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Amazing Spider-Man #10
March, 1964

ROLL YOUR MOUSE OVER THE IMAGE
TO VIEW THE UNPUBLISHED VERSION

Exactly what happened with this one is a bit difficult to deduce.  The unpublished version is wholly by Steve Ditko and would seem to have been rejected for being cluttered, not only visually but in terms of too many plot points.  The published cover would appear to be a rare example of a Jack Kirby patch job on another artist's work.  The Spider-Man pose is by Kirby but the rest is Ditko.

It looks like Ditko drew the first version and Stan Lee didn't like it and had him draw a second version.  Then Stan didn't like whatever pose he'd put Spider-Man into and Ditko wasn't available between the time this decision was made and when the cover had to go off to press.  The Spider-Man figure was pencilled by Kirby and probably inked by Sol Brodsky.

What's especially interesting about this is that according to legend, Kirby was the original artist on Spiderman (then unhyphenated) and after Stan saw the first half-dozen pages Jack had drawn, he decided Jack didn't have the right touch for the character he had in mind, and replaced him with Ditko.  Kirby always disputed this...and here we have one of several early covers where Ditko drew Spider-Man and Stan had Jack redraw the material. (The first cover Spider-Man appeared on, Amazing Fantasy #15 which is elsewhere in this section, is another example.)

Also of note is that in both versions, Stan thought that "Learn why J. Jonah Jameson really hates Spider-Man!" was a selling point.  That would suggest he was aware that the comic had developed some sort of steady readership that, by then, was familiar with the characters and their conflicts.

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