The cover of Spider-Man From Giovanni Romita which has been awarded three times.

It is clear that the covers of some comics act as bait to convince us readers to buy them, especially when they are not among the best-selling titles, even if what is on the outside is not always inside, given that We’ve all fallen into the trap of buying a comic with a cover that promised one thing and delivered another.

It is not surprising, therefore, that there are some specific comics whose covers reach the status of legend, as in the case of the one presented in this article, a masterpiece of Giovanni Romita sr.illustrating one of the best classic stories ever written Spider-Manas we will explain in more detail in the next section of this article.

The iconic nature of this cover has led it to be revisited, to date, on a total of three occasions (similarly to what we have already commented on the cover of first issue of the saga Secret Wars since the eighties). As you can see if you continue reading to the end, we will analyze the original cover of Giovanni Romita Sr. and each of its versions in the chronological order in which said comics went on sale on the American market.

The Extraordinary Spider-Man #50 (1967)

accompanied by Stan Lee in the script, the artist Giovanni Romita Sr.without knowing the impact his work would have in the future, illustrated this comicunder the title No more Spider-Man!in which Peter Parkerfor the first time, he decided to stop being Spider-Man. The curious thing about the case is that, initially, the cover would have shown the protagonist abandoning his superhero costume in a garbage can.

However, said drawing (which in 2004 was faithfully reproduced in the film Spider-Man 2) I loved it Stan Lee who decided to leave it for the inside of the comic, which he forced Giovanni Romita Sr. to replace the cover image with the one we already know. The second regular cartoonist of the adventures of Spider-Man He expressed himself in these terms to make it clear what that cover meant to him:

I made the new sketch in about a quarter of an hour and brought it Stan and said it was fine. When I drew it… I usually went over the lines with a brush and drew the straight lines with a ruler. I was shaking like a leaf, because we were late, we had to deliver and I had to create with a brush all those kinetic lines that appear in the drawing. It was like torture, but I managed to finish it. I don’t think I could repeat it. I’ve recreated a few covers since then and it’s even harder to recreate the original.

The Extraordinary Spider-Man #392 (1994)

In this comicwhich was written by JM Dematteis and designed by Marco Bagleywe can find the story The Cocoonin which Spider-Manfrustrated in all aspects of his life as Peter Parkerhe decides to abandon his civilian personality and be exclusively a superhero. Evidently, they must have thought of that version of the cover of Giovanni Romita sr.but on the contrary, that is, with Spider-Man in the foreground and his alter ego behind him, it was a fitting tribute to the career of this artist. And, of course, they were right.

The Amazing Spider-Man #17-911 (variant)

This comicwhose interior adventure is not referred to in the title, although it is found within the event Dark webit is written by Zeb Wells and designed by Ed McGinness. Its cover, however, is not the one reproduced in this section, since, as we have clarified, it is a variant, which appears as part of the extra material of the issue and was created by Giovanni Romita Jr. to honor his father’s work. Although it is almost identical to the original, in this new version we can see a Peter Parker much more mature, leaving traces of the time passed between one cover and another.

Superior Spider-Man #8 (2024)

And we end our list with the latest version of the cover of Giovanni Romita Sr.at least until another cartoonist appears who wants to pay his particular homage to the artist. It’s what it belongs to this comicwritten by Dan Castello and designed by Marco Bagleywhose title, that is Superior Spider-Man, nothing more It couldn’t be a more obvious tribute. And although the image is totally metaphorical, the idea is quite clear. Him Doctor Octopuswho was once in Spider-Man’s body, has lost some of his memory, so he doesn’t remember ever being there Spider-Mansomething that, at this moment, seems like an inconceivable idea.