The menace, public and mutant alike, is the feature of this month’s Webs Weekly. Out of all the team-ups that Spider-Man takes part in, my favorite stories are the ones where he works with Marvel’s mighty mutants. The X-Men and Spider-Man are my favorite comic book heroes so when the two come together my pleasure is doubled and I feel like a set of twins in a Double Mint gum commercial.
Their team-ups are not restricted to the pages of comics either. They have starred in novels together, such as the Time’s Arrow trilogy I enjoyed reading growing up; video games such as Sega Genesis’ Arcade’s Revenge, which was reviewed by Gerard Delatour back in June; and the X-Men even showed up in Spider-Man’s animated show once or twice. One of my personal favorites was when Spider-Man appeared as a secret character in the X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 fighting game. I could pull off quite the damaging combo with him that my brothers were not too fond of. As far as the artwork goes though, up top here we have two covers from Spidey’s more recent adventures with the X-Men. To the left is Mario Alberti’s cover to the first issue of the X-Men and Spider-Man miniseries, and on the right is Terry Dodson’s cover to X-Men #7. Down below we have some fan team-ups of Spidey and various members of the X-club.
*
September 5, 2011: Spidey and X-Men VS Magneto by Ullcer (left)
Ullcer created this piece for a French Spider-Man magazine. I am a real fan of the first class of X-Men and I love how they are all represented here in their classic blue and gold color scheme (besides Phoenix of course). This picture is so pretty that I’m even overlooking the fact that Wolverine was thrown in here. Nightcrawler is in here too, but I like the dearly departed teleporter so I don’t mind his presence as much as Wolverine’s. For lots more Spider-Man pictures from the magazine check out Ullcer’s deviant page, including team-ups with Dr. Strange and Thor, as well as battles with Skrulls and the Hulk.
*
September 12, 2011: Iceman and Spidey by Glwills1126 (right)
Spider-Man is such good friends with the X-Men, he counted one of their numbers as part of his Amazing friends. Even though Peter has a lot of recent mask-to-mask time with his Avenger teammate Wolverine, Iceman may be one of Peter’s closest friends on the X-Men due to the triumphant triumvirate the two made with Firestar. I’m not sure if that friendship has held up though since the blindspot took over, but here the two youthful buds are before a potential snowball fight. This piece is actually two drawings combined into one according to Glwills, but I appreciate how Bobby Drake is in the foreground since I think he’s one of the most underrated X-Men out there. I like Glwills’ art style and the crisp coloring, but I am interested to see how Bobby would look in his ice-form. Glwills has a lot of other character designs such as Nite Owl from Watchmen, Iron Fist, Hawkeye and some various DC characters.
*
September 19, 2011: Gambit Spider Man and Sand Man by Alexcat321 (left)
It’s a toss up between Gambit and Cyclops as my favorite X-Men character. Gambit has been number one for so long, but Cyclops has been creeping up with all the leadership development he’s been given over the last several years. Anyway, here is Gambit teaming up with Spider-Man and Sandman, or maybe they are taking down Sandman, I’m not sure. I do know that this is a really sharp sketch that I would love to see colored. Gambit looks a little naked without his signature duster, but everything else is spot on, from Cain Marko’s matching pattern in the shirt and hair and Spidey’s swingin’ pose. Alex has a lot of sample comic book pages that show off his sequential art ability and even a sketch of his preferred X-Men team featuring Gambit, Magneto, Wolverine, Rogue and Jubilee.
*
September 26, 2011: Spidey and Wolvie inks by Venom20XX (right)
Venom admits to being inspired by McFarlane for this sketch and he does a pretty good job paying tribute to the style. I really dig the thick, spaghetti style of webbing Spidey has bunched up in his hands and Wolverine’s super large wings to the mask. The inking is fantastic as well, it’s very crisp. The shading and dark parts to the costumes help the art pop. Venom has a bunch of other sketches featuring Wolverine, Transformer characters and General Grievous during the Clone Wars. There’s even a McFarlane influenced version of the Green Goblin from the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon.
*
Well I tried to get through this little team-up feature with as little references to Wolverine as possible, but it was pretty hard considering the characters popularity. Oh well, you can’t win them all. And now that this segment has come to a close, it’s time to explain the real reason for this X-Men feature: the latest X-Men video game is calling my name. My destiny is in my own hands!
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify
Pandora
Amazon Music
iHeartRadio
Podbean
Amazon Alexa
Player.fm
Listen Notes
Stitcher
Hey everyone! Thank you for including me in your selections. I’m glad you guys like my work.
I’m sad that, in Ullcer’s work, Nightcrawler is tiny. Why is Nightcrawler so small in that pic? I love Kurt.
Not a fan of the second.
Gambit, Spidey and Sandman is one of the most random team-ups I’ve seen so far.
That last one is a lot more appealing to me than McFarlane’s own style.