In looking at the history of The Amazing Spider-Man, it's easy to focus only on the incredible work done by Steve Ditko on the title, but this time around I want to focus on the guy who had the thankless task of following Ditko on Marvel's top book.It wasn't the first time that John Romita would be called on to tackle an impossible job. When Wally Wood left Daredevil, it was Romita who picked up the assignment. Years later, when Jack Kirby left the Fantastic Four, it was Romita who followed him.
But it's easy to understand why Stan Lee would ask Romita to do the impossible. Romita is, simply, one of the best artists in the history of the medium.
As he tells the story, Romita initially tried to imitate Ditko's style on Spider-Man, but by this issue he had given up on that effort and started remaking the book in his own style.
Romita didn't have the unique vision of Ditko or the dynamic approach of Kirby, but he had a powerful, clean, professional style, and all the characters almost immediately became more attractive and heroic. Pete is more handsome, Spidey is more muscular, Gwen Stacy is a knockout - heck, even Aunt May is cuter!
Lots of writers actually hold this against Romita, claiming he changed the look of the characters too much, but since Ditko wasn't around to continue his vision of the book, Romita had to make it his own - and it's difficult to argue with success. Under Romita, Spider-Man became Marvel's top-seller, and it was because of issues like this one.
This issue almost reads like a primer on Spider-Man. We're introduced to the main characters, Pete's college life and friends are spelled out for us, and in addition we get a fun, knock-down, drag-out fight between Spidey and the Rhino, making his first appearance.
It was rare for Spider-Man to face an opponent who was a powerhouse like the Rhino, and the fight gave Stan lots of room to have fun with Spidey's dialogue. It's a fun, "done in one" issue that really set the tone for the "new" Spider-Man.
Romita was hitting his stride, just in time - the next issue marked the first appearance of none other than Mary Jane Watson, in a panel that certified John Romita as "the" Spider-Man artist for the foreseeable future.
It was sad to lose Ditko on the comic he co-created, but thank goodness we had Romita there to carry the torch!
Grade: A-
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