IDW Publishing; $125

When Gil Kane was illustrating the adventures of Spider-Man contained in this collection, he wasn’t inventing the character or radically changing the way in which comics were done. He was, though, working on some of the best stories ever done with the character and to those stories he brought his own personal gift, a talent as worthy of the adjective “amazing” as the title character.

In Amazing Spider-Man #96-102, we see the powerful drug storyline that ran without approval from the Comics Code Authority and the introduction of Morbius (as part of a story in which Peter Parker had grown four extra arms). In Amazing Spider-Man #121, one of the most important issues in the entire run of the series, we see “The Night Gwen Stacy Died.”

In the case of each of those stories, Gil Kane delivers his best. It helps that he was generally getting the best from his collaborators as well. First Stan Lee, then Roy Thomas and finally Gerry Conway were delivering not only memorable stories, but stories that capture the best of Spider-Man. And as much as these Artist’s Edition volumes celebrate art, the best comic book stories are the ones that blend great story and art together. The tales collected here fit that bit.

If you’re not already familiar with them, the Artist’s Edition books are printed the same size as the original art. While appearing to be in black & white, each page has been scanned in color. The difference is important as the color scan allows the reproduction to closely mimic the experience of viewing the original art as it exists today, with paste-overs, blue pencil lines, corrections, editorial notes, and in some cases aging.

In this larger format, the power of Kane’s design, layouts and storytelling really shines. It’s a master’s course in dynamic storytelling.

This is another great addition to IDW’s Artist’s Edition line-up, one that we hope as many current comic artists as possible will experience.