Amazing Spider-Man Giant Story Coloring Book (Parkes Run)

Background

At 17" x 22" in size, these "Parkes Run" (later from Nova and Marvel Bools) coloring books are quite simply the largest Spider-Man printed book every produced. Featuring 32 pages of black and white line art on newsprint, they're absolute must-have books for completionist collectors.

Story Details

The story itself is a compacted re-telling of Amazing Fantasy #15. Midtown High School is omitted, and there are no references to wall-flowers or waltzes. Spider-Man's brief career as an amateur wrestler is also snipped out for the sake of brevity.

We do get the basics (but nothing more). Doting Aunt and Uncle, Science Fair, Radioactive Spider, TV Fame, Burglar Ignored, Uncle Ben Shot Dead, Warehouse, Beating, and Self-Recrimination. A Spider-Man is born (again).

Most pages feature only a single panel, with a sentence of dialogue or explanation. Some other pages feature four smaller panels in order to keep the action moving along. Artwork is by John Romita, Sr. and Sam Grainger. David Anthony Kraft is credited with the story, with neither Stan Lee nor Steve Ditko receiving any credit for their contribution to the tale.

General Comments

The re-telling is workman-like and professional. I've always been a fan of JR SR, and his clean lines do the job perfectly here. But there are no surprises in either story or images.

Overall Rating

This books is an utterly classic collectible. No matter how many times I look at it, I'm still impressed by those mammoth dimensions. It is "Substantial" in the strict sense of the word.

Admittedly, it has little to recommend it as a creative effort. But as a place to cut loose with red and blue crayons, these 1970's giant coloring books stand alone. I'm going to ramp the rating up to Four Giant Webs.