Spider-Man
was created for Marvel Comics by comic book writer, Stan Lee, and first
appeared in a comic book series, “Amazing Fantasy #15”, in 1962. It
was such a hit that Amazing Fantasy was renamed Amazing Spider-Man and
Stan Lee was promoted. Lee, who had joined Marvel Comics at the age of
16, became the youngest editor in the industry one year later. By the
early 1970s, Marvel Comics was the dominant comic-book publisher,
largely due to the overwhelming popularity of Spider-Man.
In 1977 Spider-Man began starring in his own newspaper strip and quickly
became one of the most successful newspaper comics. Spider-Man has
appeared in more than 500 newspapers worldwide, making it the longest
running of all Super Hero strips. Stan Lee personally wrote and edited
the seven-days-a-week Spider-Man newspaper strip from its inception
until he left Marvel Comics in the late 1990s. Stan Lee’s younger
brother, Larry Lieber, drew the daily newspaper comics for Marvel since
the late 1980’s, when Larry Lieber replaced Fred Kids as “The
Amazing Spider-Man” artist.
The first Spider-Man animated television series premiered on ABC in 1967
and ran for two seasons (1967 -1969). A third unaired season was later
released in syndication. From 1977 to 1979, CBS aired a live action
Spider-Man TV series. Several of the shows were also edited to make
three Spider-Man movies.
The animated Spider-Man returned to television in 1981. A syndicated
Spider-Man solo series aired from 1981-1982, and was followed by
“Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends” (Iceman, Firestar and the
Incredible Hulk) on NBC from 1982-1985. The highly successful 1990’s
“Spider-Man” consisted of 65 episodes and aired from 1994-1998. The
follow-up series, Spider-Man Unlimited, was short-lived and pulled off
the air to make room for Digimon.
For those unfamiliar with the Spider-Man story, Spider-Man is an atomic
hero, inspired by the creation of the atomic bomb. A radioactive spider
bit a high school student by the name of Peter Parker while he was
attending a scientific demonstration of a new radiation technology. The
spider crept into the beam of radiation generated by the experiment and
then dropped onto and bit Peter’s hand. As a result, Peter gained the
powers of a spider magnified by the radiation. Peter’s new found
superhuman abilities included incredible superhuman strength, superhuman
reflexes and equilibrium, the ability to stick to most surfaces and an
intuitive sense for danger. He was also able to spin and shoot webs.
Other interesting trivia about Spider-Man:
 | According
to the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe, Spider-Man’s
official height is 5/10”, weight is 165 pounds, eye color is hazel
and hair color is brown.
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| Stan
Lee, the mastermind behind Spider-Man, also created the Fantastic
Four, the X-Men, Iron Man, and the Hulk. At the age of 77, Stan Lee
left Spider-Man and Marvel Comics to start his own company, Stan Lee
Media, an internet portal company.
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| In
1978, Toei Animation in Japan produced a Japanese version of the
live action Spider-Man TV series. Although the Spider-Man costume
was similar, the story-line was quite different from the U.S.
version.
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| Spider-Man
made his debut onto Nintendo 64’s video game in November 2000.
Gamers utilize Spider-Man’s super strength and superior wit to
protect the innocent as they solve a variety of puzzles and defeat
old and new super villains.
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| There
is now a Spider-Man ride in the “Marvel Super Hero Island” of
Universal Studios theme park in Orlando, Florida.
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| A
live action Spider-Man feature film is scheduled to be released by
Columbia Pictures in the summer of 2002. Spider-Man will be starred
by Tobey Maquire and directed by Sam Raimi.
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In summary,
Spider-Man was one of the first and most popular comic strip/comic book
crossover stories. Not only has Spider-Man gained worldwide fame, but he
is still one of the most popular superheroes of all times.
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