Feature: Spider-Man's history
Oh, what a tangled web he weaves
 With Spider-Man hitting the big screen in May,
Steve Lyons scurries through some moments from the
wallcrawler's 40-year history
1962
Spider-Man debuts in the eleven-page lead feature of Marvel Comics' Amazing
Fantasy #15, written by Stan Lee and drawn by Steve Ditko. The life of
timid high school student Peter Parker is changed forever when he is bitten by
a radioactive spider at a science demonstration. Later, he passes up a chance
to stop a burglar who goes on to kill his Uncle Ben. Thus, the fledgling
superhero learns that "With great power comes great responsibility."
1963
Reaction to Spider-Man's dèbut is so enthusiastic that, only seven
months later, he appears in his own comic book. Amazing Spider-Man is
characterised by teenage angst: a unique and daring approach, which proves to
be popular. Trying to scrape a living, Peter Parker becomes a freelance
photographer for the Daily Bugle paper.
1966
The Green Goblin, previously a minor villain, becomes Spider-Man's most
dangerous enemy when he learns the web-spinner's secret identity – and he
in turn is unmasked as the father of Peter's best friend, Harry…
1977
A newspaper strip begins (and continues to this day, still written by Stan
Lee), and a telemovie starring Nicholas Hammond proves popular enough for a
series to be commissioned. Also, Spidey's first full-length prose outing is
announced: Mayhem in Manhattan, by comic book writers Wein and
Wolfman...
1982
The first Spider-Man video game hits the shops. Manufactured (appropriately
enough) by Parker Brothers for the Atari VCR console, Spider-Man allows
game enthusiasts to guide a pixellated, square-headed version of the superhero
up the sides of brightly-coloured buildings and past the Green Goblin to defuse
a super-bomb.
1993
For comic books, this is the decade of pumped-up psycho killers with big claws,
big guns and big armour plating. Stories and characterisation take a back seat
to foil-stamped covers, bagged-in trading cards and pointless crossovers. For
Spider-Man, this means a full 14 issues of the mindless blood-fest
‘Maximum Carnage'...
1999
Universal Studios opens its Islands of Adventure theme park in Florida, and the
centrepiece is its Spider-Man ride. Making use of motion simulators,
pyrotechnics and 3-D images, the ride takes its passengers on a stunning tour
of New York City during an attack by the Sinister Syndicate.
2002
With his first movie due for release on 3 May, his sixth
animated series to follow and a starring role in
six monthly comic books, Spider-Man looks in pretty good shape for a 40
year-old.
by Steve Lyons
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