Hello true believers!
I have an obsession with Spider-man. It's bad and it gets worse every year. There have only been a few things in my life that I have always been a fan of for as long as I can remember. Disneyland (and Disney movies) and the Joker would be the only other two. You could probably squeeze the movie Back to the Future movie in there somewhere but that was more like late elementary school when that started. There have been other things but they usually fade out or my interest goes back and fourth. Not with these. I realized when evaluating my history with Spider-man that every year of my life I have become more and more interested in everything that involves him. This year seems like I have definitely reached a high point (or low point depending on your point of view). For example: On a recent weekend I went to a toy fair where I purchased four items of Spider-man memorabilia, went to the comic shop where at least four of the seven I purchased had Spider-man in them, all while wearing a Spider-man T-shirt (which was not planned). To top it off I watched two episodes of one of his many cartoon shows. This is a somewhat normal weekend for me. My wife says I have a man crush on Spider-man. At first I laughed it off and told her she was silly. Now I have suddenly realized she is right, it's not just me being nerdy I actually want to hang out with him, and I always have.
As a kid who doesn't have a superhero they like? He was my choice for whatever reason and it stuck. I probably watched his cartoon and thought he was cool. Once I was in high school I started watching the animated series produced in the 90's. This is where I started to really relate to him. A young guy dealing with strange changes in his life all while juggling relationships with people and girls. The character always wanted to do the right thing even though sometimes he ended up making bad choices. As I get older more and more I believe subconsciously I miss that feeling, so that is why I am drawn to Spider-man in my adult life. I am no longer a younger guy struggling with relationships and my physical body. I am now focused on my career and my family. So he allows me to still have that innocence and that idea of self discovery.
One thing I want to make very clear is the movie Spider-man is not my Spider-man. The movie version is much different then the character I have grown to love. Below I am going to explain the difference and try to also articulate my inherit love affair in all the different ways he is represented.
So I broke it down into different parts.
Part 1: let's start where it all began...the comics
To be very honest this is one of my weaker areas of Spider knowledge. I would say I know more then the average fan but I don't know more then the average comic book junkie. I like comics but in my life I have a very roller coaster relationship with them. I will buy for a couple years and stop, then start again. In comics a lot can happen in a few years. For example right now in the comics Spider-man is a member of the Avengers, The Future Foundation (they are kind of like the Fantastic Four) and he know longer is married to Mary Jane and has a girlfriend named Carly. Well he did until a recent issue where she figured out he was Spider-man and broke it off for feeling like she was lied to since he never told her. Oh yeah and J. Jonah Jameson is the Mayor of New York City. Even for someone who knows nothing about Spider-man or just has seen the movies knows that sounds crazy. Don't get me wrong I like it, its just different from when I left off many years ago. There are also (I believe) six different comic titles that have Spider-man in them so it can be tough to keep up with him.
Also marvel has an alternate universe called the "Ultimate Universe" where the characters are very similar to the originals just more updated with newer references and haircuts. Ultimate Spider-man was in the news recently because Peter Parker was killed and a new person took over the mantle. His name is Miles Morales. He is a younger boy, with a new costume and he also happens to be half Black and half Hispanic. Some people were out raged that they killed Peter and that it was someone of a different race. I my mind it was people that really don't understand the Ultimate universe. Why have a universe so similar if you can't mess with characters? This allows them to re-invent the character while sill having him exist in the normal Marvel universe. I thought it was brilliant. The comic is good too, it adds a whole new dimension to the character and he has slightly different powers then his original counterpart.
Part 2: The movies where Toby Maguire is Spider-man.
Here we go, I could talk about this all day. First I want to say, the movies are good movies. They are entertaining and for the most part filmed well. With that said my biggest complaints are the casting and the characterization of Peter Parker/Spider-man and Mary Jane. lets start with the web head himself, Spider-man is a funny guy, he plays tricks on people, he constantly makes pop culture references and barely ever says anything serious to a villain. Where was that in the movie? Peter Parker is even worse he is portrayed as a sleepy quiet nerd, even after he gets Spider powers. There is an emotional Battle that he is dealing with but he expresses it differently the what was shown. Peter Parker to me is very similar to Marty McFly in the Back to the Future Movies or Shia LaBeouf's character in the Transformer movies. There is a dorkiness there but also a confident, underplayed arrogance he possesses. He is Spider-man after all!
This is where I probably offend the ladies and I will apologize ahead of time...but Mary Jane Watson is a knock out, Kirsten Dunst is not. If you go to Wikipedia or any site that talks about comic characters three things will always be written to describe her. She has red hair, green eyes and is extremely beautiful. I am not saying Kirsten Dunst is not attractive. But I would wager that if you were to poll 20 different men I would guarantee you at least 19 of them would not describe her as extremely beautiful. Cute, pretty maybe even beautiful but the word extremely would not be there. She is pretty in a girl next door kind of way but not in a stop traffic kind of way. In the comic I just read for example there is a panel where she is dancing and literally every male character is looking at her and every female that is in the room is telling their significant others to stop staring. If Dunst walked into a room and she was not a celebrity she might get noticed by a few but would not bring the room to a halt. Think Barbie, think Jessica rabbit. Remember this is a comic character created for 13 year olds! If I had to cast her now I would cast an unknown model, or maybe Bryce Dallas Howard (who strangely played Peters other love interest Gwen Stacey in the third film). I even think Emma Stone could have pulled it off (who is set to play Stacey as well in the re-boot). Bottom line Mary Jane is not a cutesy girl next door, she is a strong minded woman who should look like a stereotypical model or at least have some attribute about her that makes everyone male want to be around her and want to impress her. I can't entirely blame her, the script and director could have played that up more however they probably knew it would not be believable.
There are other obvious things I could complain about but I understand cinematic license and trying new things to be entertaining, I just don't think you should sacrifice the main characters in order to do so.
Part 3: The re-booted movie
Unless you have been living under a rock or do not care about movies at all you are most likely aware that they are coming out with a brand new Spider-man movie this summer. For some they are outraged that they are rebooting it so close to the originals release. But if you are me, you are excited! I was ready for something new and I am interested to see how Andrew Garfield is going to pull of the character. I also like that they are going with early Spider-man and that they are using Gwen Stacey instead of Mary Jane. Gwen is Peter's first love, we all know there will be sequels and there is plenty of time for Mary Jane, but let Gwen and Peter have their moment first. It does sound like they are going a more "Ultimate Universe" route but we will see. Most people lately have been complaining about the costume. I have no problem with it. As long as it is Blue and Red I am happy. I just want the characters to represent the original characters. The only thing I will complain about is I am hoping it is not an Origin story. When there were talks of this movie being made I loosely remember producers telling the press that they were not going to tell Peter's original transformation story again because people are already familiar with it. But the preview sure makes it seem like that is the direction they are going. But we will see...
Part 4: The Cartoons
The cartoons are my genesis. This is where it all started for me. I have seen almost every cartoon series that has been made (I have not seen the one produced for MTV a few years back but it is in my Netflix Disc queue) The one I watched as a kid was the one produced in the 80's. Its not terrible, its fun and focuses on almost a new villain each time; but there is no real through line from episode to episode. The 90's cartoon however is what swept me off of my feet. I have officially watched that complete series more then any other Television show. My current count is at six times. It currently is unavailable on DVD but it is streamable on Netflix. it is the best incarnation of the character that I have seen. This show is where I really came into relating to Peter Parker and his personal drama as well as his quest to be a hero. The Spectacular Spider-man is the last one that was produced and it is probably my second favorite. Peter is a high school kid and it focuses more on the ultimate universe Spider-man. It was canceled for some reason, I believe it has to do with the movie that is being prepared to be released. They are also right now in the works of producing another series that is set to air sometime next year to coincide with the release of the new movie.
Part 5: The Toys
This is probably where you think I am going to tell you I have mountains of Spider-man toys. I don't really. My collection is growing but I would say I probably have less then the average fan. Maybe ten items...not a whole lot. I would like more but I have a hard time spending a lot of money on one type of toy, I like to have a variety of different kinds.
In Summary, I like Spider-man...and I doubt you read this whole page.
I have an obsession with Spider-man. It's bad and it gets worse every year. There have only been a few things in my life that I have always been a fan of for as long as I can remember. Disneyland (and Disney movies) and the Joker would be the only other two. You could probably squeeze the movie Back to the Future movie in there somewhere but that was more like late elementary school when that started. There have been other things but they usually fade out or my interest goes back and fourth. Not with these. I realized when evaluating my history with Spider-man that every year of my life I have become more and more interested in everything that involves him. This year seems like I have definitely reached a high point (or low point depending on your point of view). For example: On a recent weekend I went to a toy fair where I purchased four items of Spider-man memorabilia, went to the comic shop where at least four of the seven I purchased had Spider-man in them, all while wearing a Spider-man T-shirt (which was not planned). To top it off I watched two episodes of one of his many cartoon shows. This is a somewhat normal weekend for me. My wife says I have a man crush on Spider-man. At first I laughed it off and told her she was silly. Now I have suddenly realized she is right, it's not just me being nerdy I actually want to hang out with him, and I always have.
As a kid who doesn't have a superhero they like? He was my choice for whatever reason and it stuck. I probably watched his cartoon and thought he was cool. Once I was in high school I started watching the animated series produced in the 90's. This is where I started to really relate to him. A young guy dealing with strange changes in his life all while juggling relationships with people and girls. The character always wanted to do the right thing even though sometimes he ended up making bad choices. As I get older more and more I believe subconsciously I miss that feeling, so that is why I am drawn to Spider-man in my adult life. I am no longer a younger guy struggling with relationships and my physical body. I am now focused on my career and my family. So he allows me to still have that innocence and that idea of self discovery.
One thing I want to make very clear is the movie Spider-man is not my Spider-man. The movie version is much different then the character I have grown to love. Below I am going to explain the difference and try to also articulate my inherit love affair in all the different ways he is represented.
So I broke it down into different parts.
Part 1: let's start where it all began...the comics
To be very honest this is one of my weaker areas of Spider knowledge. I would say I know more then the average fan but I don't know more then the average comic book junkie. I like comics but in my life I have a very roller coaster relationship with them. I will buy for a couple years and stop, then start again. In comics a lot can happen in a few years. For example right now in the comics Spider-man is a member of the Avengers, The Future Foundation (they are kind of like the Fantastic Four) and he know longer is married to Mary Jane and has a girlfriend named Carly. Well he did until a recent issue where she figured out he was Spider-man and broke it off for feeling like she was lied to since he never told her. Oh yeah and J. Jonah Jameson is the Mayor of New York City. Even for someone who knows nothing about Spider-man or just has seen the movies knows that sounds crazy. Don't get me wrong I like it, its just different from when I left off many years ago. There are also (I believe) six different comic titles that have Spider-man in them so it can be tough to keep up with him.
Also marvel has an alternate universe called the "Ultimate Universe" where the characters are very similar to the originals just more updated with newer references and haircuts. Ultimate Spider-man was in the news recently because Peter Parker was killed and a new person took over the mantle. His name is Miles Morales. He is a younger boy, with a new costume and he also happens to be half Black and half Hispanic. Some people were out raged that they killed Peter and that it was someone of a different race. I my mind it was people that really don't understand the Ultimate universe. Why have a universe so similar if you can't mess with characters? This allows them to re-invent the character while sill having him exist in the normal Marvel universe. I thought it was brilliant. The comic is good too, it adds a whole new dimension to the character and he has slightly different powers then his original counterpart.
Part 2: The movies where Toby Maguire is Spider-man.
Here we go, I could talk about this all day. First I want to say, the movies are good movies. They are entertaining and for the most part filmed well. With that said my biggest complaints are the casting and the characterization of Peter Parker/Spider-man and Mary Jane. lets start with the web head himself, Spider-man is a funny guy, he plays tricks on people, he constantly makes pop culture references and barely ever says anything serious to a villain. Where was that in the movie? Peter Parker is even worse he is portrayed as a sleepy quiet nerd, even after he gets Spider powers. There is an emotional Battle that he is dealing with but he expresses it differently the what was shown. Peter Parker to me is very similar to Marty McFly in the Back to the Future Movies or Shia LaBeouf's character in the Transformer movies. There is a dorkiness there but also a confident, underplayed arrogance he possesses. He is Spider-man after all!
This is where I probably offend the ladies and I will apologize ahead of time...but Mary Jane Watson is a knock out, Kirsten Dunst is not. If you go to Wikipedia or any site that talks about comic characters three things will always be written to describe her. She has red hair, green eyes and is extremely beautiful. I am not saying Kirsten Dunst is not attractive. But I would wager that if you were to poll 20 different men I would guarantee you at least 19 of them would not describe her as extremely beautiful. Cute, pretty maybe even beautiful but the word extremely would not be there. She is pretty in a girl next door kind of way but not in a stop traffic kind of way. In the comic I just read for example there is a panel where she is dancing and literally every male character is looking at her and every female that is in the room is telling their significant others to stop staring. If Dunst walked into a room and she was not a celebrity she might get noticed by a few but would not bring the room to a halt. Think Barbie, think Jessica rabbit. Remember this is a comic character created for 13 year olds! If I had to cast her now I would cast an unknown model, or maybe Bryce Dallas Howard (who strangely played Peters other love interest Gwen Stacey in the third film). I even think Emma Stone could have pulled it off (who is set to play Stacey as well in the re-boot). Bottom line Mary Jane is not a cutesy girl next door, she is a strong minded woman who should look like a stereotypical model or at least have some attribute about her that makes everyone male want to be around her and want to impress her. I can't entirely blame her, the script and director could have played that up more however they probably knew it would not be believable.
There are other obvious things I could complain about but I understand cinematic license and trying new things to be entertaining, I just don't think you should sacrifice the main characters in order to do so.
Part 3: The re-booted movie
Unless you have been living under a rock or do not care about movies at all you are most likely aware that they are coming out with a brand new Spider-man movie this summer. For some they are outraged that they are rebooting it so close to the originals release. But if you are me, you are excited! I was ready for something new and I am interested to see how Andrew Garfield is going to pull of the character. I also like that they are going with early Spider-man and that they are using Gwen Stacey instead of Mary Jane. Gwen is Peter's first love, we all know there will be sequels and there is plenty of time for Mary Jane, but let Gwen and Peter have their moment first. It does sound like they are going a more "Ultimate Universe" route but we will see. Most people lately have been complaining about the costume. I have no problem with it. As long as it is Blue and Red I am happy. I just want the characters to represent the original characters. The only thing I will complain about is I am hoping it is not an Origin story. When there were talks of this movie being made I loosely remember producers telling the press that they were not going to tell Peter's original transformation story again because people are already familiar with it. But the preview sure makes it seem like that is the direction they are going. But we will see...
Part 4: The Cartoons
The cartoons are my genesis. This is where it all started for me. I have seen almost every cartoon series that has been made (I have not seen the one produced for MTV a few years back but it is in my Netflix Disc queue) The one I watched as a kid was the one produced in the 80's. Its not terrible, its fun and focuses on almost a new villain each time; but there is no real through line from episode to episode. The 90's cartoon however is what swept me off of my feet. I have officially watched that complete series more then any other Television show. My current count is at six times. It currently is unavailable on DVD but it is streamable on Netflix. it is the best incarnation of the character that I have seen. This show is where I really came into relating to Peter Parker and his personal drama as well as his quest to be a hero. The Spectacular Spider-man is the last one that was produced and it is probably my second favorite. Peter is a high school kid and it focuses more on the ultimate universe Spider-man. It was canceled for some reason, I believe it has to do with the movie that is being prepared to be released. They are also right now in the works of producing another series that is set to air sometime next year to coincide with the release of the new movie.
Part 5: The Toys
This is probably where you think I am going to tell you I have mountains of Spider-man toys. I don't really. My collection is growing but I would say I probably have less then the average fan. Maybe ten items...not a whole lot. I would like more but I have a hard time spending a lot of money on one type of toy, I like to have a variety of different kinds.
In Summary, I like Spider-man...and I doubt you read this whole page.
