When John Romita, Sr. succeeded artist co-creator Steve Ditko on "The Amazing Spider-Man", beginning with issue #39 (Aug. 1966), Esposito, initially as Demeo, was the first inker on what would become Marvel's flagship series. After three issues, Romita inked himself for the next half-dozen before Esposito returned — uncredited for issue #49 (June 1967), then as Mickey Demeo until finally taking credit under his own name with issue #56 (Jan. 1968). Except for one issue (#65) inked by his successor, Jim Mooney, the Romita-Esposito team continued through issue #66 (Nov. 1968), establishing the new look of Spider-Man. Esposito continued to use the "Demeo" credit sporadically, including on the debut story "Guardians of the Galaxy" in "Marvel Super-Heroes" #18 (Jan. 1969), and on "The Amazing Spider-Man" #83 (April 1970), his last recorded use of the pen name.