Spider-Variant

On 7/29/2023 at 3:02 PM, AJLewandoski said:

Today was interesting...Best dealer at the flea market had this in his key boxes. He said he got a collection that had caught on fire, and this was one of the books worth saving (obviously) The outer edges have been singed away, but it barely touches the edge of the art. I asked if it was complete,  he said he thought the stamp was gone, so I flipped through to check and unfortunately the whole page the stamp was on was cut out. Well after that discovery he said he'd do rock bottom on it just to get rid of it.

So for the low low price of $20 this was able to come home with me. I know a lot of people probably wouldn't touch it in this shape, but I'm happy to add it to my collection 

$20 will almost get you two meals at McDonald's these days.  That book is a better buy and much healthier for you.  Good job! 

On 6/22/2023 at 8:06 AM, Frisco Larson said:

No problem. I'm curious, where's your cut-off for Bronze?

Probably somewhere just over issue 200 or so, but I haven't put much effort into in years.  Like I have opined, it felt like comics changed for me when Ross Andru left ASM after issue 185.  I'm sure that's a minority opinion, but the book seemed different at the time back in the day.  It seemed like the backgrounds were less detailed and just less in general.  Now to be fair, I only collected a few series at that time, so I didn't have a great sense of what else was happening in the Marvel Universe.

On 7/27/2023 at 8:11 AM, rlextherobot said:

I'm sure folks here are aware of this letter from ASM 150, but on the offchance someone hasn't seen it...

Hey @rlextherobot, welcome to the Ross Andru thread.  Yes, we posted that toward the beginning of this thread.  There's even a real life recreation of the page Frank mentions in that letter in this thread as well.    Keeping posting cool finds.

On 7/24/2023 at 12:44 PM, MAR1979 said:

Collectors who were 45 years old 20 years ago will be 75 years of age in 10 years. Much much greater attrition is coming than has already occured. Time is relentless and human life is fleeting.

Unless younger Cerebus fans replace those aging out the lofty FMV will decrease.  

, forgetting how old we collectors are becoming.

Haven't looked at this list in years.

What happened to Amazing Spider-Man 121 and 122?  Surprised to see ASM 101 above both of those.

What about the 35 cent variant Scooby Doo?

On 7/21/2023 at 6:41 PM, ganni said:

Five Years of fashion trends! 

 

I would totally wear this, if Steve would let me borrow it, lol.

Hey @Get Marwood & I and gang,

July 21 (which it already is across the pond) marks the fifth year of us posting about Ross Andru and the Amazing Spider-Man comics we loved as kids.  I just wanted everyone to know that I have enjoined the last five years chatting with all of you.  

Steve started this thread originally as an ode to ASM 176 through 180, but we quickly expended it to include Ross's entire run on the series.  I admit I have even snuck in other interesting, non-Spider-Man art as well.

  Here's looking at another five years!  

Better without the hatchings on the roof?  I think it makes Spider-Man pop off the page.

This splash looks so much better in black and white to me, almost like the quality of Marvel's printing at the time detracted from the art.  I don't like the hatchings on the roof either, but I love this so much more in black and white than colored.

I found this cool scan of the original art for Giant-Size Spider-Man #4 splash page.  If you look at the bottom of the art board, there's no room for the indicia below the end of the art and it almost looks like it was glued over some of the art.  But if I look at a scan from the actual comic, the indicia fits just fine.  But look at the splash itself, it's tilted slightly to the right, where Ross's upper boarder is straight across.  It looks like perhaps Marvel reduced the original art page slightly and then added the indicia below it, but they were a little careless and the page ended up tilted.

Why these little quirks fascinate me, who knows.....

And even more humility from a man I feel would be a "rock star" in the comics industry if he were alive in the age of Internet and large comic cons.

Here's another letter from Ross Andru to Joey Thingvall (the actor and comic book collector).

It proves what we Andru fans had already deduced, that Ross Andru was an unassuming man.

On 7/14/2023 at 12:25 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Doesn't it just. Especially the backwards pointing left arm with its split fingers. There's something ever so slightly off with the Andru eyes though in these panels. 

Any pictures? 

I actually wish I did.  We built plywood fake guitars and put smoke bombs in them.  We had makeup and platform shoes.  Would love to have a picture of those days.

The way Spidey lands here screams Andru to me.  Those platforms, Steve, remind me of the time my brothers and I used to dress up like members of the band KISS, lol.

Hey Steve, which panel on these two pages is most Andruey? See if we think alike.

On 7/13/2023 at 3:48 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Is the Prodigy related to the Mindworm do you think, Reggie? 

Well, the way he was sporting your clothes from  the seventies I thought he may have been a relative of yours, lol.

I really like this two page sequence from Spider-Man vs the Prodigy.  Really great inking.

On 7/10/2023 at 6:34 AM, Lee B. said:

Happy Monday all!  Here's another vintage photocopy of partially inked art for ASM #131 (page 6).  Cheers, Lee

Thanks Lee.  Really nice work by Dave on that helicopter.  

On 7/7/2023 at 2:17 PM, Lee B. said:

Hi all!  ComicLink has listed a set of vintage photocopies of partially inked for Amazing Spider-Man #134:

https://www.comiclink.com/Auctions/item.asp?back=%2FComicTrack%2FAuctions%2Fauctions_first.asp&id=1695993

There aren't a lot of good full-page scans in the listing, but you can see some partial page images.  Or you could win the auction and have it all!  All proceeds go to the family of Dave Hunt.  Cheers, Lee

Thanks Lee, appreciate the heads up.  I love these pencil scans with Dave's inks.  So cool.

On 7/2/2023 at 9:53 AM, cosmic-spider-man said:

Hey Reggie really nice find on that Airport very Cool and a big thumbs up.  

Thanks Terry.  Not many left to find, but I do spot a thing or two now and again.

I do think Ross used some real buildings in ASM 143 and 144, but none that I haven't identified are famous.  In other words, a needle in a haystack to find.

Hey @cosmic-spider-man, how are things going my friend?

Here's another Ross Andru real-life reference I found in Amazing Spider-Man 143.  It's nothing major and I should have spotted it before, as there are not many airports Peter Parker was going to fly into in Paris.

It's a really good match to Charles de Gaulle airport.  As usual, I highlight the matching features.  It fits the detailed work did on this book, as Ross depicts a great JFK earlier in ASM 143 and at the end of ASM 144.

On 6/28/2023 at 4:58 PM, MIL0S said:

Thanks for the info, I sent a message and received a reply but unfortunately he doesn’t recall if/where it was published.

I looked around a little, but could not find it.  Very nice piece.  

I found this email address for him online.  No idea if he still uses it.

ronadrian@gmail.com

On 6/23/2023 at 8:44 PM, MaxStats said:

A friend of mine bought me this last year for my birthday but I just got the grade in the mail today today!

That's what I call a good friend.