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| Spider-man art by Todd McFarlane |
In 1962, comic book readers were teenaged baby-boomers ready to head
out into a world they believed could be changed for the better. The superheroes
of the day were difficult to relate to, many of them adults contributing to
society. They were accomplished scientists, billionaires, gods, and a super-soldier
who punched Hitler. The few teenagers in comics were either being rescued or
were sidekicks in the mythic shadows of their mentors. Even then, none could
truly capture the awkwardness of high school adolescence. In August of that
year, however, Amazing Fantasy released its fifteenth and final issue
introducing the world to a shy high school kid from Queens who was about to
learn that with great power must also come-- great responsibility.
Growing up in the eighties, television reruns introduced me to the
world of Spider-man. The campy theme song of the 1967 Spider-man cartoon is persistently conjured up whenever I see the
webhead. Spider-man and his Amazing
Friends introduced me not only to Iceman and then newcomer Firestar, but to
other heroes and villains in the Marvel Universe. I remember watching the 1977
live-action Amazing Spider-man along
with the character’s appearances on The
Electric Company where he even fought Dracula (aptly portrayed by Morgan
Freeman). That would not be the unlikely matchup’s only television appearance
as they would square off in the 1981 Spider-man
cartoon. But I wasn’t introduced into the comic book world of the webhead until
the tender age of six.
The first Spidey comic I read was Amazing
Spider-man #300 where a darker (literally and figuratively) Spider-man
soared over New York and off the cover as only Todd MacFarlane could have created.
Writer David Michelinie introduced the origin of Venom who would quickly become
my favorite Spidey villain. Going from the television version of Spider-man to
the comic book is a jarring experience when you realize how much death surrounds
Peter Parker. Everyone knows how integral a role the death of Spider-man’s
uncle, Ben Parker, played in turning the mousy teenager into a legendary hero.
But it would not be the only death to shape Spidey’s heroic journey.
Stan Lee’s Amazing Spider-man
#90 (1970) showcased a battle between the wall-crawler and Doctor Octopus that sent
debris crashing towards the street. NYPD captain, George Stacy, sacrificed his
own life to save a boy from being crushed. His last words begged Spider-man to
be good to his daughter, Gwen, who was Peter’s girlfriend implying that Captain
Stacy had deduced Spidey’s identity. Little did Spider-man know how those words
would haunt him just three years later. Gerry
Conway’s The Night Gwen Stacy Died (1973)
would not only shock the comic book community but signify an end to the Silver
Age of comics, that innocent era in which the superhero always saved the day. It
was in his darkest hours that Spider-man showed us how very human he still was,
and how very heroic he could be.
What shaped Spider-man into a superhero was the group of people he
cared about. In Amazing Spider-man #31 (1965)
Steve Ditko illustrated his prowess as a storyteller through artwork. The
hallmark of this issue is a scene originally intended to be only a few panels,
which Spider-man is trapped under a large piece of machinery. The wall-crawler
was all but defeated until memories of his loved ones motivated him to summon
the last of his strength to escape. Stan Lee even noted that the scene got him
cheering.
As the character grew older and donned the black suit in 1984, the line
between good and evil blurred. Peter David explored that very theme in the
classic arc, The Death of Jean DeWolff (1985).
The opening pages alone are worthy of legendary status in which Jean DeWolff
reminisces about her past until she hears a thumping at her door that turned
out to be police officers who would find her dead from a shotgun blast. What
unfolded afterwards was a gritty noir-like whodunit in which Spider-man
explores the darker side of having great power. The darker storylines continued
in 1987 with J.M. DeMatteis’ classic storyline, Kraven’s Last Hunt (1987). Kraven the Hunter loses his grip on
reality obsessed with his past defeats against the wall-crawler. He buries Spider-man
alive and captures Vermin, a villain who had recently defeated the superhero.
Convinced that he is Spider-man’s superior, Kraven ends his life believing
there is nothing left to pursue. Dealing with themes of mortality and moral
ambiguity, Kraven’s Last Hunt
illustrates that Spider-man is not simply childish adventure stories. One would
think that with all the angst that comes with crime-fighting, Spider-man would
have quit some time ago.
Tired of being unappreciated, Stan Lee has Peter Parker retire in Amazing Spider-man #50 entitled Spider-man No More (1967). The art by
John Romita is iconic; one panel inspiring a scene in Spider-man 2. The memorable cover shows Spidey with his back turned
to the reader and a dejected Peter Parker emerging from the horizon. In the
web-crawler’s absence, crime rose with the emergence of a new Kingpin of crime
(Wilson Fisk’s first appearance). Peter returns to crime-fighting after a
mugging victim reminds him of Uncle Ben. But sometimes it takes something even
simpler to remind the wall-crawler why he decided to become a superhero.
With a desire to write a human interest story, Roger Stern created The Kid Who Collects Spider-man for Amazing Spider-man #248 (1984). While a
majority of the issue spotlights Spider-man’s fight with Thunderball, it is
remembered for the wall-crawler’s visit to young Timothy Hammond. Peter Parker
tells the boy his amazing origins and reveals his secret identity. The
surprisingly emotional twist in the final page is so memorable that I dare not
spoil it here. However, I will say that it inspired an emotional episode of the
1994 Spider-man animated series.
As a twelve-year-old, Saturday morning cartoons were that prize I woke
up to after enduring an entire week of school. The creators of the show were
not afraid to trade in campy stories for darker ones truer to the comics. As a
Spider-man fan, I thought things could not get any better until 2002 when Sam
Raimi finally brought Spider-man to the big screen with a record-breaking
trilogy. A year after the third movie was released, the short-lived Spectacular Spider-man would debut and
become an instant cult classic, and arguably the best animated version of the
webhead thus far in this fanboy’s opinion mixing elements of the classic origin
with the new Ultimate storyline.
Marvel launched Ultimate Spider-man in 2000 making the mythology more
accessible to a newer, younger audience. Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley
manage to bring a teenage Peter Parker into the 21st century without
losing the charm of the Lee and Ditko’s version. Death of Spider-man (2011) features a battered Peter Parker who
meets his demise while protecting those he loved from the Green Goblin.
Spider-man had saved Aunt May the way he couldn’t save his Uncle Ben, declaring
it triumphantly with his last words. The events overlapped with the
introduction of the new Ultimate Spider-man, Miles Morales, whose innocence and
naiveté echo the charm of his predecessor.
Stan Lee placed Spider-man in New York City to make it feel as if he
could exist in the real world. The events of September 11 left the country in
need of heroes. Marvel asked J.M. Straczynski to write their response to the
national tragedy for Amazing Spider-man
#36. The cover was entirely black in commemoration of the lives lost that
day and while the issue shared its fair share of criticisms, the artwork by
John Romita Jr. is what stands out. For me, one of the strongest comic book
images in recent memory was the panel of Spider-man holding back a crying boy
reaching to his father, a fallen New York firefighter. The issue portrayed
Marvel characters unifying to honor the real-life heroes of 9/11. Spider-man
was not a superhero then, but a New Yorker doing his part to cope with tragedy.
Peter Parker doesn’t have a billionaire genius’ swagger or a blind
lawyer’s charm. He isn’t a god of Asgard, a mutant born with powers, nor is he
a hulk of any color. He’s an unassuming kid from Queens with a penchant for
science, always at the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe I am a fan of Spider-man
because I was the quiet kid, my nose always buried in a book. Or maybe it’s
because my relationship with my grandmother mirrored Peter’s relationship to
Aunt May. The point is that Spider-man was the first relatable superhero.
Anybody can picture themselves underneath that mask regardless of their race,
creed, or even gender swinging from rooftop to rooftop with a “thwip” of the
wrists. Spider-man made his mark in television, the big screen, and even
Broadway. And with the latest re-imagining of the film franchise premiering
earlier this year, there is no doubt that your friendly neighborhood Spider-man
is here to stay. Here’s to fifty more “Amazing” years!
