SPIDER-MAN: SPIRITS OF THE EARTH

Written and Illustrated by Charles Vess
Lettered by Gaspar Saldino | Edited by Jim Salicrup
Editor-in-Chief, Tom DeFalco

Well, it's the day after Christmas, but I thought I'd talk a little bit about a Christmas present I received some time back. SPIRITS OF THE EARTH, an original graphic novel from Marvel, was published in 1990. I'm not absolutely sure that I got it that year; it could've just as easily been '91 or maybe even '92.

I do, however distinctly recall the circumstances under which I received it. I was at the local comic shop (Flying Colors in Concord, California) and my mom was with me, and I saw the book on one of the shelves. It seemed to call to me. Even back then, apparently, I was a hardcover comic book snob, because the fact that the book was a nice sturdy volume was the first thing that drew me to it. Here was a comic book, starring Spider-Man -- but in hardcover format! Surely it had to be something far more special and wonderful than any old issue of his monthly series, right?

I wanted it then, but I didn't have the money for it and the $18.95 cover price was a bit much for an impulse buy from my mom. But apparently she kept it in her mind even as it drifted from mine. I moved onto other things, but come Christmas morning of that year (be it 1990, '91, or '92), SPIRITS OF THE EARTH was under the tree waiting for me. I read it right there on Christmas Day and, at the time, I really liked it.