US publisher Clover Press has launched a Kickstarter for a series of softcovers collecting The Amazing Spider-Man newspaper strips by Stan Lee and John Romita.
The Amazing Spider-Man first swung into newsprint on Monday 3rd January 1977. The web-slinger’s daily strip brought Marvel’s most popular hero from comic pages to newspapers worldwide. Through Stan Lee’s storytelling and John Romita’s masterful art, the strip delivered dramatic storylines that pitted Spidey against classic foes while introducing brand new characters…like The Rattler!
In doing so, the strip helped make Spider-Man a household name beyond the comic book stands.
The crowdfunding target totally smashed almost immediately, in the works are four volumes, each collecting a calendar year of strips from 1977 through 1980 in an 11″ x 8.5″ softcover that slides into a vertical slipcase. They are currently on Kickstarter in four-volume bundles, with a retailer tier.
The Amazing Spider-Man Classic Newspaper Comics is a joint project of Clover Press and the Library of American Comics, which moved to Clover Press from IDW Publishing in 2021. Library of American Comics and IDW previously released this material in hardcover volumes (which now cost a small fortune secondhand). This will be the first time these strips have been reprinted in softcover.
Headed by IDW co-founders Ted Adams and Robbie Robbins, along with Matt Ruzicka and former DC executive Hank Kanalz, Clover Press publishes a wide variety of collected, imported, and original content, ranging from re-mastered reprints of Terry and the Pirates to horror graphic novels, and high-quality art books. Clover Press is working with a wide variety of creators including Kevin Eastman, Craig & Clizia Yoe, Dean Mullaney, Steve Niles, Gabriel Rodriguez, Ruben Bolling, Matt Bors, Timothy Truman, Jorge Coelho, Richard Bennett, Ray Troll, John K. Snyder III, Stewart Kenneth Moore, Aron Wiesenfeld, and more. Its mission is to publish visually stunning and thought-provoking books that entertain, educate, and inspire readers of all ages.
Since its inception in 2007, the Library of American Comics has committed to keeping the history of the classic American newspaper strip in the public consciousness. Founders Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell have published over 250 high end, hardcover archival books featuring some of the greatest comic characters ever created, including Dick Tracy, Little Orphan Annie, Flash Gordon, For Better or For Worse, Steve Canyon and Terry and the Pirates.
• Check out The Amazing Spider-Man Classic Newspaper Comics Kickstarter here
• Clover Press is online at cloverpress.us
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Comic Previews, Comics, Crowd Funding Projects, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, US Comics
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For anyone living outside the US or Canada, the shipping is prohibited. $188 was the cheapest I found on an option of receiving all four volumes through an American service that will leave your parcel somewhere near you (not to mention that you will have to subscribe to their service as well). Best bet is, since it’s already been crowdfunded, to wait for the retailer’s version, although they’ll only release one volume every 8 months.
Yes, I’m afraid buying anything from the US right now is killed stone dead by postage costs. As you note, now the project is fully funded, Clover Press will distribute to retailers (and not just through the retailer option on the Kickstarter). That, of course, assumes distribution problems resulting from Diamond’s implosion, can be resolved. The current state of affairs is proving a nightmare for small publishers on both sides of the Atlantic, not helped by tariff changes.
Hi John, On an unrelated point to this article, but relevant for old comics, I have an article in this month’s Collectors Gazette about the market for reprint Golden/Silver Age DC comics. The Atlas publications range. They kindly cover featured my article with a nice early Batman Comic (No 18) which gives a flavour!
This cover was changed by Atlas. They removed much of the blurb at the top right and added “and Robin” to the Batman logo. They only did this for a couple of issues, but it makes an interesting collectors item for the cover variant fans!
Best Wishes, Gerald Edwards
Thanks for the heads up – sorry to see it’s also the final issue. I’ve given it a plug.