Welcome to a special Vacation Edition of Ramblings. I'm reminded of those times when Johnny Carson or Dave Letterman would take the show on the road and do a week of programs from a different studio. As I mentioned in my last entry, I'm on vacation in Orange Beach with my mother, my wife, and my daughter all week. We've had a great time so far. The weather hasn't been as agreeable as we like, but we have a beautiful condo and we've rested and done a lot of shopping and playing with Ava.
Finally, the last hero in the Spandex Trinity: The Amazing Spider-Man. As with Superman and The Batman, there are visual records of this redhead receiving Spider-Man items for birthdays and Christmas. While visiting my parents a few weeks ago, my mother brought out an old photo album, and there I was, showing off a big, cheesy grin and a Remco Motorized Spider-Man action figure. When I saw the photo, I immediately remembered owning the figure. It was a twelve-inch figure and had a string that you could run through Spidey's back. He was battery-powered, and would "climb" the string or swing across it, depending on how you positioned it. I went to that repository of youthful dreams, where a stroll down memory lane is possible for loads of cash: Ebay. There was the old Remco Spider-Man. He could be mine if I was willing to sell an organ and fork over almost four hundred bucks.
Spider-Man, or Spidey as most fans lovingly refer to him, is a character that I fell in love with early on. My brother didn't have any issues of the main Spider-Man titles in his collection, just one issue of the "Spider-Man vs. Wolverine" mini-series. I read that issue and others featuring Spider-Man in guest-starring roles. My exposure to the character didn't come from that issue, however. I discovered the character through the live-action Spidey TV show and the wonderful 60s Spider-Man cartoon with the immortal theme song that refrained, "Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can. Spins a web, any size, catches thieves just like flies. Look out! Here comes the Spider-Man!"
Look out, indeed. I didn't have to read too many comics to know Spider-Man was beyond cool. He had that cool costume, which was colorful yet also slightly creepy. He could spin and swing from his own web, which was also a defensive and offensive weapon. He had the agility of a circus acrobat and more, could stick to walls and just about any surface, and his villains were the best. Doctor Octopus, The Green Goblin, The Vulture, Sandman, The Lizard, Electro. The list goes on.
It wasn't until I was a little older, round about middle school, that I picked up my first issue of one of the main Spider-Man titles. I was floored by the art and the stories. What amazed me most, however, was the character of Peter Parker. Stan Lee, who created Spidey and most of the other Marvel characters you would immediately recognize, says that he wanted to create in Spidey an answer to the older heroes of comics, who were more fathers or big brothers to the readers than peers. Thus he decided that he’d take the idea of the teenage superhero sidekick and make him the hero. Stan The Man went to his editor filled with excitement over his latest creation. He was summarily told that A) no one wanted to read about a teenaged hero and B) spiders are scary and disgusting. Thus, Stan and artist Steve Ditko weaved Spidey’s first tale in the last issue of a recently axed comic, Amazing Adult Fantasy. Previously a venue for sci-fi and mystery stories, Amazing Adult Fantasy became Amazing Fantasy with issue number fifteen and introduced Spider-Man to the world.
Spider-Man was an overnight sensation. Amazing Fantasy’s last issue sold more than any of the issues that preceded it, and Spider-Man was quickly given his own solo title. Turns out Stan was right: teens really do want to read about a hero who is like them, a hero that they could themselves imagine being.
And therein lies the magic of Spider-Man. Peter Parker isn’t the mask, unlike Bruce Wayne or Clark Kent. He’s actually the real guy, and Spidey’s just a costume he puts on to help people. And Pete didn’t rocket to Earth from a distant, doomed planet, nor was he manor born with silver spoon firmly in mouth. Pete was an orphan, like most heroes. His parents, agents of a secretive U.S. government organization, were killed in the course of a mission. Pete went to live with his father Richard’s brother Ben and his wife, May. Pete grew up in a simple home with simple people. They didn’t have much money, but they had a lot of love. It was in that environment that Pete was molded into the hero he would later become.
When his Uncle Ben was killed by a robber Pete could have stopped with his newfound powers, Pete learned a lesson that is universal in its truth: “with great power comes great responsibility.” This belief would guide Peter’s life as he struggled to support his now-widowed Aunt May by working as a freelance photographer for The Daily Bugle and battled crime as The Amazing Spider-Man.
The thing about Pete is that he’s human, he’s one of us. Notice that I call him Pete, as if I know him. Yet I feel like I do know him, perhaps more than any other superhero. Because I can identify with him. Peter Parker was a nerdy teenager who was mocked by his male peers and ignored by his female peers. He was a good young man, with a gentle heart and manner, yet he was timid and shy. Those of you who know or work with teenagers know that these are adequate descriptions of most of them. I was a lot like Pete growing up. He might have been scrawny, but I was overweight and rejected just the same. We both wore glasses and were pretty shy in uncomfortable situations and around people we didn’t really know. We were ignored or rejected by girls and felt the pain of knowing that within us was a good young man who just wanted to be recognized.
When I was that pained young man, I was here in Orange Beach with my family. I was heavily into comics by then, and when we stopped at one of the many Tom Thumb convenience stores in the area, I came back to the car with a stack of comics. There were some issues of Iron Man and X-Men, but the majority of the issues featured Spidey. I was remembering all of this yesterday as we passed a few Tom Thumbs on the way to the condo. I devoured those issues and became a loyal Spider-Man reader. It was around this time that he joined Superman and The Batman in The Spandex Trinity.
Even today, as a thirty year old husband and father, I still identify with Pete. He struggled to make ends meet in high school and college, and I had some of those moments myself. He was unlucky in love and often in his work, and so was I. Though I hit the love jackpot the day I met Ali, I still struggle. I will always struggle. Everyone will, though in different ways. But that shy young man who was maligned for who he appeared to be while bursting with joy in who he really was in secret, will likely always speak to me.
Now to answer the question: which of The Spandex Trinity is my favorite? This is extremely hard. I go through phases of intense obsession with all of these characters, and I buy and read all of their comics every month. So it's hard to say. Obviously, each of them resonates with me in different ways and for different reasons.
But if I had to pick the one that was closest to my heart, the hero who I most identify with and feel like I know best, there's only one. It's Peter Parker. The character feels like an old friend that I've known all of my life. That's a credit to his creators. When I went both of the Spider-Man films, there were moments in each that actually brought me to tears. Because those moments were true to the character and his plight, and made me feel that connection and empathy that I've always felt.
So there you have it. You now know my favorite superhero. If you see any Spider-Man memorabilia at a garage sale or in the dollar aisle at Wal-Mart, pick it up for me and I'll pay you back.
I'm off to finish writing some pages on a novel I'm working on, tentatively entitled "Abbeville Nights." As with most of the stories I want to tell, this one's set in areas local to us. Abbeville is the major setting, of course, but so too Lafayette and other cities. Thanks for reading, Chris
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