Spider-Man Visionaries: John Romita Sr. Tpb

"Spider-Man Visionaries: John Romita Sr" provides nine examples of the artist work on "The Amazing Spider-Man" drawing the stories written by Stan Lee. Included are the first four issues drawn by Romita, which includes the classic two-parter where the Green Goblin discovers Spider-Man is really Peter Parker, who learns his arch foe is Norman Osborn, father of his best friend Harry: #39 "How Green Was My Goblin!" and #40 "The End of the Green Goblin!" There was certainly no time for fans of the webhead to complain about Steve Ditko being replaced as the comic's artist when the first illustration we see from Romita is the classic cover of #39 with the Goblin carting away the unmasked Spider-Man. This pivotal story is followed by 41 "The Horns of the Rhino!" and #42 "The Birth of a Super-Hero!" where John Jameson is turned into a superhero type by his father's meglomania. Then we have another one of Romita's best covers and stories in #50 "Spider-Man No More!" This is followed by #68 "Crisis on the Campus!" and #69 "Mission: Crush the Kingpin!" the second encounter with the round ball of muscle destined to become the crime boss of New York City. Finally, we have #108 "Vengeance from Vietnam!" and #109 "Enter: Dr. Strange!" has Spidey trying to help Flash Thompson, who is wrongly blammed for the shelling of a temple in Vietnam and the death of the Holy One. Dr. Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts, comes along to provide, uh, spiritual guidance. So, on the one hand we have the top three issues drawn by Romita you would want (#39, #40 & #50), but the rest of these are fairly pedestrian. What you will discover is that while Romita might not have the superb compositional skills of Ditko, nobody ever drew Gwen Stacy any better. I have a slight preference for the art of Gene Colan when it comes to drawing females, but Romita is a close second and his drawings of both Spider-Man and Peter Parker have become the standards by which all succeeding Spider-Man artists have been judged (even Jr.).