newsmakers

newsmakers

Peter Parker meets his death in comic

PHILADELPHIA

After 50 years of spinning webs and catching a who’s who of criminals, Peter Parker is out of the hero game.

The 700th — and final — issue was released Wednesday, and title editor Stephen Wacker says “The Amazing Spider-Man” series ends with a defining death and birth meshed among the Spidey mythos. Wacker said the teen from Queens has been put in every possible situation, except this ultimate one.

Dan Slott, who’s been writing the Marvel Comics character for the better part of the past 100 issues, calls it “an epic turn.”

Though Parker’s fate is sealed, Spider-Man’s is not. His adventures will continue with next month’s “Superior Spider-Man.” But the man behind the mask is ... Otto Octavius, aka Doctor Octopus.

‘Thunderbirds’ creator dies; was sci-fi leader

LONDON

Gerry Anderson, puppetry pioneer and British creator of the sci-fi hit “Thunderbirds” TV show, has died. He was 83.

Anderson’s son Jamie said his father died peacefully in his sleep Wednesday at a nursing home near Oxfordshire, England, after being diagnosed with mixed dementia two years ago. His condition had worsened dramatically over the past six months, his son said.

Anderson’s television career launched in the 1950s. Once “Thunderbirds” aired in the 1960s, “Thunderbirds are go!” became a catchphrase for generations. It also introduced the use of “supermarionation” — a puppetry technique using thin wires to control marionettes — and made sci-fi mainstream, according to Jamie Anderson.

“He forever changed the direction of sci-fi entertainment,” Jamie told The Associated Press. “Lots of animation and films that have been made in the past 20 or 30 years have been inspired by the work that he did.”

Author offers unusual reward

BROOKLINE, Mass.

Author Dennis Lehane is offering an unusual reward for the person who finds his family’s beloved missing beagle.

Lehane says he’ll name a character in his next book after whoever finds Tessa, who disappeared from the family’s home in Brookline, Mass., this week.

He says on his Facebook page that Tessa jumped a fence at the home, and even though she has been micro-chipped, she was not wearing her tags.

Lehane says Tessa is “smart, fast, and immeasurably sweet.”

Lehane wrote “Mystic River,” “Gone Baby Gone,” “Shutter Island” and other books.

Associated Press