Ross Andru's Amazing Spider-Man Club 9 9

[Spider-Variant]

On 12/8/2021 at 10:47 AM, FoggyNelson said:

The roof is purple , this must be an error😜😜🤣 

When you really look at a lot of these comics, the color choices were all over the map.

 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 12/8/2021 at 2:59 PM, Spider-Variant said:

That is some good research right there Steve.

I hadn't even heard about this poster.  Who's the artist?  Looks like Sinnott inks to me, but can't place the penciller.

 

Not sure. I thought I recognised the Spidey and Torch poses, so maybe it's an amalgamation of other images. Hulk looks rough though, doesn't he 

[Spider-Variant]

On 12/8/2021 at 11:24 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Not sure. I thought I recognised the Spidey and Torch poses, so maybe it's an amalgamation of other images. Hulk looks rough though, doesn't he 

He looks a little messed up, like not all there.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 12/8/2021 at 4:27 PM, Spider-Variant said:

He looks a little messed up, like not all there.

Yes. Maybe that, or he's just realised that something unplanned has arrived in his pants. Gamma influenced flatulence is a dangerous thing, after all....

[ganni]

MCU/MTVU (Marvel tv Universe) shout-outs to Andru & the Gang in Hawkeye eps 4....

 

[Spider-Variant]

On 12/8/2021 at 7:56 PM, ganni said:

MCU/MTVU (Marvel tv Universe) shout-outs to Andru & the Gang in Hawkeye eps 4....

 

It took me a minute to figure that one out.  Getting old.

[Spider-Variant]

Sometimes I look at a Ross Andru panel from his run on the Amazing Spider-Man and absolutely know he used a real life reference. How do I know? It either has something in it that doesn't add to the drawing artistically or it has something in it that I have no idea what Ross has drawn. An example of the former idea is illustrated by his depiction of the street light in the dead center of the panel from Issue 138 (see the bottom comparison which I have shared before). In perusing the ASM 141 splash, I found something that really stood out to me that I had no idea what it was. I had looked for the building on this splash page before with no good matches.

As posted earlier on this board, ASM 141 was set in the Wall Street/Battery Park area and Ross had depicted the Federal Building, the World Trade Towers, the Whitehall Building Annex, and Pier A (where Spidey drove the Spider-Mobile right off that sucker).

But what the heck did Ross draw on the splash page. I wondered? I think Ross drew the Bankers Trust Building (now 14 Wall Street). There are a lot of good things that match, like the intricate work above the windows and the building stone in some spots. But the columns don't match very well. So why do I think that Ross used this building and made a few alterations.

The air raid siren (circled in yellow and identified by me after some sleuthing) affixed to the light post. It's at the exact spot it would be if Ross were standing on the street looking at the Bankers Trust Building. In my first comparison, the light post that the air siren is attached to matches. In the second, I use an older picture to provide a little more detail and the lamp post is much older. It almost looks like when they replaced the lamp post in the late sixties/early seventies, the air raid siren just got mounted to the new post.

Am I 100% sure? No, but it makes a lot of sense to me. The air raid siren adds nothing to this panel except possibly realism beyond need and I'm guessing 99.9% of Spidey readers had no idea what it was. That's why I love Ross. He went the extra mile (plus).

 

Edited December 9, 2021 by Spider-Variant

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 12/8/2021 at 9:56 PM, Spider-Variant said:

Sometime I look at a Ross Andru panel from his run on the Amazing Spider-Man and absolutely know he used a real life reference. How do I know? It either has something in it that doesn't add to the drawing artistically or it has something in it that I have no idea what Ross has drawn. An example of the former idea is illustrated by his depiction of the street light in the dead center of the panel from Issue 138 (see the bottom comparison which I have shared before). In perusing the ASM 141 splash, I found something that really stood out to me that I had no idea what it was. I had looked for the building on this splash page before with no good matches.

As posted earlier on this board, ASM 141 was set in the Wall Street/Battery Park area and Ross had depicted the Federal Building, the World Trade Towers, the Whitehall Building Annex, and Pier A (where Spidey drove the Spider-Mobile right off that sucker).

But what the heck did Ross draw on the splash page. I wondered? I think Ross drew the Bankers Trust Building (now 14 Wall Street). There are a lot of good things that match, like the intricate work above the windows and the building stone in some spots. But the columns don't match very well. So why do I think that Ross used this building and made a few alterations.

The air raid siren (circled in yellow and identified by me after some sleuthing) affixed to the light post. It's at the exact spot it would be if Ross were standing on the street looking at the Bankers Trust Building. In my first comparison, the light post that the air siren is attached to matches. In the second, I use an older picture to provide a little more detail and the lamp post is much older. It almost looks like when they replaced the lamp post in the late sixties/early seventies, the air raid siren just got mounted to the new post.

Am I 100% sure? No, but it makes a lot of sense to me. The air raid siren adds nothing to this panel except possibly realism beyond need and I'm guessing 99.9% of Spidey readers had no idea what it was. That's why I love Ross. He went the extra mile (plus).

 

Ours go off 1st Wednesday of every month for the test. I cant imagine them being that close to the ground back then.

They're loud now and heard for miles, but I dont really ever notice the poles but maybe once or twice in my life

Funny thing that!

[Spider-Variant]

On 12/8/2021 at 11:04 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

Ours go off 1st Wednesday of every month for the test. I cant imagine them being that close to the ground back then.

They're loud now and heard for miles, but I dont really ever notice the poles but maybe once or twice in my life

Funny thing that!

Yes, I wonder if they even tested them.  You can go to youtube and find a few audio examples, very loud.

[Spider-Variant]

And just so I have a log of it for later.

Here is one last look (I promise, I promise) at the Splash of ASM 141.  I found a picture that had the fire hydrant (I was sort of challenged to find a shot with it by a coworker today as I shared some of my comic passion with him).   Streets are a lot less crowded as compared to google maps images today.

[Spider-Variant]

I reached out to Michele Esposito, Mike Esposito's daughter, about a photo she had posted on Facebook a few months back.  She shared some great information and said I could share it as well.  She seems like a really nice person.  

"My dad and Ross bought their houses in Howard Beach, Queens together around the time (1957) that picture was taken. We lived at one end of the street and Ross and his wife at the other. My brother and I would walk to Ross's house to pick up pages he had finished penciling and bring them home to my dad to ink. I would stand at Ross's desk while he was penciling and watch him work. He always had an eraser in one hand and pencil in the other. As he would sketch, he would erase. If I remember correctly his interior walls were colored black and white. Like, in a room, 3 walls were white and one black. I guess he liked the look of the comic pages. We were very close with them until they moved to Rockaway. I don't remember what year that was. At that point I would ride with my dad when he would drive to Ross's to pick up work. Stay a few minutes as they talked and go back home. I remember his house in Rockaway. It  backed to the water and his workroom was a back bedroom. He broke the back wall and had a huge glass window installed so he could watch the planes taking off from Kennedy Airport as he worked." 

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 12/10/2021 at 10:02 AM, Spider-Variant said:

I reached out to Michele Esposito, Mike Esposito's daughter, about a photo she had posted on Facebook a few months back.  She shared some great information and said I could share it as well.  She seems like a really nice person.  

"My dad and Ross bought their houses in Howard Beach, Queens together around the time (1957) that picture was taken. We lived at one end of the street and Ross and his wife at the other. My brother and I would walk to Ross's house to pick up pages he had finished penciling and bring them home to my dad to ink. I would stand at Ross's desk while he was penciling and watch him work. He always had an eraser in one hand and pencil in the other. As he would sketch, he would erase. If I remember correctly his interior walls were colored black and white. Like, in a room, 3 walls were white and one black. I guess he liked the look of the comic pages. We were very close with them until they moved to Rockaway. I don't remember what year that was. At that point I would ride with my dad when he would drive to Ross's to pick up work. Stay a few minutes as they talked and go back home. I remember his house in Rockaway. It  backed to the water and his workroom was a back bedroom. He broke the back wall and had a huge glass window installed so he could watch the planes taking off from Kennedy Airport as he worked." 

 

[Spider-Variant]

On 12/10/2021 at 2:15 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

 

I think these stories are some of the favorite things I have posted.

Michele must have been remembering pre-Spider-Man days for Ross and her dad.  Those guys worked a long, long time together.  Literally from the time they graduated high school (1944/5ish) until Ross died in 1993.  Almost 50 years.  

I keep forgetting Ross was in his late 40s working on Amazing Spider-Man and had already had 25+ years in the business.  

Edited December 10, 2021 by Spider-Variant

[FoggyNelson]

On 12/8/2021 at 11:27 AM, Spider-Variant said:

He looks a little messed up, like not all there.

Bad hair day for the Hulk , Hulk be angry now

[MAR1979]

On 12/8/2021 at 10:56 PM, Spider-Variant said:

Sometimes I look at a Ross Andru panel from his run on the Amazing Spider-Man and absolutely know he used a real life reference. How do I know? It either has something in it that doesn't add to the drawing artistically or it has something in it that I have no idea what Ross has drawn. An example of the former idea is illustrated by his depiction of the street light in the dead center of the panel from Issue 138 (see the bottom comparison which I have shared before). In perusing the ASM 141 splash, I found something that really stood out to me that I had no idea what it was. I had looked for the building on this splash page before with no good matches.

As posted earlier on this board, ASM 141 was set in the Wall Street/Battery Park area and Ross had depicted the Federal Building, the World Trade Towers, the Whitehall Building Annex, and Pier A (where Spidey drove the Spider-Mobile right off that sucker).

But what the heck did Ross draw on the splash page. I wondered? I think Ross drew the Bankers Trust Building (now 14 Wall Street). There are a lot of good things that match, like the intricate work above the windows and the building stone in some spots. But the columns don't match very well. So why do I think that Ross used this building and made a few alterations.

The air raid siren (circled in yellow and identified by me after some sleuthing) affixed to the light post. It's at the exact spot it would be if Ross were standing on the street looking at the Bankers Trust Building. In my first comparison, the light post that the air siren is attached to matches. In the second, I use an older picture to provide a little more detail and the lamp post is much older. It almost looks like when they replaced the lamp post in the late sixties/early seventies, the air raid siren just got mounted to the new post.

Am I 100% sure? No, but it makes a lot of sense to me. The air raid siren adds nothing to this panel except possibly realism beyond need and I'm guessing 99.9% of Spidey readers had no idea what it was. That's why I love Ross. He went the extra mile (plus).

 

Great Post!

 

Are those old NY Pic's online?  

 

Marine Parkway Bridge now named after Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Gil Hodges

[Spider-Variant]

On 12/10/2021 at 3:15 PM, MAR1979 said:

Great Post!

 

Are those old NY Pic's online?  

 

Marine Parkway Bridge now named after Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Gil Hodges

The two on Wall street are.  Ones from the 70s and the other from 1960.  The one from the Marine Parkway bridge was from google maps.  It was so neat tracing Ross's steps and positioning the view on that overpass. I laughed  aloud when I saw the lightpost right in his field of view.

[FoggyNelson]

Thanks for informative post Spider-variant‼️👍😷

[Spider-Variant]

Here's one of the last few comparisons (that I can find anyway, of course I have been saying that for the last six months, lol) between Ross Andru's artistry in Amazing Spider-Man and the real reference he used. This one from ASM 144, where the JJJ, Robbie, and Spidey end up in the Notre Dame Cathedral to take on the dreaded Cyclone.

I hadn't really tackled this interior view of the Cathedral because there are a lot of symmetries in the design and I couldn't locate the exact spot. But then I thought, maybe getting the exact location wasn't as important as highlighting the effort Ross put into giving us the Notre Dame Cathedral.

The first panel is the only one Ross put a lot of detail into and I think my photo matches pretty nicely. The second comparison is one of the railing on the second floor. Ross was a little less ornate than the actual railing, which I couldn't find a very good picture of to begin with.

I posted the last one before with the exterior of the building, which Ross nails.

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 12/14/2021 at 7:47 PM, Spider-Variant said:

Here's one of the last few comparisons (that I can find anyway, of course I have been saying that for the last six months, lol) between Ross Andru's artistry in Amazing Spider-Man and the real reference he used. This one from ASM 144, where the JJJ, Robbie, and Spidey end up in the Notre Dame Cathedral to take on the dreaded Cyclone.

I hadn't really tackled this interior view of the Cathedral because there are a lot of symmetries in the design and I couldn't locate the exact spot. But then I thought, maybe getting the exact location wasn't as important as highlighting the effort Ross put into giving us the Notre Dame Cathedral.

The first panel is the only one Ross put a lot of detail into and I think my photo matches pretty nicely. The second comparison is one of the railing on the second floor. Ross was a little less ornate than the actual railing, which I couldn't find a very good picture of to begin with.

I posted the last one before with the exterior of the building, which Ross nails.

Took his time on the outer, probably inner too, but that sunset is

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by ADAMANTIUM

[Spider-Variant]

On 12/14/2021 at 9:04 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

Took his time on the outer, probably inner too, but that sunset is

 

That may be the moon...