What better way to begin Spider-Man Week than at the beginning?
In 1961, Marvel Comics launched Amazing Adventures, yet another in a long line of monster/suspence/sci-fi anthology titles. With that particular genre on the wane, a new direction was introduced in issue #7, along with a name change to Amazing Adult Fantasy (no snickering, now). Dubbed "the magazine that respects your intelligence", writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko cranked out eerie, twist-ending tales similar to what one might have seen on TV's The Twilight Zone (along with even more monster tales).
Obviously, the new strategy didn't work, since publisher Martin Goodman decided to pull the plug on the series with issue #15. As a sort of go-for-broke "Hail Mary Pass", Lee and Ditko used their final issue...now titled simply Amazing Fantasy....to try an outrageous experiment. Bucking every trend of superhero comics before it, the creators with nothing to lose made a teenage loser into Spider-Man!
Needless to say, Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962) was an instant success, making Lee and Ditko's desperation play into one of the most important (and valuable) comic books ever published.
As with any cover achieving that level of "iconic immortality", homage covers were pretty much a given. As you can see from the gallery below, Amazing Fantasy #15 has become a very popular target for serious and satirical tributes alike.
Did I miss any? Click the "comments" link below and drop me a line if you have an Amazing Fantasy #15 homage cover to add to the gallery (please send either a link or the issue title and number). Any new ones that come in, I'll be sure to post an update!
UPDATE! Well...that didn't take long! Good ol' Siskoid comes through with four more homage covers, though the one in the lower left looks like a cropped-in version of the Hero Illustrated magazine cover from above. I like the altered camera angle of the Amazing Spider-Man cover (top right).
Thanks, Siskoid!
![](http://<a href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=<$BlogItemPermalinkUrl$>&title=<$BlogItemTitle$>"> <img border=0 src="https://comiccoverage.typepad.com/stumbleupon.gif" alt="StumbleUpon Toolbar"> Stumble It!</a>){kind=link}
Missing? Let me check my files...
-Hardcase #24
-Amazing Spider-Man #5 (Mackie/Byrne series) although the staging is slightly different
-Amazing Spider-Man: The Covers 1962-2003
-Moule Boy #1
Those are the ones I got.
Posted by: Siskoid | April 29, 2007 at 10:05 AM
I've got 'em posted, Siskoid! Thanks for the tips!
"Moule Boy"?
Posted by: Mark Engblom | April 29, 2007 at 01:10 PM
Moule Boy...
I don't know either.
Posted by: Siskoid | April 29, 2007 at 10:05 PM