 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #28 September 1965 |
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When I first glommed onto this cover, I'm not sure what stunned me more: Ditko's innovative design, or the blurb announcing Peter Parker's graduation from high school!?! I mean, back in those days, characters had a milieu they existed in, and that's pretty much where they'd stay. Clark Kent was a reporter for the Daily Planet. Hal Jordan was a test pilot. Casper was dead and seemed to have a really good attitude about it. And Peter Parker was Midtown High's nerdy Science whiz. Only, suddenly he wasn't anymore. Suddenly he was making the transition to college student, and the way it was presented at the end of this issue, with the inherent gravity clearly delineated, you knew it wasn't just going to be a cosmetic change. |
| There are tremendous differences between
the two institutions, as I was later
to find
out first hand. This story, and the
ones
that followed directly after it, provided
me with a much needed diversion years
on,
as I myself entered the hallowed halls
of
higher learning. Now, y'see, I'd grown
up
associating with pretty much the same
group
of friends up through and including
my 18th
summer, but come September, a new world
beckoned
as we all went our separate ways. Left
living
at home as my buddies took off for
various
points across the globe (okay, okay--mostly
New York state--but it's BIG state!!)
I found
myself burdened with a 60-mile round-trip
commute. All to attend an art program
at
the State University of New York at
Farmingdale
in the fall of 1971, and lemme tell
ya, those
first few months were a lonely go.
Thrown
into a totally foreign environment,
I desperately
needed something familiar to cling
to in
what little free time I could squeeze
out
of my uncomfortably busy day. So, I
chose
to reread what are, in my opinion,
the best
super-hero comics ever published, Stan
Lee
and Steve Ditko's magnificent run on
the
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN series. Happily,
they
proved to be a welcome respite from
the newfound
pressure of college, and when I finally
reached
the sequence that kicked off in this
issues
conclusion, I found Peter's subsequent
adventures
at Empire University to have taken
on an
entirely new, yet surprisingly, relevant
resonance to my own then-current situation.
The good news is, although it prove
to be
a bit more difficult making friends
as a
commuter, by late October, I had found
a
steadfast pair of fellas every bit
as reliable
as my Longwood High compadres, and,
brother,
after THAT, the sailing was far smoother!!
I put down my Spideys shortly thereafter--only
got a little ways into the Romita issues--and
fully threw myself into life after
high school.
But they'd more than served their purpose.
Y'see, for a short period there, when
I literally
didn't have a friend in the world (at
least
one that wasn't, oh, 500 or so miles
away)
I had my Spider-Man comics. Goofy as
it may
sound, especially to you non-fan types,
they
sustained me during a dark period.
And when
I got to the part where the hero goes
off
to college, well gee, his confusion
somehow
empathically echoed a lot of what I
myself
was feeling!?! Is it any wonder then
that
I have such a warm spot in my heart
for these
silly little pulp paper pamphlets?
After
all, the GREEN LANTERN comics were
no help--I
wasn't majoring in test pilot, y'dig!?!... Purely on an artistic basis, this cover would stand out like the Hope Diamond even amongst Liz Taylor's gem collection!! Which is why I asked Lynn to have a go at utilizing Photoshop to mimic the hues of the original piece. I felt it was simple enough so as not to overwork my lovely bride, while obviously being striking enough to warrant the special treatment. We hope you like it, and promise to bring you the occasional color redo to spice things up a bit. And remember--all kudos to Lynn. She did the heavy lifting on this one!! (Oh, and for you traditionalists, the black and white version of this tweaked Ditko masterpiece can be seen by scrolling downwards, so, commence scrolling!!) |
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