"The Spectacular Spider-Man" / The Original '68' Graphic Novels!

Journey back in time with me to the fabulous year of 1968. "The Amazing Spider-Man" was a well-established, hot-selling (as always) comic book series; and the enjoyable "Spider-Man" Saturday morning cartoon reigned on TV.Also during that excellent "Spider-Man" year, Marvel Comics took things a few steps further! For a whopping 35 cents each, you could purchase "The Spectacular Spider-Man"#1 (July) & #2 (Nov.); the first (unofficial) graphic novels, and they truly were 'spectacular'! Both were regular magazine-sized and had beautifully painted (by Harry Rosenbaum & John Romita Sr., respectively;as seen above) covers with iconic, often copied 'Spidey' images.The magazines were mostly commercial-free, with no ads to break up the stories (like modern graphic novels).

The first issue featured a story called "Lo, This Monster", which was rendered in glorious black & white, by the amazing team of Stan Lee (writer), with John Romita Sr. & Jim Mooney (artists)! The story-line featured  a gigantic, muscular, genetically-modified / Partly robotic Frankenstein-like man-monster, loaded with incredible wall-busting strength, along with a power-hungry politician (who's running for Mayor), as the villains.

The classic cast of characters is all here---Spider-Man / Peter Parker; Peter's Aunt May; Gwen & Mary Jane (the lovely rivals for Peter's affection); J. Jonah Jameson & the 'Daily Bugle' crew; along with Harry Osborn (Peter's then-best friend) & Police Captain Stacy (Gwen's father).

The story is packed with bombastic 'Marvel' action, human drama, and a little teen romance, thrown in for good measure! Also included in this fantastic issue is a vivid re-telling of Spidey's origin, which was written (of course) by Stan Lee and well-illustrated by Larry Lieber (Stan's brother).

The second issue raised the bar even further. This classic confrontation between Spider- man and his greatest enemy, The Green Goblin; in gorgeous full color. Written once again by Stan Lee and illustrated by John Romita Sr. (my favorite Spidey artist) & Jim Mooney. The story again includes all of the classic cast you could ask for (our hero; his greatest enemy; his lovely ladies; along with family & friends; but no J. Jonah Jameson, Peter's cranky boss). This narrative takes place after Spidey and the Goblin discovered each other's secret identities (which The Green Goblin / Norman Osborn had temporarily forgotten, due to amnesia). Norman's memories begin to return and things take off like a shot from there! What follows is an action-packed superhero drama; vividly told in script and amazing art-work, which is graced with dazzling imagery! In my opinion, this story was and is one of the greatest chapters in the "Green Goblin" saga (which has included many life-changing occurrences for Spider-Man, over the years,as true fans well know).

If you are lucky enough to find copies of these classic magazines, I think you will savor them. I still do! They are true comic book treasures!!!