Description

Amazing Spiderman # 306 Superman Homage McFarlane Artwork

Date: Early October, 1988

Creative Team: Todd McFarlane (Artist), David Michelinie (Writer)

Condition Notes: Very Fine

Story Notes: This issue’s cover features a homage to Action Comics #01, the first Superman comic book by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Here, Spiderman takes the place of Superman. McFarlane inverts the subtext of the image by having Spiderman seemingly posed as a villain who wrecks a police car, rather than the hero capturing gangsters as in the original Superman cover. It’s also fun to note that the police car number reads 71938 or July, 1938- a reference to the month and year of the original comic (however McFarlane is off by a month as Action Comics # 01 came out in June). The story features two jilted love interests of both Peter Parker in the Black Cat, and for Mary Jane in Jonathan Caesar. The story also sets up the Chameleon as the villain for next issue, Amazing Spiderman # 307.

Todd McFarlane’s work on Amazing Spiderman solidified him as a major force in the industry and an inspiration to many upcoming artists. His Spiderman innovations include his famous “Spaghetti” webbing, and a more dynamic mixture of anime cartoon and figurative anatomy. The latter innovations became hallmarks of the ’90’s art style.