Spider-Variant

Here is the sketch John did for me back in 2006. Classic.

Mrs. Spider-Variant and I both gave it an A minus. We really had fun.

Happy Birthday Ross! Born on this date in 1927. He left us way too early.

I met John and his wife at the 2006 NY Comic Con. I was moved nearly to tears while having John do a sketch in one of his art books. His wife was so nice and kind. I started collecting Amazing Spider-Man with issue 153, so I missed John's work off the stands, but as I collected all the back issues, I came to love his work. RIP John

Lee, you are the man! No worries about the large size, IMHO. I love that this thread pulls in all this unseen stuff on the Amazing Ross Andru. Your contributions have been great!

Both Len Wein and Ross Andru were born this month!

Oh, I couldn't agree more. Even his MTU art is much less polished than his ASM artwork. I'm just amazed at the work he was putting out when he was 60 years old, like that Blue Beetle page I posted.

Dude. you're like a founding member, IMHO!

Because a bunch of us geeks wanted to honor the man that brought us great memories in our comic collecting youth.

Probably a lot of Neal Adams in there but hard to say for sure.

Hey Ganni, are you asking if this is all Ross's work?

Ross was 60 years old when he drew this. Guy still had it. Inks by Danny Bulanadi, which I like here.

Well, again, I definitely preferred Giacoia inks over Andru. Couldn't agree more about Pollard, his stuff just didn't excite me. Laughing at the nude Spidey image, such a classic, lol.

I agree on nearly all fronts here. I do think that when Dave Hunt left the book at issue 170, the inking suffered some. Namely, I think without the third inker, the primary inker had to less time to do a great job. The detail that came with Dave's backgrounds is not small. Look at the ASM 151 incinerator as compared to the same incinerator in issue 180. Day and night. I also did not enjoy the cover to ASM 137. The cover to ASM 136 was amazing, the cover to ASM 137, the opposite. Generally, I did like Giacoia's inks better than Mike Esposito over Andru's pencils, but look at issue 161 for a great example of where Mike did a tremendous job.

Great book. I think my copy ended up being a 8.0 when I sent it for grading. I bought my copy via mail order back in the day for something like $3.

Hey @Garystar, I haven't found my background credits list but I know you missed the cover to ASM 139, below the Spider-Man logo.

Ahh, the old hidden credits in the newspaper trick... Dave Hunt did it twice in Amazing Spider-Man.

I love, love Romita. I was lucky enough to meet him at the NY ComicCon in 2006. What an awesome person and amazing talent! But, Ross Andru will always be my favorite Spider-Man artist. When I think of Spider-Man, it's the one Ross drew. He's not the best, but he\s definitely my favorite.

Awesome stuff. I'll go through my haphazard list and see if I can spot some you don't have.

Louis Leeds,

Hard to replace BB, um BL, with just anyone.

If memory serves, JJJ went through 3 secretaries before hiring Gloria Grant.

This couldn't have been said better, ever!

Not Ross, but from the 1978 Amazing Spider-Man Marvel Calendar. Plus it's correct for 2023.

Oh nothing. I like educating people on comics and he definitely has a bigger platform, so it's all good. Plus I don't own all the images and stuff, so anyone can recreate it. Just like my Andru stuff. Now a shout out wouldn't be a problem either, lol.😀