Spider-Man (Black Suit) by Ramon F. Bachs

The moment I heard Ramon F. Bachs (Star Wars at Dark Horse, Detective Comics) was coming to Heroes Comic Con in Brussels, my heart skipped a beat.

I had met that incredibly gentle & sweet man a few years ago, when I just started collecting art. Back then, he did a black suit Spidey for me, as I was (and am) a big fan of the "Back in Black" saga. Ramon did some issues in that storyline, so naturally, he was on my list.

Having a bit more budget now, I managed to go for the full "cover quality" option with the same idea he had worked on in 2017. Ramon sent me a prelim quite fast - about two months ago. I wasn't entirely convinced of the pose, which was a fairly typical Spidey action pose (see below).

I mentioned that I wanted something more in the direction of the piece he did for me earlier & he understood. When he sent me the second prelim & later the scan, I was happy to see him elaborate on that quicker convention sketch from six years ago.

Ramon leaned into separating the figure & the background in a very efficient way. Spidey is the main black spot on the piece, while he is instantly enveloped by the New York cityline below him. Those skycrapers - composed of vertical & horizontal lines - balance out the organic lines of Spidey perfectly. Does it make sense that he's that high up versus the other buildings? Maybe not. But who cares when it creates this fun, dramatic effect.

Another happy surprise is that - while we talked about it beforehand, but wasn't done yet on the scan I received - Ramon added grey tones to the piece. It creates an even bigger dichotomoty between the figure & the background, while giving it a tad bit more dimension.

The commission was done in pencils, inks & grey tone markers. It measures 11x17.