Spider-Man, Rob Liefeld, She-Hulk and superhero economics.

[starwolf_oakley]

Millar and Quitely's Jupiter's Legacy #1 had superheroes say how their powers doesn't mean they know how to balance a budget. That reminded me of a moment from an old AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL where Peter Parker wonders about his powers and society's ills. Also, lot of 1980s hair.



This is part of 1989's Marvel annuals and the ATLANTIS ATTACKS storyline. Of course, the story didn't have much about Atlantis Attacking. It was more about Ghaur (an Eternals villain) and Llyra (a Namor villain) trying to bring the elder god Set to Earth and the nasty things they did in the process.



So... Much... Mousse!




"Great stars!" That tall guy with the glasses seems to show up a lot.




Peter Parker has a lot of power and does a lot of good with that power, but he isn't an economist. Is that what is called an Cognitive Dissonance? I mean, he's not Bruce Wayne, who does a lot of good through Wayne Enterprises and the Wayne Foundation, but also beats up criminals since he has issues.

Part of "Atlantis Attacks" was Tyranus running a scam on behalf of Ghuar and Llyria. Drug addicts and alcoholics desperate to get clean were put into a special program which did make them "clean" but also turned them into snake-people.







I like how MJ is more annoyed about the sudden blackout itself than with Peter having to run to deal with it.

The rest of the issue is Spider-Man and She-Hulk fighting a now-mindless Abomination.

Comments

[jlroberson]

You killed my eyes.

YOU. KILLED. MY EYES. WITH THE LIEFELD. AND THE AWFUL.

[mastermahan]

My first thought was: "well, this isn't so awful".

My second thought was: "except for all the giant hair... and everyone's tiny ankles... and Peter's stroke face at the lunch... and Emil Bronsky's absurd rubber arms..."

It's not Liefeld's worst by a long shot, but those signature flaws are still there.

[protogarrett]

It's a documented fact that back in the 90's women had cone shaped heads. This explains the impossibly vertical parts in the hair and how it's dome like shape.

Seriously, though, imagine shaving MJ's head and then beholding her freakshow skull.

[althechi]

I can't tell if his borderline-awful or his outright awful is worse. At least the latter is obvious, while some people might consider the former...acceptable? D:

[kd_the_movie]

You can tell that back then, Liefeld would cry himself to sleep wishing he were Todd McFarlane.

His stuff during this era wasn't really that bad tho.

[randyripoff]

Hmm...if I didn't know it was Liefeld, I would have thought it was Macfarlane. Still bad either way.

[icon_uk]

It certainly has that air of someone aping Macfarlane, badly.

[steverodgers5]

There was a lot of that in the spider titles after McFarlane left...A LOT!! Heck I don't even think Liefeld was the worst culprit there, which is really saying something..

[randyripoff]

Thankfully, all of this happened during that period when I was not reading comics. I still think Macfarlane's art looks like donkey poo. That other wise good artists were aping his style (no, not Liefeld--others) is a sad thing.

[skemono]

Jen, I know the Bugle offices aren't really built for a woman of your stature, but you've gotten through the tiny doorway already. You can stand up straight now.

[steverodgers5]

Some of McFarlanes artwork was kind of good. (Alas the same could never be said for his writing..) The real problem came when you had all the Erik Larsens of the world trying to launch their Marvel careers by desperately ripping it off.

Personally, my main grief with it at the time was that I hated how they went overboard on the size of Spiderman's eyes on the mask. I know it sort of makes sense story wise, but I never cared much for that look..

[steverodgers5]

Hey she can't help it, if Liefelds suddenly given her legs the length of a stretched Mr Fantastic! ;)

[randyripoff]

Eh, never much cared for Macfarlane's work. Overly rendered, too many lines, characters too thin, just bleah.

I only have three words to say about his writing.

"His claws. Advantageous."

[rzerox21xx]

Wow, Mary Jane looks just like Peg Bundy.

[his_spiffynesss]

Liefled seems to have been one of the few artists who actually got worse as the years went by.

[his_spiffynesss]

And her bouffant is as tall as her face!

[junipepper]

It's amazing that she can get around at all, really...

[rzerox21xx]

Mary Jane looks like she visiting Peter after a long day of eating bonbons and watching Oprah. I swear, the fashion sense is similar.

[misanthr0pe]

The world is made of cheekbones.

[jlroberson]

But really, reading this, "abomination" is a word that comes to mind. Oh, and there he is! But I didn't mean that.

[jlroberson]

"Not that bad" compared to...?

[jlroberson]

Even the noses are cheekbones.

[jlroberson]

But is Liefeld inking this or someone else who is trying to keep a consistent "look" to the book? (and good luck with that here, Mr. Brave Inker)

[kamino_neko]

Liefeld in his own style.

[kamino_neko]

That's a lot of big hair. And it's pretty funny that Shulky's hair grew several feet in order to get in on the giant-hair act at the end. (Unless the hair tie she's got it tied back with before it some magic portable hole that hides most of it while it's in the pony tail.)