Why is it Spider-MAN?
The other morning I was giving some thought to the character of Spider-Man, which in itself is not that unusual, I tend to ponder comic books at all times of the day. Spider-Man though is not generally a character I often think about.
He’s just not a character I find I enjoy.
He is however probably the most iconic comic book character at least in the Marvel universe (the DC big three are probably bigger icons - but only just). This is probably the only reason why I sometimes find him interesting to draw. I don’t really like the current version of him , he’s too one liner cracking’ish but still extraordinarily iconic.
The thought I had or rather: the question is why he was originally called Spider-Man (yes I get the spider bit - please!), why not Spider-Boy?
Now I’m almost 100% sure that Stan Lee has talked about that somewhere in an interview I’ve seen and some of the spidey fans with better memories will probably remember better than I.
The reason why I wonder is that he was a teenager of smallish stature when he became Spider-Man. I mean I know the story behind the name, the wrestling name etc but even there I wonder why that character wouldn’t have used Spider-Boy or even Lad?
Perhaps it’s a sidekick thing as I can only think of sidekicks using boy or lad. The lead in a comic book can’t be a boy/lad. Of course there was also Invisible Girl who later became The Invisible Woman. Maybe Spidey just hasn’t grown up? I mean he obviously has despite the wise cracks.
I again wonder (for someone who doesn’t pay the character much thought I’m thinking an awful lot!) what the turning point was for Spider-Man, his coming of age? Was it Gwen Stacey’s death or his marriage to Mary Jane? Maybe it was even as late as revealing his secret identity during Civil War? I don’t read the Spider-Man books so I couldn’t say if much has changed, actually now that I think about it I don’t even know if they’ve rebooted his secret identity. I think it would be weird for him not to have the secret as I think it was such a large part of the character. The same goes for Iron Man and I hope the new series coming out returns him to pre Civil War rather than just expanding the current series.
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I have no answers to any of those questions and have only one question of my own…………. where did that child put the damn popcorn?
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How did you know I bought popcorn tonight!?!
I’m about to sit down to a Gordon Ramsey double and munch some popping corn because it hopefully won’t raise my blood sugar as much as white toast.
I’m all with the ‘boy stands for sidekick’ theory.
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No thoughts on this post, but just wanted to appologise. for some reason google reader lost your feed and I haven’t been round here for a while. I just thought you’d been very quiet.
I’m back now though.
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Here’s one more vote for ‘boy stands for sidekick’.
Yeah, I’m in for the sidekick theory.
And now for some Spidey-Spoilers…
I’ve also been reading Spider-man ever since the Civil War series (which coincided with my re-introduction to comics on a regular basis). Here’s the deal. At the end of Civil War, everyone knows who Spidey is, as you said. That included Kingpin, who sent an assassin after him. The assassin missed but hit Aunt May. As she was dying in the hospital, Peter went on a bit of a rampage in the appropriately titled Back In Black series (he put the black suit back on to signal that all bets were off) while he tracked down the assassin and Kingpin and tried to save Aunt May.
I really liked that series. Not as much with the wisecracks, and totally bad-ass. I recommend it.
That was followed with One More Day, which was a 4 part story that spanned the 4 different Spider-Man titles and ended with a mix of a reboot and a continuation — MJ and Pete had never married and Aunt May was back in business, but the events of Civil War had still occurred. Everyone remembers the unmasking, but no one can quite remember who it was under the mask. (This is all thanks to … Mephistopholes, I think.) Thus the next series was called “Brand New Day”. And that’s as far as I’ve gotten.
One More Day, btw, marked the end of J. Michael Straczynski’s run as writer for the series. He’s had “Amazing Spider-Man” for the last few years. And if the Civil War thru One More Day was any indication of the quality of his work prior, I’m thinking about going back and catching some of the previous stuff.
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Dan - that’s cool man - I just figured you were going quiet - I did however note your absence so you were missed. I was very close to writing about G’nort to lure you back.
Arjan - I believe the sidekick theory has the most support and thus it is now gospel.
Jeff - I knew we’d have a go-to guy for Spider-Man around here somewhere! I am intrigued by the Back in Black series and will now make an effort to catch up. I had heard rumours that it was good and I’m glad to get it confirmed.
I don’t know how impressed I am with the reboot but I didn’t read it obviously and they have to do it somehow.
No longer married heh?
Did he name himself or was it the media that gave him his moniker?
Surely they wouldn’t have known he was as young asd Peter Parker, he’s pretty bulked up (and wearing an all over costume!) so he’d be called a man, I’m guessing.
…I remember probably the first time I was called a man. I worked in a shop as a saturday helper and a little boy said “Mummy, that man said they’re over here” or something to that effect. So “man” depends on you perspective I suppose.
Spiderman has a better ring to it for selling comics too imho, which, to be honest, was probably the real reason.
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DeeDubya - a wrestling promoter named him I believe, originally he wrestled to make a bit of cash before discovering that with great power comes great responsibility.
I don’t think I remember the first time someone referred to me as a man, probably in a store too. I remember the first time someone called me Mr Sargent. It was when I was coaching a kid’s volleyball team, I was only seventeen at the time, I think I was horrified.
(Before I start my comment, can I just say that the wordpress ‘Reset’ button is really annoying - particularly when you hit it instead of ‘Submit’. Bah!)
Anyway, as a lifelong Spidey fan, I’m disappointed to hear you don’t care for him… but I’ll get over that eventually.
As to your question, I think that when Peter started he intended to use the Spider-MAN identity to go into showbiz, and he’d have more chance of being a success in that as a man than a boy (particularly back in the early 60’s.) He wouldn’t even have been allowed to take part in those wrestling bouts if they’d known he was 14. When he finally became a super-hero, he still wouldn’t want Dr. Octopus and co. knowing he was a boy. (Bendis plays well on this in Ultimate Spidey - the shock and rage of Doc Ock and the Kingpin etc. when they discover it’s a kid who’s handing them their ass on a plate…) Plus, what teenager (even a nerdy teen like Peter) wants to think of themself as a boy? You just can’t wait to grow up.
As to when the turning point came in Peter’s life from boy to man, I’d argue it was when Ditko left and JR took over. Pete went to college, got a motorbike, moved out of Aunt May’s etc. You could say that Gwen’s death was an important turning point, but at the end of the day tragedy has marked his life since Uncle Ben died, so it wasn’t like that was a new experience for him.
Bet you wish you hadn’t asked now?
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Yeah it has to be the lead character thing. I can’t imagine Spiderman making to be this big if he was called Spiderboy…
Rol - I don’t know what it is about Spidey that turns me off him, as I thought about it further I’ve actually read a lot of Spider-Man over the years and there probably is a special place in my heart for him somewhere (maybe under the couch that Hellboy is sitting on).
I am grateful though for an intelligent dialogue regarding the finer details of Spider-Man and you and Jeff certainly haven’t disappointed. It does stir a bit of interest within to catch up on the character.
There are plenty of characters that I don’t really feel passionate about but always feel richer for encountering people that are.
Ookami Snow - I’m sure it was a commercial consideration and I can’t think of any characters that are successful with the exception of Superboy (whom I only just this minute remembered!).
OK, I’ve been mulling over who the “DC big three” are and I’m pretty sure Superman and Batman are two of them, but who is the third? I can’t decide if it’s The Flash, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman or Robin.
Can someone please end my DC ranking torment?
Ian - well it’s not bloody Aquaman I can assure you of that! It’s Wonder Woman.
Really? Wonder Woman is more iconic than Spider-man? I feel a heated dedate coming on.
I don’t if she is on her own a larger icon - she’s certainly been around longer if one wanted to use that as a criteria which I would use personally as a gauge. As part of the holy trilogy of her Superman and Batman you would be hard-pressed going past them.
I’m really kind of annoyed by the way they did the reset, but you’re right, they had to do it somehow.
I read somewhere that Straczynski didn’t like that either, but he had to follow orders and do it the way the suits (Quesada, specifically, if I remember correctly) wanted, so the overall story would allow the next writer to move where the suits want the character to go.
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Oh, I forgot to clarify … not only are they no longer married, they NEVER WERE married.
There’s a bunch of cheese’d off fans about that one.
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Jeff - often they have to do something outragously stupid to reset the status quo - I’m looking at you DC comics for Bruce Wayne’s faith healer fixing his broken back. Fine it was stupid and goes against the whole anti supernatural stuff in the Batman line but it did return Bruce to the Batman character. So I overlook it.
I think having them never married is a mistake - just do a legends of Spider-Man prequel line that occurs prior to the current series where he isn’t married. I think the character could carry it.
I read the spiderman civil war spin off, and then with the cliff hanger ending, I had to pick up the back in black trade (which I haven’t read yet). The whole “re-boot” thing kinda annoys me. It’s like they’ve decided they’ve taken the character as far as they can so its time to go back to the start and do it all over again.
Swollenpickles - This is why I’m adamant about standalone comic lines sometimes I just want to read a story involving my favourite characters that doesn’t come with baggage. There are cultural snapshots of these characters like the Fantastic Four for instance where you have the core four characters rather than She-Hulk or whoever else part of the team because Sue and Reed are having marital problems. Show me some stand alone stories in THAT universe!
Last thing I heard was that Storm and the Black Panther were stand ins for Reed and Sue. That’s balls as far as I’m concerned. Maybe the story would be more interesting if they covered the “marital problems” and the other two guys trying to pick up the slack.
Having characters pop up in multiple titles is a bit of a worry I reckon. Don’t even get me started on Wolverine!
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It most certainly balls - donkey balls in my opinion.