Tuesday, January 27, 2015

The Tarantula Vs. The Tarantula



Even though it never got to see a lot of action, I always liked the updated costume that Jerry Ordway gave The Tarantula when he appeared in All-Star Squadron.  It's not easy to come up with a cool spider related design that does not remind the viewer of Spider-Man, but Ordway succeeded .

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

These were actually 2 of my favorite covers as a kid!

AirDave said...

I really liked Roy Thomas' All-Star Squadron. I liked the core of characters he picked to make up the team, with the main JSA more of background characters. John Law was a fun character as The Tarantula. Even better - he was a writer! The first Spider-Man comic I ever got featured The Tarantula! I guess it was part of the original clone saga...

Bob Greenwade said...

I agree with you completely about The Tarantula's All Star Squadron costume, Ross -- it's one of the cooler designs I've ever seen in comics, and it didn't stretch the Golden Age setting of the character to terribly.

This cover looks like an interesting pairing, too. I'm always fascinated by the "same name" team-ups, and this one looks like it's exactly what would happen between thee two (even though I'm not super-familiar with Marvel's Tarantula).

Hey maybe some time we can see the White Witch (LSH) up against the White Witch (Narnia!). Well, maybe not....

jrp04f said...

I though the A2S's Tarantula was always a cool character too. It takes a lot to make a mostly brown costume look cool, and Ordway pulled it off!

I'm curious at to which of them the cop is firing at. Of course, if this is predominantly the Marvel Universe, the answer is likely "Both".

Isaac said...

Cool, now do Blockbuster (DC) vs Blockbuster (Marvel)

Bob Greenwade said...

It might also be time for Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeaux) and Captain Marvel (Freddy Freeman) -- perhaps also including the MF Captain Marvel! ("SPLIT!") :)

Bob Buethe said...

And then there was this guy and this guy.

Anthony said...

One of my favorite Jerry Ordway designs from across his career. Great use and another great cover!

Anonymous said...

I agree with you, Ross, about the Ordway costume. It reminded me, quite fondly, of old publicity photos I'd seen of Richard Jory as Richard "the Spider" Wentworth! Minus the Shadowy cape and fedora, of course.

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