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Objectively, looking at it now, I think it's a decent quality 'dynamic pose' study. Not a bad illo of a dynamic body in motion.
But as for being an appropriate Spider-Man poster, it should definitely have had a city backdrop, with a dynamic perspective and lighting to that city. And some of my dark architecture. And maybe a villain chasing him.
I was in a hurry to leave, and was unhappy, so I couldn't summon the energy for a good background, something interactive with the main character. Just used the black-and-white spatter effect as a fall-back because it was quick and easy.
Yes, we artists are our worst critics, because we see what we had in mind for a piece, what we might want it to be, and then when the finished piece doesn't (or in my case at that time, can't) measure up to our original vision for it, we feel the shortcomings keenly.
Outside observers cannot see the vision we had inside our heads, so they have nothing to compare it to. They just see the finished creation as-is, and like or dislike it accordingly.
I had a much better vision for this one. But my life at the time wouldn't allow me to fulfill it in this illo.
:)
Thank you for posting this. Wow, I was so young when I did these pages! But I absolutely did not draw a page or two of nudity just because I was a young man and wanted some gratuitous nakedness in my book. Please believe me. I absolutely needed this page to move the story forward! HONEST! The entire plot of the whole series would not have made any sense unless I had THIS ONE PAGE OF NUDITY! I only included it because it was NECESSARY! I didn't even WANT to put it in, I HAD to because it was NECESSARY!
...Doesn't anybody believe me?
Seriously, thank you for including a couple of my Icon Devil pages in your amazing gallery. These I.D. pages are too old to even come close to being in the same quality as most of your other pieces... but they're a fun piece of nostalgia. Thanks again for being interested.
Neil
Ah ha!
In my gallery,
A comment by the greatest
has always been missing.
I knew he had never me been dissing
Just hadn't seen a work of mine
worth his kissing.
Still, twas a comment, not a rhyme;
Pray, I might be worthy that too, in time.
Thank you for your interest in this one, Danny. I'm honored to have my first Hulk pinup ever be included in your esteemed Home For Wayward Hulk Pinups! There are some genius pieces in there and I appreciate being in their company.
My second Hulk pinup, as you know, is almost finished and I'll be uploading it soon. It's a calm, brooding piece, opposite of yours which is in dynamic action. I miss the action one already but I'm glad it's in the best home.
As for personal names: I don't mean to hijack your comments section, but since it was brought up I'll respond:
I was actually given a different first name at birth, and Neil is my middle name. But Neil stuck instead. Then my sister, who was a year older, had trouble saying 'baby' so she always called me 'Boby'. Then they shortened it to 'Bo' and my dad and sister have called me Bo since I was a baby. Mom did too, but changed back to calling me 'Neil' when I was a teen. 'Spyder' is a memorial pen name - had an uncle who used to hitchhike everywhere (he was mentally disabled and couldn't drive), had long legs and was always walking so his nickname was Spider. When he died young by drowning, I started using his nickname as my own pen name, in memory of him. I don't know why I substituted the 'y' for the 'i' but I was young and probably thought it was 'cool'. 'Bannen' came from another source but I won't get into that one here.
In short: sticking to one name, like most people, has never been an issue with me. My name has changed over my lifetime, so I'm at ease and fluid with adopting new names. I don't care about 'branding' to a single name, in my art or otherwise. It's all good fun and I don't take the name branding seriously. Been using Bannen as a pen name for about 20 years now.
Thanks again,
Neil / Bo/ Spyder / Bannen (ha ha)
Stunning composition; quite simple, not a ton of detail, but what is there is so well planned and executed. The stark, heavy chunks of ink that are ONLY on the figure/logo, contrasted with the worm's eye light source and light-only surrounding, gives the central figure so much weight. 'Rider looks so solid and heavy, determined and invincible... and menacing. Really nice piece.
Nicely done -- you 'got' the same feeling I got when I did my rough, which is what led me to tightening it up and inking into a pinup. Thumbs up for you.
I don't know how it is nowadays; back then, Marvel provided all blank pages for us creators to draw on. And they had a few different kinds: regular pages for interior pages, differently-lined pages for cover art, and these blue-lined crosshatch pages for adding light and dark tones.
Back then all pages were made for Marvel through contract by Strathmore paper. Strathmore created a paper recipe specifically for Marvel and were not allowed to use that paper recipe to sell to any other companies. Even to this day it's the best paper I've ever used for pen and ink drawing. Whether using pen, brush, nibs, it holds ink with a more perfect line than any other board I've tried.
The blank pages they sell in comic stores is different than this paper they give to creators. The store-bought paper was far inferior the last time I tried it. I haven't bought any in recent years, maybe they've upgraded it?
Thought I'd leave a tidbit here: Nathan actually contacted me many years ago (2017) about this piece. At that time I had no idea where it was, so assumed it was a piece I'd already sold, given away, or burned. Ha.
Then in 2022 my mother passed away; while going through some of her things months later, I found a small stash of my comic pages that she'd kept. I did not know she had any of my pages! This one was in that bunch.
So glad that, even though it was years later and through a convoluted path, it finally ended up in the hands of Nathan, a passionate and very discerning collector.
Superb picture; dynamic figure, sparse and pleasant inks, but my fave is the color work; love those color washes and highlights. Beautiful addition to your Warlord vault.
Hi Felix Mike tipped me off to your page. Glad you got the nice big pic of Bruce and E. Goofy is right! That was the final issue I did for First comics before they went hooters-up, and I went over to Marvel. I never did get any art back from that final ish so wondered where it all ended up. Nice to know it's being enjoyed, rather than in a trash bin somewhere! Neil Hansen Canada land
