As detailed over on my All The Spider-Mans site, since 2018 I’ve been reading my ridiculously big collection of Spider-Man comics. I broke the comics up into groups (First 44, then 48, then finally 52) that would get me from Spider-Man’s first appearance in 1962 to the end of volume one of Amazing Spider-Man in 1998. Reading one a day or so, it’s taken a long time. In 2019, it struck me to start making these images to sum up each block of books. In August 2022, I finished the last comic in the Volume 1 era. I drew the 52 pictures out of chronological order, as I was skipping around the timeline to keep myself sane. But below they’re in chronological order. There’s a lot of repeating motifs and gags and ideas throughout. I wanted ideas to repeat down the decades. I cannot believe I was almost done before I thought of the web gag, I wish there were more of those. Oh, well! A lot of the images include a Spider-Man and maybe another figure swiped from an artist from the period in an attempt at additional authenticity, as noted. I tried to make the line art and and color styles copy the feel of the different eras, which makes the color get more challenging in the late 90s. Like most things I do, it was a lot of work for no real reason, audience or profit. I had a great time. And now I’m on to the Volume 2 era, as well as Ultimate Spider-Man. Click on an image to get a bigger look and some explanation of what’s going on!
That set takes it from 1962 to the end of Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 at the end of 1998, but that just means it’s time for Vol. 2 in 1999.
In 2000, Ultimate Spider-Man kicked off the Ultimate Universe, a new line of comics wherein all your favorite heroes’ stories begin “now” (In 2000) instead of in the 60s, allowing creators to do fun new things with them. I’m reading USM in between groups of the main books, usually one of these for every two of the others.
I seem to complete one of these about once a month, and we’re apparently taking it all the way to the present, so keep checking back for more in the future!
Finally, here’s a gallery of the “Spider-Man Vs. The Goblin” subset within the ongoing set, one of my favorite bits to work on. This time in the order they were drawn.
