Ross Andru's Amazing Spider-Man Club 9 9

[letsgrumble]

This is one of my favourite all-time threads!

What a task identifying Andru's visual references of New York City from 40 years ago. I guess some remnants of NYC remains unchanged since then.

This has the makings for a great exhibit in one of those museums they gots in Manhattan. 

[Spider-Variant]

On 7/15/2019 at 10:06 PM, letsgrumble said:

This is one of my favourite all-time threads!

What a task identifying Andru's visual references of New York City from 40 years ago. I guess some remnants of NYC remains unchanged since then.

This has the makings for a great exhibit in one of those museums they gots in Manhattan. 

That's what I appreciates about you @letsgrumble. 

Edited July 17, 2019 by Spider-Variant

[Get Marwood & I]

On 7/15/2019 at 7:14 PM, Spider-Variant said:

Here is a little project I have been working on for years.  My computer hard drive went down in 2014, so I lost my original data.  I recreated it in August 2017 and maintained it since then.

What this is:  I have a scan of each of the Original Art pages that is listed as verified.  These are drawn by Ross Andru (and a couple of other artists as I wanted to capture ASM 125 through 185) during his ASM run.  I also included the five Giant-Size Spider-Man issues that contained new stories (Issue 6 was a reprint).  I did not include Super-Man vs Spider-Man, though.

The graph below is the summary data for each issue.  

 

What this isn't:  A guarantee that the Original Art page still exists.  Someone may have posted a scan one day and his/her house burnt down the next.  No idea of the current existence.

Observations:

Most of the issues with 100% listed are from the Ross Andru Artist Edition.  Issue 159 is the only issue I was able to cobble together all the scans on my own.  Love that Artist Edition.  I actually had a scan of a page from issue 126 that is not in the Artist Edition.

If you look at the area, about 25% of Ross's work is accounted for.  I hope there are a lot more pages out there in the hands of private collectors who haven't shared their art.

I have scans of about 50% of the covers during this same time period.

I know there were a few more pages that I didn't capture in my 2017 version that were on my original files.

Any way, hope this post drives some more discussion.

That's my kind of graph Reggie! And files. Oh yes 

So I'm reading it right, is that saying that ASM #141, 149, 168, 174 and 175 have no confirmed pages?

 

[Spider-Variant]

1 hour ago, Get Marwood & I said:

That's my kind of graph Reggie! And files. Oh yes 

So I'm reading it right, is that saying that ASM #141, 149, 168, 174 and 175 have no confirmed pages?

 

Thanks @Get Marwood & I.  I havent seen any pages from those issues.  Of course,  I hadn't seen any from issue 153 until the Ross Andru Artist edition. 

[Get Marwood & I]

1 minute ago, Spider-Variant said:

Thanks @Get Marwood & I.  I havent seen any pages from those issues.  Of course,  I hadn't seen any from issue 153 until the Ross Andru Artist edition. 

I'm going to have to dig my old files out and report back. I saved a load of ebay sales pictures back in the day 

[Spider-Variant]

10 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

I'm going to have to dig my old files out and report back. I saved a load of ebay sales pictures back in the day 

That's exactly what I was hoping! 

[Get Marwood & I]

4 minutes ago, Spider-Variant said:

That's exactly what I was hoping! 

The cover to 141 is on Google I see. I'll dig the files out at the weekend.....

[Spider-Variant]

22 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

The cover to 141 is on Google I see. I'll dig the files out at the weekend.....

Yes, my chart only covers interior art.  I do have a nice scan of ASM 141.  

Edited July 18, 2019 by Spider-Variant
Typo

[FoggyNelson]

nothing beats a good graph ‼️‼️🤔

Edited July 20, 2019 by FoggyNelson

[Spider-Variant]

34 minutes ago, FoggyNelson said:

nothing beats a good graph ‼️‼️🤔

Well, not entirely satisfied with it.  It conveys the basic information, but still leaves me wanting something to improve it.

[ComicConnoisseur]

Great thread guys. I learned a lot and appreciate Ross Andru more now.

This was my favorite Ross Andru comic. My late grandfather use to read it to me many times when I was a kid.

Good memories.

[Spider-Variant]

1 hour ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

Great thread guys. I learned a lot and appreciate Ross Andru more now.

This was my favorite Ross Andru comic. My late grandfather use to read it to me many times when I was a kid.

Good memories.

That is an awesome memory.  Thanks for sharing.  My older brother started me down the path, with issue 153 being the start of my 30+ year collecting journey.  

[Get Marwood & I]

4 hours ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

Great thread guys. I learned a lot and appreciate Ross Andru more now.

This was my favorite Ross Andru comic. My late grandfather use to read it to me many times when I was a kid.

Good memories.

Treasury Editions were great weren't they, as a kid. Massive comics.... brilliant 

[FoggyNelson]

I have that one two sup vs spicy 

an I have sup vs Ali too👍👍🆒

[Spider-Variant]

Haven't done one of these in a while.  This one is tricky, as I really have no idea where Ross was standing when he used the 34th Street Armory (really the 71st Regiment Armory) to place the Punisher into battle in Amazing Spider-Man 174.  ASM 174 hit the stands around August 1977.  The armory was abandoned in June 1971 and was eventually torn down, which I could not find a definitive year.  All the pictures I found of the Armory are very old and so not a good comparison.

Hmmm, this is an odd one, just saw one site that said the Armory was demolished in 1972.  So how was Ross using it in 1977?  Maybe the web site was wrong?  

Edited July 27, 2019 by Spider-Variant
Additional Info

[Get Marwood & I]

I love a mystery Reg. I'm planning on digging out the Partners for Life book today from the vaults. Have a proper look. Maybe there'll be a clue in there... 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 7/26/2019 at 5:55 PM, Spider-Variant said:

Hmmm, this is an odd one, just saw one site that said the Armory was demolished in 1972.

Google says it's replacement building was built in 1973, so the date seems right. Ross must have used photos?

[Spider-Variant]

2 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Google says it's replacement building was built in 1973, so the date seems right. Ross must have used photos?

About the only thing that makes sense.  Weird though that with all the great places Ross placed Spidey in over his run on ASM, that he would use a place that was no longer there.  

[Get Marwood & I]

1 hour ago, Spider-Variant said:

About the only thing that makes sense.  Weird though that with all the great places Ross placed Spidey in over his run on ASM, that he would use a place that was no longer there.  

Maybe it had a significance to him? Or maybe he couldn't get out that day, so he pulled that big case of location photos out from under his bed and....

[Martin4]

On 6/13/2019 at 1:11 PM, Spider-Variant said:

As stated before and referenced a few times (for example https://www.cbr.com/spider-man-mindworm-rockaway-house/, ) Ross nearly got Marvel sued by his depiction of a real house in Amazing Spider-Man 138.  

Here is the house

Now, Marvel I think took this threat seriously, because look at the house as it appeared in Marvel Tales 115, which reprints ASM 138.  A chimney was added, along with the removal of the columns and porch.

The question is, does this house still stand today?  There are a lot of older houses still in the Far Rockaway area, where the story in ASM 138 was set.  So, it could still be there.  But after about six months of off and on searching in the area using googlemaps, I cannot find a house that looks similar enough to this one.  I do know some houses that were there in 1974 are no longer there.  There is even one house on googlemaps in the area that is blurred, but looking from a satellite view down, I don't think it matches either.

There are some clues above about it being on a cul-de-sac, but not a lot of cul-de-sacs in this area.  It mentions "fans" were looking for the Mindworm, which leads me to think fans = kids and that it must be located near a school.  But no luck there either.

Anyway, if anyone has time to kill, jump into the Mindworm House Challenge and see if you can be the first to find it.  As always, SV is providing the No Prize!  

 

I found these houses in Rockaway. They are two houses attached .