Had to take my mind off my Horrible Fantasy Football team

Usually I try to put something together about my fantasy football team on Tuesdays, but my team just didn’t do very well this week as you can see from the image below. So instead of just wallowing in self pity for my team, I decided to also take a look at how I am reading and commenting on Marvel comics, and I read through Amazing Fantasy #14.

Marvel Reading

I’ve run across a few different listings of reading orders for Marvel Comics that interest me.

Travis Starnes over at The Complete Marvel Reading Order provides a comprehensive listing of the Marvel Universe that seems to contain every comic Marvel has produced. It’s a pretty impressive listing but is quite overwhelming to consider reading all those comics in order.

Dave, over at Comic Book Herald has been looking at a more modest reading order – My Marvelous Year that focuses on the 10 (or so) most important story arcs for each year that Marvel has published comics. They are up to the 1990s and while I’ve followed along to some extent, this listing still contains more than a comic a day, with some crossovers containing dozens of issues in the arc.

Both offer a great listing of Marvel continuity and show the depth and breadth of what Marvel has put out over the years. I’d love to read everything mentioned in these listings but I have so far been unable to keep up with the Marvelous Year a week nor been able to wrap my brain around the effort it would take to cover everything in the CMRO. And of course, these only cover Marvel…there’s so many more facets to the comic world.

Once again, I find myself in a conundrum where I want to do everything and do it perfectly…read through the continuity, read other comics, AND provide comprehensive posts about everything I read. Trying for that perfection only causes paralysis and I end up not reading and not posting about comics.

So…TLDR…I love reading comics and will be commenting on them randomly, just not religiously adhering to a reading order or anything.

Amazing Fantasy #14

With that in mind, I read through Amazing “Adult” Fantasy #14 the other day.

This Stan Lee, Steve Ditko comic came out in July 1962 and contained what appears to be the first mutant in the Marvel universe. Actually, the comic has 5 different tales that cover things from giants to wax statues coming to life, from an invasion of space creatures to a genie’s 3 wishes, and then the reason for it’s inclusion in Marvel continuity, the story of Tad Carter.

Tad Carter becomes the first mutant as his father was an atomic scientist who absorbed radiation over the years prior to his birth. Once Tad hits puberty, he gains powers which scare his classmates and lead to dangerous confrontations. This is all resolved when a mysterious force picks him up and carries him off to what today would be called, a “safe place”, where a voice explains that the mutants will wait until the world is ready for them.

The themes contained in this 5 page story are similar to many in the X-Men and mutant comics. Mankind’s distrust of those that are different and the mutant’s desire to fit in and make the world a better place are clearly displayed in this first reference and I find it interesting how these ideas played just as well in the early 60s as they do today. While it’s a short story, I really enjoyed it and can see where it fits in the overall Marvel Universe. I rate it a B+.

Horrible Football Week

Not much to say this week about my fantasy football team. I’m trying to field 2 running backs, but they keep getting injured. 3 of my drafted RBs are injured, 2 out for the season, and it looks like my TE will be out again this week. I’m happy to have broken the 100 point mark again, but I got wiped out. Hopefully I can piece together a team for next week.