The Amazing Spider-Man (The Essential Spider-Man, Volume 1)
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The Amazing Spider-Man (The Essential Spider-Man, Volume 1) Details
The initial Spider-Man comics gathered together in a B&W collection. Contains AMazing Fantasy #15 and Amazing Spider-Man #1-20 and Annual #1. A great collection fro the fans of Spidey! Read more
Reviews
If you are OK with NO COLOR, this is a great intro to a peak period of Spider-Man. This book contains not just the beginnings of Spider-Man, but some of his very best stories. Some fans point to #33 (the machinery pinning Spider-Man down) as the quintessential Spider-Man story. Probably true. 33 is a superb story, but my favorite Ditko stories came earlier, in Ditko’s darker inked, more noirish period -- #10, 11, & 13 – included in this book. Other notable stories -- #1 (astronaut story) sets up the Jonah Jameson/tortured-hero schema that made Spider-Man so compelling. #6-9 are also good, with #7 as perhaps the most entertaining Spider-Man Stan ever put words to. Also, check out the cool extras in Annual 1.#16 (w DD) is also quite good. I did not like Ditko’s drawings of other Marvel characters – with the exception of Daredevil & of course Dr. Strange. Ditko made DD look appropriately acrobatic, yet distinctly different in acrobatic style from Spider-Man. Some complain that when this story was reprinted in a Spider-Man pocketbook in 1966, that it was about DD instead of Spider-Man. I disagree. It was about DD making careful observations *about Spider-Man.* There is no better introduction to Spider-Man than through this meticulous, sympathetic observer. The reader discovers who Spider-Man is, as seen through the eyes of an onlooker, in this case, interestingly, through “the eyes” of blind Matt Murdock. After #16, Ditko moved away from his darker look to a more finessed anatomical & facial style that often looked awkward to me. Nonetheless, this book ends with a nicely drawn story (#20).Added note – while I’m really glad Ditko took over the Spider-Man title from Kirby, nonetheless, some of my favorite Spider-Man art is Kirby’s. (In Essential Human Torch & Essential FF 2, you can find Strange Tales Annual 2, which came out about the same time as Spider-Man 5, drawn by Kirby. The villain was lame, but the villain was irrelevant. The story was meant to be a fun romp, with Torch & Spidey banter. I intensely loved Kirby’s Spider-Man art on the cover and in the story there – one of my favorite 60s memories.) Kirby drew the covers of AF 15, SM 1 & 10 (& a short piece in #8). I still remember the excitement I felt when as a kid I first saw that dark, bold Spider-Man on #10. I realized only later that, oh, that was Kirby – of course! Anyway – back to Ditko -- this book includes some of the very best Ditko stories, especially the shadowy, moody 10, 11, & 13.