*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.
Spidey lays it into Thanos in Spider-Man #17 – art by Rick Leonardi
4. Erik Larsen (late 1980s to 1991 for Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man)
Erik Larsen had the unenviably task of following up Todd McFarlane's (#2) fantastic run on Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man (which at that time was the best-selling comic book until Jim Lee's X-Men #1 came along). Instead of aping McFarlane, Larsen approached Spidey his own way – resulting in one of my favorite Spider-Man renderings of all time. Dynamic, explosive, and evoking an eerie Steve Ditko vibe at times, Larsen took Spidey to another level, using his artistic license to often squeeze and tighten Spidey's eyeholes for added expression. Like McFarlane, his webbing was solid and impressive, and Spidey wasn't a pushover unless David Michelinie, his ASM writer, said so.
Although Larsen's art changed drastically after leaving ASM and SM and working on his Savage Dragon series, he remained my ideal and favorite Spider-Man artist for a long time especially when it came to loud and explosive panels and colorful guest stars. With Michelinie at the helm, Larsen drew Venom's return (which was compiled in the Venom Returns Trade Paperback) and redefined the look of Spidey's slobbering foe. Larsen also contributed to the memorable Cosmic Spider-Man saga (ASM#327 against Magneto and #329 against the Tri-Sentinel) with many characters from the 80s such as Nathan Lubensky and Willie Lumpkin getting the Larsen treatment.
Peter and a very sexy MJ talk about having kids in SM#15
I have half a dozen favorite standalone issues of Erik Larsen and David Michelinie – #350 where Spidey is outclassed by Dr. Doom, #348 with a brilliant 90s Avengers team and a good guy Sandman (who Slott and company ruined as a character), and SM#15 where Beast advises Peter on having children.
Spidey ambushes the Sinister Six in "Revenge of the Sinister Six" – art by Erik Larsen (SM#19)
He drew some of the most action-packed 6-part storylines in all of the Spidey universe. My personal favorites were Return of the Sinister Six, Powerless, (where Peter gave up his powers) and Revenge of the Sinister Six, where Larsen takes his art and writing to the extreme. Compared side-by-side and panel-by-panel with recent issues or any issue of ASM in the last few years, and you'd wonder why today's creative staff chose those artists.
5. John Romita Sr. (1970s-1980s)
John Romita is the legendary Spider-Man artist and his depiction of Peter Parker and his alter-ego defined what the character would look like for future generation of artists (Gil Kane, Romita Jr., Alex Saviuk, Sal Buscema all took their cues from him). His Spidey overshadowed the version penned by creator Steve Ditko. If you bought any marketing product of Spidey in the 70s to late 80s, chances are it was his version of Spider-Man that was used – from stickers to lunch boxes to posters. The Spider-Friends (1981) and Spider-Man (1981) cartoons strictly adhered to his version of Peter Parker, Norman Osborn, Green Goblin, and Aunt May.
What else needs to be said about Romita? Unlike artists of today, his looming New York reflected the feel of the times with detailed architecture and a colorful Mad Men palette. He drew the seminal J.J.J., Joe Robertson, MJ, Captain Stacy, Gwendy (Pete's pet name for his true love) and re-introduced characters like the Black Widow (ASM#86) and Medusa (#62). His stories chronicled Pete's war on the underworld and Kingpin (perhaps due to the whole gangster craze in Chicago during the 60s). There were so many life-turning points that occurred during Romita's run that it's hard to pick a favorite (which included Pete revealing his identity when he had the flu). For me, Peter's battle against Doctor Octopus (ASM#88) which precluded the death of Captain Stacy was particularly memorable as Captain Stacy largely became an important character during the Stan Lee-Romita era (an important character that future writers would subsequently ignore). And for me, no matter how sexy MJ was, Romita's Gwendy was always Pete's #1 girl no matter how badly they retconned Gwen's character.
The short-lived Spectacular Spider-Man (1968) black-and-white series showcased Romita's work at its best. (Spectacular Spider-Man #1)
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