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Ross Andru's Amazing Spider-Man Club
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2,691 posts in this topic

On 10/10/2022 at 6:44 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Morning :)

I've probably told this story before, but back in the day I used to buy the UK published Spider-Man Comics Weekly as a kid from my local paper shop in Barking (get your jokes in now). The comic went through a number of title changes in its 666 issue run, and was titled Super Spider-Man from issue 158 all the way up to #310, the latter of those issues being the ones I collected each week. I loved the format and everything about that comic, especially its 'longways' phase as I used to call it (portrait and landscape weren't in the average ten year old's vocabulary back then).

Here are two examples from the run I collected and loved:

133.thumb.jpg.d9bc58cf45b2ad688aed78500b5a89ee.jpg 129.thumb.jpg.9666e5b3aedd20ac56d8a9d6dfb10951.jpg

Anyway, one of my earliest memories as a collector was when I went to the paper shop to pick up the latest Super Spider-Man and found this:

312.thumb.jpg.6af61d7f11dfb6868c714447c4e893d7.jpg

It's actually #312, dated January 1979, so I must have missed #311 which was actually the first in this 'new' format.

To this day I can remember how gutted I was that they had changed - and ruined - my favourite weekly comic. Devastated, I was. For some reason, the interior story is etched on my mind and I can remember thinking "No - that's not the drawing style I like", or something to that affect. Everything was different and I hated it.

I spotted the copy above for 25p at the London Fair yesterday and the memories came flooding back, especially when the interior story, which I'd forgotten the specifics of, was again revealed to me 40+ years later (I only remembered that I hated it):

312b.thumb.jpg.aa51bdd1e33ecf7e420fadd45e4582bc.jpg

Whoops! lol

Awesome (and painful it appears) story Steve.  

Were you able to discern the reworked Splash pages from the rest of the story art during the 'longways' phase?  Some of it was quite close, others not so much.  And it was never credited (to my knowledge, though I don't study these books too often).

 

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On 10/10/2022 at 7:49 PM, Spider-Variant said:

Were you able to discern the reworked Splash pages from the rest of the story art during the 'longways' phase?  Some of it was quite close, others not so much.  And it was never credited (to my knowledge, though I don't study these books too often).

Not that I remember at the time Reggie, no. I do remember "Wiggle my webs and call me shaky" though. Does that help? :bigsmile:

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...someone was mucking about in this issue though - see additional Hotel wall Spider in the expanded UK panels!

Spider-Man Comic #312:
sc312.thumb.jpg.5faea96050f180e140264708ccd8c58d.jpg

Marvel Super-Heroes #14:
msh11.thumb.PNG.225ff1838bfbc7f226e426122a324d4f.PNG

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On 10/10/2022 at 8:04 PM, Spider-Variant said:

No sir, but I like it....

That's neat. 

Phew.

Now, you're good at these - where is this Spidey pose from?

sc312b.thumb.jpg.31c47b250a38be09d4e4d0185f416c08.jpg

Is it an Andru?

And does he have two right feet? hm

sc312c.PNG.53b8c74c6c7704306f1b811c4b3ee7a7.PNG

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On 10/10/2022 at 3:06 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Phew.

Now, you're good at these - where is this Spidey pose from?

sc312b.thumb.jpg.31c47b250a38be09d4e4d0185f416c08.jpg

Is it an Andru?

And does he have two right feet? hm

sc312c.PNG.53b8c74c6c7704306f1b811c4b3ee7a7.PNG

That's from Superman vs the Amazing Spider-Man

No, I don't think it is Andru.

Yes, two right feet.  

image.thumb.png.77fe0f28a82c3c52fbaab15bbcff38cd.png

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On 10/10/2022 at 8:09 PM, Spider-Variant said:

That's from Superman vs the Amazing Spider-Man

No, I don't think it is Andru.

Yes, two right feet.  

 

I knew it wouldn't take you long :bigsmile:

1345865871_sc312b(2).jpg.464e7e3422d9d9dc2c477c0f6394b8f1.jpg 713854943_sc312d(2).png.dea529efd04311b66d28caa4a5e1280f.png

Fancy copying the two right feet, whoever it was...

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Thinking about it, I wonder how Ross felt when he saw parts of his art redrawn by John?

Capture.PNG.d20be18455f924b1c88900b2b325278e.PNGCaptureb.thumb.PNG.76769faf006782a6638b8851412833fb.PNG

It happened a few times after all (ASM #185's Spidey face)

Do we think Ross was OK with it, or silently simmering? My money's on the latter. 

Maybe John based Peter's expression on Ross's, when he saw how he reacted to amendments...

Spoiler

Capture.PNG.d20be18455f924b1c88900b2b325278e.PNG "He's redrawn my Parker! Bastard!:mad:

 

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On 10/15/2022 at 11:17 AM, MAR1979 said:

My first slabbed Andru ASM is back. Perhaps the 1974 Andru ASM's I submitted Econ early Nov 2021 will be back this year?

A $18 1999 con raw purchase from Motor City - BTW my strips indicated White Pages, did CGC pay their overhead lighting bills?

ASM174.thumb.jpg.e15cc6da9192d6d90eb70c27a84aa6f1.jpg

 

 

Nice book.

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On 10/15/2022 at 2:17 PM, MAR1979 said:

My first slabbed Andru ASM is back. Perhaps the 1974 Andru ASM's I submitted Econ early Nov 2021 will be back this year?

A $18 1999 con raw purchase from Motor City - BTW my strips indicated White Pages, did CGC pay their overhead lighting bills?

ASM174.thumb.jpg.e15cc6da9192d6d90eb70c27a84aa6f1.jpg

 

 

9.8 bombshell❤️❤️‼️

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True or False   Ross Andru drew the Black Costume Spidey.

True actually.

Here is the rare event from The Spider-Man Graphic Novel: Fear Itself from February 1992, 21 months before he passed.  Inks by Mike Esposito.

I love Mr. Andru's work, but I felt the work in this issue wasn't quite as polished as usual.

lf?set=path%5B2%2F4%2F5%2F6%2F8%2F24568926%5D&call=url%5Bfile%3Aproduct.chain%5D

 

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Not Ross Andru, but pure Bronze Age cross-over goodness.  Sal Buscema and Frank Giacoia from Nova 12, which leads into the fondly remembered Amazing Spider-Man 171.  I collected Nova as well as the Amazing Spider-Man, so this was a match made in heaven.

lf?set=path%5B2%2F6%2F9%2F9%2F9%2F26999770%5D&call=url%5Bfile%3Aproduct.chain%5D

 

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On 10/29/2022 at 2:41 AM, Spider-Variant said:

Not Ross Andru, but pure Bronze Age cross-over goodness.  Sal Buscema and Frank Giacoia from Nova 12, which leads into the fondly remembered Amazing Spider-Man 171.  I collected Nova as well as the Amazing Spider-Man, so this was a match made in heaven.

lf?set=path%5B2%2F6%2F9%2F9%2F9%2F26999770%5D&call=url%5Bfile%3Aproduct.chain%5D

 

I know this will probably sound silly, and the memory cheats of course, but I'm sure this story was the first time I was consciously aware that 'someone else' was drawing Spidey. 

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On 10/29/2022 at 4:25 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

I know this will probably sound silly, and the memory cheats of course, but I'm sure this story was the first time I was consciously aware that 'someone else' was drawing Spidey. 

The first time I really noticed was when Ross left after issue 185.  Issue 186 was just so different and unappealing to me.  I sometimes say that it was the end of my Bronze Age.   Ross's departure from Amazing Spider-Man really resonated with me as a twelve year old.

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