Kevin's Watch

Ross Andru was the artist penciling Spiderman when I first started collecting the comic back in the mid 70s. I could tell at that time that Andru probably wasn’t the most talented artist I had seen but he did have a very distinct style that, as I discovered over the years, was very consistent. His run on Spiderman did produce many readable issues and during my formative years, becoming acquainted with the Spiderman character, the images Andru created pretty much defined what I think of when I imagine Spiderman.

Boy. What I just wrote seems familiar somehow. Oh well.

Let's see....Andru started his run on ASM in Sept. 1973 with issue #124, and stayed on for five years, ending with issue #184, but his earliest Spiderman work was in 1968, in Marvel Superheroes #14. (Heh, now I know I'm a geek, because I didn't have to google anything other than the date of #124)

Please forgive my ignorance, but Andru's Spider-man looks exactly like the Spidey from the classic cartoon show I watched in the '70s. Was the team that did the comic also involved with that TV show? I never read any of the '70s Spider-man comics, but I watched the heck out of that show.

Which reminds me, that show had two distinct visual styles. One was the "clean-cut" version, the other was the "pyschedelic" version. Er, you know what I'm talking about, right? I just never paid attention to the credits where they mention the animation crew.

Oh, we know exactly what you're talking about, MM. Stop dropping acid and watching the Spidey Super-Hour!

I have to say, watching the freaky psychedelic Spidey episodes as a kid was probably like an acid trip all by itself. The hypnotic, subversive imagery...the spinning, muti-colored sky...the crazy music...ooh, I'm getting dizzy just thinking about it.

Heh, spoken like someone who has had one too many blue pills.

My favourite was always John Romita Jr. I loved the way he drew Spidey's body in motion... More fluid than others.

JR Jr. was great, but my all time favorite for capturing Spidey's athletics and gymnatics was Rick Leonardi. I don't even know if he ever did the Spiderman books, but he pencilled Cloak and Dagger, which had a Guest Appearance by Spidey that actually got me interested in him.

Leonardi did Spider-Man 2099.