Spider-Man: Visionaries - John Romita, Sr. (TPB)

Background

Trade paperback reprints of classic John Romita Sr. stories!

Story Details

Trade paperbacks have been getting churned out lately by the ton, but I happen to take exception to this one. While I don't quite see the popularity of an Infinity Gauntlet TPB, make one filled with John Romita's Spider-Man and you have my attention!

Lets check out what goodies we have reprinted in this collection:

• Amazing Spider-Man #39 Classic Spider-Man vs. Green Goblin, in this issue, the Goblin learns Peter's secret identity, and readers find out for the first time that Norman Osborn is the Green Goblin.
• Amazing Spider-Man #40 Part two of Spider-Man vs. Green Goblin, we are treated to a full out origin as told by Norman himself. It ends in a climactic battle between the two, as Norman loses all memory of ever being the Green Goblin and Peter's secret identity... It appeared to be the end of the Goblin menace, but we all know better than that.
• Amazing Spider-Man #41 First appearance of the Rhino, also being Romita's first super-villain creation. Sorry, no review as of yet for this issue, but I can tell you if you want to see Peter cruising around on a motorcycle, its in here!
• Amazing Spider-Man #42 Landmark issue in the Spider-verse. No, I am not talking about Spider-Man vs. John Jameson, I of course mean Mary Jane. No Romita collection could be called one without the first full appearance of Mary Jane Watson, who was brought to life with John's artwork, not to mention Stan writing her famous line, "Face it tiger, you just hit the jackpot!".
• Amazing Spider-Man #50 Yet another key issue. This one marks the first appearance of the Kingpin, as Spider-Man deigns to give up the webs.
• Amazing Spider-Man #68 The storyarc about the famed 'Petrified Tablet' begins here, also featuring the villainous Kingpin.
• Amazing Spider-Man #69 Second installment of the tablet storyline, too bad they didn't include the next issue, but even so, this one sports Spidey and Kingpin one-on-one, grudge match style!
• Amazing Spider-Man #108 Great story revolving around Flash Thompson, and what happened to him during his tour in Vietnam.
• Amazing Spider-Man #109 Part two of the Vietnam Legacy with Flash, this time Dr. Strange guest stars to help out the web-spinner. We have an in-depth review of that story, entitled Vengeance From Vietnam.

General Comments

Wow, some of Romita's best stuff is in here, and getting these 9 issues for only $20 is almost a steal, not to mention the color upgrading. This is only a fraction of Romita's work, you can check out his credit page here: John Romita, Sr..

My only one gripe is I wish they would have included Amazing Spider-Man #70, just to finish up the storyline, other than that, these are excellent choices to represent John Romita Sr. and his work on Spider-Man.

Overall Rating

If only that one issue was included, 5 webs easy. Without, 4 and a half.