In 1968, Marvel experimented briefly with publishing Spider-Man in magazine format. The above panel — drawn by John Romita, Sr. and Jim Mooney — appeared in The Spectacular Spider-Man #2 with a cover date of November, 1968. At the time, I was 16 years old and the president of the Los Angeles Comic Book Club. I was also flexing my limited artistic muscles…which are pretty limited but which include a grand ability to forge. I'm not good at originating drawings but I can sometimes replicate them — or could, back when I was in practice. I once forged a Jack Kirby sketch so precisely that it took Jack a minute or two to decide for sure that he hadn't done it.
Anyway, being a sixteen-year-old boy, I did a lot of silly, horny things, one of which was to re-create panels from comic books but relieving the female characters of their wardrobe. (Once upon a time, I would have been embarrassed to admit this. I have since learned that about half the guys my age who could draw at all — including most who later became professional comic artists — did this.) I did a few of these of Wonder Woman, Supergirl and others, and the guys at our comic book club were more excited than if I'd suddenly demonstrated the skills of Rembrandt. They began picking out cover and panels, asking me to reproduce them, disrobing the women in the process. A few even offered money. My greatest subject was the above panel, expertly duplicated but with Gwen and Mary Jane naked. Because of the poses — which hide the ladies' crotch areas — and the dialogue, several of our club members were certain that Smilin' Stan and Jazzy Johnny had similar thoughts in mind. Many of my friends demanded copies and I think I must have whipped up at least a dozen of this one.
At last year's Comic-Con International, when I interviewed Mr. Romita, I showed the panel and told the story. He had a grand chuckle over it but swore the notion had never occurred to him.
No, I'm not going to post the undraped version. I'm not sure I even have a copy of it anywhere. But imagine the ladies naked and re-read the text. (The Spectacular Spider-Man was a sales flop in magazine format. If they'd done it my way, they'd have sold a million…)