Marvel Masterworks Pin-Ups is one of my absolute favorite Yoe Books. It gathers between its pages most if not all of superhero pin-up pages which appeared in Marvel's comics over the course of about two decades or so beginning with the very first Fab 4 pin-ups from Fantastic Four #2 and ending with John Byrne's pin-ups for Fantastic Four Special Edition from 1984. In between there are scuds of images of both heroes and villains by the likes of Kirby, John Buscema, Gene Colan, Dicky Ayers, Don Heck, Larry Lieber, John Romita, Bill Everett, and Barry (Not-Yet-Windsor) Smith. Most of them are by the "King", but coming in second is "Sturdy" Steve Ditko. Below I've gathered his Spidey images from the book.
The oddball grace of Ditko's early version of Spidey is neatly showcases in this image Amazing Spider-Man #3.
It is a more muscular Spider we see here from the first Amazing Spider-Man Annual.
This pin-up from Amazing Spider-Man #20 has always been a favorite of mine as it shows Peter Parker, a figure no less important to the success of the early Spidey stories.
This a grand image from Amazing Spider-Man #21, which of course served as the cover this Yoe collection. The way the light frames Spidey is outstanding.
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As a child in the 1960s reading those early Spider-Man tales in black and white in the UK comic Pow! I found Ditkos early Spidey scary as well I thought I was the only one.
ReplyDeleteSpidey has become an icon like Superman and Batman, both who need special treatment to make them as awe inspiring as they should be.
DeleteThis book looks like quite a collection. I always liked coming across a pinup page but was always afraid to cut, pull, tear them out for fear of ruining my precious comic!
ReplyDeleteI never cut them, but I do have some back issues I've bought minus a page or two.
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