The newest IDW Artisan Edition is Gil Kane’s The Amazing Spider-Man, which reproduces several full stories from scans of the 1971 original art.
For Marvel fans, the most important aspect of this collection is that it pays tribute to a pivotal moment in Marvel’s history. It reproduces the three-part drug story that was not approved by the Comics Code Authority. In 1971, the CCA had clout, and for Stan Lee to bravely go around the Authority and release this story arc is significant. And the story ages quite well, 50 years later. The dialogue is still plausible, and its anti-drug message at least as crucial today.
Gil Kane (from Latvia, 1926-2000, originally named Eli Katz) is well represented here. His twisting and writhing figures, his wandering vantage point, his ‘up the nose’ angles, and his superb panel compositions. Even those who are not big fans of Kane’s eccentric style are bound to admire his work here. particularly when inked by Romita, who manages to smooth out a few of Kane’s hard edges, without sacrificing his stunning layouts. The cityscapes are breathtaking too, no mean feat to render when you are pencilling at least one book a month!
Kane is inked by several hands, including John Romita, Frank Giacoia, and Tony Mortellaro.
It’s a great collection, then, of the following issues of The Amazing Spider-Man: Issues 96, 97, 98, plus the Morbius saga in issues 100, 101, and 102. And then, issue 121, with the death of Gwen Stacy!
In addition to the seven complete stories, the Artisan Edition also includes pages of fight sequences from issue 89, and splash pages and covers too.
All in all, this one is a really good assembly of Gil Kane art, with plenty of action panels, highly emotional scenes, and just plain ‘webslingin’ wonder’
IDW, Gil Kane’s The Amazing Spider-Man Artisan Edition, $39.99 for 218 pages.
Anthony Andujar Jr. 
Newsdesk