The Art of the Amazing Spider-Man

by John Lind (Editor), John Romita Sr (illustrator)

This oversized hardcover gallery collects iconic original art from The Amazing Spider-Man #39–122, is accompanied by essays from comics editor John Lind, and featured an introduction by Brian Michael Bendis.

The Amazing Spider-Man has remained the flagship title for the classic Marvel Comics character Spider-Man for over six decades. Stan Lee and Steve Ditko co-created the character in 1962, and it quickly became a sensation. Then, with The Amazing Spider-Man #39, John Romita Sr. replaced Ditko as the main artist and began an epic run.

This oversized Bullpen Books edition focuses on Romita's work on ASM from 1966 to 1973, a run that would dramatically reshape the world of Spider-Man and his alter ego, Peter Parker. With his unmatched skill in dynamic layouts and composition, Romita, working alongside Stan Lee on some of Spider-Man's most enduring storylines and with contributions from a supporting cast of legendary Marvel Bullpen contributor—including Gil Kane, John Buscema, Jim Mooney, and Mike Esposito—would help lead Spider-Man to even greater heights in pop culture.

This evolution told through essays, covers, and original artwork-including seven full ASM stories, reproduced from the original art in the Marvel Comics archives-allows readers to engage with and appreciate the legacy of some of The Amazing Spider-Man's most important contributors.

Bullpen Books is a new series of art books that honors the work of legendary Marvel Comics characters and creators, starting with The Art of the Amazing Spider-Man in Fall 2024! This oversized hardcover features essays on work by John Romita Sr. and Gil Kane, covers, and original art scans from the Marvel archives.

200 pages, Hardcover

Published October 29, 2024

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Reviews

[Gary Sassaman]

I have very mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it’s a beautifully designed, large-sized, hardbound art book focusing on John Romita’s run on the Amazing Spider-Man title, from issue 39 through 122. On the other, it presents seven complete stories reproduced from the original art, six of which have already appeared in IDW’s two volumes of John Romita’s Amazing Spider-Man Artist Edition (and reprinted yet again in the smaller-sized Artisan Editions). The issues shown in this volume are 46, 67, 69, 108, 109, 115, and 121, and only 46 is not printed elsewhere (to my knowledge). And while I’m grateful for any books covering Marvel’s Silver Age 1960-70s output, there is getting to be a bit of overkill here. Between Marvel’s own massive reprint program (Omnibus, Epic Collections, Marvel Masterworks—now REmastered—and Mighty Marvel Masterworks formats), Taschen’s huge and hugely expensive reprints of classic Marvels, Folio Society’s curated volumes, and now this new imprint at Dark Horse Comics called “Bullpen Books,” whose second book will concentrate on Jack Kirby’s Marvel covers (and that’s only Volume 1). Penguin Classics seems to have quit after six reprint volumes in deluxe hardbound and more affordable paperback formats, Only Abrams ComicArts—which has launched a new sub-imprint called “Abrams MarvelArts”—is doing new graphic novels with Marvel characters, including Alex Ross’s Fantastic Four: Full Circle, Patrick McDonnell’s The Super Hero’s Journey, and the upcoming The Avengers in the Veracity Trap by Chip Kidd and Michael Cho. It’s great to see a book focus almost solely on Romita’s Spidey work (there’s one Gil Kane story in it—issue 121—inked by Romita, but which was already included in—you guessed it—Gil Kane’s Amazing Spider-Man Artist (and Artisan) Edition, but other than that, it’s all Romita, including all his Spidey covers (a lot in original art form, but shrunk down to a small size) from issues 39 through 121. But the whole six stories reproduced from original art that have already been presented—TWICE—by another publisher seems like double-dipping (make it triple-dipping) and I’m astonished (not amazed) as to how Marvel would approve a book with so much material that was licensed to another publisher. If you don’t have the IDW books, I thoroughly recommend this handsome volume, but if you do … well, not so much.

[Trike]

Not quite as cohesive as The Art of Fantastic Four simply because there were more creators involved with ASM, it’s still interesting to see how the title evolved from Steve Ditko’s style to John Romita Sr.’s as it moved into the late 60s and early 70s. Gil Kane was my original Spider-Man artist, as ASM #103 was the first comic book I bought for myself (October or November 1971. I’m old.), so it’s cool to see his work included here as well.


https://i.ibb.co/cK94j5kQ/IMG-9179.webp

I gotta say, though, Stan Lee’s writing is especially cringey in the issues included here. A guy in his 40s trying to emulate hipster teen speak is just hilariously awful. Everyone calls everyone else “dad”, and the forced lingo is second hand embarrassing. Right, skibidi? Six seven!

[Ben A]

The Art of the Amazing Spider-Man is a collection that features covers and whole issues presented in that showcase his amazing (pun intended) art. It really made me want to go and read the whole of his tenure on The Amazing Spider-Man. It wasn't quite what I expected from an art book, but it was cool to see the stories presented differently.

Special Thanks to Dark Horse Comics and Edelweiss Plus for the digital ARC. This was given to me for an honest review.

[Coats07065]

Until this book, my universe of Spider-Man consisted of a storybook/record from 1972ish, the kids cartoon show in the 70’s and Tobey Maguire. Who is this Gwen chick? Because of this book, I’m out to find several issues mentioned. Spidey vs The Hulk??!? WHO knew? Has this one been turned into a movie yet?

Thank you, Stan Lee for entertaining me when I was just a kid and from now, 57, and beyond.

[Greg L Goldstein]

Despite the fact that I not only own IDW Romita artist editions, I was also the publisher of them, I was curious to see what Dark Horse did with pretty much the same material. Kudos for making enough editorial enhancements to make it interesting for me.
My only knock is the SRP is a bit pricey for what you get ($60), but there are deals on-line at Amazon and elsewhere that make it a worthwhile addition to a comic art collection.