Sunday, March 18, 2018

Sunday Splash Page #12


"A typical Tuesday for Spider-Man" in Amazing Spider-Man #231, by Roger Stern (writer), John Romita Jr. (penciler), Jim Mooney (inker), Bob Sharen (colorist), Joe Rosen (letterer)

The Roger Stern/John Romita Jr. run on Amazing Spider-Man is a little before my time, so I've doubled back around to it after the fact. I generally like Stern's writing, and Romita Jr. is drawing in a style more similar to Romita Sr. still at this stage, which is fine. 

(How much I like Romita Jr.'s later work seems to depend heavily on the inker, colorist, and just the project in general. Some books it works better to my eye than others.) 

I own bits of this run. This two-parter against Mr. Hyde, and the two issues before that, the iconic fight with the Juggernaut. Two issues when Stern brought back the Black Cat (although it seems like they mostly left that relationship to be handled in Spectacular Spider-Man). One issue where the Mad Thinker takes an interest in Spider-Man. Stern's last few, when the Hobgoblin tries a major extortion scheme and neutralizes Webs' spider-sense. Stern didn't get a chance to finish revealing the mystery of who the Hobgoblin was before he was off the book, though. 

Stern and Romita Jr. work the Spider-Man formula pretty well, mixing and matching the romance/job/school troubles with the superhero fisticuffs. I'm a fan of stories where Spidey has to punch out of his weight class, and they added a couple of solid entries to the list, the Juggernaut story being the more well-known. Romita Jr. knows how to draw a fight scene cleanly and with impact, and show off Spider-Man's combination of speed and agility.

3 comments:

thekelvingreen said...

One of the first comics I remember reading was the Black Cast two parter in Amazing Spider-Man #226-227. It was reprinted in the UK Spider-Man annual in 1984, but then you know all this because you commented on the blog post!

I'll always have a soft spot for that era, with the Hobgoblin and Green Goblin fighting each other, Sin Eater and Jean DeWolff, the black costume, Puma, and Pete's neighbours Bambi, Candi, and Randi.

thekelvingreen said...

Black Cat, that should be. Agh.

CalvinPitt said...

I picked up that two-parter as part of a Spider-Man vs. the Black Cat trade I found three years ago, although the trade is much older.

This era at Marvel helped form a lot of my opinions on characters and tastes in writing and art styles.