Panels that made you a fan for life 1 1

[BigDaddy1]

The panels of Gwen Stacy's death. This really shocked me as a kid bc I always imagined superheroes, until I was maybe 7 or 8, getting the girls. Not in this case.

This is one of the reasons I became a comic collector: John Romita's art is gorgeous and well drawn. Gerry Conway held back nothing when writing the story, which is why I think it also stands out. Peter is distraught that despite having his powers he could not save him, and the Green Goblin had committed his greatest evil yet. 

This holds a special place to me because Peter really loved Gwen, and unfortunately lost that chance of having a future with her. And that even though you may have superpowers, life can still throw a curveball at you, whether you know it or not.

 

Edited November 22 by BigDaddy1

[Zonker]

On 11/16/2019 at 8:45 PM, Randall Ries said:

I was lucky enough to have gotten my love for comic books by not having the ability to be overexposed to them as a kid. Getting a comic book was tough as my father was cheap. But when I did, they were good ones for some reason.

I remember getting this one way back when off the racks and my father grudgingly bought it for me. Batman #244. This page was the perfect (almost) ending to the story. Really the first page that grabbed me and left a mark. Been a fan of early Adams art ever since.

Does anyone else have a memory of "that panel" or "that page" that hooked them for life?

This issue would be my choice as well.  This one was a little bit before my time, but read the issue in a stash of comics my cousin had, and was completely jealous of his hoard!  Also liked the very next image (the final page of the story)... total bad azz moment.

 

 

Edited November 23 by Zonker

[Zonker]

Detective #438 I bought off the stands, or had it bought for me.  The Manhunter series by Archie Goodwin & Walt Simonson was like nothing else at that time.  The story started in the middle, with no explanation of what was going on, the reader had to piece it together bit by bit, only getting the the origin story about halfway through the run.  As the book was on a bi-monthly schedule, I remember spending hours re-reading the previous installments trying to sort it out.  There was an awful lot going on in those 8-page segments!

It was years later before I read the first installment from #437, not that it would have made much difference:  the 2nd chapter throws you right into the mystery as well. By the time I got to the final 2 pages shown here, I was completely hooked.  Loved Simonson's montage images, the twist at the end, and final teaser for the next issue.

 

 

Edited November 23 by Zonker

[Spider-Variant]

I remember my brother picking up Amazing Spider-Man 145 off the stands when we lived in Hawaii in the mid-seventies.  I was just getting into comics and didn't really know who Gwen Stacy was, much less her clone.  Upon reading this issue, I could feel the confusion and hurt that Ross Andru portrayed in this splash and especially liked the way Spider-Man is driving the point home to Peter Parker.  The next issue my brother bought was 148 and then from there I started collecting at Amazing Spider-Man 153.  I didn't stop until issue 600 or so, and went on to grab issues 1-147 over the next few years (um, decades as I think I got up to date in 1992 or so). 

 

 

[Randall Ries]

On 11/22/2019 at 10:00 AM, Artboy99 said:

I was 9 years old when Incredible Hulk 180 came out. At the time I had a paper route and was buying comics with my own money. I am fond of this time period, pre-internet and buying the comics I found / had in hand. 

Great book with a good ol' fight between the Hulk and the Wendigo, then this guy shows up. Admittedly it was Hulk 181 that really launched me into being a Wolverine fan, but the first time I saw him has a special place in my heart.

Last year I bought an ebay auction that had all the Marvel Value Stamps in the full pages the stamps appeared in, included in that auction ( unknown to me ) was a full original page torn from a Hulk 180 ( who would do that??!!??) which I had framed.

 

I seem to remember way back then Marvel had a contest based on new character submissions. Seems like this kid created Wolvie and was royally ripped off. I'm sure one of the conditions was any submissions would not be your property. Still. That isn't right. I don't recall Stan Lee bragging he created Wolverine either. I can almost remember the pencil drawing that won.

[Artboy99]

1 hour ago, Randall Ries said:

I seem to remember way back then Marvel had a contest based on new character submissions. Seems like this kid created Wolvie and was royally ripped off. I'm sure one of the conditions was any submissions would not be your property. Still. That isn't right. I don't recall Stan Lee bragging he created Wolverine either. I can almost remember the pencil drawing that won.

it was printed in Foom 2

***

There are some interesting things about Andy Olsen's drawing that are very similar to Marvel's Wolverine.

The top part of the drawing, looks like the character is changing, or perhaps he is healing?

The character clearly has something going on inside of him, looks like mechanical things in his chest under the costume and is it on his skull as well at the top left? Olsen himself even says he intended for his creation to have a metal skeleton in the interview ( posted below )

On the left side of the drawing, a gun with a cable of some kind attached to the character, perhaps injecting him with something? ( adamantium?)

 

Edited November 24 by Artboy99

[Artboy99]

and the winner from Foom 3

[Artboy99]

Interview with Andy Olsen: 

Funny how some things stick with you.

It all started in the dark ages. So long ago it would be easy to forget.

The time of analog.

Boys my age had fewer creative outlets, computers were almost science fiction, gaming consisted of various boards and cards made of paper.

Paper. The ancient medium of Gutenberg was my entertainment refuge in the form of printed color comic books and Marvel was the publisher of my fantasy world.

Much of my school age days were consumed with buying, reading, collecting and discussing with my friends comic book hero plot lines, and artworks of the giants – Jack Kirby, John Romita, Steve Ditko to name a few were almost revered and Stan Lee ruled them all.

It inspired me to draw and create my own versions of what I hungrily read and blow my meager allowance money on issue after issue. Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man, Fantastic 4, I was totally into the Marvel Universe.

So I think in 1973 or 4 Stan Lee announced a magazine catering to his fan base called FOOM (Friends Of Marvel – what the Os stood for eludes me..Obnoxious? Oligarch?..Opportunist? ..Oh well..) I happily subscribed. As I recall it was a cheaply printed 2 or 3 colored mag supposedly under direction of The Man himself.

At that time I was mediocre scholastically but not too bad in art class with dreams of becoming an artist, perhaps a comic book artist. I was a sketching fiend drawing incessantly anything that struck my fancy.

Sometime during the short production of FOOM Stan ( I really don’t know if it was him personally but his name was all over it so I’ll refer it all to him. Yes I know it was never a one man show there. ) announced a fan contest.

Hey kids! Design your own superhero! or villain! – send in your idea, sketch to us and Stan himself will pick the winner! The winner will become a Marvel comic book hero! WOW!!

I knew there would be hundreds of entries but just the thought of The Man actually seeing my work was simply too exciting to pass up.

So I gave it some thought.

First you need a a name.. For some reason it always seems to describe the hero.

You never have a superhero named Larry or Bob.

So I looked for an interesting name to build off.

Bats, nope, spiders, done, koalas, too cute.

I had heard of a creature called wolverine. From what I knew it was reputed to be pound for pound meanest animal on Earth. Not even Grizzly bears would tangle with one. A worthy attitude to have when fighting crime. Wolverine it was.

So I set on using that as a base concept. If you notice in my adolescent sketch there is a pattern on the back of his costume that mimics the fur shading of the animal as well as the front mask sort of like the markings of its head.

The details other than that eludes me, but looking back at the sketch he seemed to have a metal skeleton and no claws, because I couldn’t imagine a superhero scratching an opponent. Sissies scratch. I sat down and worked up my sketches eventually working up a finished drawing to send off.

I also created a villain named Krypt. As I recall he was a part cyborg fellow who was pissed off at almost everything.  I thought the name sounded cool…

God, does anyone use “cool” anymore?

Well some weeks went by and the issue announcing the contest results was delivered.

To my surprise and pleasure both my entries made it to the runner ups or honorable mention. The winner was called Hu-man or something like that. Good for him.

I knew hundreds of other kids were out there just as excited and creative as I so the fact that Stan Lee took time off his coffee break to sort through a stack of kid’s sketches and toss mine into the “do not trash” pile was a thrill. No money, trophy, or notice was given just a reprint of my sketches in an obscure fan magazine.

Excited, I mentioned this to my uncle who was an established commercial artist on Madison Avenue (that’s in NYC for those who don’t know) who replied: “You did WHAT?? You insufficiently_thoughtful_person! Don’t you know what these guys did? They pulled ideas from you kids, make money off it and payed you NOTHING!!” Probably using other colorful words. But that’s the best I could remember. Feel free to insert your own.

I felt rather used and stupid.

That was the end of it, time moved on and so did I. Even comics lost my interest, but not art as a field of study.

Fast forward a few years later as a college student I passed as comic book stand and noticed a large X-Men Marvel title: Wolverine.

WTF..and really-XMEN? Of all the Marvel heroes- X-Men I felt were the bottom feeders.

Then it hit me. I had been had..Uncle was right.

My regard for Marvel and Stan Lee was so high it never dawned on me the contest was harvesting concepts to breath some freshness into their line up.

I recall also seeing the title Krypt in another comic, but the damage was already done.

I toyed with the idea of pursuing it.. I could not recall if a waiver was part of the contest. I never signed one or read anything stating entering the contest removed all rights from the originator.

I was an art student.. If I was pre law perhaps things would be different..Could Marvel claim plausible deniability? Perhaps. They did add their own scratchy claws and scruffy beard.

Nice they kept the metal skeleton I roughed out -what ever adamantium is.

I often wondered, It’s quite possible other titles in use today are from ideas from other kids that entered along with me. Who would know?

So I chalked it up to a lesson learned and concentrated on my own career in graphic design.

I made a point to never enter such contests again and council others to be wary as well.

With one exception.

In later years I joined Siggraph and entered some 3D animation into a contest which placed in the gold category.  I felt secure that the recognition was genuine and the whole thing was altruistic in purpose.

So there it is.

Is this a case of ripping off a naïve kid’s concept or simply a large multi-million dollar publishing company creating a character completely on its own and this all an interesting coincidence.

Any legal scholars are welcome to give an opinion.

I thank you, Rich for seeking me out all the way from the other side of the pond to remind me and give me a little recognition.

Perhaps my aspiration came true after all. If anyone would like to see what I have been up to:

http://ao-portfolio.squarespace.com/graphic-design/

If you like what you see please send me a post.

Please don’t rip me off.. again.

[chrisco37]

Since this is in the BA forum, my selection for the BA would probably be the covers to ASM #122 and #136.  I love, love, love both of them.  My favorite character against his arch-nemesis and the (melo)drama ratcheted up to the Nth degree.  Those made the biggest impact on me as a young collector (although my first exposure to them would've been circa 1986-87 as a 12 yr old).  They made the biggest impression.

I really do like RMA's choice though.  Powerful page, but something I "experienced" much later in my collecting "career".  

I remember buying 136 at my LCS for $4.00.  Just thrilled.  Never could buy the 122, but wanted it so badly.  

[RockMyAmadeus]

1 minute ago, chrisco37 said:

Since this is in the BA forum, my selection for the BA would probably be the covers to ASM #122 and #136.  I love, love, love both of them.  My favorite character against his arch-nemesis and the (melo)drama ratcheted up to the Nth degree.  Those made the biggest impact on me as a young collector (although my first exposure to them would've been circa 1986-87 as a 12 yr old).  They made the biggest impression.

I really do like RMA's choice though.  Powerful page, but something I "experienced" much later in my collecting "career".  

I remember buying 136 at my LCS for $4.00.  Just thrilled.  Never could buy the 122, but wanted it so badly.  

I love #136. Love, love, love it. It was always the "poor man's #135", because ##121, 122, and 135 were out of reach to my poor high school student hands in 1990...and forget #129.

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

Those were the days of the last hurrah for Gobby. When I first started collecting in 1989-1990, it was ALL about Hobgoblin...Green Goblin, in any form, hadn't shown up in ASM since #180, until the epic #312 battle issue (which is CRIMINALLY underappreciated!) And then, after that...nothing again in ASM for more than a decade (#509...sorta? Vol 2 #18?) 

It's weird...the title that birthed Green Goblin functionally wrote the character off after the 70s. You see a lot of Harry in Web and Spectacular in the 90s, but nothing in ASM. Guess Michelinie had no interest in the character. Glad DeMatteis did.

 

[chrisco37]

Lovely book.  I'm not a big SS guy, but the sig placements on that copy are nice.  They don't really interfere with the artwork (and kudos to you for having the restraint to keep Stan from ruing that book with a sig across the artwork!  ).

I always liked the dialogue on this book.  Peter realizing he's been "betrayed" by his best friend.  I think the red coloring of Peter and Harry really intensifies the betrayal.  One of the books I went after early in the CGC era.  One of my favorite covers ever.  

Agree with you on #312.  McFarlane drawing the Goblin was something we all were waiting for at the time.  And he delivered.  I always appreciated that, during his run, he hit a lot of the early Spidey villains (Chameleon, Lizard, Gobby, Scorpion).  

 

[MGsimba77]

11 hours ago, Spider-Variant said:

I remember my brother picking up Amazing Spider-Man 145 off the stands when we lived in Hawaii in the mid-seventies.  I was just getting into comics and didn't really know who Gwen Stacy was, much less her clone.  Upon reading this issue, I could feel the confusion and hurt that Ross Andru portrayed in this splash and especially liked the way Spider-Man is driving the point home to Peter Parker.  The next issue my brother bought was 148 and then from there I started collecting at Amazing Spider-Man 153.  I didn't stop until issue 600 or so, and went on to grab issues 1-147 over the next few years (um, decades as I think I got up to date in 1992 or so). 

 

 

I knew you were posting something from 145  

The last page from 144 where he finds out its actually her likeness and page 9 of 145 when he's having the nightmare are noteworthy too. 

Cheers!

Edited November 24 by MGsimba77

[MGsimba77]

Probably a yawner for the older people but here's my contribution. I wish I'd been old enough to have read and understood what this was when it came out. I think I saw it over a year after it came out sorting through my cousin's collection unaware of who Mcfarlane, Michelinie or Venom were. I kept asking him if he had 300 and said no he couldn't find one. I remember my persistent nagging paid off when he managed to find a copy months later giving to my mom. She had it in the car when picking me up from school and my head exploded in excitement! Of course I remember just gawking at the artwork forever before reading it as I was only nine...Good times! 

[Ken Aldred]

On 11/23/2019 at 2:54 PM, Zonker said:

Detective #438 I bought off the stands, or had it bought for me.  The Manhunter series by Archie Goodwin & Walt Simonson was like nothing else at that time.  The story started in the middle, with no explanation of what was going on, the reader had to piece it together bit by bit, only getting the the origin story about halfway through the run.  As the book was on a bi-monthly schedule, I remember spending hours re-reading the previous installments trying to sort it out.  There was an awful lot going on in those 8-page segments!

It was years later before I read the first installment from #437, not that it would have made much difference:  the 2nd chapter throws you right into the mystery as well. By the time I got to the final 2 pages shown here, I was completely hooked.  Loved Simonson's montage images, the twist at the end, and final teaser for the next issue.

 

 

It's superb.

The final part co-starring Batman, 'Gotterdammerung', is classic Bronze Age.

Edited November 24 by Ken Aldred

[Randall Ries]

On 11/23/2019 at 7:02 PM, Artboy99 said:

Interview with Andy Olsen: 

Funny how some things stick with you.

It all started in the dark ages. So long ago it would be easy to forget.

The time of analog.

Boys my age had fewer creative outlets, computers were almost science fiction, gaming consisted of various boards and cards made of paper.

Paper. The ancient medium of Gutenberg was my entertainment refuge in the form of printed color comic books and Marvel was the publisher of my fantasy world.

Much of my school age days were consumed with buying, reading, collecting and discussing with my friends comic book hero plot lines, and artworks of the giants – Jack Kirby, John Romita, Steve Ditko to name a few were almost revered and Stan Lee ruled them all.

It inspired me to draw and create my own versions of what I hungrily read and blow my meager allowance money on issue after issue. Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man, Fantastic 4, I was totally into the Marvel Universe.

So I think in 1973 or 4 Stan Lee announced a magazine catering to his fan base called FOOM (Friends Of Marvel – what the Os stood for eludes me..Obnoxious? Oligarch?..Opportunist? ..Oh well..) I happily subscribed. As I recall it was a cheaply printed 2 or 3 colored mag supposedly under direction of The Man himself.

At that time I was mediocre scholastically but not too bad in art class with dreams of becoming an artist, perhaps a comic book artist. I was a sketching fiend drawing incessantly anything that struck my fancy.

Sometime during the short production of FOOM Stan ( I really don’t know if it was him personally but his name was all over it so I’ll refer it all to him. Yes I know it was never a one man show there. ) announced a fan contest.

Hey kids! Design your own superhero! or villain! – send in your idea, sketch to us and Stan himself will pick the winner! The winner will become a Marvel comic book hero! WOW!!

I knew there would be hundreds of entries but just the thought of The Man actually seeing my work was simply too exciting to pass up.

So I gave it some thought.

First you need a a name.. For some reason it always seems to describe the hero.

You never have a superhero named Larry or Bob.

So I looked for an interesting name to build off.

Bats, nope, spiders, done, koalas, too cute.

I had heard of a creature called wolverine. From what I knew it was reputed to be pound for pound meanest animal on Earth. Not even Grizzly bears would tangle with one. A worthy attitude to have when fighting crime. Wolverine it was.

So I set on using that as a base concept. If you notice in my adolescent sketch there is a pattern on the back of his costume that mimics the fur shading of the animal as well as the front mask sort of like the markings of its head.

The details other than that eludes me, but looking back at the sketch he seemed to have a metal skeleton and no claws, because I couldn’t imagine a superhero scratching an opponent. Sissies scratch. I sat down and worked up my sketches eventually working up a finished drawing to send off.

I also created a villain named Krypt. As I recall he was a part cyborg fellow who was pissed off at almost everything.  I thought the name sounded cool…

God, does anyone use “cool” anymore?

Well some weeks went by and the issue announcing the contest results was delivered.

To my surprise and pleasure both my entries made it to the runner ups or honorable mention. The winner was called Hu-man or something like that. Good for him.

I knew hundreds of other kids were out there just as excited and creative as I so the fact that Stan Lee took time off his coffee break to sort through a stack of kid’s sketches and toss mine into the “do not trash” pile was a thrill. No money, trophy, or notice was given just a reprint of my sketches in an obscure fan magazine.

Excited, I mentioned this to my uncle who was an established commercial artist on Madison Avenue (that’s in NYC for those who don’t know) who replied: “You did WHAT?? You insufficiently_thoughtful_person! Don’t you know what these guys did? They pulled ideas from you kids, make money off it and payed you NOTHING!!” Probably using other colorful words. But that’s the best I could remember. Feel free to insert your own.

I felt rather used and stupid.

That was the end of it, time moved on and so did I. Even comics lost my interest, but not art as a field of study.

Fast forward a few years later as a college student I passed as comic book stand and noticed a large X-Men Marvel title: Wolverine.

WTF..and really-XMEN? Of all the Marvel heroes- X-Men I felt were the bottom feeders.

Then it hit me. I had been had..Uncle was right.

My regard for Marvel and Stan Lee was so high it never dawned on me the contest was harvesting concepts to breath some freshness into their line up.

I recall also seeing the title Krypt in another comic, but the damage was already done.

I toyed with the idea of pursuing it.. I could not recall if a waiver was part of the contest. I never signed one or read anything stating entering the contest removed all rights from the originator.

I was an art student.. If I was pre law perhaps things would be different..Could Marvel claim plausible deniability? Perhaps. They did add their own scratchy claws and scruffy beard.

Nice they kept the metal skeleton I roughed out -what ever adamantium is.

I often wondered, It’s quite possible other titles in use today are from ideas from other kids that entered along with me. Who would know?

So I chalked it up to a lesson learned and concentrated on my own career in graphic design.

I made a point to never enter such contests again and council others to be wary as well.

With one exception.

In later years I joined Siggraph and entered some 3D animation into a contest which placed in the gold category.  I felt secure that the recognition was genuine and the whole thing was altruistic in purpose.

So there it is.

Is this a case of ripping off a naïve kid’s concept or simply a large multi-million dollar publishing company creating a character completely on its own and this all an interesting coincidence.

Any legal scholars are welcome to give an opinion.

I thank you, Rich for seeking me out all the way from the other side of the pond to remind me and give me a little recognition.

Perhaps my aspiration came true after all. If anyone would like to see what I have been up to:

http://ao-portfolio.squarespace.com/graphic-design/

If you like what you see please send me a post.

Please don’t rip me off.. again.

I thought I remembered that correctly. Thanks for this. Although what they did was perfectly legal, it doesn't make it right. Pretty far from it. Shame on Stan Lee.

[Artboy99]

2 hours ago, Randall Ries said:

I thought I remembered that correctly. Thanks for this. Although what they did was perfectly legal, it doesn't make it right. Pretty far from it. Shame on Stan Lee.

I entered that contest as well. It was in 1973 and I was 8 years old.

My submission looked a lot like a character they released in 1976 so I understand how Andy Olsen felt.

Edited November 25 by Artboy99

[justin]

I don't remember the panel that first got me into comics, but after a 20 year hiatus, I do remember the first and second panel that got me back into comics. I walked into a local LCS  just cause I was bored and it was nearby at the time. I picked up a copy of Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk #1 off the rack and saw this...

and this...

Which lead me to buy this from that same issue...

and then this....

and the addiction to comics was set in full swing 

Edited December 3 by justin

[Dr Zen]

This book was making the rounds in our neighborhood. By the time it got to me the cover was missing. But that didn't matter, I was hooked and there was no turning back.

[KirbyJack]

I was a fan before, but irreversibly confirmed with these!