PART THIRTY-EIGHT OF FAVOURITE COMICS OF THE PAST - THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #2...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

You're looking at one of my favourite-ever comics - The

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN Annual #2.  Never owned it back

in the 1960s, got the one you're looking at sometimes in the '80s.

However, I was familiar with the tale from the 1968 FANTASTIC

Summer Special, which reprinted it in a re-sized format (two
U.S. pages to one U.K. page) to fit the larger dimensions of
a British comic.  And it was in black and white.

The graphics, naturally, are superb, as is to be expected

from STEVE DITKO at the height of his artistic powers, but

great as they are, it's STAN LEE's dialogue which elevates this

tale above the common fare.  Stans's dialogue in conjunction with

Steve's artwork, of course, but had Steve scripted the tale himself,
I doubt it would've resonated down through the years to the same

extent that it has.  Some people tend to forget that comics are

for reading, and not just looking at the pictures.

As well as the original, I also have various reprintings

of the tale, one of my favourites being MARVEL TALES #
167.  This is one worth hunting down if you don't already have
it.  ASM Annual #2 would cost you a small fortune, but the
MT reprint will be far more affordable.  Anyway, enjoy the
pages on view - and may your amulet never tickle!

'Worlds' on the cover, 'world' on the splash page - I wonder why

A little 'rearrangement' to accommodate the bar code box, but still a
great cover.  Get on to eBay and track down a copy of this ish today 

Posted in: Cartoons