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illinformedcomicfan · 3 years

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Why does the Spider-Man in your profile and banner have the colors flipped?

I see you asking, my devout follower. Begging, praying that I give you the answer to this elusive, long-running mystery. Well, it’s been about a week now. That’s basically a year in these COVID-19 times, so I figure it was time for an answer. Sit down my friend. This is not simply sPidEr-MaN wItH tHe cOlOrs fLipPeD. Let me introduce you to one of the greatest and most underrated characters in Spider-Man comic book history. Or in comic book history as a whole, really if you want to go that far. I present, Web-Man. Now I see you asking. Who the fuck is Web-Man?

He wonders that himself every day, as well.

Web-Man’s a weird character. At first he seems pretty simple. You saw the image and probably thought “That looks like an evil version of Spider-Man that has the colors of the suit flipped”. And that’s correct. It’s that simple. But the circumstances of his creation and history (or lack thereof) are what interests me most and how crazy they are, so let’s take a trip down... well not memory lane because I’m sure you didn’t even know he existed until now. He represents such a weird phenomenon of superhero comics history that I love explaining him. The Trope of “Opposite Bad Guy With Different Colors”

This is a well-known trope in superhero stories. It’s a great storytelling and visual element that’s easy for audiences to wrap their head around. There’s a good guy. There’s a bad guy. The bad guy looks pretty visually similar and tends to have the same base powers as the hero but they’re eviiiiil. It sounds cheap, and to some extent, it kind of is, but opposite villains are so fun that no writer, or fan can resist them (especially when they’re done well). There’s so many examples of this that it’s almost absurd. Every superhero you can think of most likely has an opposite. -Zod is Superman But Bad -Bizarro is Superman But Bad (sometimes) -Superboy Prime is Superman But Bad -Cyborg Superman is Superman But Cyborg Bad (You get the point by now) -Reverse Flash is Flash But Bad -Black Adam is Captain Marvel (Shazam) But Bad -Owlman is Batman But Bad -Sinestro is Green Lantern But Bad -Malcolm Merlyn is Green Arrow But Bad -The Frightful Four are The Fantastic Four But Bad -The Crime Syndicate is The Justice League But Bad The biggest example of mass-media cape stories these days, the MCU, tends to pull this trick often, and most of the time they get a lot of shit for it regardless of how well made the actual movies are, and rightfully so in some cases. -Iron Monger is just Iron Man But Bad -Abomination is Hulk But Bad -Whiplash initially has the cool electric whips at the start but then he gets a suit of armor so he just becomes Iron Man But Bad BUT Also Has Whips -The Winter Soldier is, to some extent, Captain America but bad (This isn’t a slight against the movie or Bucky’s character, just another example) -Yellowjacker is Ant-Man But Bad -Kaecilius is Doctor Strange But Bad (and Mordo is going to be Doctor Strange But Bad 2.0 in the sequel) -Killmonger is Black Panther But Bad SPOILER FOR WANDAVISION -Agatha is Scarlet Witch But Bad

By now no further explanation is needed. You already knew that there’s a very common trope of The Good Guy But Bad. Thing is, when most people think of Spider-Man But Bad, they tend to think of Venom, who is sort of the gore body horror sci-fi 80s version of Spider-Man But Bad. At some point he gets enough of his own lore and enough of his own comic series that he kind of loses that, but that original context is always tied to him. There’s never really been a straight, 1:1 opposite of Bad Spider-Man that’s taken off in popularity. Tarantula sort of fits the bill? Maybe? Not really? Especially with that name and get-up.

But the concept of Web-Man, Spider-Man But Bad With The Colors Flipped, sounds so simple and surefire that it’s a wonder why he never took off. You’d also believe that, due to it being SO PAINFULLY OBVIOUS, he was created early. On the contrary, it took about 15 years after Spider-Man’s introduction for Web-Man to hit the pages of a comic story. The most wonderful (or most horrendous, depending on how you want to see it) part of him is that he’s not main 616 Marvel universe canon. Spider-Man But Bad!... of Earth-57780

Created as a tie-in to the Spidey Super Stories segment of The Electric Company’s children program, this comic ran for a good few 8 years, in what was basically a more over-the-top and zany version of Spider-Man for the kid audience of Electric Company. (Fun fact, the Spider-Man of this reality was part of the Spider-Verse events that have been a part of Spidey comics for a few good bit of the 2010s now.)

In August of 1977 with #25, Marvel editor/writers Jim Salicrup, Nicola Cuti and Bill Mantlo, along with artist Win Mortimer introduced Web-Man in the lead story “Spider-Man and Web-Man”.

Created by Doctor Doom as an evil clone of Spider-Man (a couple years after The Original Clone Stuff, and some 17 years before The Clone Stuff Everybody Hates), his deal is pretty simple as you can see from his masterful and devilish creation by Marvel’s resident supervillain. (Side note, I love the sheer power visible in the panel where he breaks the containment tube).

Endowed with Spidey’s knack for quips, fast zingers and the ability to piss off pretty much everyone he runs into, Web-Man robs an armored car to get Spidey’s attention. What follows is some pretty cheesy but endearing joke-exchange and fast paced action. They go back to Doom’s lab, and the best part of the story? He’s not even the only Web-Man in it.

Yes, that’s right. It’s not just ONE Web-Man we’re dealing with. It’s TWO WEB-MEN.

Unfortunately, in a pretty uncharacteristically Spidey move, he brutally and violently viciously maims and murders the two misguided souls. Ok, its not really that graphic or serious in the story, but those were real dudes with like, meat and bone and feelings. And now Spidey’s recklessness has cost them their life. Pretty uncool, Peter.

After that, regular Spidey beats Doom and presumably sends him off to jail. There’s no follow up to the Web-Men or how precisely they ceased to exist beyond “Spider-Man broke the mirror”. A fun and breezy story to kill time with. What boggles me the most, is that in the 41 years since, he hasn’t come back a single damn time in literally anything.

Requiem For A Web-Man

(Before you ask, yes, I made that edit. I have a bunch of them)

Web-Man never returned to Spidey Super Stories. He was never introduced in a 616 Spider-Man comic. He’s never been in one of the cartoons, movies, games, or external media. The closest thing we have to a mass-media version of him is his design is one the featured alternate suits in the great Spider-Verse movie. Even then, that’s all it is. A funny nod in the background. I even doubt that the producers of the movie actually intended that as a Web-Man, Earth-57780 reference more than they just went “Haha wouldn’t it be funny if one of his suits just had the colors flipped?”

And it’s that lack of return that both baffles me, and that I understand. He’s not exactly the most creative idea. His design isn’t new or a twist on the classic costume. His status as a villain doesn’t really achieve anything that guys like Venom and Carnage already don’t do, and better than he does it. There’s really no reason to bring him back in a big story. Then again... does there really need to be?

In a genre with talking dinosaurs, mutants, like 7 different Superpeople, legions of super-heroes, gods, dragons, magic, vampires, aliens, stories that ask us to pretend that Darkseid, Thanos, and Mongul are different people, but most importantly, where there’s half a dozen stories (one of them an Oscar winning movie) all focusing on the core idea of “There’s infinite versions of Spider-Man with countless variations meeting up!”, I find it hard to believe that there’s really no plausible way to bring him into the spotlight again.

To quote his character bio on ComicVine (which I swear a million times I didn’t write, but I love) “fans are eagerly waiting for a new appearance where he returns as a hero, not a villain.”

Web-Man is such a fun and absurd example of the Opposite Villain, that I hope he at the very least gets referenced, or lord willing, actually make an important appearance in a Spider-Man story before I die. He deserves to. (Credit to my good pal Nutz, who introduced me to Web-Man so many years ago. I thought he was joking and that he wasn’t real, but he ended up leading me to find one of my most favorite forgotten characters in comic history, and one I proudly use as my internet avatar everywhere I can.)

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cutiecrates · 5 years

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Cutie Reviews: Kawaii Box June 19

I don’t have much to say for this one, but I decided not to include the prices and such. I know I probably should but I don’t actually know if it serves any purpose...

Word of the month: Ma-meido - Mermaid

Chocobar Z & Marukawa Kirby Mix’n‘Match Gum

This is unusual, I’m beginning with the snack items first. For this month we got 2 of them, the Kirby Gum and a Special Surprise Treat, something they also did last month, but it was a bonus item rather than a snack. So this is an item I’m semi-familiar with, pretty sure I had one before.

This is pretty much a chocolate umaibo; but it’s not of the Umaibo brand and they have their own chocolate flavor. This reminds me a lot of it, but it has a bitter aftertaste and it’s much thicker. It also brings to mind a chocolate breakfast cereal, it’s pretty yummy. But I wasn’t able to locate it on Blippo.com.

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Our next item is a delicious Kirby packaged gum set. Basically you have so many flavors of gum that you can chew separately or mix to get a new flavor, as you can see by the pic.

I had this years ago back when it first came out and it’s essentially the same, but I noticed right away that before it only had 4 flavors (Yogurt, Mystery, Apple, and Orange), and you could make a few of the same combinations, one of which was actually cola, which was removed because it’s is a flavor now, along with white grape/muscat and soda.

Of course, being a curious person I sat down and tested everything; and once I did I still had a good amount left over. Here was what I thought:

Cola - a little tangy, tastes like cola candy.

White Grape/Muscat - normal muscat/WG candy, but my tongue felt like I had a little salt on it from this one. No idea why.

Soda - typical ramune or soda flavor, very yummy, hard to mess up.

Orange - tastes like orange tic-tacs. I loved these when I was little.

Apple - a sweet apple, delicious~

COMBINATIONS

Soda + Apple = Champagne - It was unique but I’m not sure if I liked it or not. It confused me.

Soda + Cola = Gingerale - Same as above, and I’m not sure it reminded me of gingerale either.

Soda + WG/Muscat = Melon Soda - A strong melon taste with a hint of grape! Very tasty.

WG/Muscat + Apple = Wine - Weird -_- but it tasted better over time.

Apple + Orange = A fruit mix? - I mostly taste orange and couldn’t tell what it was supposed to be.

Soda + Apple + Orange = Vitamin Drink - It was very tasty with a strong citrus flavor.

WG/Muscat + Apple + Orange = Pear - Like the gingerale one, I found it hard to tell if I liked it and if it tasted like what it was meant to be. This one felt a little more successful to me, but I was still unsure.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

None of the flavors tasted badly, I really like them. The flavor lasts for a bit, maybe like 10-15 minutes; and weirdly enough, every piece I spit out had a really pretty pearlescent color and they all came in a different color of the rainbow! I’d recommend these; especially if you like Kirby!

Round Neko Plushie Charm

(Sorry about the items in the background~)

Our next item is an adorable plushie charm based on a round kitty. They’re the purrrfect size to roll around in your hands and squish on when you don’t have a squishy available or just want something different. They also come in a variety of cute kitty colors and patterns and they are completely stuffed with filling.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

As cute as the kitty is I have to admit, the face detracts a fraction of cuteness away from it in my opinion, but I still think it’s very sweet looking. It’s decent looking in terms of sew job and if you like firm plush then I think this would be a good one to get; but I prefer squishier, softer plushies and if you look at the picture, doesn’t the whole thing feel a little unbalanced? It might be easier to see in person, but it kind of bothers me a little.

Dreamland Puffy Stickers & Mermaid Nail Stickers

I love panda bears, so I thought this pastel themed sticker sheet we got was very cute! Besides the panda we also have cute flowers and clovers, birds, and bubbles. Oh, and if you’re wondering they’re sadly not scented.

Rating: ♥ ♥

This bothered me, because I ADORED these. But they get a 1 or 2 out of 10 on the puffy scale, they have a very slight puff to them in appearance, but when you press them they’re very hard. I find them ultra-kawaii but if you’re looking for actual puffy stickers, then you’re not going to be satisfied with these.

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Besides adorable panda clovers, we also get a cute mermaid themed nail sticker set by Snow Fox. Specifically these are their 3D Design Nail Stickers, due to have a 3D element in the form of cute little diamond accents. These are perfect for summer or if you just like mermaids; I especially love how they look like Ariel.

So.. because I didn’t use these yet, I decided not to rate them. Also, I’m pretty sure they’re just like any other sticker; there isn’t much you can say about them and you could probably use them on other things if you wanted to.

Aiko Little Mermaid Face Towel

As of late we have been getting adorable exclusive Kawaii Box/Blippo.com goods featuring the adorable Aiko-chan~ They always fit the theme and they’re made in really good quality too, I love them and it’s such a nice touch to personalize the box more x3 But you can also buy them off of Blippo.com.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

It’s on the smaller side, but it’s perfect for a hand and face towel/rag/wash cloth. The details are really nice, it’s spot-on with the theme, and it feels very soft, and it’s small size makes it very handy for putting into numerous things you might want to bring with you.

Little Twin Stars Key Cover

This item is a bit random (in my opinion) but it’s still cute! This is a Sanrio original item you just pop on over your keys to add a touch of adorableness every time you pop them out, and it includes a ball chain so if you don’t plan to use it for the intended purpose, you can just turn it into a cute charm or keychain.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I like Little Twin Stars, but Lala has always been my favorite out of the two. I was a little disappointed I didn’t get her, but I still think they’re both really sweet and adorable. The chain is good and the key cover is made from rubber with really nice, but simple and bright detail. It even has molded on writing on the back for the branding that looks amazingly crisp and clean.

Our Little Mermaid Notebook & Puffy Narwhal Sticky Notes

To go with our theme, we have these 2 cute writing stationery items by Tree in Art; a gorgeous mermaid notebook, which I’m sure you can tell is a lot bigger than what we usually get in these boxes; I was surprised! And it came in a few variations, all with a lovely watercolor/pastel theme.

The paper is basic lined, nothing fancy, but it has Discover Your Senses written on the bottom of each sheet. I like how it seems to go with the image.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

So I know you can judge paper quality by doing various things or using various pens and coloring tools on them- but I don’t really know paper at all, so I can’t really do that. But I mean, I didn’t notice anything wrong with the paper the one time I’ve used it thus far, I wish the pages were a little more decorative though to match the outside.

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I don’t really know anything of the Tree in Art brand, but so far I’ve been liking what we get. It’s very soft and sweet looking, like this puckered lip narwhal sticky note set o3o

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I really like the detail they put into the backing of these, you can see it in the pic right? It’s a very cute touch to go with the very cute sticky note image. I could see these floating around quite quickly in the office or school among friends~

Also, these tear very easy. Not easy enough that they won’t stick to each other, but easy enough there’s no issues tearing them off.

Kawaii Jellyfish Pen

Our last item, and one of my most favorites in this months box is an adorable Jellyfish themed pen :D besides having a cute, simple design on the tube using various pastels and pink tones, there’s an adorable jellyfish charm hanging from the top, the main attraction! The jellyfish feels like a light plastic and has fabric strands as the tentacles; it can also be taken off if you wish to turn it into a keychain, or a charm for a necklace or something.

The pen is a fine tip, and these came in a few color variations if I recall.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I love love love it~ it’s so adorable and fun looking, and I love fine tip pens x3 you need to give them a few seconds to dry when using them, but they right so smoothly. It’s also really fun to use the pen and watch the jellyfish wiggle around on the tip.

♥ Cutie Ranking ♥

Content - 5 out of 5: I really liked this box, all the items were well-made and seemed thought out, and like usual we got a mix of things. I didn’t see any real quality issues or problems.

Theme - 4 out of 5: Only half of the box fit the mermaid/sea theme; but to be fair, the other half seemed to fulfill the fantasy side. Lately Kawaii Box has been confusing me with its themes and items, but I felt like this one was really obvious :3 perfect for summer too!

Total Rank: 9 out of 10 Cuties. Besides one or two little issues with a single item (and they were minuscule and only my opinion), I felt like this box really picked up the pace after the past two or three boxes. I liked them but with their confusing themes and lack of items fitting them, this one nailed it! Everything is really kawaii and fun, I’d recommend this box!

♥ Cutie Scale ♥

1. Mermaid Notebook - I love the gentle colors and overall sweetness of the cover. I do wish the pages were a little more matching with it, but I still really like it.

2. Jellyfish Pen - it’s so cute the way it sways around~

3. Narwhal Sticky Notes - Very cute, I love how decorative the clear backing is to go with them.

4. Kirby Gum - I love Kirby, and I really did like this gum so it was really fun to experience how it changed over time.

5. Aiko Hand Towel - Perfect for the summer season x3 Aiko-chan looks so cute.

6. Dreamland Puffy Stickers - Very sweet and cute, they give me a dreamy vibe that I love to look at them; but I was disappointed by the lack of puffiness.

7. Mermaid Nail Stickers - They’re so pretty, I’m a little afraid to use them~

8. Chocobar Z - It was delicious~

9. Neko Plushie - I was surprised by this because I love cats. But I don’t know, I just wasn’t feeling it.

10. Little Twin Stars Key Cover - it’s cute but I don’t know when I’ll use it and I feel like out of everything its the least practical for me.

#cutie reviews #kawaiibox #kirby candy #mermaid merchandise #little twin stars

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