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?!?

Let's Open Five Packs of Dallas Trading Cards

Now is as good a time as any to crack open these packs of Dallas Trading Cards (or Bubble Gum Cards, as it says on the packages).  I've picked these beauties up over the years at flea markets and eBay it's time to get 'em unwrapped, catalogued and filed away...because  that's what I do apparently.

These are from Donruss, a major sports and non-sports trading card company from awhile back, and were released in 1981 when the show was a juggernaut.   As was common at the time, it looks like original artwork was commissioned for the wrapper.  I don't know who the artist was (but I would love to) but here is his or her interpretation of the cast:

I don't recall Jock's bright red cowboy hat but other than that the likenesses are pretty good.  It may be hard to understand the potential customer for collectible cards for what is essentially an adult oriented soap opera but you have to remember what a phenomena this show was.  This was after "Who Shot J.R.?" and everyone and everything was all about the Ewing clan.

One of the first realizations you have when you are opening up 36 year old cards is that a stick of gum isn't meant to hang around that long.  And if you want to keep your cards in good shape then you don't want them next to whatever that gum is made of because what you'll get is a fusion of the two:

Yeah, that's gum and yeah, those aren't coming off.  Luckily, it only affected the first cards in each pack.  The rest are in somewhat decent shape and they fall into a few categories (that I just made up) and they are:

"Portraits"

"J.R., We Need to Talk About What You Did/Are About to Do"

"Looking Off Camera at Something"

And, of course, "J.R. Getting Shot"

Those are just s sample of the cards I got in this haul.  Sure, there were some doubles but, overall, I'm happy with the outcome.  I was hoping that there would be some text/stats on the back of each card but they went with the "puzzle" option. 

The back of each card has part of a picture and when you put them all together you can see the image.  I didn't have enough cards to get a good picture of the image otherwise I would have posted it.  So I guess my only option is to get more cards....to be continued?!?

Tickets to Ride

The Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo is in full swing right now, as it is every January, which brought back childhood memories of bundling up and showing Black Angus heifers in the cold weather, in between taking in all the events and exhibits that the Fair puts on every year.

So after digging through the old shoe box where the memories, souvenirs and keepsakes are stored, we found some old passes and tickets.  These are from 1988 (which, believe it or not, was almost 30 years ago):

Just a couple of mementos from a Texas institution...don't forget to save yours when you go this year.  Stay warm and enjoy the show folks!