MORRISON MONDAYS Meets THE MANY LOVES OF PETER PARKER… sort of! Welcome to SPIDER-MAN WEEK: THE MANY LOVES OF PETER PARKER, our second-ever theme week that’s solely driven by our artist pals: Kerry Callen, Des Taylor, Walt Grogan (who did that fab banner), Chris Franklin, Dakota Alexander, Franco, Bill Morrison, and special guest Mark Chiarello. For more on this groovy feature, click here. Now, Bill is on a brief hiatus, so for his entry, we’re reprinting this fab piece he did for Julie Newmar’s birthday in August 2024. Fitting, no? But don’t fret — Bill will be back next Monday, with a special, new MANY OF LOVES OF PETER PARKER epilogue. In the meantime, Mark Chiarello is pinch-hitting for Bill this week. Right on! — Dan By BILL MORRISON I’ve been seeing John Romita Sr.’s “FACE IT TIGER” panel from The Amazing Spider-Man #42 (Nov. 1966) popping up a lot lately on social media platforms. It’s one of the most iconic single panels from a comic book, and among the most quintessential introductions of a major character, so I can easily see why people love to share it. (I know MJ was actually introduced in ASM #25, but we didn’t get to actually SEE her until Issue #42.) I’ve also seen several homages to the panel from other artists, so I decided that in honor of Julie Newmar’s birthday this week — she was born Aug. 16, 1933 — I would offer up my version: Putting Adam West’s Batman in the place of Peter Parker, I imagined that he would have been equally as gobsmacked upon seeing Julie Newmar’s Catwoman as Peter was when he met MJ for the first time. Like many boys my age (and probably several girls) I experienced my first major crush in 1966 when I saw Ms. Newmar in her skintight Catwoman costume in the 19th and 20th episodes of the Batman TV show. I looked forward to every subsequent Catwoman episode, and when Julie appeared as April Conquest in a 1967 episode of my second favorite TV series, The Monkees, my little head nearly exploded. In the early 1980s, I appeared as the Al Capp character Available Jones in a community theater production of Li’l Abner, and because I always research my roles extensively I discovered that Julie Newmar played Available’s cousin, Stupefyin’ Jones...