Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Mike Mayhew — Spider-Man: Hero Or Menace?

Alternate Cover, The Pulse #1, April 2004

Mike Mayhew was this close to wrapping up the final touches on this classic Spider-Man image.

And then he changed his mind.

Mike and I have spoken about this a few times. He doesn’t specifically remember why he started over but, as you can see, it’s very close to the final cover. (He did recall some possible miscommunication over which aspects were going to be handled digitally vs. his actual original art. That was speculation more than fact, since those changes could have been fixed in this version.)

A potential not so fun fact for me:

When I purchased the art from a third party, it was presented to me as the actual published original, with alterations, finishes, colors and effects added digitally.

Er, no.

Fortunately, it’s still cool artwork, and, with the current insane pricing in the original art market, I’m likely about even.