Which manga artist illustrated the 1970 series Spider-Man: The Manga?

Ryoichi Ikegami illustrated the 1970 manga series Spider-Man: The Manga.

Spider-Man: The Manga was a Japanese reinterpretation of Marvel’s character, published simply as Spider-Man in Japan. It was written first by Kōsei Ono and later by Kazumasa Hirai, while Ikegami provided the artwork throughout the series.

The manga ran in Monthly Shōnen Magazine from January 1970 to September 1971. Instead of directly reproducing Peter Parker’s American story, it introduced Yu Komori, a Japanese teenager who becomes Spider-Man. The series began by loosely adapting elements from Marvel stories before developing more original plots and a darker tone.

Its setting and supporting cast were also localized: Aunt May became Mei, while the newspaper publisher who opposed Spider-Man served as a counterpart to J. Jonah Jameson. The series is sometimes confused with later Japanese Spider-Man projects, but Ikegami’s work is the artist specifically associated with the 1970 manga.