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Marvel Silver Age DisContinuity: Amazing Fantasy 15

Amazing Fantasy #15 
September 1962
By Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

The cover is awesome.

Spider-Man (misspelled without the hyphen) is swinging through the city, with an obvious criminal in right hand, as five more ne’er-do-wells look on from a nearby rooftop.


Smartly, this new costumed hero name drops the name of the comic company in the form of a word balloon on the cover, “Though the world may mock Peter Parker, the timid teenager… it will soon marvel at the awesome might of Spider-Man!” 

Fifty-one years, countless comics and a string of hundred million dollar movies later, I’d say he was right.

On the first page Stan Lee addresses the issue, little appreciated today, that costumed super-heroes weren’t considered all that cool in 1962. 

 
The story starts off with Stan, speaking directly to the reader, “Like costume heroes? Confidentially we in the comic mag business refer to them as “long underwear characters”! And, as you know, they’re a dime a dozen!”

Much is made over the fact that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced the Fantastic Four sans costumes. It’s evidence of how radically they were attempting to redefine what superhero comics were like at the time. But the Fantastic Four acquired costumes fairly quickly, and by issue three they were costumed up and fighting super-villains.What is often presented as a search to be different could also be seen as a misstep.
With Spider-Man, the redefinition of super-heroes really begins at Marvel.

Whereas the Fantastic Four is a team of adventurers and the Hulk is a monster on the loose who only accidentally does good, Spider-Man is a full out crime fighting costumed superhero. The refinement Stan Lee brought to the genre was not about whether his new line of superhero characters wore costumes, it was about making the characters different.

Peter Parker is an unpopular nerd. He’s not like Clark Kent, who is secretly Superman. Superman acts like bumbling Clark Kent, but in reality he’s awesome. Peter Parker, in reality, is a bumbling and unpopular, “Midtown High’s only professional wallflower!” according to one uncharitable classmate, and she’s a hot girl to boot.

Peter listens quietly, there’s a distance between the crowd of teenagers who all overlap each other in an orgy of camaraderie and Peter, who is all alone with his glasses and his books.

But there’s a shadow on the wall a well. There’s a shadow of a spider and a man. A portent of Peter’s future.
Scenes of Peter’s home life flit by. Though unpopular at school Peter is well loved by his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. He’s also well liked by the teachers at his school. He’s smart and an honor student. Of course, he has no luck with the girls. Asking out Sally is a an exercise is futility when Flash Thompson, all-American letter man and high school jock shows up.
Alone, Peter heads off to a science exhibit, where “Experiments in Radio-Activity” will be open to the public. “The fascinating world of atomic science” is Peter’s escape from the “taunts of his classmates.”
We all know this part of the story. A spider enters the experiment unseen, and in its radioactive death throes it bites Peter Parker. Even the older science nerds at the exhibit make fun of Parker as he leaves, saying “It looks like our experiment unnerved young Parker!” and  “Too bad!! He must have a weak stomach!”

Parker feels the effects almost instantly. His fingers glow yellow for a short time and distracted by the feeling that his “entire body is charged with some sort of fantastic energy” he doesn’t see the car that almost runs him down until the last second.  Fortunately Peter has new found powers, and can leap to safety, clinging to a nearby wall.
Clinging to the wall Peter finds that he can scale the building easily, like a spider. reaching the roof he crushes a steel pipe, since his strength is now proportional to that of a tiny spider.
Peter’s first thought isn’t to fight crime or to do good.

Remember, this isn’t a superhero comic like those published by DC or Archie, the two biggest superhero rivals to Marvel at the time. This is different. Peter decides he needs to make money. He decides to compete in a wrestling match with “Crusher Hogan.” $100 (maybe that’s a lot of money in 1962) will be paid to whoever stays in the ring for three minutes with the large bruiser.

Afraid of the embarrassment that will come if he fails, Peter dons a disguise and easily handles the large wrestler with his new superpowers. This leads to peter meeting an agent who promises him that Peter will be a smash “on Ed Sullivan’s Show!”
Peter designs a costume and webshooters for himself before his big TV appearance. After his successful television appearance the world becomes Peter’s oyster. He’s offered magazine spreads and film opportunities. He’ll finally be able to take care of his Aunt and Uncle, the way they deserve to be taken care of.  In the corridors of the studio a thief runs by, and Spider-Man, who could easily have stopped him, does nothing, telling the cop, “Sorry, Pal! That’s your job! I’m thru being pushed around– by anyone! From now on I just look out for number one– that means — Me!”

Spider-Man becomes a media sensation. There’s going to be a TV series, he wins a showbiz award and plays to packed houses, all the while keeping the mystery of his identity a secret to heighten his celebrity. 

Then one night, it all changes. Peter comes home to find that his beloved Uncle Ben has been murdered by a burglar. the burglar is making a stand inside a deserted warehouse across town. Enraged, Peter decides to get the guy himself, using his superpowers, Peter swings across town and confronts the burglar, only to find that it’s the same man he did not stop back at the television studio.
“My fault– All my fault! If only I had stopped him when i could have! But I didn’t– and now– Uncle Ben — is dead…”

Aside from the death of Bruce Wayne’s parents, this might be the most tragic origin of any superhero ever. The guilt Peter faces over his minor lapse of moral judgement is all consuming and too terrible to bear. To top it all off, Stan Lee chimes in at the end with perhaps the best thing he has ever written:
“With great power there must also come– great responsibility!”
The story ends with the promise of more stories in future issues of Amazing Fantasy, but that never happens. Instead the world has to wait six months for the first issue of Amazing Spider-Man.

In the meantime Stan Lee will go on a creative streak, introducing two new superheroes in short succession: The Mighty Thor and the Astonishing Ant-Man.

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