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Hello, and welcome to this week’s From Friendly Ghosts To Gamma-Rays! This week I am writing to you from the sunny west coast of California, from Hollywood! So, what does that mean for you readers: Nothing, except I still have great stuff for you to look at! This week, we take a peek at Marvel Comic’s one-shot in honor of the 25th anniversary of Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham, with The Amazing Spider-Ham #1! And for your something to watch this week, my personal favorite superhero of all time, Godzilla, in his most kid-friendly adventure Godzilla’s Revenge! Let’s dig it!
On Stands Now: The Amazing Spider-Ham #1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writers: Tom Defalco, Tom Peyer
Artists: Jacob Chabot, Adam Dekraker, Agnes Garbowska
There was this magical day as a child when I first got into comics, where one afternoon I watched my first Spider-Man cartoon on videotape, an episode from the 80s series, where he gets aboard Dr. Doom’s airship and fights Doom and his robots. Later that day, my brother James, like many days, took me to the comic shop and would buy me one comic book, and all hyped on “Spider-Man Love,” I came across a super unusual Spider-Man comic book that I just had to have, which in fact wasn’t quite Spider-Man at all. The issue was Marvel Tails Starring Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham #1, and from the first page to the end of the “Goose Rider” bonus story at the back, I was in love with the Spider-Ham!
Marvel Comics, to celebrate the 25^th Anniversary of the Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham series it used to run under its Star Comics line, has made a brand spanking new one-shot, full of fun and excitement so that anyone, Spider-Ham fan or not, can fall in love with Marvel’s favorite Porker. Three stories are given to us, packed with all the traditional Spider-Ham fun. In the first, Spider-Ham must rescue his friends from the Swinester Six, who are ruining his birthday! Then we get a tale from later in life, when Spider-Ham’s daughter, who discovers she also has spider-powers and takes on the identity of Swiney-Girl, has to save her father and friends from Crayfin the Bunter. Finally, we get a short in which the assistant to the Watcher gives us a “What If…” tale, taking a peek at what would happen if Spider-Ham was transformed into a human in his animal world.
The art on all three is great, and the writing humorous, witty, and what we’ve come to expect of Spider-Ham. Big applauds to Marvel for bringing back Tom Deflaco to write the first two tales; he wrote all the Spider-Ham comics from the 80s, and it just wouldn’t be the world of Peter Porker without him. Web-sling into your comic shops today and pick it up! (And if you also like Marvel’s Star Comics line, check out Planet Terry, you can probably dig it out of your back-bins.)
Something To Watch: Godzilla’s Revenge
As I’ve gone on record before, Godzilla is and always will be my favorite super-hero. He has taken on everything from space aliens to King Kong to even the Marvel Universe, as you can read about here. Godzilla’s Revenge is the 10th film in the Godzilla franchise, and the most “love it or hate it” for folks, primarily because it is the only Godzilla film where Godzilla isn’t real, he’s fictional, and the only Godzilla film that uses a hideously high amount of stock footage. The entire film takes place through the eyes of little lonely Japanese boy Ichiro, who keeps going into his dream world, where he hangs out with a talking version of Godzilla’s son Minya, as they roam around Monster Island, seeing Godzilla beat up an array of baddies and fight Minya’s own bully Gabara (who models a bully in Ichiro’s life of the same name). When Ichiro crosses paths with a duo of bank robbers who decide to kidnap him, can his imaginary adventures come in handy in real life?
It’s the Never Ending Story, before the 80s, made in early 70s Japan. It’s down right a fist full of fun in my book. It’s full of action scenes and absolutely silly. So if you want a sillier side of giant monster heroes that’s good for everyone this weekend, your Something To Watch is hands down Godzilla’s Revenge!
Well, that’s it for this week! Before I see you in another two weeks, I’ll leave you with this lovely little picture I took on the Hollywood Star Walk of Fame, while adventuring around with ComicAttack.net founder Andy this weekend. See you soon:

Drew McCabe
drew@comicattack.net