| The Amazing Spider-Man: The Ultimate Newspaper Comics Collection | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | The Library of American Comics |
| Format | Hardcover |
| Genre | Superhero |
| Publication date | June 26, 2015 |
| No. of issues | 5 to date |
| Main character | Spider-Man |
| Creative team | |
| Written by | Stan Lee |
| Artist(s) | John Romita Sr. (1977–1981) Fred Kida (1981–1986) Larry Lieber (1986–?) |
| Editor | Bruce Canwell |
The Amazing Spider-Man: The Ultimate Newspaper Comics Collection is a series of books collecting the first 10 years (to date) ofThe Amazing Spider-Man newspapercomic strips byMarvel Comics, anAmerican comic strip title which debuted on January 3, 1977. It was first syndicated byRegister and Tribune Syndicate (1977–1985), laterCowles Media Company (1986), and currentlyKing Features Syndicate (1987–onwards). The series launched in 2015 and is published byThe Library of American Comics.
The Amazing Spider-Man newspaper comic strip has had many attempts of being collected prior to The Library of American Comics started to publish this series. In the 1980s, twotrade paperbacks collecting episodes from the strip's first year; another collection was an anthology collection titledThe Best of Spider-Man. The strip was also collected for a part in themagazinesComics Revue andStoryline Strips, which has selections spanned from the 1980s to the 1990s output. Marvel themselves did publish two books in the 2000s, these collecting allThe Amazing Spider-Man comic strips done byStan Lee andJohn Romita Sr.
How it came about to The Library of American Comics to once again publish a reprint series of the strip was thanks to the good business relationship between their ownerIDW Publishing andMarvel Comics, due toScott Dunbier of IDW who had established a good working relationship with Marvel while producing theArtist's Editions books featuring Marvel material. Further business development between the two publishers was, therefore, not a big leap to take.[1]
The series was first announced atNew York Comic Con in October 2014,[2] together with the release date of the first volume of the series set to be in early 2015.[3] However, it was not released until June the same year.
The hardcover volumes measure 11 inches × 8.5 inches (280 mm × 216 mm), havedaily strips reproduced inblack-and-white at three strips per page, andSunday strips reproduced in full color, one full Sunday strip page per page. The books are designed byDean Mullaney and edited by Bruce Canwell.[4] Each volume collects the comic strips (dailies and Sundays) in integrated story order. Each volume entry of the book series contains approximately 700 comic strips,[5] the equivalent to two years of an original newspaper run. The volumes have high quality acid free paper stock.[6][7]
As the featured strips are Marvel property, each volume is reviewed by Marvel for approval before going into print. The books includes extras such as interviews with people involved in the making of the strip including:Jim Shooter, former Marvel Editor-in-chief;John Romita Sr., artist;Larry Lieber, artist;Stan Lee, creator and writer.[8]
| Volume | Release date | Title | Period | Page count | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2015-06-26 | The Amazing Spider-Man: The Ultimate Newspaper Comics Collection - Vol. 1 | 1977–1978 | 312 | 978-1-63140-351-4 |
| 2 | 2016-01-05 | The Amazing Spider-Man: The Ultimate Newspaper Comics Collection - Vol. 2 | 1979–1981 | 320 | 978-1-63140-498-6 |
| 3 | 2016-08-16 | The Amazing Spider-Man: The Ultimate Newspaper Comics Collection - Vol. 3 | 1981–1982 | 312 | 978-1-63140-651-5 |
| 4 | 2017-07-04 | The Amazing Spider-Man: The Ultimate Newspaper Comics Collection - Vol. 4 | 1983–1984 | 324 | 978-1-63140-898-4 |
| 5 | 2019-05-14 | The Amazing Spider-Man: The Ultimate Newspaper Comics Collection - Vol. 5 | 1985–1986 | 328 | 978-1-68405-401-5 |
