The Essential Spider-Man: Amazing Spider-Man 21-43, Amazing Spider-Man Annual 2&3
Category: Books,Comics & Graphic Novels,Publishers
The Essential Spider-Man: Amazing Spider-Man 21-43, Amazing Spider-Man Annual 2&3 Details
Collecting Amazing Spider-Man #21-43; Annual #2, and 3.
Reviews
If you are OK with NO COLOR, this is a great intro to a peak period of Spider-Man. It includes the deservedly famous trapped-under-machinery story #33, although I personally prefer Ditko's noirish art/stories in #10, 11 & 13 - along w #16 (found in Essential #1, NOT in this book). This book (Essential #2) also has the dramatic first (facial) appearance of MJ (#42) and has the beginning of Romita inking his own drawings in 41 (pgs 1-10 & 18-20), then completely inking 42-43. In Essential #3, Romita inked 44-48. By 43, he had developed a dark, sleek, elegant style that really grabbed me as a kid, and hasn't let go of me to this day. Spider-Man has never looked more impressive; women have never looked lovelier. The cover of #43 is still one of my very favorites.Some Ditko fans do not like the shift to the hipper Peter Parker under Romita's pencils. Fair enough. I am actually a fan of both artists, however. Yes Peter's life seems more upbeat in #39, but that just sets us up for the end of that issue where his life falls completely apart and he is the same old trouble-attracting Peter. By the end of #43, Stan begins an arc of Peter's life looking great on the outside but disintegrating on the inside, culminating in the classic #50 (found in Essential #3). This ironic angst and the beautiful Romita art/inking make this my favorite Spider-Man run.This book (Essential #2) begins that run, and includes one of the most unusual successes -- the iconic Green Goblin story (#39-40) done by Romita, that was actually wonderfully set up by Ditko's Norman Osborn story (#37-38). Ditko returned to his noirish best, just before he walked out the door from Marvel.