Spider-Man the Rockomic

Spider-Man: From Beyond the Grave is an excellent long-playing vinyl record. Released in 1972 by Buddah (or maybe you prefer Buddha) Records, it features actors in a fairly well written play that is punctuated by fun pop songs that still strike me as catchy forty years after I first heard them. I was strolling through a shopping mall one day in 1972 and borrowed $4 from my older brother to buy this record which (of course) I still own.

I liked what I heard from the very first listen! I also liked what I saw, because the record jacket folds open to show rows of wordless comic panels drawn by the great John Romita and which follow along with the story on the record. I just learned today in my research that Peter Parker/Spider-Man was portrayed by Rene Auberjonois (whom I would get to know decades later for his roles on Star Trek and Boston Legal) and the songs were sung by Ron Dante of The Archies!

You can purchase this recording as an MP3 on Amazon over here, but that option strikes me as inferior to owning the original album whose availability you can check on ebay over here. If you'd like to taste the milk without buying the cow, you're really going to like what blogger Phillyradiogeek has put together for you over here.

The packaging suggested that From Beyond the Grave was to be the first in a series of Rockomics, but there was never another. I wish there had been.