IT"S THE 90s AGAIN FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME!

AITP has a preview of Spider-Man '94 #1, which is out next week. Here's the hype, straight from our friends at Marvel:

After searching to the ends of the Multiverse, PETER PARKER — the AMAZING, the SPECTACULAR, the RADIOACTIVE Web-Head himself — A.K.A. SPIDER-MAN, swings back into the streets of New York City with his beloved Mary Jane WATSON in tow! But what’s this? One of these villains is not like the others: Witness this universe’s debut of not one, but TWO of Spider-Man’s greatest villains from the comics!

Legendary Spider-Scribe J.M. DeMATTEIS and rising star artist JIM TOWE bring you the return you’ve all been waiting thirty years for! And you’re never going to expect the twists and turns ahead for your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man!

And here's the cover and the opening pages of our first issue. Hope you all enjoy this return trip to the world of this beloved animated series.

KIRBY DAY 2025

It's Jack Kirby's birthday!

Without Kirby, there might not even be a comic book business today. We all stand in his shadow. We all build on his foundation. Not just a brilliant artist but one of the greatest storytellers of the 20th century. (Click on this link to read a tribute to Kirby I've posted here a couple of times.)

Happy birthday, Jack...wherever you are! (Probably riding a surfboard across the multiverse and stopping to draw along the way.)

NEAR MINT SPIDEY

Had a wonderful conversation with Omar of the Near Mint Condition podcast, discussing the new DeMatteis-Buscema Spectacular Spider-Man Omnibus and...well, lots of other things. Settle in. This is a long one! 

HAIL APARO

Happy Birthday (a day late) to the great Jim Aparo. I always thought of Aparo as the Sal Buscema of DC: a brilliant, and absolutely dependable, artist/storyteller who never got enough of the high praise he deserved. Everything he touched—from Phantom Stranger to Batman to Aquaman and all those characters who guest-starred in Brave and the Bold—was gold.

I would have loved the chance to work with Jim, but, sadly, it never happened.  

AT LAST!

You say you want to take a deep dive into the soon to be released Spectacular Spider-Man Omnibus, which features my entire run with Marvel Master Sal Buscema? Take a look at the video below, as Omar of the Near Mint Condition podcast guides you through the entire book.

So excited this collection will be out in the world at last!

 

SCOOBY AND SPIDEY

Got home to find advance copies of this massive tome sitting on my porch.

Scooby Apocalypse was my final project with my friend and frequent collaborator, the great Keith Giffen. When Keith first told me about it—the basic premise sprang from Jim Lee's fertile mind—my reply was, "Scooby what?!" But, as I've often said, I would have worked with Keith on anything—Millie the Model, Sgt. Fury, Stumbo the Giant, anything—and so I signed on, little realizing that this weird, unexpected series would evolve into three years of pure creative fun. (The splendid art was provided by Howard Porter, Pat Oliffe, Dale Eaglsham, Ron Wagner, and quite a few others—and I thank them all.)

Delighted the entire run—which actually comes to a definite conclusion, a rarity in comics—has been collected. And deeply sad that Keith's not here to see it.

But wait, there's more!  This just arrived—after years and years of waiting—and I couldn't be happier.

This Spectacular Spider-Man run remains one of my all-time favorite gigs and collaborating with Sal Buscema, one of the absolute Marvel greats and as masterful a storyteller as the medium has ever seen, was a joy in every way. I'm extremely proud of these stories, which dig deep into the psyches of Peter Parker and his cast, and grateful they've finally been collected.

I'm in omnibus ecstasy!

SPOTLIGHT

Brief and to the point: The full audio of my Comic-Con spotlight panel is online and you can listen to it here.  (I added a few pictures from the panel below.)