*In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Spider-Man and the release of the new Spider-Man movie, this blog will intermittently feature a month-long series of Spider-Man articles. The author was an unabashed fan of the web-swinger from the early 1980s and although gave up on the Marvel character in the mid-1990s, follows his adventures to this day. Prepare for some hardcore fanboy opinions!
**To check out covers, story titles, and credits to comic books mentioned in this article, visit Spiderfan.org, one of the oldest and most reliable Spider-Man sites on the Internet.
9. Ross Andru (1970s)
In the 70s Spider-Man's adventures expanded from Amazing to Marvel Team-Up and Spectacular Spider-Man. Due to his popularity, every penciller at Marvel Comics got a crack at the web-swinger. However, it was Gil Kane, Ross Andru, Sal Buscema, John Romita JR., and John Buscema that headed the regular rotation of breakdowns for obvious reasons - their art was consistent with the standards set by John Romita Sr. In fact, if you read the books today, the artwork blends almost seamlessly unlike today's inconsistent renderings of Spidey and his cast. An avid reader would of course notice how Ross Andru's Peter Parker was less good-looking than Romita Sr.'s or how Gil Kane drew the mask differently from the other ASM artists. Nevertheless, it was easy to tell it was the genuine Spidey through the distinct style of this select group.
Andru with Romita on inks drew a mean Spidey (ASM#125)
Ross Andru suffered from the same problems Alex Saviuk underwent - his art was featured in stories that were poorly written and his work popped only with a strong inker like Jim Mooney (or Romita himself). He worked in the 1970s with a horribly inexperienced Gerry Conway (who later improved however) and Roy Thomas, who didn't quite grasp Spider-Man's powers and abilities. Andru drew some of the worst stories of all time (the Jackal stories and the beginnings of the Clone saga in ASM#149) and even created the worst character in the Marvel universe - the severely retarded Punisher (the idiot of idiots in ASM#129). His Amazing Spider-Man run also included the Rocket Racer (#172) and the Big wheel (#183). Ross Andru's art, however, flourished with Romita on inks such as #125 with the Man-Wolf and with Jim Mooney on inks in #126 with the Kangaroo. Unfortunately, his art in Marvel Team-Up #1 with Sandman and Torch was a disaster, matching Roy Thomas' poorly thought out script panel for panel. Ross Andru is still representative of Spider-Man's silver years, however, simply because he contributed so much to the era before Todd McFarlane and Erik Larsen thundered into the scene. In many ways, Andru represented the many, many artists who followed Romita Sr. and Romita Jr. but never quite put a stamp on Spidey.
When Spidey tells you not to enter a nuclear furnace you better not.
Unfortunately, the loser Kangaroo did just that and died in ASM#126.
Art by Ross Andru
10. Gil Kane (1970s)
Gil Kane tag-teamed with the Romitas and Ross Andru in Marvel Team-Up and Amazing Spider-Man. Often, Kane would suddenly have an issue just after Andru's, which most readers probably didn't even notice back then. However, unlike Andru, Gil Kane was lucky enough to be working on exceptional and historical Spider-Man events. Although Romita's Spider-Man drawing appeared in most merchandise (as well as the then-famous CGI spider-Man jumping on top of the Marvel logo in Marvel TV shows), Kane took over Romita as the main penciller of Amazing Spider-Man. His run, however, featured artists popping in and out and wasn't as consistent as Steve Ditko's or Romita's run.
Peter wakes up to lovely Gwendolyne in ASM#90 with art by Gil Kane
Gil Kane drew too many lines on Peter's face, making him look older, but his drawings of Gwen Stacy and MJ were nearly as good as Romita's. Among other issues, Kane drew the controversial ASM#96-#98 which dealt with Harry Osborn's drug issues (and included an unconvincing battle with the overrated Green Goblin), ASM#100-101 where Peter gained an additional set of arms and fought against another overrated villain, Morbius the generic and boring artificial vampire (in the early 70s, vampires were all the rage - which will tell you something about today's fad).
Gil Kane shows how a real fight should be choreographed in ASM#90
with Spidey going up against Doc Ock.
Kane's art was consistent and smooth, mirroring Romita's though Romita's action scenes had more ooomph. The Romita's, Ditko, John and Sal Buscema could draw whimsical stories of adventure, danger, humor and swung easily to drama when needed but never to the level of Batman. Gil Kane was the first penciller who worked on darker stories, heralding the coming of artists like Rick Buckler (The Death of Jean DeWolff) and Bob Mcleod (Kraven's Last Hunt). My personal favorite issues with Gil Kane on pencils and Romita on inks is the 2-part Death of Captain Stacy (#89-90) storyline. The action was frenetic and fast and although Stan Lee's plot involving Doctor Octopus was thin, Captain Stacy's death was tragic and sudden. Also memorable was the fearless Spidey holding his own against the powerful Hulk (ASM#120). Lest anyone forget, Gil Kane pencilled the classic ASM#122 where Gwen (the real Gwen and not the garbage retconned by the talentless hack Joe Quesada and J.Michael Straczynski) faced her final fate.
A half-crazed Peter holds Gwen in the tragic ASM#122.
Art by Gil Kane.
EPILOGUE
Steve Ditko created Spider-Man, but John Romita and his son John Romita Jr. worked on the web-slinger the longest and defined the hero's classic look. Along the way, Gil Kane and a host of other artists such as Alex Saviuk, Ron Frenz, Ross Andru and Rick Leonardi chronicled his adventures, both well-written ones and bad ones. In the 80s-90s, Spidey's look was re-energized by the art of Todd McFarlane, Erik Larsen, and finally, Mark Bagley. Each artist in this list left their mark on the web-swinger, from the webbed armpits (Ditko and Romita Jr.), to the eyeholes (Larsen, Romita) to his musculature (Kane, Andru, Bagley) and his posture (Saviuk, McFarlane) . This list is a look of how awesome Spidey can look on the printed page and the wish that future artists can learn from these classic pencillers.
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