Dan Gvozden, a life-long Spider-Man fan, is a Heat Vision contributor and co-host of Amazing Spider-Talk podcast.
Several weeks ago, at my bachelor party, a friend asked me, “Why Spider-Man?”
Out of context, it must seem like a strange question to be answering at one’s bachelor party, instead of engaging in male-centric merriment and copious amounts of alcohol.
But you see, I’m no ordinary fan of the webbed wonder, I’m what you might call a fanatic.I will never forget the first time I encountered the character, peeling back the pages of the gold-covered Amazing Spider-Man No. 375. Inside the pages of that comic I met Peter Parker, in a costume that was torn to shreds while investigating a man named Eddie Brock, the host of a creature named Venom. Comics!
I had no idea what was going on but I knew I needed more, precisely three-hundred and seventy-four more issues worth. Since that day, I set out to collect every single issue of Amazing Spider-Man ever printed, now totaling nearly eight-hundred issues. Thousands of dollars, quizzical looks, and close-calls later, I’ve completed that collection.
Along the way, I learned the answer to my friend’s question, “Why Spider-Man?” The simple answer is, “Because he’s me.” That’s not to say that I’m a brunette kid from Forest Hills, Queens, who fights tentacled villains with my arachnid-induced superpowers; though I did live in Forest Hills for a couple years, natch. I was, like Peter, a socially awkward kid, unsure of my future, scared of the consequences of my actions, trying to do the best I could… just like everyone else.
That’s the appeal of Spider-Man and his alter-ego Peter Parker, he’s everyone. Whether he’s blasting off into space, lifting tons of steel over his head, running a Fortune 500 company, scraping coins together to pay for laundry, or eating wheatcakes with his Aunt May, his story is our story, his journey our journey. Peter is primed to not only be the “everyman” but to be the stand-in for the audience, no matter the medium.
When, at sixteen years old, I was struggling with the loss of my best friend to reoccurring brain cancer, Peter was there for me. His strength in the face of adversity and emotional defeat reminded me I wasn’t alone, that the mere act of perseverance was enough and that we carry our loved ones with us every day and reflect their love through our choices. That year I carried dozens of Spider-Man comics around in my backpack, seeking solace and comfort in the reliability of Peter’s resolve. The extra weight was never even a thought.
I’ll never forget my reaction to Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man for the first time. Embarrassingly enough, I wept in the car ride home from the theater (they were not tears of joy). Honestly, the experience was probably too much for me to handle at the time. I had spent my childhood describing to people and outright lying, as a form of wish projection, that I had heard about various Spider-Man films headed into production; including a Venom vs. Carnage film, which seems to actually be happening now (I take it back). Whatever that first Spider-Man film would be, it would have to contend with over a decade of fantasizing, and rarely does art live up to a decade of childish imaginings.
Still, many of my initial reactions to the film still hold true for me today. The film works best when it is focused on the origins to the character, specifically in regards to Peter and his relationship to his family and friends. I still feel that Raimi and his team absolutely nailed the most important part of the story, the sequence with the burglar, Peter, and the wrestling coordinator. Raimi somehow manages to get the audience on Peter’s side, cheering for him when he lets the burglar get away with robbing the place. Obviously, this would be undone moments later with Uncle Ben’s death, landing a sweet sucker punch on an unaware audience.
After several years of reading Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley’s Ultimate Spider-Man, a…
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