Follow the Leaders

Previously:

My Spidey Sense in Jingling  - -  The X-Men Visit the State Fair 

Houston Heroes  - -  Spidey Visits Dallas   - -  Sea of Good Cheer 

Check out the headline:  "Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders Missing!"  It's time, once again, to dive into another Dallas Times Herald Marvel freebie comic.  This time it's not just superheroes doing their thing, we get America's Sweethearts as special guest stars!

The year was 1982 and our adventure begins with Peter Parker and his childhood friend Fran finishing up a shopping spree at a north Texas Sanger-Harris (who sponsored the comic).

After the stiff wind of exposition blows through Dallas, it's replaced with the rain storms of plot advancement as the cheerleaders get lost on the way to their performance at Fort Sage (which seems to be in California).

Instead of finding the army base, they find an army base and decide it's probably the one they were looking for.  After all, it's not like the people there were acting suspicious or anything...

By the way, that lady in the cowboy hat appears to be legendary former DCC director Suzanne Mitchell.  I was wondering if "Fran" was also based on a real person, and I found a Francis Roberson that was an assistant director around this time period but I couldn't confirm if she ever knew Spider-Man.

After the "army" guys get the girls situated in the conference room with promises of hot coffee and not being murdered, we get to see what's really going on in this facility.

Yep, it's the Leader, an evil mastermind who was mutated in a similar accident that created the Hulk.  But instead of increasing his physical strength, the gamma radiation increased his mental abilities making him super smart (according to him).

Well, it doesn't take long for Fran and the gals to get suspicious.  She sneaks around the base to find a phone (remember the 80s?) and call her old pal Peter Parker.  So Peter's alter ego, Spider-Man, starts the hunt!  When he turns up nothing, his only recourse to arbitrarily swing around the desert.  It doesn't take too long before he runs into another old friend...

The Hulk was just wondering around the desert (as he does), punching tanks (as he does) when he ran afoul of the fake army guys.  It doesn't take too long for Spidey, the Hulk and the Cheerleaders to all converge on the Leader's compound for a final battle.

Nothing gets things sorted out like a great big explosion.  With the bad guys defeated, the Hulk wanders off and the Cheerleaders were free to go find the actual army base where they put on one their best shows.

And Peter Parker was able to get the pictures.  Although it looks like, instead of the Daily Bugle, he may be freelancing for "Cheerleader Butts Magazine."  C'mon Pete...we know what you're doing...at least try to be subtle.

And the story ends as it begins with Peter and Fran doing some more shopping at Sanger-Harris.  Most adventures end with a sense of relief and maybe a trip to the emergency room but this one ends with a job offer. 

I'll leave you today with a Superman-esque character tempting readers with the idea of a Dallas Times Herald paper route:

My Spidey Sense is Jingling

 Previously:

Peter & Frank Do Dallas    - -    The X-Men Visit the State Fair
Houston Heroes  

Spidey Visits Dallas  - -  Check Please  - - Texas Marvels

It's that time again and that time of year again...we're long overdue for another look at when our favorite comic book superheroes visited the Lone Star State to punch, fly, swing and smash their way across familiar landmarks in the search for justice.  And with the holidays fast approaching, it's only fitting that this time your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man spends "Christmas in Dallas"!

This one was another freebie from the Dallas Times Herald and the once great newspaper gets a cameo on the first page by setting the scene and kicking off the story.  A mysterious and sinister set of hands peruse the news of the day in a conspicuously evil manner...

This issue is a sort of sequel or follow-up to a previous story where Spider-Man teamed up with the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas millionaire Stanley Mudge.  On this particular yuletide season, Mudge is throwing a party to raise money for orphans and wanted to treat his old pals J. Jonah Jameson and Peter Parker to the festivities.  He and his son Mark (also from the previous story) even show up to the airport to greet the traveling New Yorkers.

Don't forget about that anti-gravity device...it might be relevant down the line.  So while the gang heads back Mudge's ranch, those sinister hands from the first page reveal that they belong to none other than the Kingpin!  The sinister crime boss frequently finds himself to be Daredevil's perennial punching bag in Hell's Kitchen but he's come to Texas to pick on someone his own size:

What?!?  He cold cocks Santa?!?  Now that's how you establish evil intent from an antagonist.  Although there is the possibility that the unconscious Kris Kringle is just a Santa impersonator.  The story never really makes it clear.  But what is clear is that he was on his way to the Charity Ball and that the Kingpin (who has been steadily climbing up the rankings on the naughty list for many years now) will be taking his place...and it won't be to spread holiday cheer.

Well things go pretty much how you'd expect them to go.  The Kingpin attacks.  His henchman take hostages.  But before the rich party goers were able to be ransomed off, Spidey swings into action!  Even Mudge pitches in with the help of the new version of his anti-gravity invention (remember that thing from before?).

Looks like the Christmas party can resume.  Alls well that ends well: J. Jonah gets flummoxed, Peter gets a free ride home in Mudge's private jet to spend Christmas with his aunt and, I assume, a lot of money was raised at that charity ball for the orphans and whatnot (remember that thing from before?).

While it was a fun adventure, I have to say I was a little disappointed with this one.  Dallas (and by default, all of Texas) was really only a part of the story in name only.  Not even a quick skyline panel.  But at the time it was free so I can't really be too hard on it.  And in the spirit of the holiday season I'll leave you with a present...the Spider-Man Christmas Tree Word Hunt that was toward the back of the book!  Happy hunting! 

Houston Heroes

Previously:

Peter & Frank Do Dallas    - -    The X-Men Visit the State Fair

Tom Landry: The Comic Book

We've seen Marvel Comics superheroes come to Texas before but so far they've been confined to Dallas.  Sure, it's an adventurous city but when out-of-towners want the "Everything's Bigger in Texas" experience they almost inevitably want to visit the biggest city in Texas.  And so it was only a matter of time before Spider-Man and the Hulk showed up in Houston:

What we have here is another newspaper freebie from Marvel Comics in the 80's.  It was given away in the Houston Chronicle and sponsored by Foley's Department Stores (and believe me, you'll get the hint throughout the story).

So what brings our heroes to town?  An emergency at NASA?  Nope, just the further frustrations of Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson:

After lamenting the lack of good NYC based news stories, JJJ is tipped off by Peter Parker about a Houston Chronicle article about rodeo superstar Rex Ryder and Jameson is immediately smitten.  So there's nothing left to do but hop on the first plane for the Lone Star State:

One of the disappointments of the comic is that other than the setting, there are just about no Houston area name-checks.  They head to the rodeo but don't actually say it's the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo.   We don't even get a decent shot of the city skyline.

So we must be content with generic cowboys and cowboy accoutrements at the parade and the stockyards.  And there are a few distinctly non-Houstonian elements at the festivities.  Peter's Spidey Sense kicks in almost immediately as he spots members of the criminal ne'er-do-well gang known as the Enforcers:

So now that Peter Parker is a "Spider-Man with a mission," we turn our attention to the nearby stables, and if you weren't satisfied with the amount of Marvel characters that inexplicably decided to converge on Houston this day, then you're in a for treat!

Yep, the Hulk's alter ego Bruce Banner is still trying to Bill Bixby his way across the country and picked Houston as a place to stop.  Apparently he pulled on his best pair of purple dungarees and got a job at the rodeo.  And it doesn't take long for him to also realize that there's troubling brewing.

So apparently the Enforcers have kidnapped Rex's best girl Annie and decided to use her for leverage to make him throw his Bull Riding event.  And if that wasn't enough, they let him know (for some reason) that they're also going to rob the box office.  That's a pretty ambitious scam for a rodeo caper.

Meanwhile, as Bruce Banner investigates, he makes an additional discovery.  If the triple decker coincidence sandwich that is this story hasn't satisfied you so far then get ready for the fourth heat!

 Yep, the Spider-Man villain "Rhino" has also decided to brave the humidity to rob what must be an amazing box office and he makes Mistake #1: he backhands Puny Banner!  Well, you can guess where this is going...

Yep, the manure hits the fan as two different sets of heroes and villains converge at the rodeo and the results include the Rhino punching a bull...

...Spider-Man "lasso-webbing" the kidnappers...

...the Hulk beating up the Rhino, which inadvertently leads to a van (which was unfortunately left in neutral) being pushed by the two warring brutes down a hill, straight for the runaway wagon that held the kidnapped Annie...

...leading to a daring "double rescue" and solidifying the notion that super heroes cause as many problems as they solve.

So when all was said and done there was nothing left to do but have a celebratory shopping spree...at Foley's, of course:

And with that, our action packed adventure in the Gulf has concluded.  Sure, there's a lot of unanswered questions and a lot of murky motivations but thanks to our heroes, the rodeo funds were saved and Rex and Annie get to ride off into the sunset.

If experience has told us anything it's that it won't be long before the Lone Star state ends up in the comics pages once again...

...to be continued?!?

Peter & Frank Do Dallas

Exciting things happen in Dallas all the time which attracts visitors from far and wide.  Celebrities, politicians and dignitaries get the headlines when they visit but for my money nothing beats a pop-in from one of our favorites from the superhero community.  We've seen the State Fair patronized by the X-Men and Spider-Man teaming up with the Cowboys in the past.

Today we're going to take a look at another visit from Spider-Man but this time he brought his wacky pal Frank Castle, the Punisher!

Written by Gerry Conway with art from Sal Buscema, this 1988 story begins with Spidey slapping around some burglars on the Punisher's boat the "Golden Girl."  He's on the hunt for the missing, Bea Arthur loving, vigilante.

We soon see that the Punisher has made it to Texas and is cooling his heels at DFW Airport.  You can tell he's in Texas because there is a guy in the background wearing a cowboy hat:

It turns out that he is being controlled by a mutant (Code Name: "Raymond") who is working for the Spider-Man/Daredevil villain Kingpin.  They have come to the Lone Star State so that the Punisher can kill the infamous Lobo Brothers, who have just made the front page of the now defunct Dallas Times Herald:

Marvel had a long collaboration with the paper including the release of freebie original comics in Sunday additions like the aforementioned X-Men & Spidey comics.

Back in New York, Peter's detection skills were shown up by a local newscast revealing the location of the person he had spent weeks looking for:

So like a true hero, he forgoes the "snuggling" with his super model girlfriend to head south to check in on his man crush.  Remember the superhero code:  "Bros before hoes"

At this point in the Spiderverse, Peter had published a book of his photographs of Spider-Man and so his cover story for traveling was book promotion.  Sadly, upon his arrival, he discovers it's not a big seller in the south.

If it seems like there is a lot of exposition and scenes of traveling in this comic book, don't worry, we skipped over a scene where the Punisher kills a bunch of people at an oil refinery (that was a cover for drugs and money laundry for the Lobo Brothers).  So it's not just arrivals and departures.

Peter blows off his book signing to hunt down the Lobo Brothers hoping to find his lost pal.  Since DFW isn't Manhattan, his usual web slinging travel method wasn't an option and with the lack of a Spider-Mobile, he had to stowaway on a tanker truck:

The Lobos must be doing pretty well to have a mansion on Grapevine Lake.  I guess the drugs pretty much sell themselves.  Once Spidey gets over the walls it doesn't take long to realize all hell has broken loose as he comes upon this scene with the Punisher, "Raymond" (ok, ok, his actual code name is the Persuader), multiple dead bodies and the speedo wearing Lobo Brothers:

Long story short: shots were fired, webs were "thwipped" and speedos were soiled.  After nearly drowning Spider-Man, Frank was able to shake off the bad influence and take care of business.  While the Lobos got away, the Persuader got a center mass lead Valentine from the Punisher thus ending this Texas Team-Up.  After the final page of the story I assume Frank and Pete hit Dealey Plaza, picked up some cowboy hat souvenirs and headed home.