with Tony Stark who has already made clear his identity Iron Man connection. The final frame of this issue was exhilarating. In his classic red and blue costume Spider-Man steps to the podium and says: “Hi, good morning. Thank you for coming. I’m standing here today because… well, because… I have an announcement to make.”
I had to wake my wife up to read that one page panel. This was a crazy conclusion that was clear to be one of the most significant events in the history of Spider-Man. This rivals the death of Gwen Stacy or his marriage to Mary Jane. It obliterates the new costumes and recent power changes. This is an event that cannot be taken back and changes the stories for the entire future of Spider-Man.
As a fan, I feel a little mixed about it. In many ways I hate to see some of the old formula modified. In other ways I’m happy to see them do it in a way that can’t be taken back. I can clearly see how this spins all new fresh stories and excitement for Spider-Man.
Civil War #2 hits shelves this week and is being clearly promoted by Marvel as the issue where Peter reveals himself as Spider-Man. Following issues are being unified under the Spider-Man Unmasked event title. The major media has latched onto this story and its actually gotten coverage on CNN, MTV, NY Times, USA Today and more. It’s fun to see printed comics find their way into main stream media occasionally. Usually that honor is reserved for comic based movies…
Immediate repercussions I expect to see will hopefully answer some age old questions. What will J. Jonah Jameson’s reaction be? How Peter’s school sees him when he returns as their teacher. How will newly hired gym teacher and former bully/biggest Spider-Man fan Flash Thompson react? How will this effect the daily lives of Mary Jane and Aunt May? How does this fit into the larger Civil War story arc? Can Peter finally be less poor? Will Spider-Man be less hated by the public?
It’s an exciting time to be a Marvel fan and definitely great to be a Spider-Man fan.
Tags: aunt may, civil war, comic, comic books, comics, costume, fan, flash thompson, gwen stacy, iron man, j jonah jameson, marvel, mary jane, powers, secret identity, spider-man, spider-man unmasked, spiderman, tony stark, unmasked