Back in 1988, I was just 8 years old as Todd McFarlane started his run on The Amazing Spider-Man. Although I wouldn’t discover these books for a few years later, they helped mold and shape my comic collecting life going forward still to this very day.
I believe I was 10 when I started my journey on officially “collecting” comics and I was immediately drawn to Spider-Man. I don’t recall which book caught my eye first but I remember seeing the cover to ASM #311 and being in awe. The cool aspect of this weird character with a fishbowl helmet...Spidey’s reflection, the colors...I loved every bit of it. I was new to this world and still wet behind the ears, so each and every issue I discovered in that run by McFarlane & writer David Michelinie made my jaw drop.
McFarlane was already a big name by that point so those books were going for way more than the .75 cent and $1 cover price suggested. At least for a 10-12 year old nose picker. I only had a couple of issues from his 29 issue run at that point but I wanted them all. This run is what started my on my insane quest for a complete run of the title ASM that I’m still working on today. I’m only 16 issues away from having the complete run from 1-700. Sadly the 16 issues I need are all early issues under number 24 so they will be checked off slowly as they carry a hefty price tag. Basically what I’m trying to say here is that my wife can thank Todd for the mess in the basement as he was one of the driving forces in me deciding to venture down this path.
Anyway, back to 12 year old me...
I distinctly remember going over a classmates house to hang one day. Jacob showed me his comic collection and this lucky bastard had McFarlane’s full ASM run. I wanted to throat punch Jacob so badly as I was jealous as hell, but instead I ended up shoveling show, mowing lawns, helping out with stocking shelves at the hardware store, vacuuming the floor at the dry cleaners, and most importantly making friends with my local comic shop owner Scott, where I got a job there helping out for store credit.
Slowly I chipped away at that run and before ya know it, I had my own complete McFarlane run. My #300 was kinda a beater copy with lovely fuzzy corners, and the rest of the run had some wear to them as I reread them a gazillion times. But they were mine and I worked my ass off to add them to my ever growing collection. Years later I made sure to upgrade all of those to purdy looking copies. Today I have several complete sets from the run.
They are some of my most cherished books. I love everything about them still to this day. I adore the crazy webbing McFarlane drew for Spidey. I still enjoy searching some of the covers for the hidden spiders he would shoehorn in. I have fun hunting for the random Felix the Cat’s that would hide throughout the issue.
I found his cornerbox web numbering awesome and innovative. love the introduction of then new villain Venom and the array of baddies that would pop up in every issue from Chameleon to Hydro Man. But most of all I love how it reminds me of a simpler time. A time where I was excited by things like this on the regular.
I feel like we lose sight of the little things like this as we get older. Life gets harder as an adult and things like this get pushed aside so we can make room for the things that get us through the day. Work, kids, pets, bills, health. These are all aspects that overrun us as the clock ticks on by. That’s why I break out my big Omnibus that collects these wonderful issues every year or two for a nice stroll down memory lane. Sometimes, I need to think of simplier times. Of that magical feeling of finally tracking down that issue I had been saving up for. Ya gotta remember, this was before the Internet took the fun out of collecting. We had to scout shops across the land and small little shitty conventions to obtain our grails then. Just a different world.
Either way, I’m thankful to David Michelinie for conjuring up such wonderful tales and Todd McFarlane for crafting the most visually stunning comic art I have ever had the pleasure of feasting my eyes on. To this day Todd is still my favorite. Hands down. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him several times and he’s always been a super nice and humble dude. At the 2017 New York Comic Con, I finally decided to get one of my favorite covers signed by him. We also shared a moment as I showed him an old add pic of him in a dunk tank from an early con appearance. It was on a fucking Polaroid for Christ sake. He laughed at that and signed it as well.
Then I did what could be the most cringeworthy thing imaginable. Me...as a 37 year old bag of mostly adult shit...slipped him a note for him to read later. He put it in his bag as I’m sure he rightfully wished death on me but I’m imagining that he either did one of the following with it...
Burnt it
Wiped his ass with it
Read it and laughed
Read it and cried (for how pathetic I was)
At least he should have done any and/or all of those and it would be perfectly acceptable. Ya see, one of my pathetic goals is to eventually display some original McFarlane art in my house. The problem is that 4 gazillion others possess the same goals so when a piece of his comes up for sale it shoots to the moon and sadly out of my current range. Having a Spidey piece by him would be the crown jewel in my impressive collection. In my letter I tried to be funny and basically begged for a quick Spidey sketch. I told him I would fly out and mow his lawn and listed a bunch of “silly” and “zany” things I’d do for it. I never heard back as you can imagine...
Either way, one way or another I’ll eventually have a Spidey Page by him. Oh Todd...Incase you read this...that lawn offer still stands...
The reason this is all fresh in my mind is Todd recently showed off his upcoming cover art for Spawn #298 and #299.
He’s brilliantly creating homage covers on those from his groundbreaking run on The Amazing Spider-Man. Not many artists have the opportunity to do something fun and exciting like this in the comic world. I hope he does homage covers for every single one of his issues up to #328. That would be epic!!!
Blewitt
Below are the covers to his ASM run.
