Spider-Variant

It actually probably is. Love the Tarantula and loved the art in this issue. Issue 136 is pretty good too. Both covers are great.

The background to Amazing Spider-Man 175 is recognizable to all, but the background to Amazing Spider-Man 180 is a little trickier to identify. Loved the way Ross ended this little saga where it began back in ASM 151.

I loved this cover and loved the Prowler. Now, he wouldn't have lasted a minute with Spidey in a battle, but I thought he was cool.

Another Xerox from the late Dave Hunt, who was the background inker on Amazing Spider-Man 127 through 170. From Dave, the original art board would go to primary inker, Frank Giacoia for this issue, ASM 134. As noted on another post, the Tarantula's henchmen were to have spiders on their mask, but they were wisely inked out on the finished page. Giacoia really softens Flash's face in the fourth and seventh panels. The notes at the bottom of the page read "You wouldn't try if you didn't" below the seventh panel and "Ok, then Mac" below the last panel. I guess they loosely relate to the story, maybe Ross adding notes for pacing his panels. I always find these interesting. I heard Gerry Conway say in an recent interview that he thought Ross's character designs were more dynamic than Romita's, and he referenced the Tarantula as an example, over the Gibbon and even the Shocker. I have to agree in this instance, as I have always loved the Tarantula as a villain.

This was a great resource. I had a copy for years, can't even remember when I bought.

Nice find Steve!

Ross Andru's last penciled page featuring Spider-Man on his run on Amazing Spider-Man. I personally never enjoyed the White Dragon as a villain, as I felt he would have lasted about one minute in a battle with Spidey. Lots of action on this page.

It looks like the cheek and nose were slightly changed on the published cover. Good find!

I sold my copy for around $600 if memory serves me correctly, but that was 10 years back or so. I would say probably 20-30 copies out there.

This was created and sold as a fundraiser for the Boston Pops, with a print run of only 250. The black-and-white comic was sold for $10 per copy during intermission, and after the concert, on opening night of the 1978 season. The comic was projected onto a screen in the auditorium during intermission. As part of the contractual agreement with Marvel and DC, all copies not sold were destroyed! We doubt that more than a handful of copies still exist, as comic collectors were not much in evidence at the concert that night.The lineup of teenage creators is actually quite impressive: future star DC writer Busiek's story was drawn by Christopher Bing, who would go on to be a Caldecott Medal-winning children's book illustrator, and lettered by Richard Howell, current editor of Claypool Comics. Also, the "Scott McLeod" in the credits is Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics and artist of Zot!. In the yarn concocted by these youngsters, the governor (yes, Michael Dukakis himself), sends out a televised call to all superheroes (via PBS, no less) and the respondents include Spider-Man, Captain America, the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner, Superman, Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman. I once bought a copy of this from a book seller in MA, about 3 months after finding a copy of Amazing Spider-Man 184 All Detergent giveaway that still had the sticker attached. I would say those were the two rarest comics with Spider-Man in them. Max case 250 copies of these but I saw an estimate of less than 12. Probably not the rarest bronze age comic, but in the conversation.

Beautiful book. I loved the three-part story arc of ASM 96-98, and the cover to ASM 97 is one of my all time favorites, while ASM 96 is one of my least favorites. The cover to ASM 98 always bothered me because of the missing spider on Spider-man's back. Not sure why...

I remember buying two 35 cent spider-man variants off the stands, both from the Memphis distribution sites. I used to log the cost of my comics, and was so confused as a young boy when the price went from 30 cents up to 35 cents then back down to 30 cents. The 35 cent issue was the variant obviously. But overall, I agree with you point about separating them.

And speaking of electrostatic precipitators, look what Ross drew in GSSM #5, which came out about five months before ASM 151. It looks like Ross was very familiar with this site.

I had time to look more deeply at the images Ross drew of the Gravesend Incinerator in both ASM 151 and ASM 180 (which was one of the issues that was the impetus for this thread). I have always believed that after Dave Hunt left the background inking chores in ASM 170, the level of detail dropped significantly on the series. For example, the comparison between the incinerator drawn in ASM 151 (with background inks by Dave) and in ASM 180 (with inks by Mike Esposito) are day and night to me. But in looking at a similar panel comparisons from each issue of the incinerator and supporting equipment (that's an electrostatic precipitator for those playing at home) that Ross drew, the art in issue 180 was more accurate. I found that odd. Until I starting digging deeper. It looks like Dave completely missed a line or two that outlines the electrostatic precipitator in issue 151. The small platform support legs don't connect to anything, or worse, they connect to the stack. From those legs down to the next platform, the stack should not be visible in that area. It should be blocked by the electrostatic precipitator wall on that side. But even Mike has a slight faux pas as well, as he converts on ladderway to a duct on his ink job. One could possibly argue the colorist got it incorrect, I suppose. The other thing to note is that Ross intentionally shifted the left-most stack more leftward, for effect I would imagine, and he did it in both issues. He was very consistent in using the same alterations when he used the same reference in different issues.

Thanks. Labor of love my friend. The detail Ross borrowed from that incinerator plant is ridiculous. There is a light on the side of the structure with the garage chutes that Ross depicted. It adds no value artistically, but he wanted to have it match exactly. When I see little items like this, I know Ross used a real life reference.

I started my run with issue 153, although my older brother had 145, 148, and 150 in that time frame. All these issues harken me back to my nine year old self. I started tracking down Ross's real life references about 3 years ago and I am still amazed at the lengths he went to put NYC in the Amazing Spider-Man. Wish I had known him, or at least met him once.

Thanks for the catch Steve. Terry is a great collector. First person that I know of to have a complete run of the 35 cent variants.

Hey @cosmic-spider-man, nice to have you over here Terry!

Here are two more comparisons from Issues 151 and 180 that I found after posting above. These make me ask a couple of questions 1) How did Ross get access to this area? He surely took some very detailed pictures and at angles that can't be obtained from afar. 2) Why did Ross put so much energy into making his art so real to life? He wasn't getting paid for detail and would have been on a tight schedule. The man most definitely loved his craft.

Around August of 1975, Ross Andru drew issue 151 of the Amazing Spider-Man, in which our favorite Wallcrawler disposed of (or did he, lol) his clone in an incinerator. The story doesn't name the location of the incinerator, only stating the locals called it an eyesore. A couple of years back, I identified it as the Greenpoint Incinerator in northern Brooklyn using a 1958 photo. It was an excellent match with the exception of some equipment near the stacks. I thought in the 17 years between the 1958 photo and when Ross drew the issue, this equipment could have been added. Not entirely satisfied, I looked for a 1975 picture of the plant. I couldn't find any but in some 1986 photos, there was some equipment in the area of concern, but it wasn't a good match. This morning I realized I was incorrect, the incinerator Ross drew was located in Gravesend, southern Brooklyn and not Greenpoint, northern Brooklyn. The Gravesend building is a very good match (I suspect the same firm designed both buildings), but everything else is too. The piece of equipment that was missing was an air pollution control device and is shown in the second comparison below with photos from 1973. If you look at the third comparison, Ross uses the same design and structures on the chutes as shown in the photos of the Gravesend incinerator chutes. So now the incinerator building, the equipment, and garbage chutes to the barrages all match near perfectly. I'm convinced I have it correct now. This plant was also featured in ASM 180 and Ross does a great job of matching his ASM 151 drawings. I actually think the ASM 180 is more to real life than the ASM 151, but the depictions aren't as sharp. Dave Hunt inked the backgrounds in ASM 151, but Mike Esposito must have inked everything on ASM 180.

Oh no, I'm getting my shots in as well, lol.

Thank you! I was trying to remember the background inkers on Amazing Spider-Man 146 and thought it was listed somewhere. Indeed it was in the letters page to issue 150!

Hey @ganni, can you post the letters page to Amazing Spider-Man 150?

I always thought the last few issues of Ross Andru's run on Amazing Spider-Man were a little bit underwhelming. The villains were not my favorites (and some downright silly, like Big Wheel). I also thought the art wasn't quite as sharp as compared to say the first issues or even the mid-run issues like 161-162. But here is a really nice original art page from Ross's and Mike's final issue (185) on ASM. Not very elaborate backgrounds, but some good Spidey action. Below that is my tracking of Ross Andru's original art on Amazing Spider-Man that I have a scan or image of (i.e. proof it's still in existence). The numbers don't change much and stand at 33.4% of Ross's ASM original art pages still around. The chart below that is the percent of original art from Ross ASM run by book page number. With my last update, it looks like it is easier to find a page from the middle of the book than finding one at either end. This gets me to wonder if this was a Penciller vs Inker returned art correlation thing.

Definitely about sizing, but I was too lazy to look up comic vs art board size to see which way it would go.