Comic Book Resources

WOW! That was GREAT.

Bravo.

Get Lost was recently anthologized, complete and remastered, by a small-press company (can’t remmeber the name). Cheap, too, all things considered. 25 bucks or so. Seek it out, it’s well well well worth it.

I always loved Ross Andru’s work. He did a fantastic Punisher and his run on Amazing during the original clone saga is just awesome. He drew the Jackel scarry.

Don’t forget, Andru also drew that first Spider-Man/Superman crossover.

I gotta say I disagree with this entry. Not because Rodd Andru isn’t great, but I guess I didn’t think he was underappreciated. I figured everyone knew how good he was. I

Ross Andru is pretty great, too. Especially when teamed up with his previously unheard of brother “Rodd.”

I also grew up with Ross Andru’s excellent Spider-Man artwork; it’s his meticulously researched vision of New York which still informs my imagination as to how the city looks. At the time I just accepted him as yet another Marvel artist, having no idea of his history at DC. He is one of the unsung greats.

It’s hard to think of Spider-Man and not think of Ross Andru. It may be true that during his run on the book he was just as talked about and appreicated as many of the other artists of the time, but nobody talks much about him today.

Great article.

To this day, when I think of peter parker, in my mind he looks like the Ross Andru version. maybe its because I was too young when Romita was the artist, but Andru’s parker will always be the version that will be in my head till i die.
Also, the War that Time Forgot by Andru and Robert Kanigher was freakin awesome!

My first (and to the day almost only) contact with Andru’s work is the Superman/Spider-Man crossover. I was a teenager back then and remember being absolutely wowed by his work (especially remarkable for a kid during the boom of the Image house-style) If anything, I felt that his work was diminished a bit by the inking. But he did drew the best NY vistas I’ve ever seen in a comic book, and to me, his Spidey/Pete and May Jane seemed as definitive as they get. He is definitely an unsung classic. Anyone knows of any trades (besides Essential volumes) where Andru’s Spidey work is featured?

The Spider-Man / Superman Treasury Edition was one of the highlights of the ’70’s and had a great Andru cover, but for me his attention to the details of New York was what made the comic. I have read stories of him taking hours of photos and sketches of any landmark he had to draw – bridges, buildings – like the water treatment works in one issue. He was a true professional.

I really like Andru’s page layouts, backgrounds, and action, but I’ve always thought he was terrible at drawing facial expressions. Reading through the Essential Spider-Man collection recently, I noticed, over and over again, how a page with two characters talking will look like ten different characters. The only thing that looks the same from panel to panel is the clothes.

To this day, when I think of peter parker, in my mind he looks like the Ross Andru version.

I read this and thought, “Which one?”

I haven’t read any of the other books Andru worked on, and I think that he would probably be great on a comic with less soap opera than Spider-Man, because he is so very good at all the other elements. But Spidey is all about the character interactions, and I just think the book suffered under his pencils.

jazzbo’s typo of Rodd Andru instead of Ross Andru reminded me of the time I saw a review where a Flash villain was typo-ed as Gorilla Gross.

I appreciate Andru, but his name came up this week at the LCS and one person was critical of his work. I don’t see how anybody could hate his work, although I do understand why some wouldn’t care for it. Some people just don’t like some styles of artwork.

He’s the artist I associate with my formative Spider-Man years, reading Marvel Tales reprints of his work. I agree that his Jackal was very scary and impressive. I liked his work a lot.

I also agree with his inclusion in this series as I never see any mention of him in blogs like this. Glad that this entry has changed that.

Love Ross Andru; he was the artist on the first issue of Spider-Man I ever bought and throughout most of my personal golden age. In recent years, as I discovered online comics fandom I was stunned to find people who disliked his work. People who suck.

I loved the Ross Andru Spider-Man as well. Even though it was before my time, I have more recently come to appreciate his work on Flash and Superman and especially his long run on Wonder Woman.

The first comic I ever bought was a Ross Andru Spider-Man. The second comic I bought was shown above, with the Hitman, Punisher, and Spidey atop the Statue of Liberty. I am very heartened to see so many people giving it up for this man’s work. He IS under-appreciated!

My first comics were by Ross Andru. When I was very young my Dad was at a book sale of some sort and found the first two issues of the 1979 World of Krypton mini made to cash in on the Superman movie. The mini still stands up well today, especially the art. This made me a life-long Jor-El fan.

Ross Andru’s does have all the virtues Scott describes – but it always seemed bizarre to me that a professional comics artist never learned the correct proportions of limbs: forearms (as measured from elbows to wrists) are a little shorter than upper arms, and calves are a little shorter than thighs. The strange spindly look Andru’s proportions lent to bodies (coupled with his penchant for showing limbs strongly bent) may have worked for Spidey; too bad he used it on everyone else too!

For me, and I know this is saying a lot, Ross Andru’s Spiderman IS Spiderman. I had a subscription during most of his run on Spidey during the 70’s and I have no stronger memories or impressions of comics in general and Spidey specifically than those years. Also, as someone who works at drawing and art myself I have to say his line work was just amazing. He is one of my top three favorite artists.