This is it! The first page of AMAZING SPIDERMAN by Ross Andru! Assuming he drew the issue in sequence, the first ever drawn, I assume. A good issue to come in on. For a start, for the value of visual consistency, it is inked by John Romita Snr and Tony Mortellaro, the team on Gil Kane from part one of the Man-Wolf story last issue. (Im guessing Mortellaro inked backgrounds and Romita the figures.) With Romita heavy inks, theres no thinking youve picked up a different SPIDERMAN title. It looks the same as ever, despite having Andrus visual identity quite evident in the layouts. Romita may even have been told to pour it on. Certainly, if you prefer the the finishing and suppleness supplied by Esposito, youre going to find Romita smothering. Personally, I had no such problem. And I love the Andru/Esposito brand. With the Comics Code Authority relinquishing some of its explicit donts, Marvel was starting to get a supernatural character for every genre. Michael Morbius was the so-called Living Vampire created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane. A scientifically created vampire, about as supernatural as the Lizard. IN SPIDERMAN #124 and 125, Gerry Conway and Gil Kane worked out a second science-spawn for Spidermans Rogues Gallery. In fact, he was not a completely new character. John Jameson, the astronaut son of Peter Parkers employer, J. Jonah Jameson, was the new cursed scientific werewolf. Just as Morbius went onto a series in ADVENTURE INTO FEAR (with a first issue drawn by Paul Gulacy - who got immediately shifted to MASTER OF KUNG FU) - yup, Man-Wolf got the same in a run in CREATURES ON THE LOOSE. Thats a nice little run from the point that writer David Anthony Kraft and George Perez took the book. So Marvels key vampires were Morbius and Dracula from TOMB OF DRACULA. And the wolves were Jameson and the Werewolf Jack Russell from WEREWOLF BY NIGHT. At this point, zombies were still designated to be zuvembies. Or rather they would be when Wonder Man came back from the dead in THE AVENGERS a little further along.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 02:59:47 +0000