AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL 1 SPLASH PAGE 19 RE-IMAGINED BY KARL KERSCHL

A great reimagined splash page from the Ditko drawn first annual of Amazing by the always too rare Kark Kerschl (check out his superb Isola series from Image for proof of his artistic talent).

What will be fun here will of course be to compare both versions.

The initial Ditko composition is fantastic in its circular/egg shape design. I’d say that Kerschl slightly enhanced that feeling, especially with the body position of the second cat on the floor which is already on the rebound and reacting his way up to get another shot at our hero. The sense of impact is much greater in the modern take as well. This is a modification that I find brilliant as compared with the original.

Kerschl is great at drawing animals and the first feline is no exception. I think it would have benefited from an angrier face, like the second one of the floor, with its ears tucked horizontally (as angry combat ready felines do) but that’s a detail. I also like that Kerschl drew Spidey’s hand in lifting it more inside of his torso as it gives more weight (literally) to his move in handling the cat.

I also love that Kerschl’s version of Kraven looks more demonic or vampiric with the clawy fingers, angrier, intense face and he also played with the lion’s fur on his costume and spiky hair to enhance that feeling.

The two characters are also more ripped in Kerschl’s version.

That being said, there are some faults I perceive in Kerschl’s take. While he chose to stage both fighters closer to each other, which give us a nice and more involved sense of brawl (with Spidey deflecting Kraven’s punch with his foot it seems, another great idea), it also sacrifices the sense of clarity of the original composition (which is limpid as always with Ditko).

And then that anatomically wonky Kraven’s left leg 😊

I thank the original collector who initiated all those Annual 1 re-imagined pieces as they were great fun and I probably picked one of my favs of that exercise.