Your Spider-Man cover for 1974 is Amazing Spider-Man #136 (Sept. 1974). Later this year Romita would give up penciling the Spidey covers in favor of Gil Kane, but Romita would stay on board as inker. But Romita would be back to doing full cover duties in about a year.
Let’s kick off 1975 with another treasury cover: MGM’s Marvelous Wizard of Oz. This, of course, was the first Marvel and DC team-up with Marvel taking the lead on the production. Besides the cover, Romita also drew some interior illustrations.
As a kid, I could never get over the fact that the companies with the greatest superheroes and top talent did their long-overdue first crossover on an adaptation of a 35-year-old old movie.
Used to see that all the time in the little corner store my dad used to take me too. Always tempted to buy it, but in the end, eh, it wasn't about superheroes. :-)
Yeah, this was one of those 'oddity' comics that really didn't seem in sync with the market or the fans... but I bought a copy anyway and found it to be generally enjoyable. John Buscema did the story art, as I recall.
My recollection is fuzzy on this... I think it was a situation where each company was already involved in one facet or another of finagling the rights to do an adaptation, and the upcoming Superman/Spider-Man project gave them the idea to combine their efforts? I'm sure there's an account of the back story to this project somewhere...
My recollection is fuzzy on this... I think it was a situation where each company was already involved in one facet or another of finagling the rights to do an adaptation, and the upcoming Superman/Spider-Man project gave them the idea to combine their efforts? I'm sure there's an account of the back story to this project somewhere...
I would guess that it has been covered in a twomorrows magazine. Everything comics has been covered by twomorrows at once.
Now if only we had a comics expert that has on occasion done some writing for twomorrows to help us with the answer...
My recollection is fuzzy on this... I think it was a situation where each company was already involved in one facet or another of finagling the rights to do an adaptation, and the upcoming Superman/Spider-Man project gave them the idea to combine their efforts? I'm sure there's an account of the back story to this project somewhere...
I would guess that it has been covered in a twomorrows magazine. Everything comics has been covered by twomorrows at once.
Now if only we had a comics expert that has on occasion done some writing for twomorrows to help us with the answer...
Yep. It’s in Back Issue #61, the tabloid issue. Long story short: Marvel and DC had independently begun working on an adaptation—Shelly Mayer was doing the DC version. They found out about each other’s plans at a toy company (likely Mego—Roy Thomas' memory wasn't entirely clear) announcement (likely at a Toy Fair) of a Wizard of Oz line of toys. So they (Stan Lee and Carmine Infantino) thought it made sense to co-publish.
Personally, as much as I love John Buscema’s work, I think I would have rather seen Shelly Mayer’s version. Perhaps we would have ended up with something more like the book illustrations than the movie depictions.
Also from 1975, Romita’s painted cover for the Son of Origins of Marvel Comics paperback collection—a classic.
These looks nothing like my copy. Mine is dog eared and the the cover is barely hanging on from all the times I read and reread it. Must of read it at least a hundred times.
One last special format cover before we move on to the regular comics—Marvel Special Edition #1 (June 1975). It’s not the greatest Spidey cover by any means—fairly average, in fact—but it does feature a lot of villains, which boosts the cool factor. Inks by Joe Sinnott.
I mean, the Spidey figure was basically lifted from Amazing Spider-Man #121. (It is interesting to compare Sinnott’s inking choices to Romita’s, though.)
So why include it here? Because of the back cover. I’m not sure if this was the first time the “reverse view” idea was used, but it sure upped the cool factor when I saw it as a kid (though this is not one I was able to get).
This was a great era for Spider-Man covers. As is demonstrated in Amazing Spider-Man 141. Interiors by Ross Andru and this cover is by John Romita Jr.
This is billed as the first appearance of the new Mysterio (Danny Berkhart); with cameos by the Green Goblin, the Punisher, Doctor Octopus, Morbius, the Molten Man, the Vulture, Hammerhead, the Lizard, and the Grizzly!
"The Man's Name Appears To Be Mysterio" Script by Gerry Conway, pencils by Ross Andru, inks by Frank Giacoia and Dave Hunt. John Romita Sr. cover. Reprinted in Marvel Tales # 118. The letters page has Marvel Value Stamp series A # 35: Killraven.
Not to be overlooked, Hands of Shang-Chi Master of Kung-Fu #22 began the collaboration of writer Doug Moench and artist Paul Gulacy.
This cover art should be recognizable by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott. I think Buscema had only one style of eyebrows, nose and mouth. His Hulk and Conan and just about every other character he drew all looked related :)
While this is essentially an all-reprint issue, I loved the Gil Kane cover. Inside it was Stan Lee writing and Jack Kirby pencils with inks by Vince Colletta and letters by Sam Rosen. Also in this issue: Thor vs. Hercules in "When Heroes Clash!" reprinted from Journey into Mystery Annual #1 with story by Stan Lee, art by Kirby and inks by Vince Colletta. Wrapping up this issue is a Tales of Asgard reprint, "When Heimdall Failed!" by Lee and Kirby with George Bell inks.
Romita didn’t do many horror covers during his career, and they weren’t really his strong suit, but this one for Journey into Mystery vol. 2, #16 (Apr. 1975) is one of his best attempts.
Comments
Neal Adams 1971
Cover by Edmund Bagwell
Bringing up an ancient controversy:
First appearance, explicit description of the character being clad in solid silver.
Case closed?
Now if only we had a comics expert that has on occasion done some writing for twomorrows to help us with the answer...
Personally, as much as I love John Buscema’s work, I think I would have rather seen Shelly Mayer’s version. Perhaps we would have ended up with something more like the book illustrations than the movie depictions.
Did it start in 2000AD? Games Workshop? Somewhere else?
I mean, the Spidey figure was basically lifted from Amazing Spider-Man #121. (It is interesting to compare Sinnott’s inking choices to Romita’s, though.)
So why include it here? Because of the back cover. I’m not sure if this was the first time the “reverse view” idea was used, but it sure upped the cool factor when I saw it as a kid (though this is not one I was able to get).
So many butts to be kicked, just two Spidey-boots to go around.
This is billed as the first appearance of the new Mysterio (Danny Berkhart); with cameos by the Green Goblin, the Punisher, Doctor Octopus, Morbius, the Molten Man, the Vulture, Hammerhead, the Lizard, and the Grizzly!
"The Man's Name Appears To Be Mysterio" Script by Gerry Conway, pencils by Ross Andru, inks by Frank Giacoia and Dave Hunt. John Romita Sr. cover. Reprinted in Marvel Tales # 118. The letters page has Marvel Value Stamp series A # 35: Killraven.
Cover price $0.25!
This cover art should be recognizable by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott. I think Buscema had only one style of eyebrows, nose and mouth. His Hulk and Conan and just about every other character he drew all looked related :)
Still only $0.25! Marvel Value Stamp was "Kang"!
Spider-Butt: The most-often-portrayed male superhero butt in comics cover history?
While this is essentially an all-reprint issue, I loved the Gil Kane cover. Inside it was Stan Lee writing and Jack Kirby pencils with inks by Vince Colletta and letters by Sam Rosen. Also in this issue: Thor vs. Hercules in "When Heroes Clash!" reprinted from Journey into Mystery Annual #1 with story by Stan Lee, art by Kirby and inks by Vince Colletta. Wrapping up this issue is a Tales of Asgard reprint, "When Heimdall Failed!" by Lee and Kirby with George Bell inks.
Cover price $0.50.
Here's the original sketch layout by Gil Kane