Welcome to the "Spider-Man" section of my website. This section is dedicated to "Spider-Man" comics and movies and is dedicated to Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, who started it all. "Spider-Man" celebrated it's 40th anniversary recently. To the right are 3 links associated with "Spider-Man" comics : the official "Marvel" website, "Previews" magazine and an online comics shop.   Below you will find a great deal of Spider-Man history over the last 40 years, with villians, costumes, team-ups and more. It's been an illustrious career so far. Keep on swinging, "Spider-Man"!

Marvel Comics Website Previews Magazine My Comic Shop

	Peter Parker, Spider-Man debuted in Aug. 1962 in the pages of "Amazing Fantasy 15", the serie's final issue. In this issue, we are given Spidey's origin, bitten by a radioactive spider while at a science fair. Given this power, he first opted for fame, which proved a fatal mistake as he allows a burglar to flee capture. Later, the same burglar later tried to rob Peter's aunt and uncle's house, sadly, his uncle was killed by the burglar. Raised by his aunt and uncle after his parents were killed, Peter now knew the most valuable lesson of all, "With great power, comes great responsibility" it is a catchphrase, a sort of mantra that has carried Spider-Man's career for the past 40 years. Now taking care of his Aunt May, Spider-Man gave up fame and fortune to become a vigilante hero. This particular issue is tough to find in good condition and is very expensive and considered one of the most sought after items for collectors.  "Amazing Spider-Man 1" came out in Mar. 1963 and a legend was born. Here he met his very first (of many) super-villian, The Chameleon and also had a run-in with the Fantastic Four. As issues followed, he ran a foul of many a villian, including Dr. Octopus (his first loss), Vulture, Sand-Man, Kraven, Lizard, Electro and scores of others. Peter Parker, himself, had his hands full too, with high school, then college, then working taking pictures of himself, as Spider-Man and selling them to the paper, "The Daily Bugle", though his photos were often purposely mis-interpreted by the publisher, J. Jonah Jameson, Spidey's biggest detractor. That's not all, Peter found himself at the wrong end of a bully, Flash Thompson, though later they would become friends, and let's not forget the ladies in his life, Liz Allen and Betty Brant. Throughout the series, Peter, and his alter ego Spider-Man caused a great deal of problems in Peter's life, always being torn between the ones he loves and his sense of responsibility. It wasn't until college that Peter found the love of his life, Gwen Stacy, and two very important characters, Norman and Harry Osborn. Later, another important character popped up in the series and made a serious impact, Mary Jane Watson, though with Gwen at the time, Peter did notice MJ, and was often caught between the two. Harry would go on to be Peter's best friend, and his father, Norman Osborn, his greatest enemy. Having survived an explosion due to working on a "strength enhancing formula", Norman became unbalanced and with his newfound power, became Spidey's deadliest foe, the Green Goblin. As the Green Goblin, he made a great deal of trouble for our hero, eventually learning Peter and Spider-Man were one in the same. This discovery led to tragedy as the Goblin killed Gwen, in front of Peter. Later, in what seemed to be their "final" battle, the Goblin was "killed" by his glider, which was meant to kill Spidey, but he leapt out of it's way, thanks to his "spider-sense". This act sent shockwaves through the series as several key characters were deeply affected by Gwen's death, none more so than Peter, himself, who would grow closer with MJ, and in doing so, along with his father's death, drug use and his father's secret identity, Harry would also go over the edge in his own right temporarily picking up the mantle of the Green Goblin. Having failed to succeed where his father failed, Harry quit being the Goblin. The next great villian Spidey faced was Professor Miles Warren, who was in love with Gwen, too and blamed Spider-Man for her death. It was that vendetta that gave birth to The Jackal. In his quest for revenge, he too, uncovered Spidey's secret identity and went on to clone not only Gwen, but Peter himself. Both the Spidey clone and the Jackal himself were supposedly killed in their final battle. Later on, Peter's Aunt May would "die", sending Peter down a dark and lonely path. Only come to find out it was a plot by one of his old foes, Mysterio, and the burglar who killed his uncle to get at the Parker house for what was thought to be great stolen valuables hidden by a previous owner. This all culminated in "Amazing Spider-Man 200", where the burglar died of a heart attack, Mysterio was defeated and his Aunt May turned up alive and well. Spidey's next great arch enemy would be the Hobgoblin, picking up exactly where the Green Goblin and Norman Osborn, left off.
	"Spider-Man" obtained his now infamous black and white costume during an adventure dubbed "the Secret Wars", but the costume's real first appearance was "Amazing Spider-Man" 252. Able to read Spidey's thoughts, it mimicked clothes and had several abilities, one of which making web fluid from itself, instead of Spidey's original manufactured web-shooters. Eventually able, a curious Spidey took the costume to Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four to study it, where they all learned, much to their surprise, that is was a living, alien symbiote, using Spider-Man as it's host. Disturbed by the revelation, Spidey tried to will the costume off him, but failed, leading him, Richards and Spidey's friend, Johnny Storm, the Human Torch (Reed's partner in the FF), to try sound and fire to capture the alien. Even after this, Spidey still went around wearing his old red and blue costume and a hand made black and white costume, switching between the two. Eventually, the alien would escape and tried to bond itself to Peter again, only to be thought dead by the ringing of church bells, sound being the alien's greatest weakness. Along the way, Spidey ran into several new and old villians and even faced off against teams of villians throughout his career. The Sinister Six, Sinister Syndicate and the Enforcers, to name a few. But villians weren't the only ones to cross Spidey's path, as a new love interest was later introduced, Felicia Hardy, the Black Cat, their romance was short lived, as Felicia couldn't deal with the "Peter Parker" side of Spidey and obtained her own powers through one of Spidey's oldest foes, the Kingpin of Crime. Not only that, but Spidey had occasion to team-up with virtually every character and team in the Marvel Universe, the aforementioned FF, the Avengers, all the X-people at one point of another and a host of other heroes. For a brief time, Kraven the Hunter "killed" and "replaced" Spider-Man, a very deep and personal trauma to Peter, only to be "revived". The Hunter would eventually take his own life. The time would come in Peter's life, where he proposed not once, but twice to Mary Jane, (who also knew his secret), the second time being the charm and they were married in "Amazing Spider-Man Annual 21". Soon thereafter, a new enemy reared (and I do mean ugly) head : Venom. A combination of reporter, Eddie Brock, whose career was unwittingly destroyed by Spider-Man and then thought dead alien costume Peter once wore. Their mutual hatred for Spider-Man turned him into the greatest challenge Spidey ever faced, often only capturing or putting off Venom at one time or another. Later, one of my personal favorites, the "Acts of Vengence" story arc that ran through most Marvel comics and boasted the concept of villians switching foes to catch the heroes off guard and unfamiliar with their enemy. It was during this time that Spidey got "cosmic powers" which left him once his full obligation (saving NY from a Tri-Sentinel) was accomplished. Back into his life, too, came the return of the Green Goblin, this time, Harry Osborn, to try and destroy both Peter's and Spidey's life. He nearly succeeded in doing so, but saved Spider-Man in one last act of rational friendship. Harry would later die from a variation of the original Green Goblin's formula. Then, after nearly 30+ years, Peter's parents returned "from the dead", only to be later found out as artificial life forms sent by his first nemesis, Chameleon, in an effort to learn Spidey's identity. It was during this time period that Spidey became a temporary member of the "new" Fantastic Four and later, a reserve Avenger.  Spidey later discovered all this was set up by Harry Osborn, the Green Goblin, shortly before his death. This finally drove Peter to the edge, but eventually he worked his way back to the family and friends he loved. During this time, his once thought dead clone resurfaced, as Aunt May laid dying, and Spidey facing his own "near-death" experience at the hands of an experimental drug created by the Owl. Dr. Octopus would later cure Spidey, shortly before his own death at the hands of "Kaine". All of these events would launch the series into a 2 year long "clone saga" that I won't get into here. Bottom line, everything, the Jackal, the clone, Kaine (another Spidey clone) and several other events were the handiwork of the original Green Goblin, Norman Osborn, whose formula gave him an amazing healing/ recuperative factor, moving in the shadows of Spidey's life since his "death". His conflicts with Spidey would eventually lead to Peter giving up his Spider-Man identity, especially since his aunt (once thought dead during the clone saga) appeared alive well, and real (no clone/artificial life form here) and being held by the Goblin. It was in that and Goblin's defeat that led to this decision. That "reset" the series at a brand new number 1 issue, and a new person (a girl) picking up the Spider-mantle. This was short lived, though as Peter once again donned the costume. Doing this, though, drove a wedge into his marriage to Mary Jane. Her "death" later would profoundly affect Peter. This too, was short lived, as MJ was held captive by an obsessed fan with strange ties to the wall-crawler. Upon her return, though she and Peter seperated and she moved to the West Coast. Fast forward a year or so later and MJ's back with Peter, he's still Spider-Man and is (still) involved with heroes and villians alike. Soon, "Amazing Spider-Man 500", has come out, marking a huge milestone (and renumbering, again) for the Spidey franchise flagship. Spidey has also had several other "sister" series, spin-offs and a huge amount of limited series and crossovers, though only "Amazing" has stood the test of time. What will the future hold for everybody's favorite webslinger? I couldn't tell you, but I will keep reading, and hopefully, you will too.
	"Spider-Man" the big screen adaptation to Marvel's favorite arachnid opened in theatres in 2002. It starred Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe and James Franco. The movie, loosely based on the populer "Spider-Man" comics became a huge success and went on to make over 800 million worldwide.   The movie was focused around the origins of both Spider-Man (Maguire) and the Green Goblin (Dafoe) and the lives of Peter's aunt & uncle, as well as Mary Jane Watson (Dunst) and Norman's son, Harry (Franco). In a twist of the Spidey/Gwen/Goblin arc in the comics, this wildly successful film has already spawned a sequel, "Spider-Man 2" and introduces the characters of Dr. Octopus and the Lizard, as well as bringing back Maguire, Dunst and Franco as our main cast triangle. Rumored too, is the appearance of a new love interest for Peter. The sequel is due out the July 4th weekend of 2004.   Now, on to my personal experience with Spider-Man. For which, and with all comics, I can thank my brother. Like "Star Trek" before it, here too he influenced me into reading comics at an early age, while he was a junior in high school, myself in "junior" high in 1984. Almost 20 years now. That's a long time. When he graduated and went on to college, then work and a family, I continued to buy Spider-Man books for us to this very day. Also fond in memory are those who owned/ran the comic shop(s) we used to frequent. I keep reading, not only for collection value, but out of personal interest as well. I find the stories intriguing, an escape, if you will, much like TV and movies.   Comics has come to such a point in the 21st century, that it is not deemed "only for kids/teenagers" anymore. No, comics these days are for everyone no matter what sex, race or age. One of the few things that does spread beyond those boundaries. I will continue to read and collect into the far distant future, if I ever stop. As long as it keeps entertaining, it will be out there, in comics, movies, merchandize and almost anything imaginable. To the writers/artists of all those books (past and present), your work is respected and appreciated. Thank you. Here's to hoping Spidey (and all comics in general, in all medias) keeps going for a very, very, long time to come.

dave626@earthlink.net