Estimate
€ 9.000 - 12.000
Aggiudicato
Current bid Starting bid
€ 9.000
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At auction on Thursday 23 October 2025 at 14:30
Information
pencil, pastel and ink on Marvel thin cardboard
27 x 40,5 cm
Original comic art made by Romita Sr. for "Vengeance from Vietnam!", published in The Amazing Spider-Man n. 108 on page 11 by Marvel in 1972. On this page, we see Spidey having just saved former soldier Flash Thompson from an attack by the mysterious Monks of Light and the apparent kidnapping of army soldiers. Through his painful memories, Flash tells him that a few months earlier, while fighting in Vietnam, he was wounded in combat and stumbled upon the Sacred Hidden Temple. There, the peaceful monks healed Flash, and he quickly fell in love with the elder Sha-Shan's daughter. However, upon returning to his unit, he learned that the military was planning to bomb the sector where the temple was located. Horrified, Flash went to warn them, but was unable to convince them to abandon their home, and they apparently became victims of the airstrike, with their temple destroyed. Flash would eventually be blamed for the bombing and followed by strange men. Concluding his story, Flash explains that this is why he's under military protection. The Amazing Spider-Man n. 108 is considered by American comics historians to be a key issue in Romita Sr.'s entire career, and Romita himself has never hidden the fact that issues n. 108 and n. 109 are among his most beloved works. In a June 2017 interview with SyFy Wire, Romita named The Amazing Spider-Man n. 108 and n. 109 as the two stories he was most proud of, explaining that when he created those issues, he was no longer drawing inspiration from Steve Ditko, but was establishing his own style as an artist. Romita emphasized the Milton Caniff-inspired brushwork he used in those pages, regretting that he no longer owns the originals. There are very few pages in which Romita Sr. had the opportunity (editorial deadlines were extremely tight) to fully express himself as an artist, being able to personally ink the pages he created. This is one of the very few pages ever to appear on the market in which pencils and inks are by Romita Sr. In what could be his testament as a complete cartoonist, Romita Sr. gives us a care in the faces, in the details, in the shadows that certainly draw on the teachings of Caniff, but which elevate him to the greatest superhero author of all time. << (...) There are two issues that I've told people are my favorite Spider-Man: issue 108 and issue 109. It was a storyline I had a lot to do with. And the reason I drew it, and I insinuated the ideas to Stan, was because it was an opportunity to do oriental scenes in the style of Caniff. That was the Vietnam sequence where Flash Thompson returns from Vietnam, and someone from Southeast Asia wants to kill him because he destroyed a temple. Spider-Man saves his life, and Dr. Strange was a guest star. These two stories are the ones I'm most proud of, artistically speaking. They're more like me than anything else. The storytelling, the art, the powers, and the fact that I used a lot of black. It was juicy, what I call juicy artwork. >> Interview with John Romita by Tom Spurgeon – The Comics Journal (https://www.tcj.com/an-interview-with-john-romita-by-tom-spurgeon/). Slight creases at the corners, small abrasion at the top margin. Signed.
27 x 40,5 cm
Original comic art made by Romita Sr. for "Vengeance from Vietnam!", published in The Amazing Spider-Man n. 108 on page 11 by Marvel in 1972. On this page, we see Spidey having just saved former soldier Flash Thompson from an attack by the mysterious Monks of Light and the apparent kidnapping of army soldiers. Through his painful memories, Flash tells him that a few months earlier, while fighting in Vietnam, he was wounded in combat and stumbled upon the Sacred Hidden Temple. There, the peaceful monks healed Flash, and he quickly fell in love with the elder Sha-Shan's daughter. However, upon returning to his unit, he learned that the military was planning to bomb the sector where the temple was located. Horrified, Flash went to warn them, but was unable to convince them to abandon their home, and they apparently became victims of the airstrike, with their temple destroyed. Flash would eventually be blamed for the bombing and followed by strange men. Concluding his story, Flash explains that this is why he's under military protection. The Amazing Spider-Man n. 108 is considered by American comics historians to be a key issue in Romita Sr.'s entire career, and Romita himself has never hidden the fact that issues n. 108 and n. 109 are among his most beloved works. In a June 2017 interview with SyFy Wire, Romita named The Amazing Spider-Man n. 108 and n. 109 as the two stories he was most proud of, explaining that when he created those issues, he was no longer drawing inspiration from Steve Ditko, but was establishing his own style as an artist. Romita emphasized the Milton Caniff-inspired brushwork he used in those pages, regretting that he no longer owns the originals. There are very few pages in which Romita Sr. had the opportunity (editorial deadlines were extremely tight) to fully express himself as an artist, being able to personally ink the pages he created. This is one of the very few pages ever to appear on the market in which pencils and inks are by Romita Sr. In what could be his testament as a complete cartoonist, Romita Sr. gives us a care in the faces, in the details, in the shadows that certainly draw on the teachings of Caniff, but which elevate him to the greatest superhero author of all time. << (...) There are two issues that I've told people are my favorite Spider-Man: issue 108 and issue 109. It was a storyline I had a lot to do with. And the reason I drew it, and I insinuated the ideas to Stan, was because it was an opportunity to do oriental scenes in the style of Caniff. That was the Vietnam sequence where Flash Thompson returns from Vietnam, and someone from Southeast Asia wants to kill him because he destroyed a temple. Spider-Man saves his life, and Dr. Strange was a guest star. These two stories are the ones I'm most proud of, artistically speaking. They're more like me than anything else. The storytelling, the art, the powers, and the fact that I used a lot of black. It was juicy, what I call juicy artwork. >> Interview with John Romita by Tom Spurgeon – The Comics Journal (https://www.tcj.com/an-interview-with-john-romita-by-tom-spurgeon/). Slight creases at the corners, small abrasion at the top margin. Signed.
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