HOPE YOU LIKE IT: The Art of Dakota Alexander…
By DAKOTA ALEXANDER
I wanted to take a moment and talk about a very controversial moment in Marvel Comics history. A moment that inspired anger and vitriol far and wide. A moment so greatly decried it is a wonder that readers were able to enjoy their beloved comics ever again.
The Death of Gwen Stacy? Pah!
Jean Grey returning from the dead? Not even close.
Alicia hooking up with Johnny Storm? Yeah that one bugged me… BUT NO!!
I am talking, of course, about the SPIDER-MOBILE.
Originally created with the Human Torch to earn money, the Spider-Mobile was an unnecessary invention by Peter Parker to fight crime. It was equipped with web-shooters, spider-signals, and wall-climbing capabilities — you know, all the things that Spider-Man ALREADY DID, except now he’d need to be sitting behind the wheel of this special car to do them!
Which is especially counterintuitive considering he didn’t even really know how to drive a REGULAR CAR.
So a while back, I got an idea to do a Bronze Age Wolverine vs. Spidey mock cover. I was inspired by the cover of the Spider-Man vs. Wolverine book from the ’80s.
This awesome cover by Mark Bright and Al Williamson really got my creative juices going: That downward strike by Wolvie and the leaping dodge by Spidey was enough to inspire me to take my own swing at the idea. I really wanted to keep the downward slash and the destruction of an object, but I wanted to change everything else. Especially the background.
Now as we all know from the famous How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way, your Bronze Age cover needs to set a stage, give context, and bring the interested reader into the story without even opening the comic. (“This ain’t a library ya know!”) So, I had to think about what setting I could possibly do. What would be interesting, yet not require too much effort?
Laboratory? Meh, too many dials and switches. Forest? Why would Spidey be in the forest?
And then it hit me — I could have Wolverine destroy a despised item of Spider-Man’s history and create a fun cover at the same time!
I decided to create a variant of 1976’s The Amazing Spider-Man #160, and I came up with this:
For the sake of posterity, here is the original cover, by Gil Kane and John Romita:
Over the years, whenever I posted my cover on Facebook, I’d always hear from Marvel fans about how much they HATED the Spider-Mobile, but what do you folks think?
Love it? Hate it? Please let us know in the comments!
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MORE
— Even SPIDER-MAN Got Stuck on BATMANIA in the ’60s. Click here.
–It’s Time for MARVEL (and DC) to Give Us a New Run of BLACKLIGHT POSTERS. Click here.
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DAKOTA ALEXANDER is an American artist living in Japan. He’s worked on many projects, such as The Liberty Brigade, The Masters, Charon 13, and G.H.O.S.T. Agents. His latest is his love letter to Bronze Age superhero-horror comics, The Hunter. Click here for more info. You can also visit his Etsy, Drums of the Serpent.
