Spider-Variant

On 8/5/2023 at 3:52 PM, Nsschenks said:

Nice surprise here. Felt like a solid 9.4/9.6 to me, but I think I got a generous grader this round of submissions (something like 8 of the 13 books came back higher than expected). Props to @Claire_Thing for the bullseye!

Nice get.  I had it around a 9.4/9.6 myself.

On 8/7/2023 at 4:08 PM, trademarkcomics said:

I found it on eBay for less than $50 bucks a few years ago. 

Yes, those Zen pages don't go for much, but I think you got a deal.

On 8/7/2023 at 3:00 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Sorry!

The art from MTU #3 was so much better than Issue #1.  Amazingly so in my opinion.  Mike Esposito inked Issue #1, while Frank Giacoia inked #3.  

On 8/7/2023 at 3:00 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Sorry!

Yes, I knew you had that one too, you glutton!  

On 8/7/2023 at 12:46 PM, trademarkcomics said:

To establish my Ross Andru superfan street cred, here's something I have on my wall:

Original art by Andru/Esposito from Zen: The Intergalactic Ninja #2(Page #27---27 is my favorite number)

 

Beat that! 

Oh that's good stuff.  Steve has a page from ASM 137 and I like a fool, sold my page from ASM 145.  I honestly feel worse about selling that than my AF 15. 

On 8/7/2023 at 12:44 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Sic 'im Reggie! 

@Spider-Variant

  Reveal hidden contents

 

To be fair, we probably are a little bias Steve...

On 8/7/2023 at 12:29 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

If that Spidey head sketch is real I want it  

That sold for only $25.  I couldn't believe it.

On 6/16/2021 at 4:35 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Not sure if this is legit, but you'd expect a photo or two to exist of the event, wouldn't you and I can't find any after a quick search. 

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/amazing-spider-man-158-1976-fn-fn-542881290

Hey @cosmic-spider-man Steve found this little nugget two years ago.  The signature is hard to read though.  So, according to this, Ross did make a convention in 1992, but neither Steve nor I could find any info on it.

Damn, how cool would it have been to be there, on that day.  People had no idea what a talent this guy was back then.  This was about 1.5 years before this death.  

On 8/6/2023 at 10:07 AM, cosmic-spider-man said:

Yea they may not be real but I took a chance when I bought them. Got them on the bay probably about 20 years ago and I messaged the seller and he assured me they were legit and price was not that much so I bought them. 

Did he give you any idea how he obtained them?  I'm guessing Ross would have been a hard signature to get.  I've never seen him in a convention photo or any Marvel event for that matter.  If they are real great get, if not, you did alright.

Hmm, I don't know Terry.  It could be Ross and I do see some similarities, but I wouldn't bet my life on it.  Here are some signatures from the mid-seventies compared to your book's signatures, which at the earliest would have been in 1981.

On 8/5/2023 at 8:16 PM, cosmic-spider-man said:

Hey Reggie no I did not get a 147 until several years later, my first ASM buy was 151 new off the spinner rack at a local Drug Store. Then I missed 152 but bought 153 up and got my first subscription with 166 which came in the brown paper sleeves that was so cool, I did eventually get a 152 a few years later. 

I found some cool comics I bought some years back that I might post on here if anyone is interested. It is four Marvel Tales Issues with Ross Andru autographs not sure the auto's are real or not and they are a little hard to see as they are done in marker on dark colored areas but maybe I can get some opinions on that here.  I don't remember the issue numbers but one is the reprint of ASM #151 (reason I bought them) and all four also have Mark Jewelers Inserts. 

Oh man, I remember those brown wrappers like it was yesterday.  My subscription started much later, probably around Issue 188. 

Yes, definitely post those here.  Maybe we can validate it.

On 8/5/2023 at 1:09 PM, cosmic-spider-man said:

Posted this in the Double Cover thread so might as well put it here also.  

That's double cool.  Kind of like your Captain America variant 35 cent variant.

On 8/5/2023 at 2:09 PM, Spider-Variant said:

Anyone every get curious about that helicopter Ross drew on the splash of Amazing Spider-Man 147? For some reason, I up this morning and decided to find out about it.

As the story unfolds, Spidey is catching a ride on a helicopter to the city from the airport. He is returning from the Florida Everglades where he has just battled the Lizard and Man-Thing in GS Spider-Man #5. The story doesn't specifically identify the airport, but upon close observation, it can be identified as JFK airport.

The helicopter is a NY Airways Sikorsky S-55, based on my quick research. NY Airways was one of a few companies in NYC where you could take a helicopter from airport to airport, or even to the top of the Pan Am building. The company went out of business in 1979 after a couple of fatal crashes.

The weird thing for me was the floatation devices that Ross drew on the bottom of the aircraft. As I have come to find out after about three years of studying Ross's work, if he drew it, it was real. The flotation bags were required for flight over water with a single-engined helicopter. I'm not sure I would have trusted them though.

Ross does a great job on the helicopter. I feel Ross drew a better plane or helicopter, than he did cars. Ross drew one giant floatation device on the very bottom, but it looks like it was actually split. The only other nit was Ross had the arrow in the Sky Bus logo the wrong direction, but hell that is really nitpicking on my part.

Hey Terry, @cosmic-spider-man, did you buy this issue off the stands back in the day?  I missed this one, but bought 148 and 150.  Not sure why my collecting was so hit and miss until about issue 166, wherein I never missed another issue until 2009.  

On 8/5/2023 at 3:32 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

You should, Reggie - Buscema in ASM #80

Albeit jumbled and chopped up a bit.

Yup, that's where I was leaning.

Spidey looks bad in all blue.

On 8/5/2023 at 3:20 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Was it chopper? 

It rhymes with Broke.  Which is very apt for me.

Ok, a word was censored in my ASM 147 helicopter post.  Odd word to censor, but I promise the word I used was not dirty.  

On 8/5/2023 at 2:37 PM, themagicrobot said:

This artwork will be pre-Andru but I didn't know where else to put this (apart from the recycle/trash)?? Anyway the UK weekly TV21 featured "The Spider-Man" in two page reprints consisting of re-arranged panels in the early 1970s. Many strips in the comic were in colour and reasonably accurate. For this hardback Annual he looks OK on the cover but within he is oddly and inexplicably all-blue.

 

PS: This book must be the only place on the planet where Spidey, The Ringo Kid, the Silver Surfer and Homer the Happy Ghost share a book. 

Yes, that is weird.  I don't even recognize the story, but it looks like John Buscema art, so I can place the time period.

On 8/5/2023 at 2:20 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Nicely done once again, Reggie. Who doesn't love a great big chopper post 

Thanks Steve.  I was laying in bed with my Marvel Essentials volume 7 by my side and just opened it up to that splash.  I have always thought that bird was a little odd.  I thought, well hell, Ross puts the name of the company that owned it right on the side, probably be an easy google to dig into.

On 8/5/2023 at 5:23 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

I somehow managed to fluke this £20 eBay purchase in the week:

75p price variant!

I haven't read it for so long I can't remember what happens.

Something to do on a(nother) rainy day in Englandville 

 

Score!  I always wanted a Stan Lee signed copy.  Never bought one.  

Spoiler Alert:  Spider-Man and Superman win!

On 8/1/2023 at 10:14 AM, MR SigS said:

I didn't even notice my post was heavy with yellow  I guess I feel the same way.

Of course the light blue/blue background of ASM 148 is another favorite.  

I always found the covers with yellow backgrounds to be some of my favorite.  Probably the contrast between the yellow of the background and red and blue of Spidey' suit made them pop.  

Haven't bumped this in about 3 months.  

Original Art from the entire Spider-Man vs the Prodigy! comic sold over on Hake's for $19.2K.  There were 15 story pages that Ross laid out on 8 original art boards.  So, about $2,400 per art board.  There were some really nice pages Ross did for this book, but as it really isn't in the Spider-Man continuity, the book itself gets little love, which is ironic considering the story... 

Hmmm, did Spidey predict the future back in 1976 in that last panel?   

On 7/29/2023 at 6:17 AM, aabruzzese said:

Hi, 

I am finally getting back into the hobby after a 30 year absence and find myself questioning the relative rankinf of the various Spider Man titles.

When I had first started it was an even split between Amazing Spider-Man and Peter Parker Spectaular Spider-Man but for some reason I was finding a prefernce for the Peter-Parker titles as I found the covers more attractive

In so far as restating and filling the gaps, I am looking more at the Peter Paker books but am wondering if in general people value Amazing Spiderman more.

I find that the characater cross overs and key first appearances have a better growth potential when comparing FMV and long term value to be better on the Peter Parker series as opposed to Amazing Spider-Man.  I am no fortune teller, it just feels that way to me when I am looking at 
the books on Ebay and other sites. 

What do you guys think?

 

I'm not much of a collector nor speculator these day but wanted to give your thread a bump.