Amazing Fantasy Issue 15 first impressions

"When high school wallflower Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider, his life is transformed – first for the better, then for the worse! With his new array of arachnid abilities – including speed, strength, agility and, thanks to his scientific know-how, spinning webs – Peter seeks fame as the costumed celebrity called Spider-Man! But his cavalier attitude soon comes back to haunt him, and shatter the lives of his beloved Uncle Ben and Aunt May! Peter Parker is about to learn a powerful lesson, one that has never been taught better than by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko: With great power there must also come great responsibility!"

A silver age comic book. A story of a boy, bitten by a radioactive spider that would give him the abilities to do "what ever a spider can". Not only a classic, but a fan favourite for over 60 years. Spawning several live action movies, series, animated series and video games, Spider-Man would go on to be one of Marvel's best selling characters.

I was so glad that I got to read this book. Spider-Man has always been one of those characters that people can relate to because we get to see him at different ages in his life. We've seen him as a child, a teenager and then a matured adult. He had real life problems, whether it be school life, work life or issues with friends and family.

What's interesting about these classic books is the story telling method. I've noticed that there's an almost minimalistic approach to a character's origin. We get the basic idea, in this case, Peter is bitten by a radioactive spider, but because there's a different reader expectation, it doesn't try too hard to justify the science behind it. Similarly, when it comes to Peter Parker's web cartridges, which he invents himself. Stan Lee and Steve Ditko don't try to overlay too much scientific elements. When it comes to Parker, it's just a simple case of "he can do it because he's good at science".

I especially admire the art in this book too, it makes me appreciate Steve Ditko's massive contributions to this character and also how faithfully the other formats (such as films, animated series etc) are able to adapt Spider-Man's likeness. Again, the layout was a little different back in the silver age so the speech bubbles and narration are a little dated, but it still reads very well even to this day. The cover is again, so iconic. Seeing Spider-Man swinging through the New York skyline whilst apprehending a small time crook, just encapsulates everything you need to know about our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.

Whilst there have been several disputes over the years as to who portrayed the character the best in film, I personally have always enjoyed his interpretation in Fox Kids' 90s animated series. It has the right balance between capturing Peter's humour and nerdiness, aswell as displaying how complex and emotionally straining his personal life can get. Because every adaptation in film has been set in modern day, it's very difficult to determine who has portrayed Peter Parker the best because things were very different in the 60s and there have also been several iterations in the comic books over the decades too. In many ways, I feel this is why the character has been so successful as he's relatable for many generations of fans.

However, despite the character's success, it was originally rejected by then publisher, Martin Goodman. He claimed that Stan's idea of a high school teenager wouldn't be appealing enough for readers. The risk, however, paid off and the character has been enjoyed in several formats ever since. 

I think what made it particularly interesting is the fact that Spider-Man was the first lead teenage superhero. When Robin first appeared in Detective Comics issue 38 in 1940, he was merely a sidekick to Batman. So to have a young character leading a comic book, like Spider-Man, it was groundbreaking at the time.

Overall, I do rate this book very highly. It has such a rich history and I think will always be embedded in comic book history, aswell as Spider-Man history. It tells a very good story of a young boy who's life is forever changed by, not only the radioactive spider, but also the sudden death of his beloved uncle Ben who always enforced a strong message that "with great power, there must also come great responsibility".