Spider-Variant

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.  

On 6/23/2023 at 12:18 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

This is such an Andruey pose / look, isn't it: 

That's an actual adjective you know, 'Andruey'.

 

That's the panel that my eyes get drawn too, Steve.  Exactly my feelings, very Andruey!

I really like Ross's and Mike's art in this one shot from 1976 for Planned Parenthood.  Amazing Spider-Man vs Prodigy.

I enjoy finding the little notes on the art board.  Here, to the Artist:  Fix Face.    You can see the white out on the guy's nose on the lower right, apparently the needed fix.  Another note to the colorist is to keep the villain green.

And in great Ross tradition of adding a NYC feel to the story, here Spidey is scaling the Pan Am building.

On 6/21/2023 at 5:55 PM, Frisco Larson said:

Since it's CGC's website, I went with their definition in their glossary which states: BRONZE AGE. CGC Registry term for comics published 1970 through 1984. I used to say thru 1979 but it's not my most collected area, so I yielded to their cut-off designation. 

Thanks, just curious.

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

On 6/13/2023 at 10:23 AM, Lee B. said:

Hi Reggie and all!  Here's a vintage photocopy from ASM #131, courtesy of the Dave Hunt estate.  Sorry again for the huge size.  Enjoy!  Cheers, Lee

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!

On 5/28/2023 at 11:33 AM, MAR1979 said:

The argument might be made that in his early to mid 60's Andru hit his artistic peak. 

IMHO his ASM then later his Superman work and many DC covers were noticeably more polished than his earlier art

 

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.

On 5/28/2023 at 3:26 AM, ganni said:

Hi, I'm Reagan. I'm a geek since the bronze age.  People here call me Ganni or Gan.  And back in the 70s.  I read "Ross" name  like the flower "Rose".  So what do I have to do to be part of the RAASM club?

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

On 5/27/2023 at 2:32 AM, ganni said:

Yes... the superman fly by doesn't feel like any drawing done by Ross

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

On 5/25/2023 at 11:22 PM, ganni said:

Pure ?

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

On 5/15/2023 at 4:33 PM, sledgehammer said:

We'll just have to agree to disagree on that one. I did just look at 161, and it's just not at the same level.

There's artwork of The Punisher's face, where he looks 60. The contrast between that comic, and 129, 135, is just so striking.

I don't think it's 100% on Esposito, either, but I'm pretty sure that it's close..

I remember already starting to be disappointed by the interior art at 157 and 158, and it just was never the same for me after that.

I don't know if it was on the colorist, but somebody has to take some blame for this classic from 157, where somebody forgot to put his pants on, and he appears to be talking out of his butt.

 

Even Pollard, though some of the covers were really nice, never did much for me with his interior art.

It was the JR JR covers and interior art that finally got me a bit interested again. I think it was 210 that was the first time I really took notice.

Which was really amazing to me, after seeing his amateur hour debut at the end of that one annual in '76 or '77.

 

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.

On 5/15/2023 at 6:52 AM, sledgehammer said:

Within the last week, I was  looking at the interior art of 137, which has one of the most hideously stupid covers of the whole run. Even at 10 years old, I reached that conclusion.

The interior art by Andru is fantastic, and it's a first class shame that the splash page, did not end up being worked out to be the cover.

The page posted above just doesn't come close to what he did from the mid 120s to the mid 140s..

Whether he was just getting tired of it, or Dave Hunt and Frank G were just that much better than Esposito, I can only have my opinion, which is yes.

To me, it's like watching the Jim Mooney influence on Romita's art. It's nothing like the beauty of Romita's work around 109-122.

 

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.

On 5/10/2023 at 12:37 PM, Jordysnordy said:

CGC and raw picture

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.

On 5/10/2023 at 5:42 PM, Garystar said:

Good call. Cap #154 page 14 panel 6;

cap #163 page 5 panel 4;

Ahh, the old hidden credits in the newspaper trick...

Dave Hunt did it twice in Amazing Spider-Man.

On 5/10/2023 at 11:01 AM, Garystar said:

When I was reading Amazing Spider-man, mostly reprints, in the 1970s I became aware of a re-occurrence of certain letters in the backgrounds but could never quite work out what the pattern was. Years later I discovered the answer; By the 70s Tony Mortellaro was working with John Romita Snr on the art for Amazing-Spider-man, John was doing the breakdowns and figure-work whilst Tony was filling in the detail and backgrounds. However Marvel would not include Tony’s name in the credits so Tony began slipping in his credit within the story art, therefore the credit, or part thereof, of “BACKGROUNDS BY MORTELLARO” began appearing. Now whenever I read an early 70s Spider-man I always look out for “BACKGROUNDS BY MORTELLARO” and have started to catalogue where they appear.

A work in progress, these are the occurrences I have found to date, grateful for any additions;

ISSUE	PAGE	PANEL	WHERE	WHAT IT SAYS
SPIDER-MAN 52	20	5	BILLBOARD	UNDS LARO
SPIDER-MAN 53	1	1	BILLBOARD	BACK OUNDS B MORT L
SPIDER-MAN 56	12	3	POSTER	RDS Y ARO
SPIDER-MAN 98	1	1	BILLBOARD	BACK BY MOR
SPIDER-MAN 99	1	1	BILLBOARD	BAC MO LARO
SPIDER-MAN 99	19	7	BILLBOARD	BAC GROU S BY MOR E
SPIDER-MAN 100	1	1	BILLBOARD	BAC OUNDS M TE
SPIDER-MAN 105	2	3	BILLBOARD	BAC GROUN MORTELLA
SPIDER-MAN 107	1	1	BUILDING SIGN	LLARO
SPIDER-MAN 107	15	3	SIGNS	O NDS MORT
SPIDER-MAN 108	1 - 3	-	CAR NUMBER PLATES	TM 45 and MO
SPIDER-MAN 108	7	2	BILLBOARD	BAC MOR
SPIDER-MAN 108	14	5	BOOK TITLE	BACKG R D BY MORTELLA
SPIDER-MAN 109	4	1	BUILDING	BACK ROUNDS BY MOR LLARO
SPIDER-MAN 110	1	1	BILLBOARD	GROUNDS LARO
SPIDER-MAN 111	20	1	WATERTANK	BACK MORT
SPIDER-MAN 112	2	3	BILLBOARD	BAC M
SPIDER-MAN 112	4	2	WASTE BIN	NDS Y ARO
SPIDER-MAN 112	5	2	BILLBOARD	BAC ROU M TEL RO
SPIDER-MAN 112	5	3	SHOP SIGN	MO
SPIDER-MAN 113	CREDIT AS ART ASSISTS
SPIDER-MAN 114	9	2	SHOP SIGN	M RO BA
SPIDER-MAN 114	16	6	BILLBOARD	BAC BY MORT
SPIDER-MAN 115	CREDIT AS ART ASSIST
SPIDER-MAN 115	8	3	WATER TOWER	BACK MORT
SPIDER-MAN 116	1	1	WATER TOWER	BAC MOR
SPIDER-MAN 116	1	1	BUILDING POSTER	OUNDS LLARO
SPIDER-MAN 116	2	3	BUILDING POSTER	BACK
SPIDER-MAN 116	10	4	BILLBOARD	BA MO
SPIDER-MAN 117	CREDIT AS ART
SPIDER-MAN 118	CREDIT AS ART
SPIDER-MAN 118	6	1	WATER TOWER	BAC MOR
SPIDER-MAN 118	6	5	SIGN	BY OR LAR
SPIDER-MAN 118	8	3	SHOP SIGN	LARO
SPIDER-MAN 119	4	4	BILLBOARD	BA MO
SPIDER-MAN 120 - 125	CREDITED
SPIDER-MAN 120	5	6	SIGN	ARO
SPIDER-MAN 120	8	4	SHOP SIGN	BAC ORTELLARO
SPIDER-MAN 120	10	4	SHOP SIGN	BACK UNDS
SPIDER-MAN 121	5	6	SHOP SIGN	ARO
SPIDER-MAN 121	7	1	3 X SIGNS	BA OUNDS MO ARO O
SPIDER-MAN 121	8	2	3 X SIGNS	MOR ACKGR EL
SPIDER-MAN 121	10	3	SHOP SIGN	BACK
SPIDER-MAN 121	12	6	NEWSPAPER	AC MO TEL
SPIDER-MAN 122	9	1	BILLBOARD	BACK MORT
SPIDER-MAN 122	12	1	BILLBOARD	ROUNDS LARO
SPIDER-MAN 122	19	6	POSTER	BACK BY MOR
SPIDER-MAN 123	COVER		WATER TOWER/BILLBOARD	NDS MOR
SPIDER-MAN 123	5	7	POSTER	NDS Y ARO
SPIDER-MAN 123	7	6	SIGN	NDS ARO
SPIDER-MAN 123	8	6	BILLBOARD	MO
SPIDER-MAN 123	9	2	BILLBOARD	UNDS LARO
SPIDER-MAN 124	1	1	BILLBOARD	NDS ARO
SPIDER-MAN 125	COVER		SIGN	MORTEL
SPIDER-MAN 125	2	6	BILLBOARD	B CK ROU MOR LLAR
SPIDER-MAN 125	3	1	SIGN/WATER TOWER	BAC U M / M
SPIDER-MAN 125	17	2	SIGN	BAC MOR
SPIDER-MAN 126	COVER		WATER TOWER	MO
SPIDER-MAN 130	COVER		SIGN/WATER TOWER	M / MOR
SPIDER-MAN 132	CREDIT AS ART ASSIST
SPIDER-MAN 132	16	3	SIGN	KG BY TEL
SPIDER-MAN GIANT-SIZE 2	COVER		WATER TOWER	MOR
CAPTAIN AMERICA 138	1	1	BILLBOARD	BAC BY MORTEL

 

Inspired to do this because of @Spider-Variant and @Get Marwood & I work in the Ross Andru / Dave Hunt thread over in Bronze.

List compiled from Essentials  - some of these references were removed from the printed version (eg #105) but appear in the reprints. 
Original;

Reprint;

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

On 5/9/2023 at 10:04 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Indeed. Come to think of it, Ned Leeds....? Les Leeds, surely? 

Louis Leeds,