Spider-Man in New York by John Romita Jr. & Scott Hanna

An Amazing Spider-Man swinging around by John Romita Jr, as 1 of the first ever 10 at home commissions he has done in years. This is a typical Spidey pose with Spidey swinging – and other than his quicker sketches, these pencils are remarkably tight in real life and have a lot of volume. This is just prime JRJR & a perfect Spider-Man...

Back in April 2019, I reached out to Spencer Beck for an authenticity check for my John Romita Sr piece & we got talking. In the end, I asked to be put on a waiting list for JRJR's commissions. Spencer told me upfront that there were no promises and that it would take a while. JRJR is of course a very busy man.

I checked back again every 3-4 months, but exactly one year later, while hearing for some original pages, Spencer mentioned that the time had come. John was taking 10 commissions & I was the one who by sheer luck knew before it got announced publicly. We worked out the details and Spencer even had JRJR on the phone for me.

Apparently, John was working on his Superman pages back then and "needed a break from Superman" - so he started on my Spider-Man and finished it that same day. Due to time zone difference, I heard that I got on the list; he wanted to do my piece & that it was already done – all in the same day.

One more thing John did for me, was take a picture of him holding the pin-up. It’s this thing I ask for, so I can frame that picture next to it.

In the end, I lucked out: I was at the right place at the right time & got an absolute grail – just imagine, only 10 of these were done at the time.

Funnily enough, the piece started to live its own life on the internet and the crew from Essential Sequential worked their magic over a blueline version during a livestream. So I got digital versions with inks by Shawn Crystal & colors by Jim Mahfood. Magnificent renditions!

The biggest of shout outs to Spencer & John Romita JR... I'm still in awe. I won't ever forget this.

Update of 9th of December 2020: Today I received the inked version from Scott Hanna. Who else than him could I have asked to work his magic on these pencils?! I asked Scott to not only ink the pencils, but also add some background as if Spidey was swinging between buildings. A last minute detail was the yellow cab (and addition of people on the streets I didn't know about), which I absolutely adore. Another small thing I love, is that fact that Spidey shoots his web outside of the panel and makes it just a tad bit more dynamic.

Scott was incredibly communicative and friendly throughout. This was also some of the fastest shipping from the US to Belgium I've witnessed. It took maybe... Two weeks, including time at customs.

This was done via a blueline copy, so I have both the originals pencils, as well as the inked versions (and of course pictures of the artists with the piece).

Update: 31st of January 2021. Since getting it inked, I've been chatting with colorist Dennis Lehmann who was very eager on digitally coloring the piece. With his skills, I was of course immediately on board. In January of 2021, it finally happened and I got a version with a trade dress. The issue numbers refers to the very first issue of JMS , JRJR & Hanna's Amazing Spider-Man run. Also have print-ready files should I need them.