Best of 2023 :: Published/Unpublished Comic Book Splashes, Title Pages

Web Of Spider-Man Annual #4, page 52 (1988) - Tribute To Kraven's Last Hunt

Owner: James Meeley
Artist: Mike Harris (All)

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Web Of Spider-Man Annual #4 published cover

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Artwork Details

Title:	Web Of Spider-Man Annual #4, page 52 (1988) - Tribute To Kraven's Last Hunt
Artist:	Mike Harris (All)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Pin Up
Views:	510
Likes on CAF:	11 12
Added to Site:	12/29/2023

Description

In your comic reading lifetime, much of the great stories and art you see will eventually kind of blur into one giant mass of memory. The specifics will be lost and sometimes even the generalities, too. But there comes along, every so often, a story or image, which is just something so special and powerful, that it almost seers itself onto your brain. Something that seems to become a touchstone, not only to the book you saw it in, but to comics in the broadest sense. This image is of just such a type for me!

This illustration was used as part of a pin-up section for a "year in review" of Spider-Man. There were many great pieces used in it, but this one, above pretty much all the others, is what stood out to me the most. This one was used to tribute to the storyline of "Kraven's Last Hunt." The Art Nouveau style of the backgrounds immediately caught my eye. Then, the pose of Spider-Man, almost as if he was a lifeless marionette on strings, waiting for someone to pull on them to give him life, makes for a very potent image and plays directly to how he was treated in that storyline. It brings out a very visceral emotion, when you view it in person. It's part of what made it have such an indelible imprint on me, during my early comic reading days. For me, this is probably one of the best Spider-Man pieces, and probably overall pieces, artist Mike Harris has ever done (something the artist himself agrees with me on).

But you can only imagine my surprise, when I learned from Mike Harris that this great piece was never intended for the purpose in which it was ultimately used. He told me that its original purpose was to be used as a cover for the "Gang War" storyline in Amazing Spider-Man (in issues #284-288, for those curious about what issues those would be) a couple of years earlier. He said he was a big fan of artist Alphonse Mucha, who worked in the Art Nouveau style, which was most popular between 1890 and 1910, and was known for producing illustrations, advertisements, decorative panels, as well as designs, which became among the best-known images of the period. The wreath of flowers in the background, were not meant to signify a burial, as was done to Spider-Man in "Kraven's Last Hunt," but to infer the villain called the Rose, who was a major figure in the "Gang War" storyline. He said the editor at the time was very excited about this image Mike created. As for why it never got used, Mike speculated that it likely got put into a drawer by that editor and then forgotten about, until someone unearthed it a couple years later and repurposed it for this Spider-Man annual. Just one of those funny happenstances, that occur more often in the world of comics than we ever know about. Ah, what might have been...

As 2023 quickly comes to a close, we always like to reflect back on the year that was. And so, what better way for me to do that with my comic art acquisitioning for the year, than to end it with a piece that was part of a "year in review" segment itself? That it also happens be a piece that is one of the most memorable images of my earliest days as a comic reader, only makes it that much more significant. The word "grail" is often thrown around a bit too liberally in this hobby, but for me, this is a piece that certainly qualifies for just such a description. What a perfect way to ring out the year!

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About the Owner

	James Meeley ( 7 ) Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	December 2004
Last Login:	September 2025
Website:	https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3mxE1-a83M8c6l1MZXXmeg
Country:	UNITED STATES
On CAF:	Premium Member Q&A Artworks Commented On Liked Art Site Activity on CAF Read More About JamesMeeley

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