Italian “The Spider” cover art offered at auction

By John Freeman on October 8, 2024

Emilio Uberti‘s original art for the cover of an Italian reprint of “The Spider” stories from Lion is currently at auction on Catawiki.

Spiderman - L'Uomo Ragno No. 4 cover art by Emilio Uberti featuring "The Spider", from Lion (Edizioni Bianconi, 1967) — *Spiderman – L’Uomo Ragno No. 4 cover art by Emilio Uberti featuring “The Spider”, from Lion (Edizioni Bianconi, 1967)*

Published as Spiderman – L’Uomo Ragno by Edizioni Bianconi from 1967 to 1968, on offer is the cover of No. 4 of the title, reprinting stories from Lion. “The Spider”, still fondly remembered today, and reinvented by copyright holders Rebellion in recent years, was the creation by Ted Cowan and Reg Bunn, with some stories written by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel.

In addition to his Italian appearances, the strip has been reprinted across Europe many times, in Germany, Spain, France, and Turkey. Spain’s Dolmen Editorial have been collecting the strip recently, as part of their “Linea Albion” line which also includes Spanish language collections of “Kelly’s Eye”, “Judge Dredd”, “Strontium Dog” and “Zenith”.

Dolmen Editorial - The Spider Volume 1 — *Recent Spanish language collections of The Spider published by Dolmen Editorial in Spain*

Dolmen Editorial - The Spider Volume 2 — *Recent Spanish language collections of The Spider published by Dolmen Editorial in Spain*

Back in the 1960s, Edizioni Bianconi sought to capitalise on the success of another of their titles, Diabolik, with this comic, but Spiderman – L’Uomo Ragno ran for just 12 issues, reprinting stories such as “The Man who stole Manhattan”, “Lost World” and “The Dangerous Game”. The anthology title also variously featured text stories, cartoons, episodes of “Hipnotik’ by Mario Sbatella, and some war stories. “The Adventures of Spiderman” continued in COBRA magazine, published between September 1968 and February 1969, for a total of six episodes.

Spiderman - L'Uomo Ragno No. 4 featuring "The Spider", from Lion (Edizioni Bianconi, 1967) — *The cover of Spiderman – L’Uomo Ragno No. 4 as published, and the back cover, promoting war stories inside*

Spiderman - L'Uomo Ragno No. 4 featuring "The Spider", from Lion (Edizioni Bianconi, 1967) - BACK COVER — *The cover of Spiderman – L’Uomo Ragno No. 4 as published, and the back cover, promoting war stories inside*

You have to wonder if Marvel pulled Edizioni Bianconi up over the use of character name “Spiderman”, which may have confused “Spider-Man” fans, because the subtitle “Spider-Man” disappeared from the covers after Issue Five.

(Rival Italian publisher Editoriale Corno launched its own Marvel Spider-Man title, titled L’Uomo Ragno, in 1970. Their reprint of the superhero continued until 1981).

*Another of Emilio Uberti’s Spider covers, via collector Sean Harry*

An Emilio Uberti Spider cover, via collector Philip Rushton — A “Spider” cover by Emilio Uberti, via collector Philip Rushton. This art featured on the cover of the French “Spiderman” title, Volume 9 “Le dominateur de la dimension”, published in France by Gemini in 1969. The publisher’s “Spiderman” title ran for 34 issues

Spiderman (The Spider - 1968)
Volume 9 - Le dominateur de la dimension, published in France by Gemini in 1969. The publisher's "Spiderman" title ran for 34 issues — A “Spider” cover by Emilio Uberti, via collector Philip Rushton. This art featured on the cover of the French “Spiderman” title, Volume 9 “Le dominateur de la dimension”, published in France by Gemini in 1969. The publisher’s “Spiderman” title ran for 34 issues

Emilio Uberti (2nd November 1933 – 29th December 2016), an Italian illustrator, award-winning TV and film director and documentary maker, provided covers for all but the first two issues of Spiderman – L’Uomo Ragno. As an artist, he worked on a variety of comic books for Italian and French publishers, including Bonelli, Cino Del Duca, Dardo, Gemini and Lug, including providing covers for French reprints of “The Spider”.

In the mid-1960s, he abandoned comics and illustration, dedicating himself to directing commercials and highly successful television shows, but he returned to drawing people and landscapes from life in the countries he visited for his work again in the last years of his life.

• You can bid on the cover artwork for Spiderman – L’Uomo Ragno No. 4, measuring 32 x 25.5 cm (work 25 x18 cm) by Emilio Uberti here on Catawiki. The auction closes next week

• Lambiek: Emilio Uberti Profile

• Comic Art Fans: Art by Emilio Uberti

• SPIDERMAN l’uomo ragno – Guida al Fumetto Title Guide (in Italian)

• COBRA – Guida al Fumetto Title Guide (in Italian)

About the Author
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John Freeman

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.