Spider-Man 1984

THIS was the time to be a Spider-Man fan, at least in comics. By the time I was fourteen in 1984, I had been getting a Spider-Man subscription in the mail since 1978, all thanks to my Mum. Not a lot had been going on with Ol’ Web Head during this period in the comics. Everything pretty much remained status quo for those six years I had been a solid reader. Then the Amazing Spider-Man #252 dropped, it was to coincide with the release of the issue of Secret Wars were the “Alien Costume” was first introduced.

I was pretty excited about the change. There was no internet backlash to deal with, no opinion mongers, my friend Chuck and I were the only ones discussing this sort of thing and we were both on board. It was at this time when the changes in the Spider-Man comics really inspired my personal art growth, and I was really into some of the more surrealistic stuff that was going on in the pages of the book. The comics industry, in general, seemed to be more willing to experiment with new styles and formats in the mid-eighties. So many new characters, and companies, some of which are still around today, but the majority of them are gone now.