Classic Spider-Man Bust
If you are Chinese, 2002 is the year of the horse. If you happen to be anyone else, there's no doubt that the creature dominating it is the spider. Every year there is a hot theme or character, and Marvel Comics' flagship character Spider-Man is it. Not only has the character done well at comics shops, but the motion picture has set just about every record you can for making money, including biggest opening weekend, quickest to $100, $200 and $300 million (it tied Titanic in the race to $400 million) and has been the only movie to make over $100 million in one weekend. If that weren't enough, it looks to end up the number one movie for the year and it has the distinction of being the only movie released in the same year as a Star Wars movie and make more money than it. So let's say it's big.
Along with any success like that there has to be some merchandising. Spidey is no stranger to the concept, and if you weren't sure there could be more things with his webbed face on it, you'd be wrong. Among the action figures, posters and breakfast cereal there are several busts and statues that depict the wallcrawler in action and inaction. Diamond Select has made versions of the Ultimate Spider-Man (masked and unmasked), Bowen has the Venom triple pack with two Spideys and now Dynamic Forces has joined the fray with their mini-bust of the classic hero. Dynamic Forces is also releasing a full sized Spider-Man bust designed by Alex Ross, but this one fits much better on your shelf!
See the Big Picture
The inspiration for the mini-bust of Spider-Man is none other than John Romita, no qualifier. Back in the day, there was only one hotshot artist named John Romita and he worked for the one and only Stan Lee and a little book called The Amazing Spider-Man. There is no doubt Spidey co-creator Steve Ditko truly defined the character, but John added his own sensibilities to the character and his imagery of the amazing arachnid is strongly ingrained in the minds of many comics fans.
The art of John Romita (no qualifier) would be enough to inspire many busts, but DF has gone a step further by also choosing a specific run of comics to use for this bust. The run is Amazing Spider-Man #'s 39 and 40, where he battled the Green Goblin over the streets of New York. Over the course of these issues both men knew who the other's secret identity was, and both were connected through the person of Harry Osborne. Peter Parker (Spider-Man) was Harry's best friend while Norman Osborne was Harry's father. Harry's dog was unavailable for comment.
 The scale for this bust is larger than the other busts on the market, larger than both Bowen and Diamond Select's Marvel offerings. Spider-Man is over eight inches tall from base to head, so you may need some room staked out to display it. The bust was designed to match both the scale and look of the Green Goblin from the same issues of the comic. Spidey is tied up not because he's into bondage but because the Green Goblin has captured him and is dragging him through the city's skies. If they were in LA you wouldn't be able to see him because of the smog and that he'd probably hit Shaq if he were standing around.
The base of the bust is of a miniature building to indicate both Spider-Man's origins and what he is defending. A rope separates him from freedom and the city, with only a torn shirt to cover his uniform. The question is, why did his shirt tear and not the costume? Why doesn't the Hulk ever tear his pants off? Why don't we stop with the questions?
The bust comes in a standard box, complete with images of the bust, the companion Goblin bust and a look at the variants of each. It also has reproductions of the covers to the two comics that the busts are based on - Amazing Spider-Man #'s 39 and 40. The images are on the sides behind images of the bust, and they make a nice addition to the box for fans of the original artwork.
The imagery of a bound Spidey comes right from the cover of Amazing Spider-Man # 39 with one difference - on the cover Spidey is unmasked. The masked image of the webslinger is the most ubiquitous, but DF has made a smaller number of busts that have Peter Parker's head instead of the masked marvel. The variant bust costs a bit more and is limited to only 300 pieces.
Greg Aronowitz performed the design, sculpting and painting duties on both the regular version and the variant, and he also sculpted the Green Goblin bust, so you can be assured they match. What Greg didn't do was number every single bust, they are numbered on the bottom of the bust by some unsung hero in a Chinese factory (celebrating the year of the horse). He only sculpted the original as well, and some of the same unsung heroes made plenty of copies, and even went to the trouble of painting them just for you. If that weren't enough, they packed them all in space-age Styrofoam so it could make it to your door in one piece. Now that's service!!
More Pictures of Spider-Man
| Where to buy Spider-Man: This Spider-Man bust retails in the $99 USD price range, and is available at your local comic book store and at the Dynamic Forces web site, as well as at various online toy and collectibles retailers.
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