With the passing of his co-creator Steve Ditko at the age of 90, I thought it would be a nice way to honor him by taking a look at the comic that introduced Spider-Man to this world, undoubtedly one of the most famous of his creations/co-creations. Spider-Man was introduced not in his own book, but in another comic: Amazing Fantasy. The series was originally titled Amazing Adult Fantasy, a science-fiction anthology title that was billed as "the magazine that respected your intelligence".
With issue number 15, the title was slated for cancellation. So, considering that the book was on its way out, publisher Martin Goodman reluctantly agreed to let Stan Lee and Steve Ditko publish a story about a new kind of teenage superhero. At the time, teenage heroes like Bucky and Robin were sidekicks. This one would have no mentor, forced to learn the superhero thing through trail by fire. This one would also deal with issues regular folks dealt with like struggling to make ends meet and dealing with feelings of inadequacy. This new character was found to be quite relatable by young readers, and Amazing Fantasy #15 would turn out to be Marvel's highest-selling comic at the time. He would be such a hit that he would actually get his own comic, one that is still going strong today, over 700 issues and over 55 years later. And with that out of the way, let's look at Amazing Fantasy #15!
The cover has become rather iconic in its own right, homage and parodied. Spider-Man grabbing someone as he swings by. I'm guessing that guy did something he should not have been doing. The dialogue on the cover make me chuckle. Spidey, that guy is right near you. He can hear you. You just told him your secret identity.
"Spider-Man!"
Writer: Stan Lee
Penciller: Steve Ditko
Inker: Steve Ditko
Letterer: Artie Simek
Editor: Stan Lee
The story begins with a young teenage boy named Peter Parker being woken up by his Uncle Ben. He gets dressed and goes downstairs, where his Aunt May is making him his favorite breakfast: Wheatcakes. Basically, Petey likes his pancakes.
Peter Parker is a good kid, very smart, with a talent for science. However, he does have his troubles. One of them is when he asks a pretty girl named Sally Avril out for a date. However, Sally isn't interested in the nerdy Parker, especially with the handsome football player Flash Thompson around.
Heh heh, some time in Southeast Asia will fix Flash's attitude. He also get to use the Venom symbiote in the future...and now I'm sad. Anyway, Peter wants to see an exhibit at Midtown High's science hall, but nobody wants to go with him. The dejected and slightly embittered Peter goes to the exhibit, which is demonstrating radioactivity. Yeah, that totally won't cause some problems. I mean, it's not like if something goes wrong, the school would end up contaminated by radiation or anything. During the exhibition, a spider ends up getting irradiated. Of course, little spiders aren't meant to be irradiated, and the dying spider crawls away. It manages to make its way to young Parker's hand and bite it.
Peter then feels slightly ill. But instead of telling the scientists he got bitten by a radioactive spider (because you know, that could totally be a bad thing), he simply leaves to get some air. The dazed Peter wanders out onto the street, feeling that something weird is happening to him. He nearly gets run over by a car, but he leaps away from it...and sticks to a wall. He discovers he can crawl up the wall as easily as he can walk down a street.
He manages to make it up to the top of the building quickly, and grabs a steel pipe to help pull himself up...only to crush it like it was made of tissue paper. The young nerdy kid discovers that he's gained powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. But this leads to another question. Now that he's got these cool powers, what should he do with them? Put on a fancy suit and fight crime like those Fantastic Four guys? Nah. Peter's a teenager, and he sees a bit more of a...selfish use for his new power.
I can imagine that today, there are quite a few laws about that. To hide his identity, Peter creates a costume, complete with mask. He challenges the wrestler, one "Crusher" Hogan, to fight him. The young man is easily able to defeat the wrestler, and the crowd is loving it. A man in the crowd notes the future Spider-Man and thinks he's exactly what he's looking for. He's a TV producer, and he wants to put this kid on TV. Peter is intrigued by this.
He secretly develops the costume he would use as Spider-Man, and builds a pair of wrist-mounted webshooters. He comes up with the name Spider-Man, as it's as "good as any". Now he's got himself a gimmick. Spider-Man then appears on TV, using his agility and newfound webshooters to perform various tricks. The crowd is amazed, and Peter is given lots of offers for future media appearances and interviews and the like. Peter then spots a thief being chased by a policeman. However, Peter is not interested in playing the Good Samaritan, and lets the thief run by.
The cop is furious at Spider-Man. He could have done something to slow the man down, even something as small as trip him up. But Peter's like, "Fighting crime is YOUR job, officer! I'm outta here!" A few hours later, in a scene I think is a bit superfluous, Aunt May and Uncle Ben got Peter a gift: A microscope. Peter is overjoyed, and vows to always make sure they're happy, but as far as he's concerned, the rest of the world can go hang.
Some days pass, and Spider-Man has become a bit of a celebrity, becoming a TV sensation. This mysterious masked man who can perform the amazing feats of strength, agility, and can spin webs and crawl on walls like a real spider. What a hit! But as always with the Webhead, the good times will come to an end.
Peter is returning home from a personal appearance, when he sees a police car in front of his home. He wonders what is going on, and the cop has some sad news: His Uncle Ben had been shot. And he is now dead. Peter is horrified, and enraged. The cop tells him Ben had surprised a burglar, but they have the malefactor cornered in an old warehouse. Peter puts on his Spider-Man costume and heads to the warehouse.
The cops are in a standoff with the burglar. However, Spider-Man is able to sneak into the warehouse and surprise the criminal.
Between his powers and his webbing, the Wall-Crawler is able to easily get the drop on and take down the criminal. When he gets a look at the criminal's face, the burgeoning superhero is horrified.
It's the same criminal he let escape days earlier. The Web-Swinger then ties up the burglar with his webs, and leaves him for the cops. Peter is left emotionally distraught. If he had not been so selfish earlier, then maybe his Uncle Ben would still be alive. The costumed teenager on this night has learned a hard lesson, one that would become his maxim: "With great power, must also come great responsibility." The story ends with him walking into the night, his thoughts on the events that just transpired, and a new legend being born, one that would continue to swing by over 55 years later.
Amusingly, the comic has an ad saying readers should pick up the next exciting issue of Amazing Fantasy to read another Spider adventure. His next appearance would be his own book.
This was really good. Lee's writing is bombastic, and it's pretty clear "The Man" loves words. Spider-Man's origin has been expanded upon over the years, but the basic story has always remained intact: teenager gets powers and learns a hard lesson about responsibility. Lee wanted this new hero to resonate with the intended audience, and considering Spider-Man has become arguably Marvel's flagship character, I say he succeeded. The story does do some jumping a bit, but that's kind of part and parcel of comics of this era. Lee wrote this as one of three stories, so he didn't have the full comic's length to work with.
The origin has become iconic, having been retold and expanded upon numerous times over the decades, and even retold and adapted into various media. At it's heart, Peter's story is the story of a kid who gets great power, and learns that with it comes the responsibility to use it wisely. Peter's struggles to fit in resonated with readers, and today, that identifiability has helped propel Spider-Man into a cultural icon.
Ditko's take on Peter Parker really helped sell the idea that Peter was this shy, nerdy kid. John Romita Sr.'s interpretation of the character may be more famous, but it was Ditko that really helped codify the character as an identifiable everyman. Ditko would pencil the first 38 issues of Spider-Man's own book, helping to create many of the characters and rogues that are still part of Spidey's life today.
Goodbye, Mr. Ditko. Spider-Man was only one of the amazing characters you had a hand in, but he's one of the reasons I love superheroes. Next time, we look at the Fantastic Four witnessing a fiery rebirth....
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