**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.
Spidey teamed up with Ghost Rider when GR was still cool.
-Art by Todd McFarlane (SM#7)
8. Alex Saviuk (Web of Spider-Man #60-onwards 90s)
Alex Saviuk is an odd choice for being included in a list of definitive Spider-Man pencillers considering that Ross Andru, Larry Lieber, and Steve Ditko are fairly more well-known artists. Saviuk, however, was the leading artist on Web of Spider-Man, working on a significant portion of the book with writer Gerry Conway before Conway went to write the Father Dowling mysteries TV show.
Saviuk was one of the last artists on the Spider-Man books to follow the John Romita Sr. style of rendering Peter Parker/Spider-Man (the other being Sal Buscema). He refined Spidey's webbing to look different from the old-school style but not up to the point of spaghetti as what popular artists Todd McFarlane and Erik Larsen did. Unfortunately, unlike Gil Kane or the Romitas, Saviuk wasn't a very creative choreographer when it came to fight scenes and always drew the same angles and movements (which consisted of Peter lunging forward with fist first or jumping over his opponent and then hitting him). Even worst, Saviuk was saddled with some of the worst writers in the Marvel Universe, with Howard Mackie and Terry Cavanaugh writing for his work during the 90s (leading up to Web of Spider-Man's cancellation). Saviuk's art also suffered when he was paired with a less competent inker than Keith Williams with his latter work a poor reflection of his earlier issues with Williams, who inked some of Saviuk's best issues.
Alex Saviuk and Keith Williams drew a mean Hobgoblin (Web#84)
Saviuk was a personal choice in this list as a definitive Spider-Man artist because he's the only artist I associated with the series Web of Spider-Man (1985), which actually had better stories than Spectacular Spider-Man (a title that actually came out first in 1976). Many of the stories in Web were inconsequential and forgettable but made for great and even funny reading. Saviuk memorably drew artwork for Acts of Vengeance (#59-61 when Peter started using his Cosmic powers), pitting him against Goliath, Titania, and Dragon Man. "Spider-Hulk" (Web#69-70), a 2-parter, was actually well-remembered and even appeared in the Mark Bagley Spider-Man trading cards. Rocket Racer and the second Hobgoblin made plenty of appearances on the book with Saviuk on breakdowns. Despite being written by the talentless hack, Howard Mackie, "The Name of the Rose"(Web#84-89), was actually a gripping 6-parter (though the eventual core plot was ruined by the inept Terry Cavanaugh in a later story). Saviuk also contributed to the issue just prior to Pete and MJ's wedding (ASM#292), where Peter heads off to Pittsburgh to help MJ but ends up battling a vengeful Spencer Smythe and his Spider-Slayer.
Alex Saviuk had a distinctive way of drawing Spidey's Spider-Sense as seen in Web#61
where Cosmic Spidey went up against Dragon-Man.
Saviuk's art, which would eventually grace newspapers all over the world with Stan Lee's syndicated comic strip, actually works best with quiet stories. Alex Saviuk, with the aforementioned writer Gerry Conway, worked on the definitive Peter and MJ graphic novel – "Parallel Lives". "Parallel Lives" is one of the most underrated books in Spidey's long publishing history and explores the life of Peter and MJ up to their wedding. Saviuk's clean art shines in this graphic novel, reflecting a classic 60s-70s atmosphere while impressing 90s readers with excellent pacing and mood. Finally, Saviuk, along with Williamson on inks, penned three excellent issues (Web#66-68) which involved Harry Osborn attempting to become a hero as the Green Goblin, the return of Conway favorite Molten Man, and the mutation of the gangster called Tombstone to superhuman levels. Web #66 was actually my first ever issue of Web of Spider-Man and was a good read, too.
Spidey lectures Harry Osborn on being a hero . . . and ends up kicking his ass in Web#67
- Art by Alex Saviuk and Keith WIlliams
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