Sal Buscema — Belated Birthday Bash (II)
Spectacular Spider-Man #137, April 1988
Sal Buscema celebrated his 84th birthday earlier this week — how did that happen, you ask? I don’t know either. (January, by the way, is obviously a great month for the Marvel “bullpen.”) So, we continue our better-late-than-never tribute series.
Sal, one of Marvel’s most versatile and prolific artists, cites the Hulk as his favorite character. Nevertheless… he penciled and (mostly) inked 100 issues of Spectacular Spider-man. (That’s 100!)
Included in that record-setting run is this dynamic page from early in his return to the title in 1988. It’s the end of black spider-suit era — pretty much the final appearance of the costume before Peter ditches it for good (mostly) a month later in Amazing Spider-Man #300. (MJ is not too happy that her husband looks like Venom when he wears it, but I digress.) I love the way the three middle panels work cinematically to show Spidey getting the upper hand on the gunmen.
Sal wanted to be an inker. He has said in various interviews (emphatically, in some cases) he prefers it. And it’s clear that it took him some time to find his own voice penciling. (In fact, if you compare his early 70s work to his late 80s work, it’s obvious that, like many great artists, his voice evolved.)
But I think we are all happy that Stan and Marvel’s editorial team pushed him into pencils. He’s an amazing a spectacular storyteller.
