Ross Andru's Amazing Spider-Man Club 9 9

[ADAMANTIUM]

1 hour ago, Spider-Variant said:

When I originally saw this real-life Ross Andru reference from Amazing Spider-Man 172, I thought he had just rushed a quick drawing of the George Washington Bridge.  I opined that if Gil Kane could draw the Brooklyn Bridge and call it the George Washington Bridge, then Ross was entitled to draw a fast version of the GW.

But I was pleasantly wrong.  He actually drew the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, a suspension bridge connecting the New York City boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn.
I discovered this today for the first time, listed on another site as a "Ross Andru Tour of NYC", that included about a third of the ones I have depicted in this thread.  This was the only one that I did not have from their list and was happy to add to mine.

Wow! There has been some thought put into this then if it's a "tour", which I assume the tour is online?

Shame one you had couldn't be added to theirs

But glad that the art is being appreciated 

 

[Spider-Variant]

On 9/11/2020 at 11:05 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

Wow! There has been some thought put into this then if it's a "tour", which I assume the tour is online?

Shame one you had couldn't be added to theirs

But glad that the art is being appreciated 

 

It's a radio blog that has a list of places by issue number. 

Well, actually it's a podcast.  I didn't listen to it, but probably will sometime.

Edited September 13, 2020 by Spider-Variant
clarification

[Spider-Variant]

Although not Ross Andru art, ASM 155 is right in the middle of Ross's run.  Art by Sal Buscema.

I found this page today for sell on an art site.  Original art to page 23 of ASM 155.

The description says someone cut the figures of Spider-Man out, colored them, and pasted them back in.

UGH!  Hate, hate seeing this.  At least the page wasn't destroyed.  I compare it to a high quality reprint on the right.

 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 8/20/2020 at 5:32 PM, Spider-Variant said:

Here are the answers.  First one was from my first official ASM book I owned, ASM #153. The second was from ASM#126, with the panels slightly rearranged.

 

Missed it!

I knew 153 straight away - those poses are etched on my memory and I've read that issue a hundred times. Only the window tap panel rang a bell on the 126 though. 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 9/9/2020 at 7:15 PM, Spider-Variant said:

I haven't posted this in a little but it's a slow-moving project anyway.  I did find a few more scans of pages I hadn't see before, so I posted my updated version below.

For all the issues between ASM 125 and 185, including the GS issues, I have identified about 30% of the interior original art pages.  If I look at just the Ross Andru pages and leave out the GS issues, it jumps up to 32%.

Six full issues are identified and another just lacking 2 pages.

Unfortunately, I still have not seen an interior page from ASM 141, 149, 168, 174, and 175.

I wonder how many are sitting in private collections, and how many are lost forever. 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 9/16/2020 at 8:07 PM, Spider-Variant said:

Although not Ross Andru art, ASM 155 is right in the middle of Ross's run.  Art by Sal Buscema.

I found this page today for sell on an art site.  Original art to page 23 of ASM 155.

The description says someone cut the figures of Spider-Man out, colored them, and pasted them back in.

UGH!  Hate, hate seeing this.  At least the page wasn't destroyed.  I compare it to a high quality reprint on the right.

 

[Spider-Variant]

1 minute ago, Get Marwood & I said:

I wonder how many are sitting in private collections, and how many are lost forever. 

Yes, my heart knows some pages are probably lost forever.  But I do enjoy the chase.

[Get Marwood & I]

3 minutes ago, Spider-Variant said:

Yes, my heart knows some pages are probably lost forever.  But I do enjoy the chase.

I suppose for every owner that wants to show their pages off, there's another keeping quiet. One lucky sod could have an entire issue. And given how freely pages were handled by Marvel back in the day, many have likely long since bitten the dust. 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 8/16/2020 at 6:44 PM, Spider-Variant said:

Little stuff like this always intrigues me.

The three images below are from ASM 134.  The first is from a high quality reprint of page one, the second of the original art from page one, and the last is a Xerox made by Dave Hunt (Thanks Lee B.!) of his finished background inks.

The thing that sticks out to me is that the published page and original art have a larger image than the one Dave Hunt made.  It actually looks like someone decided the image needed to be extended.  If you look real closely there is a line (almost looks like white-out) across the original art page where the new art begins.  I placed an arrow on it.  Even on the published page it is nearly distinguishable.  

I find this interesting.  

 

Weird. The colorist is missing too Reggie. 

[Spider-Variant]

On 9/18/2020 at 4:56 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Weird. The colorist is missing too Reggie. 

I'm assuming the page went from Ross (pencils), to Artie (letterer), to Dave (background inks), then to Frank (finished inks).  When Artie lettered it, Marvel probably hadn't even identified a Colorist yet, so he left it blank.  That's my best guess.

But there is no guessing that Dave Hunt played a big role in how well this book turned out.  As I have stated, I preferred Frank Giacoia's inks over Mike Esposito's, but the thing that stands out to me in Issue 134 was the inks by Dave.  Great detail and effort. Dave left ASM at Issue 170 and you can definitely tell a decline in the sharpness of the inks in Ross's latter issues.

FYI, I think Dave's best work ever was those MTU issues where he inked John Byrne.   Just amazing stuff.

[Spider-Variant]

Here's Ross's depiction of the Chrysler Building from ASM 178.  As we true believers remember, Spidey is rushing to the hospital to sign paperwork so that the doctors can operate on his beloved Aunt May.  The Green Goblin is trying to capture him.  Ross put the Chrysler building in other issues, most notably ASM 146.

Ross did a great job on the building itself, but his eagles were not very reflective of the actual building ones.

Edited September 25, 2020 by Spider-Variant

[Get Marwood & I]

On 9/24/2020 at 5:25 PM, Spider-Variant said:

...but his eagles were not very reflective of the actual building ones.

They're not that bad Reggie! 

[Spider-Variant]

6 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

They're not that bad Reggie! 

True.  I'm afraid I have been guilty  of demanding near perfection from a man who was underpaid and overworked.  Plus he didn't have a near infinite source of photos via the internet like I do.

Think I have just been so impressed by most of his recreation that I nitpick the smallest things. Definitely not fair, but maybe a reflection of the high regard I have for his work.

 

[Get Marwood & I]

33 minutes ago, Spider-Variant said:

Plus he didn't have a near infinite source of photos via the internet like I do.

He probably looked at them through binoculars from street level 

[Spider-Variant]

1 hour ago, Get Marwood & I said:

He probably looked at them through binoculars from street level 

That's probably not even a joke.

Of all my real life identifications from Ross's run on ASM, the one's I love the most are the one's where  I can place myself in his shoes.  Sitting on an overpass or walking over a bridge, things like these.  It's almost like a time machine for me.  I have identified a lot of real life places that Ross drew, but I wonder how many real, nonfamous buildings are in his work as well.

Edited September 26, 2020 by Spider-Variant

[Spider-Variant]

As I slowly run out of real life Ross Andru references from his run on Amazing Spider-Man, I find myself tackling a few that I knew were a little harder to dissect.

Let's explore Ross's take on the power station near the 59th street bridge (now more commonly referred to as the Queensboro Bridge) from Giant-Size Spider-Man #2.  As seen on page 17, Spider-Man swings over the Queensboro Bridge toward the power station.

The first comparison below shows the Ravenswood Generating Station and the Queensboro Bridge.  His bridge depiction looks spot on, but the power station doesn't match.  The stacks are different sizes when compared to what Ross drew.  The support buildings are different.  It's just not the same plant.

If we fast forward to Amazing Spider-Man 152, Ross draws a perfect rendition of the Ravenswood Generating Station from the other side, namely the Roosevelt Island Bridge.  Spidey states that this is the same place he and Shang-Chi fought at back in GS SM #2.  So, ASM 152 shows the Ravenswood Generating Station but it is not the same power plant that Ross drew earlier in GS SM #2.  

So, what did Ross draw in GS SM#2?  I think he used the Vinegar Hill Power Plant near the Brooklyn Navy Shipyard as his reference.  On the last two pics below, I point all the matching points as to why I believe this.  The coal conveyors, the four same size stacks, the water tanks in the background.  It's not a perfect match, but it is close enough for me to believe this is the plant he used.

As I have stated earlier, I work in the power generation industry and I am naturally drawn to these power plants in Ross's work.  As a matter of fact, I actually did some work for the Ravenswood Generating Station a few years back.

Anyway, I hope at least one other person finds this interesting.

 

 

Edited September 30, 2020 by Spider-Variant
Typo

[ADAMANTIUM]

12 hours ago, Spider-Variant said:

As I slowly run out of real life Ross Andru references from his run on Amazing Spider-Man, I find myself tackling a few that I knew were a little harder to dissect.

Let's explore Ross's take on the power station near the 59th street bridge (now more commonly referred to as the Queensboro Bridge) from Giant-Size Spider-Man #2.  As seen on page 17, Spider-Man swings over the Queensboro Bridge toward the power station.

The first comparison below shows the Ravenswood Generating Station and the Queensboro Bridge.  His bridge depiction looks spot on, but the power station doesn't match.  The stacks are different sizes when compared to what Ross drew.  The support buildings are different.  It's just not the same plant.

If we fast forward to Amazing Spider-Man 152, Ross draws a perfect rendition of the Ravenswood Generating Station from the other side, namely the Roosevelt Island Bridge.  Spidey states that this is the same place he and Shang-Chi fought at back in GS SM #2.  So, ASM 152 shows the Ravenswood Generating Station but it is not the same power plant that Ross drew earlier in GS SM #2.  

So, what did Ross draw in GS SM#2?  I think he used the Vinegar Hill Power Plant near the Brooklyn Navy Shipyard as his reference.  On the last two pics below, I point all the matching points as to why I believe this.  The coal conveyors, the four same size stacks, the water tanks in the background.  It's not a perfect match, but it is close enough for me to believe this is the plant he used.

As I have stated earlier, I work in the power generation industry and I am naturally drawn to these power plants in Ross's work.  As a matter of fact, I actually did some work for the Ravenswood Generating Station a few years back.

Anyway, I hope at least one other person finds this interesting.

 

 

so cool!

[Get Marwood & I]

13 hours ago, Spider-Variant said:

Anyway, I hope at least one other person finds this interesting

Talking from experience, many people do I think, but they just don't show it by posting / liking. Lots of appreciative lurkers out there Reggie.

As the ASM pool dries up, and noting the GS example above, why not move on to MTU etc? I called the thread 'Ross Andru's Amazing Spider-Man Club', not necessarily in respect of the title Amazing Spider-Man, but in appreciation of the fact that his drawing of Spidey - in any title - was generally amazing 

[Spider-Variant]

1 hour ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Talking from experience, many people do I think, but they just don't show it by posting / liking. Lots of appreciative lurkers out there Reggie.

As the ASM pool dries up, and noting the GS example above, why not move on to MTU etc? I called the thread 'Ross Andru's Amazing Spider-Man Club', not necessarily in respect of the title Amazing Spider-Man, but in appreciation of the fact that his drawing of Spidey - in any title - was generally amazing 

Thanks Steve.  It's been fun finding these, like an Easter egg hut.  My favorite is the one above which Ross drew as he crossed the Roosevelt Island bridge from Issue 152.  In my mind I can see Ross walking across that bridge snapping photos, excited about the story he would tell in ASM.  I like the fact that so little has changed in over 44 years since he drew that.

I have looked at a few MTU issues, but more on some of the research I was doing on Dave Hunt, where he put in some background shout outs.  I'll take a peek and see what Ross put in the few issues he penciled.  

I still want to find Mindworm's house, but it has been most elusive.  

 

[FoggyNelson]

Great recent posts as usual spider-variant  😷‼️