John Romita Sr. (1930)

John Romita Sr. The Amazing Spider-Man #116 Cover Original Art (Marvel, 1973). Spidey has his hands full while facing the Smasher, but what makes this such a stand-out cover by legendary artist John Romita Sr. is how he uses an extreme bird's eye view to give the reader an impossible look at the action, creating a feeling of vertigo as we look down on Spidey facing imminent death, hundreds of feet above the ground. Inspired by the second panel on Page 3 of the story (which was reprinted from Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine #1), the dramatic scene on this cover is enough to cause heart palpitations! Another thing to note... Spider-Man's mask has open eyeholes! This is a result of having to wear a costume shop mask after losing his mask during a battle with Dr. Octopus, where it ended up in the possession of J. Jonah Jameson! (Luckily, he gets it back in this issue). Ink over graphite and blue pencil on cover stock Bristol board with an image area of 10" x 15". Slight toning. The artwork is on board adhered to the cover stock board, with a stat logo, header, title, and text paste-ups. The title paste-up has been re-glued to the board, with scratch effects and whiteout corrections, residue staining, and light handling wear. Signed by Romita Sr. at the bottom, and in Very Good condition. HID09710052018 © 2022 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved