Marvel announced only last month that John Romita Jr. will celebrate Spider-Man’s 60th Anniversary with… a return to drawing Spider-Man.
To quote Matthew Jackson on SyFy Wire:
“Romita Jr. made a name for himself as a key Marvel artist thanks in large part to his work on Spider-Man. He first drew the character in 1977, as the rising star son of the legendary John Romita Sr., and went on to become one of the definitive pencillers to ever work on the character… Now, he’s back in full force at his original superhero home, and he’s teaming up with one of the 21st century great Spider-Man writers for a whole new era on the character.”
For an overview of some of Romita’s greatest Marvel work, see the article at Comicbook.com:https://comicbook.com/news/10-greatest-john-romita-jr-creative-runs/
Marc Hempel showcases his witty sense of storytelling in an amusing short Spidey story from 1986. Hempel, best know for his work on Sandman, brings some welcome lightheartedness to the character without devolving into Not Brand Echh mode.
Stylistically, think Steve Ditko meets Los Hernandez Brothers.
I didn’t acquire a Ditko Spider-man original art page back when they were simply “very expensive,” and now that prices have soared into the stratosphere, it feels even more unlikely. Homages and tributes will have to do.
And that’s perfectly ok.
(Complete story presented below. As far as I can tell, It’s never been reprinted.)
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – JULY 02: South Koreans wear Spider-Man cloths during the ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ Seoul Premiere at Yeongdeunpo Times Square on July 2, 2017 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
Kismet.
I’m prepping a series of posts to celebrate the Spider-Man’s upcoming 60th anniversary, and my favorite podcast series, Planet Money, airs an episode on the complex Spidey film partnership between Sony and Marvel.
It’s a great episode, and covers a ton of round in under a half an hour. If I noticed anything “missing,” it’s the drama that happened a few years ago when we heard posturing (bloviating, actually) about Sony and Disney not reaching a new agreement to keep Spidey in the MCU.
Really?
The last Sony Spider-Man film not in the MCU, Amazing Spider-Man 2, grossed about $700 million worldwide. Not shabby, but no where near expectations.
The current Spidey film, No Way Home, has grossed about $1.7 billion globally, and counting. That’s an extra BILLION dollars.
Think about that. It doesn’t matter how that negotiation ultimately played out, everyone made a TON of money. At least on the film side.
On the comic book side? That’s a tale for another day.
Commission (Based On Steve Ditko, Amazing Spider-Man #33, November 1965), 2013
Amazing. Spectacular. Sensational.
It doesn’t matter what adjective you put in front of Spider-Man’s name, his actual popularity dwarfs them all.
And he celebrates his 60th anniversary later this year.
So why not celebrate the world’s most famous web-slinger with a whole month of Spider-Man art.
Why not indeed?
First up — Tony Daniel’s terrific tribute to Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s most iconic issue of the original series, Amazing Spider-Man #33.
It’s not that Spider-Man wouldn’t be saved (Heck, even a little kid knows that.) But in that classic story, Ditko masterfully conveyed Spidey’s struggle and necessary force of will to find the strength to lift tons of machinery and save himself.
No Iron Man or Thor to the rescue. This is all about Spider-Man’s personal will to survive — so that he himself can rescue Aunt May.
It’s likely the most powerful three-page comic book sequence of the era.
Harris is not the first creator to pay tribute to the scene, but he does it masterfully, creating an image that exists somewhere seconds before page three of Ditko’s original sequence.
Additionally, Harris uses a muted color palate, perfect for the art. I don’t typically pursue color art, but this piece grabbed me the moment I saw it.
Amazing indeed.
Ray Lago’s tribute from a “Marvel Portraits Comic”
Eric Powell brings his offbeat sensibility to the good doctor in this two-page gag story featured in a Secret Wars parody comic.
I acquired this page directly from Eric at SDCC a few years back, and apparently the other page had just sold to another lucky purchaser.
Missed it by that much.
(Full two-pager presented below.)
The TPB cover by our pal Jim Mahfood is much more interesting than the comic book cover, which is a gag without much art.
Doctor Doom has a terrific legacy in the pantheons of Marvel humor. Stan and Jack did a hilarious send-up of the FF-Doom-Silver Surfer multi-parter in the very first issue of Not Brand Echh in 1967. (The amazing published splash page here is from the actual story of course, not the parody.)
Doctor Doom’s greatest fantasy? Murdering Reed Richards, of course.
And if you have your own planet, you too can make your dreams come true.
Leo Manco nicely illustrates Doom choking Reed on this page from the Emperor Doom mini-series.
Reminds me of a film moment of a certain costumed villain that looks an awful lot like Doctor Doom. Art imitates art, imitates art, ad infinitum, apparently.
Manco, an Argentinian artist, is terrific, and I wish we’d see more of his work in the comic book space.
The similarities between Darth Vader and Doctor Doom always choke me up. (Ouch.)Per our last post, Lucas owes some public tribute to Jack Kirby as far as we are concerned.
Doctor Doom — Marvel’s first iconic super villain of the Silver Age* — celebrates his 60th anniversary this year.
And I have a question.
How are the MCU pros going to create a new on-screen look for the character that is true to form, but doesn’t look goofy as hell? These folks are the best in the business, but that’s a hell of challenge. Lesser talents have failed, not once, not even twice, but three times.**
They could go all black (always a safe choice) and make the costume more technological and futuristic, but… I believe George Lucas already beat them to the punch by about 45 years.***
The comic book Doom costume is one of those that almost makes sense in 2D, but three-dimensional? Oof.
I’m definitely looking forward to seeing the results, maybe even later this year, if we’re lucky.
And, as always, we digress.
Here, the versatile Ron Lim creates a dramatic splash page with the most Doctor Doom you will ever see in once place. You see, the good doctor has this cool hobby of building robots in his spare time.
Lots of them, apparently.
Fun fact footnotes:
Ok, Sub-Mariner beat Doom by a full issue — or more than 20 years, depending on how you count Silver Age vs. Golden Age — but I can’t fully embrace him as a villain. (This despite the fact that Doom and Sub-Mariner later appeared together in a comic book called Super-Villain Team-Up.)
** Two contemporary big budget film releases, plus the officially unreleased Roger Corman version. I probably shouldn’t count that, but I do. Sue me.
*** Lucas has yet to acknowledge that Darth Vader is essentially a mash-up of two Jack Kirby comic book creations, Doctor Doom and Darkseid. C’mon George, fess up.
Clayton Henry’s cover to the Fantastic Five is an homage (swipe?) of Kirby’s FF Annual #2
Doctor Doom’s first appearance features a ridiculous bird for good measure.
Art Adams pays homage to Neal Adams with this terrific Avengers variant cover from 2014.
Neal’s original Avengers (#92) cover is from 1971, and remains one of my personal favorites. In addition to loving the dramatic art and striking colors, I have a fond memory of guessing the cover’s story gimmick before I actually read the comic.
(Spoiler alert: Thor, Cap and Iron Man are actually skrulls, which we don’t find out until the next issue. Another spoiler: Writer Roy Thomas shortcuts some of the backstory of how that came to pass — blink and you might miss it. Before it’s all over though, the Avengers will find themselves in the middle of the Kree-Skrull war. But, as always, we digress.)
Art’s modern version swaps out X-Men for Avengers, and seamlessly adds additional characters as well.
2021-2022 is the 50th Anniversary of the Kree–Skrull war, so… Happy Anniversary, and Happy New Year!
This Hulk story — from Incredible Hulk Annual #14 — is a direct outcome of one of the oddest creative moments in Marvel Comics history.
Why so odd? The creative teams on Alpha Flight and The Incredible Hulk did a complete switch with each other. And naturally, they did a crossover to bring readers up to speed. Also, the Secret Wars sequel is involved.
But as always, we digress.
John Byrne, who had been on Alpha Flight, commenced his (ultimately brief) run with issue #314 and this annual, simultaneously. (Bill Mantlo and Mike Mignola went over to Alpha Flight.) And, as prolific as John is, even he can’t produce that many pages at once, so he enlisted art support from Sal Buscema, who penciled and inked the full double issue.
Sal Buscema on the Hulk? Always great.
Sal Buscema on everything else? Always great, too.
After a crossover — and a Secret Wars tie-in — creative teams on The Incredible Hulk and Alpha Flight fully flip-flopped, a first in comics history.
