A Marvel Masterwork Pin-Up: Spidey AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #23 April 1965 Steve Ditko original artist
	Riding the wave of their new-found popularity, Marvel Comics began sprinkling specially drawn pin-ups of most of their fresh-faced superstars throughout their entire line in late 1964 and into early 1965. None, in my humble estimation, was any more delectable or striking than this stunningly moody portrait Steve Ditko produced of his greatest (co)creation, the never more Amazing Spider-Man!
My favorite artist. My (almost) favorite character. My favorite single Spider-Man illustration. Oh, Ditko did some other splendid pin-ups, mostly in the Annuals, and more than a few of his covers and splash pages are solid gold classics, but it just doesn't get any better than this one, lemme tell ya! The webbing, the all-inclusive nature of the villains cameo boxes, the civilian associates, the pensive body pose, and oh my gosh, the tremendously effective lighting playing across the webspinner's frame--MAGNIFICENT, just flat out magnificent... You can well imagine the sheer fan-boy pleasure I felt from redoing this delightful Ditko design!! I tried my best to do the source material justice, and you can judge for yourself whether I came anywhere close to succeeding. I hope so for, as, like Stan's adroit copy puts it, I too have long been one of many "caught in his wonderful web!"

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