Amazing Spider-Man Classics

Can you believe it?  We’ve made it through an entire year.  And to celebrate, the Classics gang takes a break from comic coverage to take a look through the DeLorean’s rearview mirror at how the show began.  But after a few minutes of that, it’s time to break out your DVD players as we watch Spider-Man (2002) with an in-film movie commentary.  Hope you enjoy, and we’ll be back with regular comic coverage next episode!

Come on, get happy, Web-Spinners!  We are proud to welcome back to the show our guest for today, J.R. Fettinger, Osborn expert extraordinaire!  Today’s episode of Amazing Spider-Man Classics takes a look at the debut of artist John Romita on Amazing Spider-Man, a two-part adventure featuring the unmasking of Spider-Man and the END of the GREEN GOBLIN!  And along the way, all our favorite angry cast members undergo a happiness makeover under John Romita’s brush.  Also, we have an announcement about next episode’s celebration of one year of Amazing Spider-Man Classics.

Farewell, Steve Ditko.  We hardly knew thee.  This episode of Amazing Spider-Man Classics wraps up the tenure of the artist who helped to create our beloved webslinger and guide him down the most formative steps of his publishing history.  With the circumstances surrounding his departure being what they were, it is sadly not the best note on which to depart, but before we talk about A Guy Named Joe in Amazing Spider-Man 38, the Classics gang (continuing to be assisted by Jim Wilson of JimWilsonDesigns, my brother and this website’s designer) finishes out Johnny Romita’s Spider-baptism by fire in Daredevil 17.

Along the way, we mention several sites for which I want to provide links.

— Dr. Strange’s early adventures, among other things, are being chronicled on a podcast, the Groucho Ramone Show.

— Lancer Publishing produced the first Spider-Man mass market sized reprint paperback, which has been reviewed by SpiderFan.org.

— Marvel produced bunches of minibooks that could be found in gumball machines.  They are very cute, and scans of the Spider-Man one are also provided by SpiderFan.org.

Hello there from all the gang here at Amazing Spider-Man Classics!  This episode, we are back to begin taking a look at the transition from Steve Ditko to John Romita.  Romita had the joys of drawing Spider-Man for a two-part Daredevil story, the end of which happened to coincide with Steve Ditko quitting Amazing Spider-Man.  So in this episode, we are diving into the first part of that story, Daredevil 16, where Daredevil’s new foe, the Masked Marauder, incites some enmity between Hornhead and Webhead as part of his evil plot.  Then we switch over to Steve Ditko’s penultimate outing in Amazing Spider-Man 37, featuring the Robot Master and the first named, in-character appearance of Norman Osborn.

But we are not alone.  Joining us this time out is designer of the website you are viewing right now, and my brother, Jim Wilson.  He has supported me in this endeavor since its inception, and it was the least I could to have him on to talk some Spidey and Daredevil with us.  He has a great collection of his work in images, Flash animation, and film over at his website, and I strongly encourage you to check that out if you haven’t yet.

Thanks for coming back to see us here at Amazing Spider-Man Classics.  The three Classicists are all by themselves this time out for a couple of lackluster issues that bring us closer to Steve Ditko’s departure from the title.  In Amazing Spider-Man 35, The Molten Man Regrets the shameful things that happened between him and the webhead before, but that doesn’t stop him from coming back for more.  Then a right-out loony manages to get superpowers from some rock gas and begins looting, and thus we have the birth of the Looter.  All this, and some real treats from Ditko’s Gwen Stacy, too!

Speaking of Gwen, Josh Bertone has written several articles which explore the life of the character, which can be found at the Crawl Space.  And speaking of things being at the Crawl Space, Donovan Grant has been writing some reviews of the 1994 animated Spider-Man television series, so check those out!

Welcome back to the show, everyone!  In this latest episode, the Master Planner trilogy comes to its oh so dramatic conclusion, and Scott Gardner of the Two True Freaks! family of podcasts helps us get there.

Then, Kraven is once again on the prowl, and the team is joined by Brad Douglas of the Spider-Man Crawlspace.

Peter’s life takes some significant turns in these two issues, and Jon, Don, and Josh help you laugh at every one of them.  Cuz that’s why they’re called COMICS!

Welcome to the first episode of Amazing Spider-Man Classics for the new year 2011!  I hope you enjoyed the raw uberlong Christmas episode.  This one is of a bit more manageable length, but it’ll probably still be one of the larger items in your podcast folder.  Not that size matters, of course!

This episode, Josh Bertone had to bow for health reasons but left us instructions to continue without him.  So Jon Wilson and Don Grant are joined by the one and only Scott Gardner of the podcasts Two True Freaks!, Back to the Bins!, Tales of the Justice Society of America, and Death and the Acrid Smell of Gunsmoke: The Jonah Hex Podcast, all of which can be found at one website and under the Two True Freaks! podcast feed on iTunes.

This episode, it’s college time for Peter, where he meets a new cast of characters, including Emma Stone!  But he’s so worried about his aunt’s health, he pays them no attention and is immediately shunned for it because these guys have real class!

Welcome to the first episode of Amazing Spider-Man Classics for the new year 2011!  I hope you enjoyed the raw uberlong Christmas episode.  This one is of a bit more manageable length, but it’ll probably still be one of the larger items in your podcast folder.  Not that size matters, of course!

This episode, Josh Bertone had to bow for health reasons but left us instructions to continue without him.  So Jon Wilson and Don Grant are joined by the one and only Scott Gardner of the podcasts Two True Freaks!, Back to the Bins!, Tales of the Justice Society of America, and Death and the Acrid Smell of Gunsmoke: The Jonah Hex Podcast, all of which can be found at one website and under the Two True Freaks! podcast feed on iTunes.

This episode, it’s college time for Peter, where he meets a new cast of characters, including Emma Stone!  But he’s so worried about his aunt’s health, he pays them no attention and is immediately shunned for it because these guys have real class!

The drought is over.  The hiatus is ended.  Amazing Spider-Man Classics is back with its longest episode ever, just for you for the holiday season!

We are joined again this episode by Eddie deAngelini, comic archive researcher for With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story., as we take a look at Spider-Man’s second annual and thirtieth monthly issues of his series.  Also, Brad Douglas of the Spider-Man Crawlspace sticks his head in for some emails at the beginning of the show.

Speaking of emails, Aiden Mohan sent us an email discussing the future of Princess Python, and he references a Punisher cover featuring her that can be found here.

It’s time for pomp, circumstance, and supervillains here at Amazing Spider-Man Classics!  After a few days’ delay due to school, the Classics team is now able to take a look at Amazing Spider-Man 28 and 29 with the help of Eddie deAngelini, comic archive researcher for With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story, a documentary which got its premiere at this year’s San Diego Comic Con.  Eddie also holds the claim to fame of owning every single issue of (The) Amazing Spider-Man, having closed his final gap of issue 2 at SDCC, where he met our own Josh Bertone and introduced him to The Man himself.

Though we haven’t stated it here in a while, our mission is the same as always, to explore every single comic book appearance of Spider-Man ever, whether it be as a feature in his own books, a guest appearance in someone else’s, or even a random one-panel cameo somewhere.

This episode, Peter gets to graduate from high school in issue 28 after a tussle with the newly-doused Molten Man.  Then Betty has a breakdown when the Scorpion attacks in issue 29, and wouldn’t you know it, Ned Leeds is the one there to comfort her.  We have a lot of fun with these, taking time to really get into the character of Liz Allan, as Amazing Spider-Man 28 is basically her swan song for the next 100 issues.  You might also learn just how much influence Aunt May has had in the machinations of the history of the Marvel universe.