Customer Reviews

Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man - Volume 9

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great collection of Spider-Man issues from late 1969 to the early 1970's. Stan Lee and John Romita were creating and publishing the best comics of their careers. And who would know that the era of this quality and style was nearly over? These are the 15 cent issues after the 12 cent tradition was over and before the larger and lamer 25 cent issues signaled the end of the Silver Age.

One of the best features of this volume is the introduction by John Romita which is far more substantive than the light banter of Stan Lee's typical introductions. Romita reveals some details about the mysterious never-published Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine #3. There's even some unpublished Romita pencils that provide several clues about how elements of the story were used in other issues. It seems obvious to me reading Romita's comments and looking at his original pencils that the Electro story in issue #82 was probably very similar to what was planned for the magazine except involving the Kingpin making a deal with JJJ and a Prowler prototype, "The Dreaded Stalker" crashing the TV show. Check it out and see if you agree.

Most of the issues reprinted here are not drawn by John Romita, but by John Buscema who skillfully duplicated Romita's Spider-Man style. The volume does include some of the last Spider-Man works of Romita and Jim Mooney and story foreshadowing that still resonates in the Marvel Universe today. Did anyone ever draw beautiful women as beautifully as Romita drew Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson? This volume includes classic images of Gwen's fringe dress and a smoking hot first appearance of the superhero version of the Black Widow.

This is the last volume of the classic era and a must-have for collectors. The next volume will close out the Silver-Age completely with some more great stories - the last really good ones, but this volume showcases the creators at the peak of their careers with no clues that very little more was left to come.