Saturday, April 01, 2023

The 1978 2017 2023 Amazing Spider-Man Mighty Marvel Comics Calendar: April All Together Now

Hey, look, it's everybody from the Spider-Universe all together at one time! Except for the written-out-of-canon Spider-Mite! Also, Spider-Man himself seems to be missing, and I can't figure out why. More important: ginchy groovy Gwen Stacy, va-va-voom!

"April Is an Assortment of Amiable Associations!" in The Amazing Spider-Man Mighty Marvel Comics Calendar 1978 (1977); pencils by John Romita, Sr., inks by John Verpooten
(Click picture to GOOD LORD PETER WHERE DID YOU GET THAT JACKET-size)

For those of you new to the Spider-Family or who just need a gentle reminder, that's (L-R), Eugene "Flash" Thompson, Harry Osborn, Gwen Stacy, Aunt Anna Watson, Mary Jane Watson, Aunt May Parker, Peter Parker, Ned "No, I'm not the Hobgoblin, Honestly" Leeds, Betty Brant, Robbie Robertson, J. Jonah Jameson, and J. Jonah Jameson's coat. And they're all standing in front of one of the most important places in the Spider-Books, the venerable Coffee Bean, serving caffeinated drinks pretty much steadily right through now in the Marvel Universe. That remarkable tenure as an anti-Starbucks is even more astonishing when you consider it's been a long-time competition since the early Marvel Age with the X-Men's favorite hangout, Greenwich Village's Coffee A Go-Go. I don't know which one you prefer, so here's some help: Coffee A Go-Go has Bernard the Poet, and the Coffee Bean has Gwen Freakin' Stacy. I hope that settles the matter definitively.


Panel from [Uncanny] X-Men (1963 series) #31 (April 1967), script by Roy Thomas, pencils by Werner Roth, inks by John Tartaglione, letters by Sam Rosen

By the way, are you wondering when Jazzy John Romita "snapped that photograph" so proudly presented in this month's calendar spread? Worried you can't pinpoint exactly when this happens in Spider-Chronology? Fret no more, gentle reader: it occurred during Amazing Spider-Man Annual #4, no doubt right after this pin-up scene! Note the identical outfits! Good golly, that jacket really is hideous, Peter.

Double-page pinup spread from Amazing Spider-Man Annual (1964 series) #4 (November 1967), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Larry Lieber, alternations on Gwen and Mary Jane by John Romita Sr. (and why not?), inks by Mike Esposito, colors by Stan Goldberg (?), letters by Sam Rosen
(Click picture to venti-size)

No, I don't know why Stan's calling it the Coffee Bean Barn here, either.

1 comment:

Blam said...

Where did Gwen Stacy get that green suit? I’m gonna say from the Legion of Super-Heroes’ Chemical King.