Willi wrote:I developed my interest of Spider-Man in 2002, at the age of eleven.
I'm a Roman Catholic. My local parish was having a flea market that my mother was involved in organizing. I walked through the great hall of the flea market for hours, (The flea market was hosted in my elementary school's auditorium/gymnasium) and at some point during the day, I came to an interesting table that must've featured some collectables and toys relating to Marvel Comics. I spoke to the two vendors at the table, a man and his wife named Michael and Roma, who would go on to become enduring friends of mine.
Michael was a fan of Marvel from his childhood in the 1960s. He loves the Silver Age of Marvel Comics, admiring in particular the works of artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. Stan Lee was a childhood hero of Mike's. Although the Hulk is perhaps Mike's favorite Marvel character, he read all of the Marvel books from the Silver Age, is familiar with all of the classic Marvel characters, and even owned a copy of "Amazing Fantasy" #15, until it was stolen from him at a comic book convention some years ago. Mike's favorite comics are those published by Marvel from 1961 to 1968 - he feels that the quality of the books suffered after Martin Goodman sold the company to another owner in 1968.
Michael and I had a great conversation upon our first meeting. Regarding comic books, he probably inquired to see how familiar I was with them. Batman had been the only comic book super-hero who appealed to me as a child, but I was exposed to Batman through mediums other than comics such as television (Having seen the 1990s animated series "Batman") and film. (Having seen the film "Batman Forever" in theatres as a toddler)
From what I can remember, Michael broached the subject of Spider-Man, suggesting that it would be a good time to get into the character with Spider-Man’s debut motion picture about to be released.
Spider-Man had never deeply appealed to me as a toddler. I remember seeing his image on a pair of slippers/sandals that I once owned, and I was put off by the way he appeared on the sandals. He seemed muscular in the image, and brainless. He seemed to lack tact. He was likely in some sort of action pose. I didn’t know anything about the character beyond that image, not even knowing who Peter Parker was.
Once as a toddler, I was changing channels on the television while my grandma (Who is now deceased) was babysitting me. She was in the other room at that moment, and I came across the Spider-Man animated series of 1990s fame. It was the pilot episode, featuring the Lizard. From the few moments I saw of it, the cartoon interested me, and Spider-Man perhaps seemed more sophisticated than I had previously thought, but it would be several years before I watched it again.
In 2002, at Michael’s suggestion, I went to the theatre with my parents to see “Spider-Man.” My life was changed. I considered it one of the most mature films I had ever seen in my life up to that time. (Bear in mind that I was eleven years old) The part of the film that opened my eyes to realize the immense gravity of danger present in adult life was the scene in which Spider-Man courageously crashes through the window of a burning apartment building to rescue the person he had screaming from within. The flaming ceiling partially collapsed, and perhaps motivated by fear, Spider-Man, although himself a young person, shouted in a very mature way – “WHERE ARE YOU?!” That brief moment between Spider-Man’s entry, to the partial collapse of the ceiling, to his shouting, was perhaps the one scene in cinematic history that shaped my forming, preteen mind the most. I suppose it represented maturity to me, what it means to grow into a man.
I had known much sorrow in my early life through circumstances such as the death of loved ones. I cried in the theatre when Uncle Ben died because to me it symbolized at least two things to me - the death of my own childhood best friend, and the eventual, impending death of my significantly older father. In real life, my father was older than the cinematic version of Uncle Ben. Uncle Ben states early in the film that he’s “sixty-eight” during Peter’s senior year of high school. During my senior year of high school, my dad was sixty-nine!
I related with how much yearning, longing, and unfulfilled desire was in Peter’s heart – his yearning for Mary Jane in the film, his need to feel accepted (Having been rejected by his peers) and his desire to make Uncle Ben and Aunt May proud of him. I related with his personal loss, in the person of Uncle Ben. (Reminding me, as I mentioned, of my childhood best friend who had died) I “marvel[ed] at the awesome might of Spider-Man” as Spider-Man’s dialogue on the cover of Amazing Fantasy #15 aptly predicts. I loved his costume as presented in the film. I loved his powers. To this day, of all of Spider-Man’s abilities, his ability to web-swing is my favorite! I could sit here and type for hours about how great the film is, (Danny Elfman’s score has rung throughout my memory for years) and “Spider-Man” easily remains my favorite film to this day!
There’s so much for me to address, but I feel that I must take a break for now - - and I haven’t even gotten to the part about the comics!
After the film, I watched the various animated series including the 1967 series, the 2003 series, the 90's series, as well as "Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends." I discovered the comic books, developing a special love for the Ditko issues. I played various video games, including Acitivision's 2000 "Spider-Man," as well as it's sequel, "Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro," the three movie games, the Ultimate Spider-Man game, "Spider-Man: Friend or Foe," "Spider-Man: Web of Shadows," and most recently, a little bit of "Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions."
I developed of a great love of Spider-Man comics from each decade. After Ditko my favorite Spider-Man artists include John Romita Jr., Ron Frenz, Vatche Mavlian, and perhaps Frank Miller and maybe even Al Milgrom.
I just wrote a letter to "The Amazing Spider-Mail" - I hope it gets printed.
)
![[smilie=greengoblin.gif]](./images/smilies/greengoblin.gif "greengoblin")
volume. I remember i had finals in school and u were supposed to bring a book, i brought ultimate spider man! After reading those I got hooked on Spidey TAS which was great then I saw spectacular spider man the show. A couple months later I went to my local shop and really started collecting spidey comics, which brings us to now!
![[smilie=spidey_building.gif]](./images/smilies/spidey_building.gif "spidey_building")
