Ross Andru, far and away.

There have been a lot of definiteive artists for Spidey, but Romita Sr. is the one that always pops into my mind first. His Peter Parker is =THE= Peter Parker.

Gotta be John Romita.

Ditko for me.

Too difficult… They all brought something in their own way. Maybe Romita..?

For me personally, John Romita Jr. I think his dad will take this one though.

This is a tough call. Gotta go with “Jazzy” Johnny Romita Sr.

Ross Andru and Gil Kane would tie for second place. Third goes to John Romita Jr.

I can’t decide between Ross Andru and Jazzy John Senior, so I’ll give it to Ross.

Ditko belongs in a class all by himself floating above everyone.

Wow, I was predicting a landslide for Ditko until I read through the above comments.

For me it’s Ditko. But that being said, Keith Pollard deserves to be up there WAY before Marcos Martin and even Alex Saviuk, not taking anything away from them as artists. It reminds me of when Michilinie and McFarlane did an issue of Spider-Man where past artists names appeared on tombstones and Pollard was omitted there as well and many people wrote in to complain. For some reason he always gets omitted when remembering great Spider-Man artists, but he was a solid if not flashy artist.

For some reason he always gets omitted when remembering great Spider-Man artists

Saviuk’s there because he does the Spider-Man comic strip.

Martin’s there because there had to be SOME representative from the past 17 years of Spider-Man artists!

Otherwise, they’d be with Pollard in “not really in the running for definitive Spider-Man artists” land.

Pollard was very good, though! So was Al Milgrom. So was Mark Buckingham.

I wanted to vote Ditko because he is slightly better, but John Romita Sr. has done so many classic Spider-Man moments that’ve been aped and even replicated in the movies.

Such a tough one, given how any of them made lasting contributions. It almost impossible to divide them based on their actual importance, so I’d answer based purely on what I like to see, what most looks to me the way I feel a Spidey page should look, and that’s Ross Andru.

SO many artists, almost all on the list are worthy, I can’t really decide.

If I had absolutely to choose I’d go with Romita nr.

Ahem Brian, Mark Bagley!!!!!! TO me Martin is definitely the only one not belonging on the list

Ahem Brian, Mark Bagley!!!!!!

Right, he started on the book 17 years ago.

Spider-Man’s been around for 46 years. It’d be a sad statement if the guy who started drawing him 17 years ago is the most recent artist to be a possibility for the character’s definitive artist.

Toddy Mac.

All the way.

If there’s only one vote for the Toddster; it’s me.

In all honesty, none of those artists on the list do that much for me. I like a lot of Todd McFarlane’s art, but not really what I’ve seen of his Spider-Man.

I went for Mark Bagley – not because I love his art particularly, but is version of Spider-Man is the one that comes to mind first.

Romita Jr. was my favorite Spider-man artist growing up, and his dad did great, great, great work that has tons of memorable moments, but I’m with joecab up there. Ditko is in a class by himself. He invented almost everything that everyone on the list got to use in their own work. He made the toys that are in the toybox. He didn’t just do visuals either but had a big influence on how the character was developed personality- and plot-wise. If you define the character, then you’re the definitive artist, IMHO.

I do get the whole “well that’s who drew the book when I read it the most” argument, too, but I’m just saying…

This would be interesting to see with Superman as well. Is Garcia-Lopez the definitive Superman artist because he drew almost all the models that show up on licensed products? Is he the definitive DCU artist for that matter? But that’s a different day maybe…

I was going to pick Ditko, but decided on Ross Andru, mainly because I grew up reading Andru’s Spiderman.

John Romita. It wasn’t even a tough decision.

And MAN do I dislike Marcos Martin on Spidey.

The Romitas, father and son, to me are the definitive Spider-Man artists. But having to choose one, I’ll go with Jazzy.

I went with John Romita, Jr.

Tho’ McFarlane & Bagley was also tough to choose over.

interesting that the list even got made given that there a so many worthy artists who worked with the character who could have made the list. and nice to see spider man co creator and other pop on the list

Nice to see all the picks for Ross Andru. If he had been inked by Tom Palmer or Joe Sinnott all those years he’d be hands down the favorite.

Ditko, by far. His art gave Spidey that “off kilter” quality that made the character unique, and while the others have been good….even great, they all ae working in the toybox that Steve built.

Maybe it was just due to being the right age, but Todd McFarlane and his miles and miles of webbing always brings back fond memories. More recently, Bagley’s work on Ultimate Spiderman has surely had alot to do with the title’s success.

Bags popped into my head as soon as I saw the headline. If I had actually read the other names on the list I might have gone for JR Jr.

All great artists, but if we MUST chose the “definitive” one, I have to go with Romita Sr.; Ditko may have created the character but how many later artists aped his style? (Besides homaging his Spidey-postures that is.) (Say, how do you pronounce “Romita” anyway? I tend to think “Rom-ee-tah” but I’m a native Spanish speaker so I’m probably wrong.)

Andru was the Spider-Man artist when I started buying/reading the book (AMS #124) but when i think of the “look” of both Peter & Spider-Man, I think of the classic John Romita look.

Romita then Andru

Wow, I’m also surprised that it doesn’t look like it’s going to be a landslide for Ditko.

I went for Romita Sr. I think his versions of Spidey and the supporting cast are definitive.

Hey never got to thank you for doing the Rogue covers but thanks.
For me its gotta be Todd. Im 33 and I always liked spiderman but it wasnt until 298? when he battled chance and the issue after that that I was hooked. I know the old schoolers will go with Romita or Ditko but Todd made me actually think spiderman was cool.

Bagley is also up there.

I worship at the altar of John Romita Sr., but the DEFINITIVE Spidey artist is Ditko.

Jazzy John by a hair over Ditko, the thinnest of hairs.

John Romita, Sr. Now, I prefer Ditko, but one can’t argue that Romita’s portrayal of Peter Parker and Spidey was the definitive portrayal– 90% of artists following him seem to be doing their own version of his Spidey.

It’s Ditko… but it warms my heart that Sal Buscema’s on the ballot.

Also; no love for “Our pal” Sal, but Marvel Team Up # 57 ( Spidey/Black Widow vs. Silver Samuri) is one of my favorite Spidey issues ever. Sal nails it in this issue art-wise. Highly recommend old-skool fun.

For me? JOHN ROMITA SR. I once even got to tell him so!

John Romita sr. – because his Peter Parker, his Mary-Jane, his Gwen Stacy are the models for every artist since then. His art is to this day a joy to look at. Second place: Steve Ditko.

Marcos Martin is an amazing artist. I chose JR over Ditko and Andru, but I just wanted to defend Martin being on the list

Ditko, if only for being the seminal artist that pretty much established everything important visually about the character.

I respect Romita Sr. a lot, but I’ve just never quite gotten what was so great about his art.

Personally, JRjr is my favourite Spidey artist, although I favour his later stuff (loved his run with JMS). But Romita sr. has got to be THE Spidey artist – he basically refined the wall-crawler into what we see today. Hell, the majority of Spidey merchandise I see over here still has Romita’s Spidey on it.

A really tough decision on this one, you can easily make a case for a lot of these. I was always fond of Buscema’s work on Spectacular, growing up– he sure draws an awesome Green Goblin.

Like Dave, I also want to defend Marcos Martin, one of the five best artists in comics right now. No, he probably doesn’t belong on the list (I would have gone with Garney as the “modern” choice), but he’s the first guy that’s been on those books since the relaunch that’s made me want to read them.

I chose my vote because someone had to show some love for Sassy Sal! Ross Andru and Gill Kane drew in the Romita Spidey template and they are far below him. JRjr started with his fathers style and then branched out. JRjr and Sassy Sal deserve respectful showings by the shear number of great issues! Bagley has done a lot too, but I always hated his Spidey!
Ditko is the most definitive Spidey
Sal Buscema is Second
JRjr is thrid
Papa Romita 4th

Erik Larsen, at least for me, was perfect on Spidey. It what got me into comics and kept me there…

McFarlane’s Spidey got me into comics…but after learning more about the rich history of Spidey through some back issues and trades after that, the definitive Spidey artist would have to be John Romita Sr. Hands down.

Prefer Ditko, and never felt the book as lived up to the promise of the early Ditko issues, but Jazzy John’s art is connected in my mind with the soap opera stylings that are now synonymous with Spider-Man.

I had to pick Ross Andru. He drew all the characters the way they’re supposed to look (except for May– his May always looked far too decrepit). I assumed I’d be largely alone in my opinion, but looking through these comments it seems a lot of people agree with me. He might even have a chance to win this!! (I just assumed everyone would pick Ditko or Romita the 1st.)
I’m saddened that nobody seems to have picked Ron Frenz. He would be my number two. He had all of the good Ditko qualities, but none of the bad ones.
And of all the Spider-artists since Brand New Day, Marcos Martin is the worst, aside from Bachalo. I don’t know how you could’ve chosen him for this list.

I’d be willing to vote for anybody but Larsen–he just seemed to copy MacFarlane and do it quite poorly.

MacFarlane took a bit of getting used to, but once I did–I liked it.

But I still voted for Ditko.

If we could name a top 3, mine would be Ditko, Romita Sr, Frenz.

My gut reaction is Romita Sr., but then Bagely has to come next since he was on Amazing for most of the 90s, which was when I got into comics. I think Marcos Martin has been the best Spider-Man artist on Amazing since Andru, but Martin has done, what, about 6 issues?

My vote went for Larsen, although he probably didn’t work on the character long enough to be considered “definitive.” I thought he brought the right energy, quirkiness and storytelling to the book. Ron Frenz is another I would put high up on the list.

Bagley I never liked. I could never fathom how he became such a fan-favorite for producing such workmanlike comics. He and an artist like Saviuk I couldn’t call “definitive” since they brought nothing new to the character, regardless of how many issues they worked on. In a way, the same goes for Kane and Andru because their stuff was modeled so closely on JRSR’s house style, despite how elegant and compelling the art was.

In the grand scheme of things, everyone’s probably second to Ditko, though.

I voted for Todd MacFarlane…

Just because he changed the whole appearance of Spider-Man (not just the “organic” webbing”, but the whole anatomy, fingers, etc.)

I’m now putting barbed wire and mines around my foxhole while I dig in DEEP to avoid the flak…

As much as I wanted to support the under-appreciated Sal Buscema, I couldn’t not pick Ditko.

Well, I did support the under-appreciated Sal Buscema. My first Spidey book was Spectacular #151 with Buscema art in it. I think he did almost the entire run of Spectacular.

I said Romita Sr. It was him, Jr., Ditko or Bagley.

I voted Romita Sr. Marcos Martin is also amazing and am I the only one that thinks Mark Bagley’s art is a little overrated?

@Blackjak: “I voted for Todd MacFarlane…”
“I’m now putting barbed wire and mines around my foxhole while I dig in DEEP to avoid the flak…”

Well, at least you didn’t vote for him based on his writing.

No DJ and Casey, I’m right there with you. I’ve never gotten what people see in Bagely either.
It’s decent competent work and it moves the story along, but it ‘s just kinda plain to me.

Anytime I think of Spider-Man, the cover of ASM #50 pops into my head. Absolutely iconic! Romita Sr. all the way!

gotta be Senior

One of the posters above, in voting for John Romita, says that Romita’s Peter Parker is THE Peter Parker, and I’ll agree with that. Romita is the definitive artist for Peter and Mary Jane and Gwen Stacey. But the question is who is the definitive SPIDER-MAN artist, and that has to go to his creator, Steve Ditko.

I like Bags, JR (both of them), and a number of the others but Sal will always be THE Spider-Man artist.

I always thought that Ditko was the best and most definitive SINGLE artist for Spider-Man. But the best artistic team in my mind would be Gil Kane on pencils and John Romita Sr. on inks. As much as I like Romita Sr. , his stuff just was not dynamic enough. That being said, I do beleive that Romita Sr. is the definitive Peter Parker artist.

Ditko’s a creative genius. Gil Kane can do action like nobody’s business.

But Romita made Spidey look modern, cosmopolitan, and alive. And made the ladies look hot.

The Jazz Man all the way.

Define “definitive”.

I went with JRjr, ’cause I grew up around him. Andru next, than Jazzy Johnny. Ditko stands alone, as he “defined” the character and the look and feel of the strip and all. Frenz and Larsen were enjoyable but very swipe-file. I don’t like Todd or Alex Saviuk very much and I haven’t read the other fellas.

Very much enjoying these polls and seeing the results was interesting.

i say Todd McFarlane ~ it’s now almost 20 years later and his influence can still be felt and seen (webbing, eye shape, poses). I think it’s pretty rare for an artist to re-define a character to that degree. Bagley’s my favorite, but i think his Spidey owes a lot to T.M.s

(Romita Sr. and Buscema are my favorite of the classic artists…)

You could almost reword the question as ‘who was the artist when you started buying/reading spider-man?’. Ross Andru for me but I’ve always been a huge fan of the Romitas so those eras are what stick out in my mind.

How can it not be Dikto?

Not just because he created the character, but he’s stories had a weird look and twisted energy that set the tone for everyone else who followed.

Ditko. Just Ditko. Andru, is the best of the rest.

Andru got my vote, but I can’t see voting for anyone outside of the first four listed as being anything other than just insane.

I believe the definitive is always the original, so I went with Ditko. I grew up with Romita, Jr. And I can appreciate the iconic-ness of Romita, Sr. But they none of them would be here without Ditko.

It all came from Steve Ditko: 90% of the major characters, the way Spider-Man moved, the “spider-sense” half-face thing, the good villains, “The Final Chapter.” All due respect to every other artist on the list, but Ditko built the comic (sans dialogue and the other elements Lee brought to the table) from the ground up.

When I were a lad it was Bagley and Buscema, although the Spidey comic that first got me hooked was “elliptical pursuit” pencilled by the great Erik Larsen. So being a 90′s child all these three have my love and I’m not fussed about the rest – although I did like Ron Frenz’s Peter Parker. Given that I relentlessly copied Mark Bagely’s Spider-Man day after day when I was a kid and it virtually taught me how to draw I’d have to go with him.

By strict definition it has to be Ditko, but Gil Kane has always been the man for me.

And let me add my voice to those saying that the fact that Marcos Martin made the list of nominees and Keith Pollard didn’t makes me very sad. (And I really like Martin’s work.)

Martin’s there because there had to be SOME representative from the past 17 years of Spider-Man artists!

It’d be a sad statement if the guy who started drawing him 17 years ago is the most recent artist to be a possibility for the character’s definitive artist.

No it wouldn’t. It would just be a reflection of a major change in the culture of the comic industry and the way comic books are produced. Prior to 17 years ago (which coincides roughly with the formation of Image Comics), it was common place for artists to do several-years long runs on individual books. After Image came along and changed the culture of the business, that was no longer the case. Runs became shorter, creative team turnover became more common, until we get to today when the whole idea of a “regular artist” is almost an anachronism. The reason why there haven’t been any new definitive Spider-Man artists in the last 17 years is because there haven’t been any artists who stayed on the book long enough to put a definitive stamp on the character. That’s not a knock on the quality of work produced by Martin or any of the other more recent artists, but the way most artist become “definitive” is by sticking around long enough to make a definitive imprint on the character. I really don’t think Martin hasn’t done nearly enough Spider-Man work to do that (yet). There really haven’t been any definitive Spider-Man artists in the last 15 or so years. It’s not sad. It’s just how it is. That’s not to say there haven’t been plenty of good-to-great artists drawing the character, however.

All that being said, if there’s really some unwritten rule that absolutely requires an artist from the past decade and a half . . . how about Stuart Immonen?

Oops!

That should be: “I really don’t think Martin has done nearly enough Spider-Man work to do that (yet).”

Damn keyboard gremlins..

Mcfarlane all the way! I love Mark Bagley and Erik Larsen as well but it seems to me that Todd Mcfarlane never gets his due. This is a guy who reinvigorated a character that was not really seen as anything amazing or spectacular (comedy gold!) around the time that he showed up and his artwork really catapulted him into the upper echelon of superheroes at the time. He was so popular that in an effort to keep him happy Marvel basically gave him a brand new series to write and draw even though he had no experience as a writer. This was one of their flagship characters that they let a novice cut his teeth on because it was worth it to them to keep him drawing the character and they knew that the book would sell based only on his artwork. It seems to me that many people forget how influential he was at the time. Now with him becoming more of a corporate entity and his seeming abandonment of the “fanboys” he seems to have become blacklisted by many people when speaking of influential eras on the book. His artwork was what led to many fans picking up Spidey for the first time and noone will ever convince me that Romita Jr (Ugh!), Sr, Ross Andru, Kane, Buscema, Ditko (yes even him) etc… drew a more dynamic, energetic and creepy looking spiderman than he. I am not taking away from these other artists since I am a fan of many of them but none of their Spidermen (Spidermans?) caught my eye, imagination and the essence of the characters abilities as much as Mcfarlane.

Although Steve Ditko drew him first, the one that always pops into my head when thinking of Spider-man is John Romita

Hmmm… I was totally set to vote for Steve Ditko, but once I saw JR JR on the list I had to vote for him. The man draws a terrific Spider-Man and is on the cusp of beginning his fourth decade working on the character. That’s pretty definitive to me.

But really, the definitive Spider-Man artist is the guy who drew the book when you started reading it. For me it’s probably Sal Buscema or Mike Wieringo (who really should’ve been on the list — Marcos Martin is awesome, but ‘Ringo did a great run with Spidey).

Have a good day.
John Cage

“This would be interesting to see with Superman as well. Is Garcia-Lopez the definitive Superman artist because he drew almost all the models that show up on licensed products?”

I don’t think this poll would be that interesting. Curt Swan should win in a landslide. Same for Neal Adams and Batman.

I do not like knots in the webbing.

I liked JRJr in the 80s, but I did not care much for his work in the modern age.

Ross Andru for me – my definitive Spider-Man

I am going Ditko. The only Spidey comics that I re-read are the Lee-Ditko ones.

Same for Neal Adams and Batman.

Adams would win, but I think it’s much more accurate to say that Batman has several definitive artists, each of whom represents a particular era for the character. Is Adams’s Batman “definitive” and Sprang’s isn’t, or is it more correct to say that Kane/Robinson, Sprang, Adams, and Miller each defined and ultimately overdetermined significant publishing eras for the character?

I don’t think this poll would be that interesting. Curt Swan should win in a landslide. Same for Neal Adams and Batman.”

I doubt it would be that cut and dried. (Look at the responses here; before this think went up I’m sure most people would have assumed Ditko or Romita would have run away with it. That doesn’t seem to be the case). Who you consider definitive has a lot to do with how old you are and when you started following the character. I’m sure a large percentage of current Superman readers got into the character only after the Byrne reboot, in which case Swan probably wouldn’t be on their radar much. Same with Adams and Batman. I’m sure Marshall Rogers, Frank Miller, Norm Breyfogle, David Mazuchelli, or Jim Lee carry more weight than Adams with a lot of younger fans. (For me it’s Don Newton.)

This one was both easy and hard. “Easy” because Romita, Sr. came to mind right away. But hard because the list is a great reminder of just how many superb artists have worked on the character.

Ross Andru for me – my definitive Spider-Man

This sentence raises a good point. Is it about what’s THE definitive Spider-Man or is it asking readers what’s THEIR definitive Spider-Man? It seems like not all the commenters are answering the same question.

JRSR. My first Spider-man book was a reprint of a Lizard story (where Pete got his arm broken).

Since then, I’ve always visualized Spidey/Pete in Romita’s art.

Next would be Bagley, big heads or not.

Romita Sr. is the only choice for me.

As far as the Batman comments above–for me it’s Aparo, although there are a lot of others that did a great job.

“I’d be willing to vote for anybody but Larsen–he just seemed to copy MacFarlane and do it quite poorly.”

People say that but I don’t see much similarity in their work. Larsen did the funky webbing and crazy posing but that’s basically it. The compositions and storytelling were a lot different. McFarlane and Larsen both said they wanted to go back to the creepy Ditko style Spider-man versus the John Romita Spider-man but they went about in different ways.

I’m with T on this one. If its THE definitive one, then its either Ditko/Romita. But if its YOUR definitive one, then its pretty much whoever you loved growing up as a kid or whatever. I voted for JRJR myself, although Martin is my second favorite Spidey artist.

Savuik drew a lot of the later issues of “Web of Spider-Man” and OMG were those ever some awful-looking comics. It’s the only thing I know of that he did.

I don’t remember who was the regular artist when I started reading Spidey in the mid-80′s, but I sure remember when McFarlane showed up. I know a lot of Marvel titles at the time had their own “house style” — i.e. it didn’t matter who drew Avengers, as long as it looked pretty much the same every month – but McF sure didn’t follow the house style!

I’ve read a lot of Bagley Spidey books, including Ultimate Spidey. I’d call him the definitive artist for Ultimate Spidey, and yes I know there’s only been three (maybe four?), but I look at his work on the main title and I’m not impressed, especially in light of his later work. (This is a good thing.)

I voted for JRjr. because of his distinctive style and what it brings to Spider-Man. His Thor is pretty awesome, too.

“I doubt it would be that cut and dried. (Look at the responses here; before this think went up I’m sure most people would have assumed Ditko or Romita would have run away with it. That doesn’t seem to be the case).”

Look at the first two poll results. There was a lot of debate on both questions…and then one choice won in a landslide in each case.

“Who you consider definitive has a lot to do with how old you are and when you started following the character. I’m sure a large percentage of current Superman readers got into the character only after the Byrne reboot, in which case Swan probably wouldn’t be on their radar much.”

The question was “Who Is the Definitive Spider-Man Artist?” Not “Who Is YOUR Definitive Spider-Man Artist?” or “Who Was the Definitive Spider-Man Artist When You Started Reading Comics?” That means the one artist in the entire history of Spider-Man’s publication who has best defined the character.

If people aren’t considering the character’s entire history, they aren’t answering the question. They’re answering a related but different question.

“Adams would win, but I think it’s much more accurate to say that Batman has several definitive artists, each of whom represents a particular era for the character.”

You could say that about almost every character. The question would be which one artist best defined Batman overall–over his entire history. We could pick definitive Batman artists for each era AND one definitive Batman artist overall–namely, Neal Adams.

Reading between the lines of the comments here, I wouldn’t be surprised if Romita Sr. wins by a comfortable margin. And rightly so, IMHO. Ditko created the scrawny, spindly bookworm, but Romita gave us the more mature, “normal” young adult we know and love today. That’s been the definitive Spider-Man since the early ’70s.

“People say that but I don’t see much similarity in their work.”

That’s part of my point-
“He just seemed to copy MacFarlane and do it quite poorly.”

See the word “poorly”
To me it looked like he was copying MacFarlane, but was doing it poorly–it didn’t look like MacFarlane.

If someone had copied MacFarlane and done it well, I wouldn’t have complained about their artwork–except, maybe their lack of originality.

I didn’t like Larsen’s work on Doom Patrol–and it’s why I stopped buying the book when he took over the art.
But his Spidey work was worse. But I liked the character too much to stop buying Amazing during his time as artist. In retrospect, the stories went down hill during his run too, so I should have dropped it.

Larsen’s artwork on Spidey ruined many stories for me.

Yeah, it’s a matter of taste, but one of the reasons I stopped buying comics at that time was the artwork–too much of it was being lauded for the style, and I just saw sloppiness that was hard to follow.

I voted John Romita Sr. even though I’ve got the slightest bit more love for Ross Andru who is an unsung hero in terms of Spider-Man art. Romita layed a solid foundation that Andru brought just a bit more dynamism to. Now I’ll admit that Ross Andru was the guy drawing the Spider-Man comics I read as a child so I’m sure there’s some nostalgia factor in there to.

Ultimately I had to go with Romita because he defined the look that the artists like Andru who came just after took and ran with. Even now it’s a look you still see in a lot of ad art for the character. The only other Spider-Man artists I have seen who I think has made as much of an impact is Mark Bagley a guy whose Spider-Man work you also see on everything from paper plates to boxer shorts and toothbrushes.

A lot of Spidey artist after Romita Sr. had the “Romita” look, if that ain’t definitive then I don’t know what is.

Bagley’s work, however, had a lot of media crossover exposure, which includes Marvel Superheroes (by Capcom) and Ultimate Spider-man videogame. It has the effect of “embedding” the Spidey image to non-core comic fans.

To those saying that this isn’t a personal matter of choice, this is a POLL! If you guys wanted a purely objective take on the matter, then the only choice would be the first artist who drew Spider-man (which is Ditko). Then it would just render this poll meaningless. Grow up.

Just a quick addendum, since so many people are bringing it up.

Todd MacFarlane was NOT the artist on my first Spider-Man comic. I started arouns Romita Senior’s time.

But MacFarlane totally sold me on the “Wall-Crawler” appearance – ths Spidey looked like he *REALLY* stuck to walls as he climbed them.

His ledge-squats with his knees above his shoulders and the webbing that didn’t just look like a cross-hatched pipe completely re-invented Spider-Man in my eyes.

So yes, to ME, the “Definitive” artist, the one I think of, when I think of Spider-man, is Todd MacFarlane.

Saying that the first artist you saw draw a character must be the one you like the most is stupid, degrading and insulting. What if the first time you saw Spider-Man was in a 70s cartoon??

“What if the first time you saw Spider-Man was in a 70s cartoon??”

I, um, hate to be a stick in the mud, but I don’t think there were any Spider-Man cartoons in the 1970s, except for maybe the last few months of the original run of the 60′s Spidey cartoon.

But yeah, I agree with you. The first Spider-Man book I bought when I started to really follow the books was Spectacular Spider-Man #222, so Sal Buscema’s art holds a special place with me and I enjoy reading his stuff for that reason. Didn’t stop me from voting for JRJR, though.

Have a good day.
John Cage

There were two live action series in the 70′s–well sort of–there was the thankfully short lived live action SPidey series and there were Spidey appearances on Electric Company.

So 70′s cartoon could be placing the late 60′s cartoons late or the early 80′s Spidey & his amazing friends–okay the actual title was Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.

John ROmita baby!

How can people choose from so many kinds of awesome?

If you put down the crack pipe for a second, you will see that it is Ditko.

I was started reading Amazing Spider-Man when Mark Bagley became penciller, so I gotta give my vote to Bags. He’s a fricking maestro at Spider-Man. Besides, he co-crated Carnage!

But I really enjoy John Romita Sr & Steve Ditko’s art.

John Romita’s style I just don’t like. Not my style.

Well,this is hard but for me my favorite Spiderman is from Mark bagley.He combined John Romita’s retro style with Todd M’s manga/modern style.The result is the perfect Spidey not too modern like Bagley’s Ultimate Spidey just a nice contemporary Spidey !

Steve Ditko, John Romita Sr. Gil Kane, Ross Andru….in that order. Nuff said.