Set Description:
As a child and teenager I did not appreciate Steve Ditko's art, especially when drawing the early Spidey books. Thus I really disliked reading these Ditko stories, because - to me - Ditko's art did not look realistic nor appealing. For example persons were drawn looking kind of deformed, devoid of real muscle tone and simply unattractive; I never saw Ditko draw a beautiful girl. So John Romita Senior was my Spidey savior, for the first time Spidey and other persons were drawn with perfect proportions, and Spidey got the look he more or less has retained 50 years later. And I could (nearly) fall in love with Mary Jane Watson, since Peter Parker's girlfriends were now drawn as REALLY hot and sexy babes ;-)
Of course due to my comic addiction the text above does not mean that I may not end up with a few Ditko Spidey books, although to me Spidey #39 was the first real Spidey book after Ditko's lackluster warm-up (ok, I might be too harsh, Ditko and Lee did indeed invent many great villains and characters and deserve full credit for their work).
As an adult, I have learned to better appreciate Ditko's unique style, but Romita Senior is still my main focus when collecting early Spidey books.
In Denmark the first Spidey book was published in 1967 containing ASM #39, you can see it here:
http://www.superhelteserier.dk/edderkoppendk1967-1.jpg
In Denmark these early Spidey books continued for 22 issues, thus lasting until 1969 with the final issue containing ASM #66:
http://www.superhelteserier.dk/ed-67-22.jpg
Therefore the 28 issues from 39 to 66 are the primary focus of my Spidey collection. It is mostly a con amore collection, so I have set up quite strict selection criteria for choosing Spidey books:
Inclusion criteria:
1. Grade should be 9.6 or 9.8.
2. Page quality must be pure white (unless the book has pedigree status or simply is extremely scarce).
3. Cover centering and cover orientation must be near-perfect.
Exclusion criteria:
1. Date stamps.
2. (Angled) miswraps (pedigree status may override this condition).
3. Miscuts.
4. Damaged or distorted staples (off-centered staples are acceptable, if both staples are equally off-centered).
5. "Dog ears". (Fantastic name :-)
6. Handwriting on the book (unobtrusive arrival dates in pencil or ink or date stamps on back cover may be acceptable).
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