I lived in Houston, Texas for the first twenty five years of my life. We’ve had some good times. We’ve had some rough times. Truth be told I miss living there quite a bit. I was thrilled to find out that Marvel Comics was setting their newest Spider-Man spinoff, Scarlet Spider, in my home town.
Christ Yost and Ryan Stegman featured some great Houston landmarks in Scarlet Spider #1. The Port of Houston is there. There is also a Four Seasons Hotel, Park Plaza Medical Center and Highway 59 which I have been stuck in traffic on many times.
There is so much more Houston has to offer. Here are just a few of the landmarks I would love to see in the upcoming issues of Scarlet Spider.
The Astrodome
Not only was it once considered the eighth wonder of the world but it also was featured as a supporting character in the films Brewster McCloud, Bad News Bears Breaking Training and a U2 music video. How fantastic would it be see Spidey-Kaine scaling the big old dome?
George Bush Intercontinental Airport
This airport is giant and is one of the nicest, cleanest airports I have ever traveled in. Inside are some tasty restaurants and friendly shops. It’s actually more like a mall that you can park a plane at. Seriously, I had some delicious cajun food last time I flew out of there. Don’t forget those Flag Stick Pillars. I am not sure of their purpose but some fun web slinging could be had there.
What was Once Astroworld
Astroworld has been torn down putting several teenagers and overweight security guards out of work. In its place is a giant lot where the grass has since overgrown and people tell their children to close their eyes as they drive by. What creepy monsters could exist there now? Maybe a villain made out of left over parts of the various roller coaster rides like the Sky Screamer or Batman: The Escape. What a Mayan Mindbender* that would be!
*Mayan Mindbender was also a ride at Astroworld – Tickling Timmy!
Houston Museum of Natural Science
This museum has a giant, butterfly exhibit full of giant butterflies. There are other size Butterflies too. How perfect would something like this be in a Spider-man comic. Too perfect I say.
Numbers
Numbers is a dark, dirty but still wonderful music venue in Houston. Bands play there often. When there isn’t a band, they will tend to play lots of eighties hits. I stress it being really dirty. There are some things I have seen in there I wish I could erase from my memory. I’ll never forget, they would project old, found footage videos on the wall while the DJ pumped what felt like an entire album from My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult. It’s an interesting place.
Those are just a handful of what Houston has to offer. I am excited to see what other surprises Yost and Stegman have up their sleeves. Keeping my fingers crossed for some Whataburger and Blue Bell ice cream.
Timmy Wood lives in New York but dreams of Houston often. Especially the Tex-Mex. He complains about New York Mexican cuisine on Twitter.
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Haha Numbers. I’ve enjoyed Fitgzerald’s a lot more. But Numbers would be a good place for a seedy meeting between villains.
I used to go see a bunch of hardcore shows back in the early 2000’s in Houston as Houston had one of the biggest hardcore scenes in the state. I remember Fitzgerald’s and some random clubs, but I remember going to a place called Mary Jane’s alot? I remember seeing Terror there several times and Scott Vogel would always make weed references, haha.
So I moved to Austin 10 years ago, and during all the times visiting family in Houston I somehow never ended up driving by Fitz. Last month we did for the first time and it looks so clean. Nicely painted and even a new sign with pictures showing upcoming bands playing. Didn’t seem right. Then I almost went to the convenience store across the street to pick up a crappy $3 sandwich that would always be a cheap meal to make up for the ticket price. Oh memories.
If they do a time travel story, I would love to see them include the Vatican, where I saw shows throughout high school. If this happens, they’re required to focus part of the story on the tortilla factory that was across the street and seemingly open 24 hours.
Texas is awesome and we Texans are crazy. No other state really invokes this insane sense of pride that we have for our state…you can’t go anywhere without seeing state flags on everything, or the outline of texas (the state shape) somewhere, or Texas mottos or sayings like “Don’t Mess With Texas” permeating everything. I grew up in the Hill Country just southwest of Austin, live in Dallas, trying to move back to Austin…and while we non-Houstinites will defend any Texas town, we still always seem to groan when thinking about Houston, haha. The traffic, the humidity, the sheer number of people…
Whataburger, haha. Texas is just now getting In-and-Out Burger and it’s all the trendy rage, but Whataburger (and Dairy Queen) are Texas institutions. I forgot that there are places in the U.S. that probably don’t get Blue Bell ice cream which is just sad…simply the best mass-produced ice cream made, stuff like Dreyers is just crap in comparison.
the first time i visited Texas (Dallas, Ft Worth) my ride was driving me from the airport and within 2 minutes points to a giant Texas state flag on the side of the road flying over a smaller American flag and said “we’re the only state allowed to fly our flag bigger and higher than the American flag….because we used to be our own country.” I just thought that was awesome timing for an awesome story. 2 minutes out of the airport. haha
Numbers sounds like my kind of place. Those are the best places to see live music in my opinion. I’ll take dingy little spots over larger shows any day of the week.
One cool thing about reading Loose Ends #1 a while back was The Vortex and The Clermont Motor Lodge/Lounge being shown. The Clermont Lounge is…interesting…if you’re ever in Atlanta. I appreciate a place where there are 60+ year old strippers dancing to karaoke sung by other strippers though.
Maybe they can do a story about the rats in the Dome that the press covering Astros games in the late 90’s saw running around during it’s last years as a sports venue. Now mutated maybe by all the chemical plants in the area?
And really? You have to bring up Astro World? Making me all sad that it’s not there anymore.
how the spider commutes by web in houston should be interesting to see, how about the tunnels in downtown houston that would an interesting. i like the building with the caterpillar construction equipment outside, the heights, sam houston on his horse at the park. memorial park and river oaks. he could swing by light post on the beltway over traffic.
The Dome would be an excellent villian hideout. It is in plain sight, but it is dark, abandoned, and perilious inside from what I hear.
There are so many interesting covers they could make. Scarlet Spider scaling the San Jacinto monument, crawling up a refinery stack, perched on the conning tower of the Battleship Texas.
Its gonna be exciting to see Kaine sling out of downtown and then take the Metro around Houston. There had better be an issue of him sitting in traffic during rush hour.
On a different note, Yost and Stegman did say that University of Houston will be in issue 5. (stated at the Scarlet Spider Marvel even in Houston last night)
I really enjoyed the Marvel event at the Alamo Drafthouse last night. I do hope that they don’t feel too beholden to make putting Houston too much into the story as I said at the Q&A. Having some landmarks would definitely be cool but keeping the story first is my preference.
I’d prefer Rice to U of H as it’s more photogenic, but no slight meant against the Coogs. Hey, I’ll just be pleased to see the occasional scene involving Whataburger or Ninfa’s Original [Restaurant] on Navigation – or even better, a shot of the Wortham Center downtown (with Buffalo Bayou in the scene) where I work.
Otto’s BBQ would be a nice touch as well.
Now I’ll have to start reading this thing…
I think it’s awesome to have a book that takes place in a real US city that is not NYC. No offense to New Yorkers, but I’ve never been there, so a lot of the references miss with me.
And I’m not just saying any of that because I’m a Texan!
I wanna see a villain take out a Whataburger in a fight with Kaine. Seriously, you can’t go 4 blocks without seeing a Whataburger in Texas. Or let’s see Kaine having lunch at Freebirds.
Or let’s see him have to go to Corpus or San Antonio or Austin for a one-off adventure, tracking a baddie.
Wait, what? Astro World closed? I had no idea! I go to Houston every year to catch an Astros game and I haven’t noticed.
Yeah, it’s been closed for at least 12 years I think.
If they feature What-a-burger I WILL be forced to buy this book. Then suffer through the enormous pain of not being able to have a What-a-burger.