SPIDER-MAN 587
new settings, such as medieval England, Soviet Russia, or Hollywood in the 1920s.
Elseworlds stories provided interesting new perspectives on popular heroes and
Speeding Bullets showcases the elements that have allowed both Superman and Batman
to become enduring comic book icons.
Charles Coletta
SPIDER-MAN. Created in 1962 by illustrator/plotter Steve Ditko and writer Stan
Lee with input from Jack Kirby, Spider-Man is arguably the most popular comic
book superhero and certainly the most popular character of Marvel Comics. First
appearing in the fi nal issue of the science fi ction and fantasy anthology comic book
series, Amazing Fantasy #15, Spider-Man has appeared in several eponymous (and
non- eponymous) comic book titles over 45 years, most centrally in Th e Amazing
Spider-Man—fi rst published in March 1963 and in continuous publication since. In
addition to the issues produced by the initial creators, a particularly successful run of
this title began in 1988, when artist Todd McFarlane joined writer David Michelinie
beginning with issue #298. McFarlane also helped create the wildly popular villain
Venom, an alien symbiote that can take over the bodies of humans, including, at one
point, Spider-Man himself. In 2000, Marvel introduced Ultimate Spider-Man, written
by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Mark Bagley, to reboot the Spider-Man
story for a newer audience. Spider-Man has appeared in several other media, such as
animated and live-action television programs, toys, electronic games and live-action
blockbuster fi lms. Indeed, the fi lms, Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-
Man 3 (2007), and Spider-Man 4 (due in 2011), directed by Sam Raimi and starring
Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, constitute one of the most commercially success-
ful franchises in movie history.
Peter Parker is an orphan being raised by his loving Uncle Ben and Aunt May.
Upon being bitten by an irradiated spider at a science demonstration, the unpopu-
lar high school student fi nds himself acquiring spider-like powers: the proportionate
strength, speed, and agility of a spider, the ability to stick to nearly any surface, and
an uncanny “spider-sense” that senses impending danger. Th e bright science student
invents a “web fl uid” that mimics the strength and stickiness of spider webbing, as
well as wrist-mounted web-shooters. Designing the now-iconic blue and red costume
with superimposed web patterns, and a mask with large white eyepieces, Peter is ready
to face the world as Spider-Man. Rather than using his powers for the greater good,
Spider-Man at fi rst appears on television variety shows to earn money. After one such
appearance at a studio, Spider-Man fails to stop an escaping burglar, who kills Peter’s
beloved Uncle Ben later that day. Realizing that his self-interested inaction resulted in
the death of his uncle, Peter realizes that “with great power there must also come—
great responsibility!”
Spider-Man’s debut story repeated many of the themes common in Amazing
Fantasy and other comic books of the early 1960s, most notably the moralizing twist-
ending and the anxiety over nuclear technology. Whereas in other stories the person
