Customer Reviews

Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Fantasy #15 + Amazing Spider-man #1-10

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I recently Bought this book after a long search for almost 4 months. When I finnaly got to open this book I was excited to find out how and who Spiderman was going to face in the first ever issues of the amazing Spiderman. This book is so unbeleivable I have to keep reading it, I literly can not stop. Filled with the first ten issues of the Amazing Spiderman (including AF15) and all of spiderman's first enemys. If you have a chance to buy this book you should definetly pay the fee and read this outstanding book. I love the drawings of Steve Ditko.

Finally, if you'd like to have the very first 11 issues of amazing Spider-Man youhave to look no further of pay thousands of dollars for orignal 60's comics, this collection presents the first issues of Spider-man. Get to know his origins, the first villians he fought and his life a super hero. Printed in high quality gloss paper, in full, glorius colour, the pencil here may not be what newest readers are used to. These are simple, straight forward drawings that are now cult classics. The text by the master himself, Stan Lee, are interesting, yet funny and direct enough. I read it really fast, I only wish they would release the next issues. This book is for readers who maybe owned the original comics back in the 60's or 70's and want to relive those moments. Great also for fans of Spidey who want to witness his origins. Definetely a must.

This is a terrific book, printed on high-quality, non-acid paper, in color. The "essential" has no color, and is printed on cheap pulpy paper that will deteriorate in 10 years.

Ditko's genious deserves this treatment.

"With great power must also come...great responsibility."-Stan Lee.
With those words, Stan Lee closed the chapter on the first story of the Amazing Spider-Man.
Spider-Man was unlike any super-hero before him. He didn't just pretend to be the wallflower like some other boy scout I could name. He was the social outcast, ostracized by his peers, rejected and alone. He was a teenager. Back then, teens were usually the sidekicks. As Peter Parker, he was the epitome of uncool.
And Spider-Man didn't become a hero out of some notion of civic duty, or revenge for a past sorrow. Instead, he was driven by guilt. The guilt of knowing that had he simply stuck out his foot and tripped a passing burglar, his Uncle Ben wouldn't be dead.
That story, and the first ten issues of Amazing Spider-Man, featuring the wall crawler in battle against deadly foes like Doctor Octopus, Doctor Doom, the Sandman, Electro, and The Chameleon, as well as guest appearances by the Fantastic Four.
The oldest and most classic stories preserved for all time here in a hardcover bookshelf edition that you can be proud to show off to anyone. THIS is what comic books are all about.

I've purchased several DC Archives and the art and coloring is very sharp. In comparison, in this edition of Masterworks, the art and coloring seems to be smudged. The look and feel of the book is just not as good. These early Spider-Man stories are good from a historical perspective, but Lee and Ditko have not yet hit their stride. Battles with aliens, the "Living Brain" and Dr. Doom are not good match-ups for Spider-Man. I have all five volumes of the "Essential" series and have enjoyed those very much. Even though they are in black and white, they are cheap and a great way to relive the best years of Spider-Man.

I started reading "The Amazing Spider-Man" with issue #62 and the appearance of Medusa (the Inhuman with the living hair). Eventually I worked my way back to the beginning, mostly through reprints of the early issues in "Marvel Tales." Once I got past the epic two-parter in issues #39-40 when the Green Goblin learned Spider-Man was really Peter Parker, I was not as impressed because the artwork for the first 38 issues was by Steve Ditko and not John Romita (Sr.). I was never really impressed by Ditko's artwork and when he left Marvel to work for Charlton comics I always thought those were pretty much the worst drawn comics around (except for the issue of "X-Men" that was Barry Smith's first work in comics). However, I have had a major change of heart. I am never going to be enamored of the way Ditko draws faces, but I have come to appreciate that the man was a master of composition in the field of comic books.

Collected within Volume 1 of the Marvel Masterworks series devoted to Spider-Man are his debut in "Amazing Fantasy" #15 and the first ten issues of "The Amazing Spider-Man." We all know about the radioactive spider, the death of Uncle Ben, and the lesson that with great power comes great responsibility. Stan Lee certainly created something completely different when he came up with a superhero whose bad luck was the only luck he had. But this time reading these issues just look at how Ditko sets up each panel, paying attention to both this compositional skills and his sense of pacing. In "Spider-Man" #8 there is a Spider-Man Surprise Extra in which "Spider-Man Tackles the Torch!" The short story is drawn by Jack Kirby and inked by Ditko. Compare it to the other stories and see how superior Ditko's layouts are. Kirby offers rather minimalist backgrounds to the action, whereas Ditko usually provides detailed backgrounds of the city or where ever the scene takes place. I know fans of Ditko point to his artwork on "Dr. Strange" as his best work, with its depiction of spells and strange dimensions, but I really think he did his finest work on "Spider-Man." However, it will not be until we get to Volume 3 of these Marvel Masterworks volumes that we get to his trilogy involving Dr. Octopus that remains one of the greatest Spidey stories.

The Terrible Tinkerer in issue #2 remains one of the comic book's biggest duds and my students found the Lizard laughable when they read these comics for class (I always had problems with issue #1 when Spidey lassoes John Jameson's space capsule), but there are mostly solid efforts in these first ten stories. Of course, the origin issue remains a classic, setting the template for the comic's entire history. Borrowing Dr. Doom from the FF for a battle is okay, but it is the original villains, especial Doc Ock that stand out. The Vulture makes two appearances, the Sandman shows up to knock some sense into our hero, and Electro's costume is over the top but his powers are semi-logical all things considered. The most important thing is that all of the elements which have defined Spider-Man for almost forty years are all established in these first eleven stories.

This volume reprints Amazing Fantasy #15 from August 1962 and The Amazing Spider-Man issues 1-10 from March 1963 to March 1964 (issues 1-5 were bi-monthly). The stories are scripted by Stan Lee and drawn by Steve Ditko, with Jack Kirby pencilling the back-up story in #8.

The script and art combine flawlessly to whisk you along at a great pace through the stories; there are no extraneous caption boxes, as used by so many later writers as the art tells you everything you need to know, nor are there endless speech balloons to slow the flow [Roy Thomas and Chris Claremont, I'm looking at you], but that is how it was in Stan's day.

The contents are -
#1 - featuring the Chameleon
#2 - featuring the Vulture and the Tinkerer
#3 - featuring Dr Octopus
#4 - featuring the Sandman
#5 - featuring Dr Doom
#6 - featuring the Lizard
#7 - featuring the Vulture again
#8 - featuring the Human Torch
#9 - featuring Electro
#10 - featuring the Enforcers

How's that for a line up of some of Marvel's most famous villains - and you saw them here first. Well, 8 out of ten of them anyway, Dr Doom was already spoken for. This is where the Marvel Empire began (even if the Fantastic Four got top-billing as `The World's Greatest Comic Book' - Spider-Man was always the more `human' comic to me).

Very well done. I miss all the ads and the smell of the pages in the old original issues, but the reproduction by the publishers is first-rate. For anyone who wants to experience the old/silver age Marvel comics without spending thousands of dollars, the Marvel Masterworks series id definitely the way to go. This installment with Amazing Fantasy#15 (origin of Spider-Man) and issues #1-10 of the Amazing Spider-Man gives a good introduction to all the main characters including some of the villains who go on to plague Peter Parker for years to come. Looking forward to the next volume!

This book is a reprint of the first several spider-man comic books. In my opinion, these are some of the best spider-man stories there are. This is when Peter Parker and spider-man where still unheard of, and Lee and Ditko are finding their character. Spider-man is going through a lot of growing pains as he tries to figure out what he is, and what his role in society is. Unlike most superheroes spider-man is initially vilified and hated. Peter Parker is filled with self doubt. How refreshing to see a superhero that's not just a brash egotist! They are somewhat campy by today's standards, but I read and reread this volume fairly often and feel like I've been transported to the 60s each time.

this is a book that any spidey fan must have or if your not its a great way to start its were it all began in the life of peter parker the origin of the worlds most loved super hero and its at a great price so stop looking and buy its a great book.and thats coming from a true spidey fan nuff said