Spider-Variant

Another great Ross original art page over on Heritage Auctions, from Amazing Spider-Man 175.  This is page 22 but HA doesn't look they list the page number.

The somewhat interesting thing here is it looks like the image of the Punisher's head in that last panel was altered and a correction piece glued over the top, but appears removed to me.  The image below is what was published in the finished comic, meaning someone would have had to remove the correction piece before publishing.

Hmm, another theory is that is the corrected image and the glue just turned color after aging all these years.  Guess if I had a spare $15K I could find out, lol....

Cool page up on Comic Link.   I like the little note to the colorist to make sure the letter is yellow.  I wonder if the letters "U N" between the policemen in that first panel are for Dave Hunt?  Probably, but hard to say.

Wonder who did the doodles on the back page?  It looks like Ross wrote his name, but that doesn't look like his ink work.  Maybe Frank Giacoia, the inker for the issue.

On 2/26/2024 at 3:41 PM, MattTheDuck said:

A couple of early Bronze Age books from the @Dale Roberts recent blockbuster sale.

 

Oh, that Iron Man 29 is not an issue I see often.  Nice book!

On 2/19/2024 at 8:50 AM, kimik said:

Thank you for the info. So the yellow stickered copies are the harder ones to find. Sweet.

I found that thread to the odd ASM regular issue with the All Detergent sticker.  I complied a lot of data for the thread.  I would say based on a quick ebay search, more stickered copies are coming out into the open.

On 2/19/2024 at 12:15 PM, makeminemarvel said:

Picked up these Bronze Age Spideys from a Craigslist ad. In looking at my existing 143 compared to the new one the blue/purple stood out but upon further review it’s just fading. 

Maybe, maybe not on the fading.  There are a lot of blue copies out there.

On 2/19/2024 at 9:14 AM, kimik said:

Sorry to see that they destroyed the one copy trying to remove the sticker. I am debating whether to get my copy graded or not. It is nicer than the copies with stickers currently listed on eBay, but does the current market mean it is not worth it price-wise?

Not sure what these are going for today.  The copy I had was graded after I traded it and came back an 8.0.  Highest copy with a sticker I have seen.  Yours maybe higher but hard to determine a grade in the plastic bag.  Please post it if you do get it graded.

On 2/18/2024 at 1:13 PM, kimik said:

Yes. The All Detergent giveaway. There are three versions from what I can tell - no price without a sticker, a white sticker, and this yellow sticker. Not sure if one is rarer than the others.

Nice book.  There is really only one version of this book.  That is the No price with a yellow sticker.  Obviously the ones without the sticker, which are most copies, are just copies where someone has removed the yellow sticker.  The white stickers are really faded yellow stickers or white in appearance due to the nature of the photo. 

There is a thread with a regular priced issue of ASM 184 with the yellow sticker.  No one really knows much about it though.

I had at one time five copies with the sticker removed and one with the sticker still on it.  I traded the stickered copy for some nice loot.  I used to track this book on ebay to attempt to understand the distribution.  I found it was similar to the 35 cent variants, where there were definitely select distribution areas.

On 2/17/2024 at 2:42 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Is there a 1974 setting on that thing?

No, maybe 10 to 15 years in some spots is about as far back as you can go.

On 2/16/2024 at 10:52 PM, mr_highgrade said:

I know that Ross has a street sign that says Hudson Street, but that's on the opposite side of the Seaport, in Tribeca.

If Spidey was on Hudson street it would've taken him more than 16 seconds to get to the Seaport. 

 

Nice research.  I couldn't find the exact location, but who knows how it looked in 1974...

On 2/16/2024 at 11:00 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

 Not too deep Reggie. They float, you know...

You do know I was in the US Submarine force?  

Man, I love Ross's depiction of motion.  Those Parker legs just portray a hurried energy.

On 2/16/2024 at 9:09 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

You'd bet as much as fifty pence 

I had a root around myself to see if I could find anything Reggie. When you think how many references there are - Hudson Street, Day Line Tours, West Side Dock, the elevated motorway - you think you'd be able to find something. The best I could find was aerial images of the piers, but nothing that matched Ross's layout.

I found a boat that is very similar, if I get some time, going to do a deeper dive.  

I found a scan of the original art from ASM 134, page 2 with pencils by Ross, primary inks by Frank Giacoia, and background inks by Dave Hunt.  Now I have something to compare the Xerox that Dave Hunt made during production to the finished product.  I really loved this team of creators.

Dave puts in some hidden credits as well as a shout out to his son.  Love it.  Thanks again for @Lee B. for sharing all these Xeroxes.  Really appreciate it!

I'm fairly sure Ross modelled the opening scenes from a real location, but I never could find it.  I looked up and down Hudson Street on Google Maps to no avail.  Why do I think it's a real place?  The building behind the cruise boat has some unique features and the fire hydrant on the bottom panel would have no impact on the view if it were not there.  Ross found a spot and put everything he saw into it.  I would bet @Get Marwood & I 's paycheck that somewhere near Hudson Street this seen existed in 1974.  

Another thing to note.  Super-Giant Spider-Man #1.  Well it was a super-giant at 100 pages, until they pared it down to 60 pages and called it Giant-Size Spider-Man #1.

I'm a 5.5. 

Hey @cosmic-spider-man, how great was that issue?  That's one of the earliest issues i remember my older brother and I buying off the stands.

For those who have never seen this, or maybe just because I need a laugh today, here is Ross Andru's parody of the last page of Amazing Spider-Man 145, a beloved issue.

Scott Edelman, who worked at Marvel Comics at the time of this gag, stated the following on his Blog back in 2008. "But what those who weren’t lucky enough to be working in the Marvel Bullpen at the time never saw was the alternate version originally handed in by artist Ross Andru.  Perhaps someone else has already shared this wild panel with the world, but if not, here it is, thanks to a photocopy I’ve been carrying around all these years."

What's extremely cool is that Ross laid the gag portion of this page over the original pencils.  If you look close, you can see the line that runs down the middle (well about 2/3 of the way from the left side).  I fit the finished page over the pencils of the Gwen side below. 

I love that Ross had a sense of humor....

On 1/16/2024 at 9:09 PM, Ghost Town said:

I had a very similar experience. My first exposure to Spider-Man was in the mid-1970s with the Andru interior art and mostly Kane and Romita covers. When I went back and read the back issues with the Ditko art, I was shocked and wasn't a fan at all. I have come to respect it a little more over the years - particularly some of the covers and classic panels. But it's still a bit too primitive to me.

I think Steve's pencils work fine on the Hulk or monster books, but just not a smooth for Amazing Spider-Man.  But I like his version a lot more thank Kirby's.

On 1/12/2024 at 11:14 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

You'll kick yourself Reggie...

  Hide contents

 

Ha.  I was actually thinking this was from Superman vs the Amazing Spider-Man, I just didn't know which panel.  Alternate back cover, lol.

I wish they would have went with this image, just so cool.  Sure, Spidey may be giving a very slight nod to Superman, but it's just so cool!

On 1/12/2024 at 8:36 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

I like this story. But Mooney didn't do the Andru eyes quite right  

Who's inking the Spidey on the right?  I can't place the image.

I really liked Jim Mooney's inks over Ross's pencils, here from ASM 175.  I thought the inks were more defined than what Mike Esposito was doing toward the end of the run (see the last art board I posted from ASM 180 where I felt Mike was getting a little loose with his inking).

Really enjoyed this two part story with the Punisher and the Hitman.  I bought ASM 174 off the stands, but had to get ASM 175 via mail order.

This is the first original art that I have seen from issue 175.  I have been tracking Ross's art for sale or posted on sites for about 5-6 years, so to see a new page is always fun for me.

On 1/6/2024 at 3:14 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Sonic toad  

I love that page Reggie. One of the issues that inspired me to start this thread. I think upside down Silvermane in the first panel has an unintentional Ditko 'Creeper' aura, but other than that, nay. It's Andru all the way.

The Goblin's face from the first panel and Spider-Man's awkwardness from the fifth panel both have a hint of Ditko's art.  

Funny, for years I really disliked Ditko's art, because I was comparing him to Romita and Andru.  I slowly began to appreciate Steve's early version on Spidey, but it took many years.  Every now and again I find Andru panels that remind me of something Ditko could have created.

Original art from ASM 180, page 2.  Pencils Andru, Inks Esposito.

Hey @Get Marwood & I, looking at the original art page, it feels Ditkoesque to me.  What say you?

Happy New Year Everyone!

On 12/13/2023 at 1:50 PM, mysterio said:

Recently picked up the last 35 cent variant I needed for ASM.

 

Great book from a nice little 5 issue run to complete.  I actually bought ASM 173 35 cent variant off the stand back in the day, didn't even know I had a variant until nearly 30 years later.  The others I got off eBay, some not listed as variants.  Loved the hunt.

On 11/21/2023 at 3:20 PM, Mr.Fantastic said:

First, let me state that I'm not a price variant collector.  But, the story behind this recent purchase goes like this.......

Eight year old me was standing at the spinner rack in my local convenience store. Among my choices were this book, which instantly popped out at me due to the cover, and the fact that it was ¢35 while most others were still ¢30.  I spent the extra nickel and opted for this one, cause I already had the #1 issue. Took it home, read it, and laid it on top of a magazine rack where it stayed for years.(for some reason I always kept this book on top)  It stayed there until I was about 17 years old, when I traded to a friend of mine who came over and looked through my books. It was a book that I saw every time I walked into my room as a kid for almost ten years.  So, when I saw it this week in this condition, I brought it "home".

I too had noticed my Spectacular Spider-man copy had went up to 35 cents when I bought it in Memphis back in the day, but was pleasantly surprised it was back to 30 cents when I bought the next issue in Georgia.  It took me 35 years to understand why.

Also up for auction, same place as the page above it.

This is a splash where I think Dave Hunt could have really improved it, with more textured inking than Mike Esposito has here.  Towards the end of Ross's run, I thought the art wasn't as good it had been previously.