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Spider-Variant
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Posts posted by Spider-Variant
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On 7/23/2022 at 2:50 PM, bronze johnny said:
How many people had the opportunity to purchase great books like the 35 cent variant Star Wars 1 from the newsstand when it came out?
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.
- MAR1979 and bronze johnny
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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.
- ADAMANTIUM, Engr62 and Get Marwood & I
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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.
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On 7/17/2022 at 11:37 AM, BigLeagueCHEW said:
The man loved what he did, I am sure he was a perfectionist and didn't turn in his work until it was perfect. I love it, thanks for putting this together for us.
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.
- BigLeagueCHEW and Engr62
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On 7/16/2022 at 4:32 PM, cosmic-spider-man said:
Hey Reggie, This is my favorite thread on the boards I check it out often. ASM #151 was the first issue I ever bought and it is so cool to know Ross Andru's Art was based on real places, love the photos of the Incinerator.
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.
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On 7/16/2022 at 1:50 PM, Get Marwood & I said:
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.
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Hey @cosmic-spider-man, nice to have you over here Terry!
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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.
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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.
- BigLeagueCHEW, Engr62, OtherEric and 4 others
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On 7/12/2022 at 7:03 AM, Get Marwood & I said:
Oh no, I'm getting my shots in as well, lol.
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On 7/8/2022 at 8:59 PM, ganni said:
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!
- ADAMANTIUM and ganni
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Hey @ganni, can you post the letters page to Amazing Spider-Man 150?
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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.
- Get Marwood & I, ganni and ADAMANTIUM
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On 6/25/2022 at 9:15 AM, Get Marwood & I said:
Presumably because they would have been resized on the finished full pages when split, and would have ended up too big?
Definitely about sizing, but I was too lazy to look up comic vs art board size to see which way it would go.
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On 6/25/2022 at 9:12 AM, Get Marwood & I said:
They did a cracking job on extending the reflection lines, didn't they
I noticed that poor job as well.
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Interesting they had to extend the bottom panels.
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Here's another two for one original art page. From ASM 131, Doc Ock and Hammerhead throw down in an atomic power plant, while Spidey and Aunt May get out of dodge.
The word balloons aren't added here, which is different than the other original art pages in this issue. Must have used paste-ons.
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On 6/24/2022 at 12:44 PM, MattTheDuck said:
These issues were my jumping on point to a 33-year plus Spider-Man run. My brother bought two copies of ASM 150, because he knew it was going to be a collector's item, lol. ASM 153 was the first issue that I bought off the stands and ASM 154 with the sandman will always be fondly remembered.
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I'll ask again because it's been a while.
Does anyone have a pic of the Color Guide to Super-Giant Spider-Man #1? This would have been the originally planned 100 page issue of Giant-Size Spider-Man #1.
The color guide was on ebay several years back and I copied the image (which was on my computer that crashed), but have never seen it since.
Just curious.
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On 6/22/2022 at 11:29 PM, MR SigS said:
Who's signature is this? Gerry's?
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On 6/22/2022 at 6:32 PM, MattTheDuck said:
Thanks - they all have their problems due to being subscription copies, but I love them anyway!
Do you mean your books are subscription, or mail order? I never did order anything by mail order and now wish I had
My ASM subscription didn't start until around issue 190 or so.
I completed most of my ASM run via mail order. I loved it. Of course condition wasn't king, so grading wasn't important, especially to an 11 year old kid. I would beg my Mom to take me to get a postal money order or ask my older brother to write me a check, so I could order more and more issues.
I can still taste the anticipation of waiting for those books to arrive. It was like Christmas, opening the mail box and seeing that package.
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On 6/22/2022 at 3:31 PM, Get Marwood & I said:
Ah, the old what if...? eh.
Tell you what, that would make a good comic title wouldn't it. What you could do, is take existing characters and......
Never work, they'd try to put Spider-Man in the Fantastic Four, so some crazy stuff like that...
- ganni and Get Marwood & I
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On 6/17/2022 at 5:09 PM, MAR1979 said:
Annual 9 was a good read!
He's got a Juggernaut vibe to him. I had the Iron Man issue, but don't remember anything about it.
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On 6/22/2022 at 12:07 PM, MattTheDuck said:
Beautiful books Matt.
I got all these issues through mail order, having purchased issues 145, 148, and 153 off the rack, and then starting my run via mail order.
Bronze-Age Spideys
in Bronze Age Comic Books
Posted
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...