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Joe Zhang
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 12857
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| Posted: 02 January 2006 at 7:13pm | IP Logged | 1
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On another board, in response to the question "what is missing in the Spider-Man comics?" a poster writes:Now the Spider-man identity is portrayed as even worse than Peter's real life. Why the hell would anybody want to be Spider-man the way it is portrayed today?"
(title change)
Edited by JohnByrne2 on 11 January 2006 at 6:22pm
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Darren Taylor
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 22 April 2004
Location: Scotland
Posts: 6024
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| Posted: 02 January 2006 at 7:27pm | IP Logged | 2
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Hahahahahah!
Spider-Man may have always faught an uphill battle but he always seemed
to get it right in the end. Unlike poor old Parker. If the "hero" role
was worse than the adolescent kid role...wouldn't that undermine the
whole "relating to the character?"
If Peter has acne, as a teenager I'm likely to relate. If his biggest
problem is that of a Spider-Man issue, how do I relate to that?
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Joe Zhang
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 12857
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| Posted: 02 January 2006 at 7:53pm | IP Logged | 3
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In a recent interview, Roger Stern explains it well:
"Spider-Man is the hero you can imagine yourself becoming: you have one
stupid accident and you wind up with weird powers. I mean, let's be
honest, sticking to walls is a weird power ... kind of cool, but still
weird. Plust, if you're Spider-Man, it doesn't matter what you look
like --- your face is completely covered by that mask!"
http://www.supermanhomepage.com/comics/interviews/interviews -intro.php?topic=c-interview_stern1
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Gregg Allinson
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Location: United States
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| Posted: 02 January 2006 at 10:46pm | IP Logged | 4
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The other thing is, Spider-Man's powers are essentially ones that just make him a "better" human: he's more perceptive, agile, and stronger than anyone could possibly be in real life, but- with the exception of being able to scale glass with his bare hands- he can simply do the things that ordinary people can do, only better (and even then, as numerous thrillseekers have proven in reality, it is possible to climb a skyscraper with the right tools). But giving him the ability to talk to spiders or organic webshooters or stingers makes him into something else; it allows him to do things no real person could possibly do in any situation. That's part of what makes Spider-Man such a powerful character; he could shun the responsibility, stop using his powers, and essentially be a normal guy. But making him an avatar of the Spider-Totem makes him a literal "other", distant and predestined to be a hero, not a hero by choice. ;
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Frank Brannan
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 18 April 2004
Location: United States
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| Posted: 03 January 2006 at 12:05am | IP Logged | 5
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Should I be at all concerned that the guy who wrote that interview says
he's going to date himself and he's only a yea- I mean a couple year-
actually several years older than... I mean man that guy is old.
Edited by Frank Brannan on 03 January 2006 at 12:07am
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Corey Johnson
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| Posted: 03 January 2006 at 12:32am | IP Logged | 6
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"Pithy" is putting it mildly. Talk about missing the point of the character (and superheroes in general).
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Michael Roberts
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 April 2004
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| Posted: 03 January 2006 at 2:30am | IP Logged | 7
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How does it miss the point? It seems right on. Superheroes are empowerment and wish-fulfillment fantasy. When the superhero identity is in a crappier place than the regular identity, it kind of defeats the purpose.
With Spider-Man, when he's Peter, he's a nerdy guy who can never catch a break (at least he used to be.) When he's Spider-Man, he's an outgoing, wisecracking hero who gets to save New York and beat the bad guys. Even though the character sees this as a responsiblity and a burden, the readers should get the sense that Spider-Man is someone they'd want to be.
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Francesco Vanagolli
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Joined: 03 June 2005
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| Posted: 03 January 2006 at 4:21am | IP Logged | 8
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"Spider-Man is the hero you could be!" [Stan Lee - Hoping that the quote is correct...]
In this moment, I wouldn't like to be Spider-Man... Sorry, but now I'm going into a janitor's closet to open my shirt. Up, up and away!
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
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| Posted: 03 January 2006 at 5:41am | IP Logged | 9
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Superheroes began their existance as adolescent wish-fulfilment fantasies. That's the portrayal that suits them best. The whole genre was perfectly encapsulated by the balloons on the cover of AMAZING FANTASY 15.
(And just to show quite clearly what's gone wrong with this industry, there have actually been fans who insisted that Spider-Man was endangering his secret identity with that statement!)
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Darren Taylor
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Joined: 22 April 2004
Location: Scotland
Posts: 6024
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| Posted: 03 January 2006 at 5:55am | IP Logged | 10
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"(And just to show quite clearly what's gone wrong
with this industry, there have actually been fans who insisted that
Spider-Man was endangering his secret identity with that statement!)"-John Byrne
Fans have become programmed to feel that they covers are in fact part
of the story. Like a snip of part of the interior. Alan Davis [I'm sure
not the first to do this] took this a stage further by using the Cover
as the actual Splash page, following immediately on from it with the
actual splash page.
I always prefered art for the covers to be used as a selling point. As
above, where the dialogue was aimed at the reader rather than the
scene. It reminded me of the "bookend" art you used to get in some
illustrated novels. Where you would get artwork that bore no relation
to the story it was there to look pretty and beautify the text.
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Flavio Sapha
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Location: Brazil
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| Posted: 03 January 2006 at 6:31am | IP Logged | 11
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I had never noticed the startled guys on top of the building in the
background. Very cool.
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Steve Jones
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Joined: 25 August 2004
Location: United Kingdom
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| Posted: 03 January 2006 at 7:16am | IP Logged | 12
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I never saw Peter Parker and Spider-man as separate characters in that Peter had a crappy life and Spidey had a wonderful life. They are just two aspects of the same person. I don't think you can separate the two - for example, the Master Planner story is about Peter Parker and Spider-man and not just about one part of him, also see Death of Gwen Stacy and so on.
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Topic Closed)
