Sunday, July 22, 2012

Spidey Goes Mental!


I don't watch network television all that much, if at all these days. I mostly stay in the land of cable so when a show like The Mentalist pops up, I'm blissfully ignorant until such time as it might turn up on USA, AMC, or TNT. As it turns out The Mentalist, a CBS show is currently running on TNT and I've been catching up on episodes in the last few weeks. It's a charming show with some entertaining characters and some very nimble acting.


A few evenings ago on an episode titled "18-5-4" from 2010 second season of the show featured a safe owned by a murdered nerd numbers genius is opened and inside is a chess set which proves pivotal to the plot and an issue of The Amazing Spider-Man #46 from 1967. The lead character, Patrick Jane picks up the issue featuring Johnny Romita art and comments on its relative value and that the Shocker was the villain. Then the comic book is neither pictured nor mentioned again.

Such a throwaway bit of business was odd, such a specific reference for no distinct reason other than someone wanted to do it. Perhaps the comic was a red herring, but if so it's a meager one as nothing more is developed at all and the true clue is revealed almost immediately.

It's always neat to see comics show up in the media, especially like this where the details are correct.How many times have we seen comics from the wrong era carelessly thrown into shots? Spider-Man #46 was the first Spidey comic I ever actually read, though it was my cousin's comic and I wouldn't own one for some time. It's a solid comic, and I've always thought the Shocker a worthy opponent.

This appearance is likely old news for many, but I catch 'em when I catch 'em.

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