SPIDER-MAN VS PUMA BY SAL BUSCEMA

Obviously, this one will be bittersweet as another comic book legend has passed, just a few days shy of his 90 birthday ☹

Much to my shame, I will confess that as a child and teen, Sal was not an artist I wanted to see on my comics. He was the serviceable Marvel workman artist in my eyes then, whose art was likely not flashy enough to my uneducated eyes.

That changed over the years as I (thankfully) quickly learned to recognize, the superb storytelling, the craft AND the unmistakable style. Probably unconsciously by reading Rom and certainly consciously with his run on Spectacular Spider-Man.

Especially with J.M.Dematteis writing. To me, at the top of the Spider-Man quality pyramid, there is Kraven Last Hunt and Dematteis and Sal’s run in Spectacular Spidey. Nothing tops that. There may be other artists I prefer who have drawn the wall crawler and yet, the combination of those two creators was exceptional for me.

All of which formed my choice for a subject commission when my turn happened in 2022 after years of waiting on Sal’s list. And I’m so glad I did make the jump because when I committed to it, the rate was a hefty one for my purse. Less so when the time came to pay years later and hey, if young artists who’ve had 5 (10?) years in the industry find they can charge 500$ or 1000$ a character, Sal obviously had the legitimacy to charge anything he wanted.

Despite owning several pages with Puma from the aforementioned Spectacular run, I had to ask a Spidey vs Puma piece. I had several ideas but it still came down to this one. First, I LOVE Sal’s rendition of the character, making him perfectly feral. Second, I liked the connection to Ron Frenz who visually created the character but Sal went further in the ferocity department with him. Sal also inked Ron for a long time on what were the best issues visually of the great Spider-Girl series and later on on independent stuff for Sitcomics. Lastly, I own a Spidey vs Puma commission by Mr Frenz as well.

And the result is so great. I mean, one could nitpick that it is clearly a late career piece, that it’s is a little stiff as compared Sal’ younger published art, the inks are a bit visible and yet it is SO clearly a Sal Buscema (Spidey piece). I love the webs (and how Sal whited out the part on Spidey’s leg?), the sense of movement conveyed by said webs and Puma’s necklace, the typical Sal Buscema hands on both characters, the great sense of tension within the scene as he captured the moment just before the brawl is going to explode in front of us. And of course that unmistakeable signature that is probably as recognizable or legendary as Walter Simonson’s.

Sal was SUCH a great artist and storyteller that I feel so grateful I was able to commission him.

Many (MANY) thanks for the hours of enjoyment (yet to come), Mr Buscema. Sadly gone but never forgotten.