Spider-Variant

Back in 2016, Heritage Auctions sold the cover to Marvel Team-Up 61.  They accredited the pencils to Ross Andru and the inker as unknown.  I see Comic Connect is now offering this cover, but they put Al Milgrom as the penciler and Joe Sinnott as the inker.  Other sources I reviewed also have this duo as the art team for this cover.

It doesn't look like Ross's work to me either.  Especially if I flip the image.

But here is the million dollar question?  Why did Ross sign it in pencil at the top of the artboard?  That looks like Ross's signature to me and not someone assigning the cover to Ross.

Any thoughts? 

On 2/18/2023 at 1:57 PM, MGsimba77 said:

If Bronze age runs through 1984 as indicated in the cgc screenshot above, it means that ASM 252 and Secret wars is bronze age. They are not bronze age. 

 

It ends in 1983 at the latest. 

Yes, I put those books in the Copper Age as well.

Grade of C for me and D - from Mrs. Spider-Variant.  She's a tough grader.

Here is another correspondence between Joel Thingvall (the actor and comic art collector) and our man Ross Andru.  From Feb. 1973, this would have been pre-ASM by about a few months.  

The first past is interesting and alas sad.  Ross states that Marvel would sell the art back to the penciler/inker for $5 a page, but only if the same person did both.  Marvel must have changed their policy shortly afterward, as in the letter I own, Ross states he got the original art for the entire book for every other issue as penciler for the Amazing Spider-Man. 

The second part talks about the value of the art being in the published page and not in the original art.  Joel must have asked about buying Ross's original art for aid in drawing.

On 2/12/2023 at 3:21 AM, Tri-ColorBrian said:

At this point I need to ask, When does Bronze end?  I've read 1982 and 1985.  Which is it?  I know I won't get a unanimous answer, but I'd still like to hear what you guys think...

To me the Bronze age ended with Amazing Spider-Man 185, Ross Andru's last issue.  Everything just seemed different to me.  I'm probably the only one who will say that, but that's what my eleven year old self thought.

On 2/13/2023 at 4:13 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Has she got a sister? 

She's got a couple of brothers. 

On 1/12/2023 at 1:11 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

That's a thing of beauty. I love the mistyping of advdertising 

Where did you find that, Reggie?

Hey Steve, guess who's Amazing wife just bought him this letter for Valentine's Day.  

This guy!

On 2/12/2023 at 11:05 AM, LowGradeBronze said:

Romita was used to overpowering others work in his capacity as art editor, so I can well believe that. (Various awful cover art edits of his.)

I have Marvel Feature 3 with Bill Everett's inks on Ross Andru and it's great but look at Marvel Feature 1 (or Treasury Edition 16 Defenders for its reprint,) and it's clear the marriage of the two didn't start well. I started trying to find out why and came across a Roy Thomas quote that said Bill was in a cantankerous mood and inked every line on Ross Andru's rather less than tight pencils. Stan was furious but it was too late and it went to press.

Article below sheds light on Ross's penciling and how regular inkers chose which of Ross's many lines to ink and erased the others. Scroll down to MF1 splash page for the relevant part of the article, but its all good. (Sorry to drag the thread off topic, but Ross Andru is too interesting to restrict it to Spidey alone.) 

https://50yearoldcomics.com/2021/07/28/marvel-feature-1-december-1971/

No worries about tangent topics, IMHO.  

That Marvel Feature 1 art is not good.  Very scratchy characters.  I could see why Stan would not be happy.  

Look at these pencils of Ross from ASM 162.  Very tight.  I think Ross really hit his stride with ASM and I think ASM 161 and 162 were his and Mike's best work.  His work on MTU (before ASM) still is lacking to me and it seems closer to the work he did in Marvel Feature #1.

On 2/12/2023 at 4:17 AM, LowGradeBronze said:

How do you view the Doc Savage series he did for Marvel? As much as I like Tom Palmer, I feel you don't see as much Ross Andru through his inks. I prefer Giacoia or even in one issue, Ernie Chua's inks.

I like Palmer's inks over Andru's pencils, but agree they do tend to overpower them.  But I feel the same is true for the two issues John Romita inked Ross.

On 2/10/2023 at 8:36 PM, Phicks said:

What title did Ross Andru move to after ASM?

He went to DC comics after ASM.  He did various projects, cover, etc.  Wonder Woman, Superman, Vigilante come to mind off the top of my head.

From Wiki "In 1978, Andru returned to DC to work as an editor, a position he held until 1986.[33] During this period his art appeared mostly on the covers of such titles as Action Comics and Superman. Working with writer Marv Wolfman and collaborator Mike Esposito, he co-created the syndicated comic strip The Unexplained in 1979. Throughout the late 1970s and the 1980s, Andru and inker MR. Giordano were DC's primary cover artists, providing cover artwork for the Superman titles as well as covers for many of the other comics in the DC line at that time."

Welcome to the Ross Andru thread, we're a small group of posters, but were dedicated.

On 2/6/2023 at 8:54 PM, greggy said:

Great books.  Although I"ve always known Ross Andru penciled this book, it literally took me 45 years to figure out this book was the reason he didn't pencil Amazing Spider-Man 154 &155.  DOH! 

On 1/30/2023 at 4:09 PM, Tri-ColorBrian said:

I will continue with the marriage of Doc Ock and Aunt May later...

Great books.  ASM 107 was one of the earliest bronze age comics my older brother bought off the stands.  I didn't officially get into the game until ASM 153, the only comic I still own.

I'm going to bump this thread occasionally with the hope of finding a few more of the missing pages.  

On 1/25/2023 at 11:44 PM, DC# said:

 

I was really bored recently and decided to go way, way back in this thread - all the way back to 2015 or so - just to see what conversations have been like over the past decade.    Funny how the conversations have not really changed that much - where prices are, speculation, predictions, impact of marvel chipping, validity of various auction houses, etc etc etc.    

One thing that caught my eye was a chart from April 2017 that broke down how many Universal graded copies were in the census.    In April 2017 it stood at 1,653 copies - in January 2023 we are at 2,403 - a 45% increase.    So in the first 17 years of the census they graded 1,653 and have done 750 in the past six years.   That is an average of just under 100/year in the first 17 years to around 125/year these past six.

The 2017 chart doesn't have actual numbers by grade but I eyeballed them to create a comparison by grade.    The most growth was in grades 2.5 and under (50-70% increases) but all grades under 6.0 grew by over 30%.   Even 8 and 8.5 grew around 30%.   

Again - I had to guess the 2017 numbers but this gives a directional sense of how many books have been added by grade.

 

 

Great stuff.  I'll give this a proper read when I get the chance.  

On 1/18/2023 at 2:33 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Afternoon

While Reggie is out of town taking pictures of old Spidey haunts, I thought I'd fill the void with some old guff about two of my favourite Spidey Andru issues -

Great stuff Steve.  I'm in the Caribbean, slowly making out back home

On 1/12/2023 at 10:11 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

That's a thing of beauty. I love the mistyping of advdertising 

Where did you find that, Reggie?

It's on ebay right now.  $40 will grab it.  I would probably get it, but I'm heading out of town for two weeks. 

On 1/11/2023 at 7:20 PM, Lee B. said:

Wow, what a fascinating letter, thanks for sharing!  I can't believe Gerry Conway received complete books of art the way Ross described it.  The next time I see Gerry at a show, I'll have to ask him.

I've never seen an art page offered from ASM 149.  I wonder if he still has it all.  Probably a nice value now.

On 4/4/2022 at 8:19 PM, Lee B. said:

Hi Reggie and all!  I thought you might enjoy an advertisement I found, from the December 19, 1975 issue of The Buyer's Guide for Comic Fandom. 

First, a little background: I obsessively collect images of old comic art for-sale ads for a searchable online database I created called ComicArtAds.  You can search original art ads by comic artist and comic title.  Right now the database includes about 40 results is you search Ross Andru. 

In the course of my searching for old art ads in The Buyer's Guide for Comic Fandom, I came across the ad below.  I have seen a lot, but this ad really caused some angst for me.  My first comic book ever was Amazing Spider-Man #140, and to see so many pages from that book and others for sale for $35/each made me sad.  But it also made me hopeful that those pages are probably out in the wild somewhere, waiting for me to find them.  Enjoy, and take care!  Best regards, Lee

Hey @Lee B., check out this letter (dated August 22, 1975) from Ross Andru to Jerry Thingval (the actor and comic art collector, as we had discussed earlier in this thread somewhere.)

I find it very interesting because of the way Ross shared the original art during his run on Amazing Spider-Man, with him taking 100% of every other issue and Gerry Conway (who Ross misspelled Jerry) and Frank Giacoia (and later Mike Esposito) alternating on the issues Ross didn't receive back from Marvel.  As Ross explains, Gerry Conway got 100% of the art from Amazing Spider-Man 149.  Interesting..... Wonder if he still has it?

The other interesting thing is that Ross talks about not knowing where his art will be available.  But I think we now know, in the December 19, 1975 issue of The Buyer's Guide for Comic Fandom, which Lee shared with us earlier.  I like when things come full circle.

On 1/4/2023 at 9:41 AM, ADAMANTIUM said:

Nice copy.  Loved this issue.

On 12/30/2022 at 6:00 PM, batmiesta said:

One of the toughest Marvel Treasuries to find in top shape. 

Got my copy at the local Piggly Wiggly back in the day.  I hadn't really ordered many back issues of MTU at that point, so these stories were new to me.

On 12/29/2022 at 4:10 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

That is amazing. Your daughter is AMAZING! How many times have I suggested you publish a book, and she goes and does it for you! 

Treasure that, my friend.

And a Spidey shirt buying wife too. You are blessed, Reggie. Blessed 

Thanks Steve and all, appreciate the kind words.

On 12/26/2022 at 10:44 AM, FoggyNelson said:

Post Christmas hangover today🥴

Open up some Andru ASM issues and dig in.  Best way to chase it away, lol.