I'm reading ASM Epic collection Great Power now and while it's dated and cheesy and the art isn't the greatest, I absolutely love it!!
Stan Lee has been and always will be the BEST Spider-Writer.
I am always pulling out my Essential Spider-Man volumes written by him and rereading them.
He had a way to get a lot of characterization into his work but not at the expense of the action.
Not many talking heads in his work.
So isnīt it now acknowledged that when we talk about Stan Leeīs SM run, we should be saying Lee/Ditko, to the point where right before he left, Dito was the driving force behind the book?
(bearing in mind of course he only stayed for 33 issues)
This will probably be a rather controversial opinion, but I slightly prefer John Romita Sr. to Steve Ditko (both are great though).
I can understand that; I actually sort of agree as most of my favorite "classic" Spidey tales were drawn by JR SR (ASM #39-40, 50 and all of those incredible covers that he contributed even during the years Andru was on interiors). JR SR of course is the reason Spidey became a mainstream superhero with his more classically heroic look as opposed to Ditko's slightly weird and spindly look; he made Peter and the supporting cast much more attractive as well and that cannot be underestimated. But, as you say, both are great and it took me a while to appreciate what Ditko did; as a kid who grew up in the '70's I found the Ditko back issues strange and a bit off-putting as compared to the JRSR/Andru art style I was introduced to the character on.
Ditko's run changed a bit once he became more involved as a plotter. Characters got meaner and the tone became more sinister. Romita was a breath of fresh air, even if it did take the character more into romance-novel territory.
Every day is a gift, not a given right.