Spidey-Stash Episode 5: Ben Cooper costumes

When I started my life-long obsession with Spider-Man, I was 4 years old.  I loved Spider-Man so much that in my mind I WAS Spider-Man!!  (my way of thinking probably has not changed over the decades) Thankfully, I was able to live out my dream with costumes available from the wonderful Ben Cooper company.  Supposedly, the Spider-Man costume has been the best-selling superhero costume for Ben Cooper over the decades.  How many of you dressed up in Ben Cooper products over the years?

For a super devoted Spidey fan like me, it was a bit of a downer that the costume did not match the comic book design.  There was so much yellow on the chest of the costume.  Some people believe it was designed with that color as a safety feature, to make the costume more visible on a dark night.  And we all know how hard it was to breathe in that vacuum formed mask (condensation building up inside near your mouth within the first few seconds).  Let’s not even get into the pain of the rubber band getting tangled in the hair on the back of your head…

It turns out that the first Ben Cooper Marvel product is the very first piece of Marvel memorabilia known to be produced!  Way back in 1963, a Spider-Man costume was available.  It is almost unbelievable that Ben Cooper would acquire the license for Spidey, since his comic book series only began in February or March of 1963.  Ben Cooper was in the habit of buying the license of new/unknown characters at a low cost, and this time the gamble paid off.

An online search will bring up a few articles written about this early costume.  The costume has the 1963 copyright stamped above the front beltline in the yellow portions of the costume, as well as on the side of the box.  The box featured pumpkin artwork surrounding the window opening of the lid.

This 1963 costume has surfaced a few times in the past 20 years.  I owned one and sold it before it had become public knowledge that it was the first Marvel item produced by any company.

The earliest few years of costumes featured a very soft, flannel-like chest area material. There were also partial sleeves on the early costumes.  There are blue dots on either side of the name “Spider-Man” at the top of the costume.

Ben Cooper would sometimes use boxes “leftover” from previous years for new product the next year.  So, you will sometimes find a later version Spidey costume (without the 1963 copyright stamp on it) inside a “pumpkin box” (and the box was still stamped 1963).  It is believed that these “unstamped costumes” were from 1964.  No “1964 stamped” costumes have been found.  The 1964 moved the name “Spider-Man” down into the red area of the chest.

There are “stamped” 1965 costumes (and boxes).  In 1965, early in the run, leftover 1963 boxes were used up, and then a new 1965 box was used (looks like a television set, with the window opening the tv’s screen).  The flannel changed to a less soft nylon/rayon material.

In the late 1970’s and into the 1980’s, the sleeves were removed from the costume.  Early 1970’s costumes (and on) were made entirely out of a shiny vinyl material.

Ben Cooper also produced masks separately at times.  A thick rubber Spidey masks was produced in 1968.  A thinner rubber mask came out in 1978.  Another mask was released in the 1980s, but no copyright date was on the “over-the-head” thicker rubber mask.

A very rare item to find is the 1967 cape and mask sets.  Spider-Man, Captain America, and Thor sets were produced.

A product I was unaware of as a child were the Ben Cooper Playsuits.  I would have loved to wear one as a child!  Made of more durable, thicker nylon materials, the playsuits were a bit more “authentic” in look to the Spidey costumes from the comic books.

The 1968 playsuit was more authentic looking than the later ones.  It featured a separate pants and top.  The top had buttons down the back.  It also came with a red cloth hood with a web pattern printed on it, and a red belt.  The chest web pattern was very authentic, and the playsuit featured web patterns on the sleeves and sock areas of the suit.  Later versions were one-piece playsuits, with no webbing on the sleeves or sock area, and no extra belt or hood.

In the late 1970’s, poncho styled costumes were produced.  Some featured just a flat mask in the shape of Spidey’s “eyes”, and another had a mask like all the boxed costumes but seemed to be a little bit flattened out.

Several different styles of box art were available in 1978 and into the 1980s.  In 1987, Ben Cooper produced adult sized one-piece costumes, available in the stores on cardboard “hangers”.

Please take the time to watch my accompanying video for much more details about all these great Spider-Man Ben Cooper costumes!  Which one did you have in your childhood?  I would love to hear your stories of the fun and joy you experienced and see your photos!

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