Customer Reviews

Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2

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The second ten issues collected in "Marvel Masterworks: Amazing Spider-Man Volume 2" are better than the first ten issues collected in Volume 1. Of course, you cannot appreciate the second ten issues without having read the first ten issues, so do not think that you should begin your appreciation of Spider-Man with this second volume. Unlike the "Essential Spider-Man, Volume 1," which combines all of the aforementioned comic book stories in a single volume, these reprints are in color. Either way one of the things that stands out in these issues is the outstanding artwork of Steve Ditko. I was never really a fan of the way Ditko drew people, but his compositional skills are absolutely first rate.

In these ten issues Stan Lee and Ditko consistently work in all of the familiar elements that made Spider-Man the most popular comic book superhero of the 1960s. Peter Parker loves Betty Bryant, but when her brother is shot during a fight she ends up blaming Spider-Man (#11), showing that when it comes to the romance department our hero rarely has any good luck. To add to his troubles Spider-Man is "Unmasked by Dr. Octopus" (#12), has to tangle with both the Green Goblin and the Incredible Hulk (#14), teams up with Daredevil to battle the Ringmaster (#16), has to deal with a supervillain created specifically by J. Jonah Jameson ("The Coming of the Scorpion," #20), has to worry about poor old frail Aunt May (#17), and even ends up seeing a psychiatrist because Mysterio is driving him crazy (#13). For Spider-Man, being a superhero is not all it is cracked up to be.

One of the improvements in this second collection is that we are dealing with the best of Spider-Man's villains: Kraven the Hunter, Mysterio, and the Scorpion, with Dr. Octopus and the Green Goblin appearing in two issues apiece. This is a big improvement over the Terrible Tinkerer and crossover bad guys like Dr. Doom. Stan Lee is writing better stories about both Spider-Man and his secret identity, creating a situation that is more and more complex. The predictability of these stories is getting less and less as Lee goes out of his way to keep taking things in new directions. But keep in mind: this is not the best of The Amazing Spider-Man by Lee and Ditko; that is yet to come (that would be the Master Planner/Doctor Octopus trilogy in issues #31-33, which means you have to wait for Masterworks Volume 4).

Oh this is great stuff. I forgot how good the early spidermans were. I'm getting to relive them as I read them to my son at night. These are great stories that don't have the same violence as the new comics. Yes Spidey still fights but its not gorey or frightening for my young son and he loves it.
Fantastic introduction to comic book superheros. Many of the good guys and bad guys make appearances in these early comics.

This volume picks up where the first left off and continues to bring the greatness.

This collects amazing spider-man 11-19 and the annual. Here we find more Dr. Octopus, Kraven, Green Goblin, and even a cameo by the Hulk. The annual of course, brings us spider-man's real test of his endurance as he battles the sinister six.

Overall, this is great quality work on high quality printed pages and beautifully restores what stan lee and steve ditko worked so hard to create. The only thing I do not like so much is how there are so many full (packed to the brim) word balloons and everyone always has to say something. This was just stan's way of writing back then and if you are new to these it may be overpowering, but just take your time and you will enjoy the stories and the character he builds along with Ditko.

Highly recommend this to anyone looking to read about spider-man.

Stan Lee once described Steve Ditko as "the most unique genius".As a long time fan of Spiderman,(and everything else illustrated by Steve Ditko),I feel those words describe the man to a T. While I would not deny the quality of the artwork of all the other comic book artists that have tried their hand at drawing Spiderman,in particular,Frank Miller,the hand of Steve Ditko made us all believe that Peter Parker really was the SPIDER MAN.(with the emphasis on both words).

This volume reprints The Amazing Spider-Man issues #11-19 from April to December 1964, along with Annual #1. The stories are scripted by Stan Lee and drawn by Steve Ditko.

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 -
#11 - The Return of Dr Octopus
#12 - Unmasked by Dr Octopus
#13 - The Menace of Mysterio
#14 - The Green Goblin!
#15 - Kraven the Hunter
Annual #1 - The Sinister Six - a fifty-six page story featuring Dr Octopus, the Sandman, the Vulture, Kraven, Mysterio and Electro!
#16 - Daredevil
#17 - Return of the Green Goblin
#18 - The Sandman
#19 - the Human Torch, the Sandman and the Enforcers

How's that for a line up of some of Marvel's most famous villains - and you saw most of them here first. 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).

A giant jumble of Spidey's first adventures, and an essential for anyone into Spider-Man or just starting out. Spider-Man in his best bouts and crazy clashes with Doc Ock and his Sinister Six, and the debut of the Green Goblin. You won't be disappointed!

I buy these books for my husband. He loves them! They feature full color glossy pages. Nice hard cover books with colorful dustjackets. They are a wonderful way to "collect" these earlier comics without the heafty price tag. They look great on the bookshelf! Nothing messy like loose (yet valuable) comics. I don't know if these will ever become collectors, but if you want them for the joy of the story & the artwork, you certainly wont be dissapointed stepping back in comic time.

This is where Ditko (who must have been the driving force in much of the early series) and Lee really hit their stride. Yes, the colors are brighter than when originally printed on cheap comic paper, but you can see great storytelling and great art combined. Any of these comics, if produced today, would span numerous issues because the art would dominate. Not so here in the mid-60's Marvels. It's a beautiful blend.

The Marvel Masterworks are great books!!!! Love that they have a multitude of comics condensed into one book. Really fast shipping and came in excellent condition. Thanks so much!!!!!

Surely this is an important historical volume, along with the others comprising the first 100 issues of Spider-Man.

But the restoration is suspect. Especially BAD is the coloring job. It's not just that the different technology creates more-saturated colors; it's that the new colorists changed the colors. Sometimes they think they are "improving" upon the original, by using colors that blend subtly, and using more tones than were available to Marie Severin and the original Marvel colorists. But these effects put Steve Ditko's linework at a disadvantage: Ditko is well-known as a fastidious, thoughtful artist, and his line work in his Marvel era usually was done with the colors in mind. The very subtlety of the modern color work makes the linework here seem crude by comparison, which is certainly NOT the case in the original printing process.

It gets worse: the colorists here did a bad job. A brunette shows up as a redhead in a page or two, and she's a major character. A villain is colored as though his bare hands were gloves. And so on.

"The Essential Spider-Man" volumes, much cheaper, are in black and white, and do not contain these ugly, ill-chosen colors.