Simply the Best: Marvel Treasury Edition #1

Have you ever experienced a Perfect Storm comic book cover?

Okay...back up. Let's define our terms first. A "perfect storm" is a situation where, due to the confluence of different factors, what might have been a minor occurrence ends up being magnified to proportions that are out of control. In the case of a perfect storm comic book cover, the converging factors include (but aren't limited to):

1. A cover featuring a favorite character.

2. Drawn by a favorite artist.

3. "Stop you in your tracks" shelf presense (cover layout, logo, use of color, format, etc)

4. The age of the viewer (the younger and less jaded the better).

In my own experience, only a handful of covers qualify for that earth-shaking "perfect storm" status, and chief among those mindblowing covers has to be Marvel Treasury Edition #1 (1974), starring The Spectacular Spider-Man!

The Favorite Character factor? Listen, in 1974, Spider-Man was at the top of the heap. Granted, I was still fairly new to the bewildering world of comic book superheroes, but Spidey grabbed me right away....reinforced by the Spider-Man segments appearing on the PBS series "The Electric Company".

Favorite Artist? Come on...it's Jazzy John Romita, whose style has always blown my mind...even before I knew enough about cartooning myself to fully appreciate his skill. His dynamic choreography (or "posing"), perfect foreshadowing (trust me...it's hard!) and sublime inking give a real sense of volume, weight and "grounded mass" to his Spider-Man. This is very different from alot of the interpretations of Spider-Man I see from lesser artists, who tend to draw Spidey as either an emaciated waif or a manic contortionist. Under the watch of Romita, Spider-Man's presense had an elegance, and his movements a physical lyricism nobody's been able to match, much less surpass.

As for the Shelf Presense, the only thing more arresting than a bright red cover is when that bright red cover is also a whopping 10" x 14", towering over the nearby standard-size comics. Mix in the cool logo (with the snazzy Spidey-eyes nestled above it) and the Spidey-centric web-pattern, and you can't help but come to a full stop when this cover catches your eye....

...especially when you're eight years old! Yes, the final (and perhaps most important) factor is your age when viewing a potential Perfect Storm cover. Younger fans are obviously much more impressionable and receptive than their "Been There, Done That" older counterparts, and generally much more open a classic, front-and-center "money shot" of Spider-Man. As some have said, the true "Golden Age of Comics" isn't so much a fixed point in history as it is the age of the reader; the younger the fan, the more golden the experience. This period of time was absolutely my own personal "Golden Age of Comics", and seeing the cover of (and immediately buying) Marvel Treasury Edition#1 in the old Downtown Book in Duluth, Minnesota was certainly one of the highlights of that special time.

Comments

[Siskoid]

I'm surprised you didn't comments on this yet. I expect that, like me, people have a hard time determining what their Perfect Storm is. It should spring to mind, right? Even after, what, 15 years right?

I'll keep thinking...

[plok]

How I wish I'd picked this one up -- I think all the first-run-plus-a-bit Treasuries were Perfect Storms, really, especially when you factor in the back covers, which were totally amazing. But the Spidey one is pretty damn pure, so I think you may have nailed it in one.

But okay, here's one for you from the same period, a little bit out of the paramaters, but still great Romita art: Origins of Marvel Comics. Why? Because of the Cult of Stan, and because origin stories are the Holy Grail for a kid like I was, but also because the figures on the cover were the first superheroes I ever saw that were painted (weren't they painted? They sure looked painted), and that totally blew me away.

Seriously, best Christmas present ever. This was my bike, this was my BB gun. I freaked.

I'm gonna try to come up with another of these, so expect me back here soon! But before I go I'll just say, man I miss that "...dwells a mighty raging fury" line they used to use for the Hulk...

[Mark Engblom]

Hi Plok!

Glad you liked my Perfect Storm pick.

As for the Origins of Marvel Comics, you're right....that one was the Holy Grail of early 70's kid fans like us. And, you're right again...that one DID have some of the first painted superheroes I'd ever come across. It was actually quite different from the solicitation of the book featured in Marvel house ads at the time. The one in the ad featured various stock shots of the characters drawn by various artists...but the actual book had Romita paintings based on those same poses.

Equally striking were Romita's covers to the follow-up origin books, like Son of Origins, Bring on the Bad Guys and The Superhero Women.

In the late 70's, I came across some (what we would call today) trade paperback collections of reprints that had featured amazing painted covers by (I think) Bob Larkin, then later on Marvel's paperback novels with cool painted covers.

I couldn't get enough of 'em!

Oh, and that line from the Hulk TV show? You bet. I especially liked that bit of video in the intro that showed the raging Hulk out in the driving rain with his shirt hanging off him in tatters. Definitive with a capital D!

[Fester]

Hey,

I just ran across your site by chance (I googled spiderman images) and I completely agree with your pick!!! I actually found a near pristene copy of Marvel Treasury Edition #1 (almost zero flaws) in a comic book shop in Fresno, CA. . .that cover stopped me in my tracks. Personally I think John Romita's version of spidey is the definitive one, and that pose in combination of the bright webbed background embodies the dynamic energy that makes that character so enjoyable. I'm glad to see a trend over the past few years of artists moving back towards that look (eyes and webbing) and away from the giant bug-eyed versions of McFarlane and Bagley.

[Mark Engblom]

"Personally I think John Romita's version of spidey is the definitive one."

I absolutely agree. I, too, don't especially care for the skinny, bug-like Spidey of McFarlane and Bagley. A close second to Romita's Spider-Man would have to be the Ross Andru/Mike Esposito era. I'm very fond of that look for Spider-Man as well.

Glad you found my site, and thanks for stopping by!

[suedenim]

This was my "Golden Age" too, and I'm pretty sure I remember *seeing* this treasury (I think it was even the first of its kind I did see) and wanting it, but couldn't get it for whatever reason.

I ended up with several other Treasuries, though, a particular favorite being Marvel's Christmas Treasury that had - among other great stories! - that classic first "When Titans Clash!" Avengers/FF/Hulk crossover story with the big Thing/Hulk duel! What a great story to read at that titanic size!

I sometimes think it was all the widely-available reprints (and TV "reprints" of older shows like the Spider-Man cartoon and Adventures of Superman) that truly made me a comic book fan for life. I'm not sure the "new" comics I read circa 1975 would've done the trick on their own.

[Mark Engblom]

The Tresury Size reprints were a wonderful way to snag a kid's interest, if only to buy a really big comic book. I still remember thinking that it really didn't matter much to me what was on the inside. Because hey....BIG COMIC! I'm guessing the same thinking might have been behind the large 100 pg. comics DC and Marvel published shortly before the Treasury phase.

Both formats of reprints were a great way to "educate" young readers on the comics of decades past...which at that time were vitually impossible to find (being that there were few...if any...comic book specialty shops).

[ShadowWing Tronix]

Not sure I'd see a response to this one, being so far back the only chance someone will see it is when they're going through old topics. (Like I'm doing now.) But ask a Transformer fan what a perfect storm cover would be, and they'll probably tell you it's Transformers #5 (Marvel). Shockwave stands there, his now smoking gun having just burned words into the wall right next to the Transformers logo, so it reads "The Transformers are all dead". It's was almost like a painting. Decades later this ends up in a Transformers art book, and for good reason.

[jason]

i have one in very good condition what is it worth?

[Gary Judd]

Something you didn't mention about MTE #1. It was also offered in limited edition by mail with both Stan Lee's and John Romita's autograph and numbered. I think there were only 1000 sold. I myself have #625!!!