Spiderman: the True History

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Spider-Man

Spider-Man is a fictional superhero in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962), and was created by scripter-editor Stan Lee and artist-plotter Steve Ditko. Lee and Ditko conceived of the character as an orphan being raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben as an ordinary teenager, having to deal with the normal struggles of youth in addition to those of a costumed crime fighter. Spider-Man's creators gave him the ability to cling to walls, shoot spider-webs using an invention he had created, and react to danger quickly with his "spider-sense", enabling him to combat his many foes, including Doctor Octopus, the Sandman, the Lizard, the Green Goblin, and Venom.

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When Spider-Man first appeared in the early 1960s, teenagers in superhero comic books were usually relegated to the role of sidekick to the series' main character. The Spider-Man series broke ground by featuring Peter Parker, a teenage high school student to whose "self-obsessions with rejection, inadequacy, and loneliness" young readers could relate.[1]:210 Unlike previous teen heroes such as Bucky and Robin, Spider-Man did not benefit from adult mentors like Captain America and Batman and had to learn for himself that "with great power comes great responsibility", a line that is most commonly his Uncle Ben's last or most remembered phrase.

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Marvel has featured Spider-Man in several comic book series, the first titled The Amazing Spider-Man. Over the years, the Peter Parker character has developed from shy high school student to troubled college student to a married teacher and a member of the superhero team the New Avengers. In the comics, Spider-Man is often referred to as "Spidey", "web-slinger", "wall-crawler", or "web-head".

Spider-Man is one of the most popular and commercially successful superheroes of all time. As Marvel's flagship character and company mascot, he has appeared in many forms of media, including several animated and live-action television series, syndicated newspaper comic strips and a successful series of films starring actor Tobey Maguire as the friendly neighborhood hero. Spider-Man was named Empire magazine's fifth greatest comic book character.[2]

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From The Amazing Spider-Man #547 (March 2008) / Spider-Man: Brand New Day #2
Art by Steve McNiven & Dexter Vines
Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962)
Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
In-story information
Alter ego Peter Benjamin Parker
Team affiliations Daily Bugle
New Fantastic Four
Avengers
Secret Avengers
New Avengers
Partnerships Scarlet Spider, Wolverine, Human Torch, Daredevil, Black Cat, Punisher
Notable aliases Ricochet, Dusk, Prodigy, Hornet, Captain Universe, Ben Reilly, Super Spider, Iron Spider, the Challenger
Abilities

Superhuman strength, stamina, speed, agility, reflexes, durability and equilibrium
Accelerated healing factor
Ability to cling to most surfaces
Precognitive spider sense
Web slinging (webbing is synthetic and organic)
Genius-Level Intellect
 

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Creation

In 1962, with the success of the Fantastic Four, Marvel Comics editor and head writer Stan Lee was casting about for a new superhero idea. He said that the idea for Spider-Man arose from a surge in teenage demand for comic books, and the desire to create a character with whom teens could identify.[3]:1 In his autobiography, Lee cites the non-superhuman pulp magazine crime fighter The Spider as a great influence,[4]:130 and in a multitude of print and video interviews Lee stated he was further inspired by seeing a spider climb up a wall—adding in his autobiography that he has told that story so often he has become unsure of whether or not this is true.[note 1] Looking back on the creation of Spider-Man, Tom DeFalco stated he did not believe that Spider-Man would have been given a chance in today's comics world, where new characters are vetted with test audiences and marketers.[3]:9 At that time, however, Lee had to get only the consent of Marvel publisher Martin Goodman for the character's approval.[3]:9 In a 1986 interview, Lee described in detail his arguments to overcome Goodman's objections.[note 2] Goodman eventually agreed to let Lee try out Spider-Man in the upcoming final issue of the canceled science-fiction and supernatural anthology series Amazing Adult Fantasy, which was renamed Amazing Fantasy for that single issue, #15 (August 1962).[5]:95

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Comics historian Greg Theakston says that Lee, after receiving Goodman's approval for the name Spider-Man and the "ordinary teen" concept, approached artist Jack Kirby. Kirby told Lee about an unpublished character on which he collaborated with Joe Simon in the 1950s, in which an orphaned boy living with an old couple finds a magic ring that gives him superpowers. Lee and Kirby "immediately sat down for a story conference" and Lee afterward directed Kirby to flesh out the character and draw some pages. Steve Ditko would be the inker.[note 3] When Kirby showed Lee the first six pages, Lee recalled, "I hated the way he was doing it. Not that he did it badly — it just wasn't the character I wanted; it was too heroic."[6]:12 Lee turned to Ditko, who developed a visual style Lee found satisfactory. Ditko recalled,

One of the first things I did was to work up a costume. A vital, visual part of the character. I had to know how he looked ... before I did any breakdowns. For example: A clinging power so he wouldn't have hard shoes or boots, a hidden wrist-shooter versus a web gun and holster, etc. ... I wasn't sure Stan would like the idea of covering the character's face but I did it because it hid an obviously boyish face. It would also add mystery to the character...[7]

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In an early recollection of the character's creation, Ditko described his and Lee's contributions in a mail interview with Gary Martin published in Comic Fan #2 (Summer 1965): "Stan Lee thought the name up. I did costume, web gimmick on wrist & spider signal".[8] At the time, Ditko shared a Manhattan studio with noted fetish artist Eric Stanton, an art-school classmate who, in a 1988 interview with Theakston, recalled that although his contribution to Spider-Man was "almost nil", he and Ditko had "worked on storyboards together and I added a few ideas. But the whole thing was created by Steve on his own... I think I added the business about the webs coming out of his hands".[6]:14

Kirby disputes Lee's version of the story, and claimed Lee had minimal involvement in the character's creation. According to Kirby, the idea for Spider-Man had originated with Kirby and Joe Simon, who in the 1950s had developed a character called The Silver Spider for the Crestwood comic Black Magic, who was subsequently not used.[note 4] Simon, in his 1990 autobiography, disputes Kirby's account, asserting that Black Magic was not a factor, and that he (Simon) devised the name "Spider-Man" (later changed to "The Silver Spider"), while Kirby outlined the character's story and powers. Simon later elaborated that his and Kirby's character conception became the basis for Simon's Archie Comics superhero The Fly. Artist Steve Ditko stated that Lee liked the name Hawkman from DC Comics, and that "Spider-Man" was an outgrowth of that interest.[7] The hyphen was included in the character's name to avoid confusion with DC Comics' Superman.[9]

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Simon concurs that Kirby had shown the original Spider-Man version to Lee, who liked the idea and assigned Kirby to draw sample pages of the new character but disliked the results—in Simon's description, "Captain America with cobwebs".[note 5] Writer Mark Evanier notes that Lee's reasoning that Kirby's character was too heroic seems unlikely—Kirby still drew the covers for the first issues of Spider-Man. Likewise, Kirby's given reason that he was "too busy" to also draw Spider-Man in addition to his other duties seems false, as Kirby was, in Evanier's words, "always busy".[10]:127 Neither Lee's nor Kirby's explanation explains why key story elements like the magic ring were dropped; Evanier states that the most plausible explanation for the sudden change was that Goodman or one of his assistants decided that Spider-Man as drawn and envisioned by Kirby was too similar to The Fly.[10]:127

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Blake Bell, author and Ditko scholar, writes that it was Ditko who noted the similarities to The Fly. Ditko recalls that "Stan called Jack about The Fly", adding that "[d]ays later, Stan told me I would be penciling the story panel breakdowns from Stan's synopsis". It was at this point that the nature of the strip changed. "Out went the magic ring, adult Spider-Man and whatever legend ideas that Spider-Man story would have contained." Lee gave Ditko the premise of a teenager bitten by a spider and developing powers, a premise Ditko would expand upon to the point he became what Bell describes as "the first work-for-hire artist of his generation to create and control the narrative arc of his series." On the issue of the initial creation, Ditko states "I still don't know whose idea was Spider-Man".[11] Kirby noted in a 1971 interview that it was Ditko who "got Spider-Man to roll, and the thing caught on because of what he did."[12] Stan Lee, while claiming credit for the initial idea, acknowledges Ditko's role, stating that "If Steve wants to be called co-creator, I think he deserves (it)".[13] Writer Al Nickerson believes "that Stan Lee and Steve Ditko created the Spider-Man that we are familiar with today (but that) ultimately, Spider-Man came into existence, and prospered, through the efforts, of not just one or two, but many comic book creators."[14]

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Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962). Cover art by Jack Kirby (penciller) & Steve Ditko (inker).

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The Amazing Spider-Man #23 (April 1965), featuring the Green Goblin. Cover art by co-creator Steve Ditko.

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Commercial success

A few months after Spider-Man's introduction in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962), publisher Martin Goodman reviewed the sales figures for that issue, finding it to have been one of the nascent Marvel's highest-selling comics.[5]:97 A solo series followed, beginning with The Amazing Spider-Man #1 (March 1963). The title eventually became Marvel's top-selling series[1]:211 with the character swiftly becoming a cultural icon; a 1965 Esquire poll of college campuses found that college students ranked Spider-Man and fellow Marvel hero the Hulk alongside Bob Dylan and Che Guevara as their favorite revolutionary icons. One interviewee selected Spider-Man because he was "beset by woes, money problems, and the question of existence. In short, he is one of us".[1]:223 Following Ditko's departure after issue #38 (July 1966), John Romita, Sr. replaced him as artist, and would pencil the character over the next several years.

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An early 1970s Spider-Man story led to the revision of the Comics Code. Previously, the Code forbade the depiction of the use of illegal drugs, even negatively. However, in 1970 the Nixon administration's Department of Health, Education, and Welfare asked Stan Lee to publish an anti-drug message in one of Marvel's top-selling titles.[1]:239 Lee chose the top-selling The Amazing Spider-Man; issues #96–98 (May–July 1971) feature a story arc depicting the negative effects of drug use. In the story, Peter Parker's friend Harry Osborn becomes addicted to pills. When Spider-Man fights the Green Goblin (Norman Osborn, Harry's father), Spider-Man defeats the Green Goblin, by revealing Harry's drug addiction. While the story had a clear anti-drug message, the Comics Code Authority refused to issue its seal of approval. Marvel nevertheless published the three issues without the Comics Code Authority's approval or seal. The issues sold so well that the industry's self-censorship was undercut[1]:239 and the Code was subsequently revised.

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The Amazing Spider-Man #96 (May 1971), the first of three non-Comics Code issues that prompted the Code's first update, allowing comics to show the negative effects of illegal-drug use. Note cover-blurb reference to "The last fatal trip!" Cover art by Gil Kane.

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In 1972, a second monthly ongoing series starring Spider-Man began: Marvel Team-Up, in which Spider-Man was paired with other superheroes and villains. In 1976, his second solo series, The Spectacular Spider-Man began, running parallel to the main series. A third series featuring Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man, launched in 1985, replacing Marvel Team-Up. The launch of a fourth monthly title in 1990, written and drawn by popular artist Todd McFarlane, debuted with several different covers, all with the same interior content. The various versions combined sold over 3 million copies, an industry record at the time.[1]:279 There have generally been at least two ongoing Spider-Man series at any time. Several limited series, one-shots and loosely related comics have also been published, and Spider-Man makes frequent cameos and guest appearances in other comic series.