Spider-Variant

Well said Martin4. I suspect Hurricane Sandy may have finished it off, but that is a guess.

Before starting these real-life Ross Andru comparisons, I didn't know the Brooklyn Bridge from the GW either. I've gotten decent at recognizing them all now. Thanks to Ross, lol.

I've been across the George Washington bridge several times, but not sure about the Manhattan bridge. Ross put several bridges in his ASM run, but issue 138 is the only one I recall with the Manhattan bridge. The Queensboro was by far his favorite to depict.

And speaking of Flash Thompson's apartment in Far Rockaway, Ross revisits it in Amazing Spider-Man 176 (see all things return to the original thread topic). Ross does a good job of matching Flash's apartment building in ASM 176 and 177 to what he drew in ASM 138. There were some differences though, namely how the boardwalk seemed to be on all sides of the building, . Here, Tony DeZuniga handles the inking chores (this is up for auction on Heritage if anyone has the coins). I don't enjoy his inks on Andru as much as the other inkers teamed with Ross though. The first panel Goblin's face is splendidly evil . Oh, and poor Flash, unlike Dua Lipa, is not Levitating, bwa ha ha ha.

Ok, before I move on from the Mindworm's home from Amazing Spider-Man, here are all the real-life references Ross Andru used for Amazing Spider-Man 138. We follow Peter from the bombed out apartment he shared with Harry in Mid-Town Manhattan, along the FDR drive near the Manhattan Bridge, over the Marine Parkway Bridge, along Beach Channel Drive, via the Rockaway Beach Boulevard, to Flash Thompson's apartment. Oh, and passing the Mindworm's home along the way. This is another example of Ross not only putting real places in his story, but moving Spider-Man along the correct path while passing these real places. I've posted all of these before, but thought this would be a nice wrap up to the issue.

That's classic Romita.

Thanks Foggy. This was by far the hardest one to find. I wonder how many others exist that have never been identified. Gerry Conway has said Ross would come over to his apartment and go up on the rooftop and take pictures for reference for use in the Amazing Spider-Man. Mike Esposito said Ross used a book for the houses in Paris. There are more out there, but they may remain hidden. I smile knowing Ross probably saw the house and decided the story for ASM 138 should be in the city where he lived. Right down the road. Less than one mile. This amuses me greatly.

It's not on google street views, it's gone. Doubt anyone in the world would care today except a few nuts like myself.

Here is a slight view from the other side of the house, similar to the perspective Ross drew. Looks like the chimney is in the same place as well. I wonder who first discovered this and informed the owner his house was in a Marvel comic.

Thanks Adamantium. I could definitely see Norman Bates walking out of the front door.

After two years of searching, and probably over 12,000 photos searched. I proudly present for the first time, the actual residence that nearly got Ross Andru and Marvel sued ( https://www.cbr.com/spider-man-mindworm-rockaway-house/ ). I didn't think I would find it honestly and I was wondering if it was perhaps a hoax, lol. But here is a 1940ish photo of the home Ross used to model the Mindworm's house in Amazing Spider-Man 138. Is this really the house Spider-Variant, or are you just pulling our leg? I sometimes opine on how likely my real life references are when I am not 100%, but this is the house, I'd put it at 100.00000%. Mystery solved, case closed. Of all the other photos I looked at, none came close to I found this one. Why this house? Well, it was exactly one mile from where Ross lived when he drew the story in July/August 1974. So maybe he walked to the beach one day and saw it in passing and said, I could base a Spider-Man story on this. Is it still there? No, it appears that it has been torn down and replaced with an apartment building. I have not included the actual address just because I try to be caution on that stuff.

I can't find these images specifically, but the upper right image is a take on the Amazing Spider-Man 68 cover. The lower right image is a take on the Amazing Spider-Man #3 panel where Dr. Ock beats up Spider-Man. Not an exact match, but very close, including Dr. Ock's fist pump. I didn't see the others.

Yes, I agree on all points, although that 3rd Maguire movie was not good. I really liked the first Garfield movie. I think he is a better actor than Tobey.

One of those gents above was incredibly important to the Spider-Man franchise and the other is Tobey Maguire, lol. (To be fair I really enjoyed Tobey's take on Peter Parker and thought that first movie was very, very good)

That's probably why I only posted the photo with no explanations necessary, it just didn't need any words.

There is a high probability it has been torn down. I was searching through photos from 1983 through 1988, so I bet it was still standing in those. I google mapped some of the homes from the photos, and was surprised at how some have barely changed while others are nearly unrecognizable.

Just a reminder to all, the Mindworm house hunting challenge is still open. I have tried this past week to find a photo of this house and probably went through 6000 pictures of houses in the Far Rockaway area with no success. I saw some that were very similar but none that I thought I had found it. As stated before and referenced a few times (for example https://www.cbr.com/spider-man-mindworm-rockaway-house/, ) Ross nearly got Marvel sued by his depiction of a real house in Amazing Spider-Man 138. Here is the house Now, Marvel I think took this threat seriously, because look at the house as it appeared in Marvel Tales 115, which reprints ASM 138. A chimney was added, along with the removal of the columns and porch. The question is, does this house still stand today? There are a lot of older houses still in the Far Rockaway area, where the story in ASM 138 was set. So, it could still be there. But after about six months of off and on searching in the area using googlemaps, I cannot find a house that looks similar enough to this one. I do know some houses that were there in 1974 are no longer there. There is even one house on googlemaps in the area that is blurred, but looking from a satellite view down, I don't think it matches either. There are some clues above about it being on a cul-de-sac, but not a lot of cul-de-sacs in this area. It mentions "fans" were looking for the Mindworm, which leads me to think fans = kids and that it must be located near a school. But no luck there either. Anyway, if anyone has time to kill, jump into the Mindworm House Challenge and see if you can be the first to find it. As always, SV is providing the No Prize!

Yes, not sure Spider-Woman ever appeared in a Spider-Man book in the 70s but the converse is not true.

So sorry to read this. I saw the article posted by the OP last week and shot Steve an email at the address I had for him. Steve and I did a trade back in 2009 and his passion for Spider-Man was on full display. Prayers for his friends and family.

I don't recognize it, but never say never. I really love these cards. I have a really nice set I put in mylars right after I bought them. The art wasn't over the top like some later sets featured.

Tend to agree. Wow, looks like these cards are really taking off. I really like that 1990 Marvel Set by Impel. Some great artwork.

My Magneto hologram from that set has the back printed upside down as well. I don't know if this effects value either up or down though.

That's too funny, nice thread Steve, as usual.