Artist J. Scott Campbell’s Spider-Man Apartment Series

Originally published May 1, 2026. This article artist J. Scott Campbell about his Spider-Man Apartment Marvel art print series.

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They’re swinging in from the pages of Marvel comic books right onto your walls! Artist J. Scott Campbell creates vibrant, dynamic Marvel art prints, including his popular Spider-Man Apartment Series — featuring the Friendly Neighborhood Hero and Mary Jane Watson.

To celebrate the upcoming hand-signed editions of The Amazing Spider-Man: Mary Jane’s Apartment, we went behind the scenes with the artist himself. J. Scott Campbell discusses his creative process, the inspiration for these slice-of-life fine art prints, and why there’s a certain magic to be found in Spider-Man’s web.

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J. Scott Campbell Interview

First, we’d love to hear about your approach to the Spider-Verse. Peter, MJ, and Felicia are some of your most frequently drawn Marvel characters. What are some of your favorite aspects of Spider-Man? How do you incorporate these aspects into your artwork?

The Spider-Man universe is maybe the most “human” to me in the super hero realm. By that, I mean Peter Parker, MJ, and Gwen. They’re more relatable to us because they’re grounded, compared to, let’s say, the X-Men or the Avengers. I think we inherently connect more with characters we can relate to or imagine interacting with in our own lives.

A few years back, Sideshow translated the concept of your cover for Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #1 into a 3D collectible — the Spider-Man and Mary Jane Maquette, unveiled in 2019. Can you speak to the challenges and rewards of working with sculptors and painters to translate your 2D artwork into a 3D piece?

That was a piece that truly connected with the fanbase. The fans love seeing Peter & MJ together and happy — this I can tell you with certainty. And that statue hits a sweet spot with more adult collectors, especially those self-described geeky collectors in relationships, as a tribute to their shared passions, and I love that.

As a statue, it was particularly tricky for a few reasons. For starters, it’s always a challenge to create a statue with two figures interacting. It’s especially challenging to have two characters in a relaxed embrace, rather than in a fight or something similar. I also remember Peter’s portrait took a couple of tries to get right. The fans online weren’t really responding to the initial previews of the statue at Comic-Con.

The Sideshow sculptors went back in and finessed the face sculpt to more accurately match the original artwork, and I give them a lot of credit for doing so, since changing something like that at a late stage is pretty uncommon.

To be sure we aren’t missing any, which illustrations would you consider part of your Spider-Man Apartment Series? Besides the obvious location aspect, what elements and themes have you carried throughout these pieces to create the narrative?

The series now spans quite a few covers at this point! It started with Amazing Spider-Man #601, then continued with Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #1 and #2 (both 2015), then there was the Felicia’s Loft cover (Black Cat #1, 2019), and most recently the Spidey family enjoying time together (Ultimate Spider-Man #4, 2025).

As for the threads that connect them, at their core, each one gives us a view into the living spaces of these characters in their personal lives. I always try to make those spaces feel lived-in and specific to the characters. Their personal tastes, their hobbies, their pets, their decor — it’s all in there if you look closely. And there are a few fun Easter eggs hidden throughout that connect the apartment covers to each other and to some of my other work, little rewards for the most attentive fans who’ve followed the series from the beginning.

The vibe of that original #601 piece was a bit more melancholic, as Mary Jane was in the moments after Peter had once again left her behind to rush back out into the city to be everyone’s Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and not MJ’s husband. The cover allowed me to tell a more nuanced story with one image. And fans with an attentive eye could pick up on additional storytelling elements, such as comparing Peter & MJ’s happy smiles in the portrait hanging on the wall to MJ’s more sullen look on the couch.

Is there a specific emotional resonance, vibe, or mood you hope to convey with the Apartment Series illustrations? Or does it vary from one to the next?

Well, the Apartment drawings are more about depicting a “slice of life,” a peek into the regular lives of the Spider-Man characters. This allows me to show a range of emotions all in the same setting. For instance, the Renew Your Vows cover you mentioned earlier served as the inspiration for the Sideshow statue, which was a happier follow-up to my original #601 cover.

Later, I followed up with an homage to my original couch cover for Ultimate Spider-Man #4, this time focusing on Mary Jane’s warm family life, with not just Peter but also two children. These apartment images are a celebration of real life as depicted in the Spidey universe, with all its emotional ups and downs.

We’re so excited to unveil our latest collaboration to have hand-signed print editions of The Amazing Spider-Man: Mary Jane’s Apartment Fine Art Print! When the illustration debuted on the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #601, MJ’s now iconic (or perhaps infamous) sitting pose garnered a lot of online chatter and attention. How did the fan engagement inspire you to further the storytelling in the Apartment Series illustrations that came next?

Ha! Well, as I’ve found after doing this for a few decades now, more success brings more eyeballs, which in turn yields a wider range of reactions, both positive and negative. Many on the more critical side found it difficult to imagine any woman sitting in that particular way. And maybe it is more uncommon. But I often draw from my real life.

For instance, that couch, that throw blanket and pillows, that remote control on the table, those were all real items in my house. And more importantly, my girlfriend at the time would sit and even stand in all of these really fun and interesting ways, almost like a ballet dancer. I found that something that was really charming and inspirational to me was perhaps too unusual for others. But I still love the pose, and from the huge fan reaction over the years, many still love it too.

Finally, just for fun — if you were designing yourself in an Apartment Series style illustration, what objects, elements, pets, or other people might you include to convey your personality and lifestyle?

Well, strangely enough, as you might have picked up already, I’ve kinda always been drawing myself in all of these apartment pieces this entire time!

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Will you be adding a piece from J. Scott Campbell’s Spider-Man Apartment Series to your own home? Be sure to pre-order the newest addition to the series, The Amazing Spider-Man: Mary Jane’s Apartment Fine Art Print!

Then, connect with other Marvel art fans over at Sideshow Social Network or in side.show/geekgroup, and don’t forget to Let Your Geek Sideshow!