AMAZING FANTASY #15
What can I say about this issue? This is where it all began. If it weren't for Stan Lee getting the chance to put his ambitious idea into this - the (at the time) final issue of Amazing Fantasy - Spider-Man may have never came to be. An alarming thought, but shockingly true. Nobody saw potential in Lee's idea. His critics would cite the rules that Lee would be breaking, such as "a teenager can't be a superhero", "you can't call a superhero Spider-Man - people hate spiders" and my favorite, "nobody wants to read a story about a superhero that has problems".
Thankfully, for fans all over the world, Lee took a chance on his vision. And what a vision it turned out to be.
This isn't just the first Spider-Man story, though. This is, arguably, the most important story in the now fifty-year history of the web-slinger. For this, is the origin of Spider-Man. I don't think I have to explain what happens. Everyone and their mother knows how Peter Parker became Spider-Man. So many important events happen in this story and important characters are introduced. Peter Parker, obviously, is introduced, as are Aunt May, Uncle Ben and Flash Thompson, Peter is bitten by the radioactive spider and discovers his powers, Spider-Man becomes a famous act and after Peter, dressed as Spider-Man, fails to stop a criminal when he has the chance, the criminal ends up gunning down and murdering Uncle Ben. It is through this that Peter learns his most valuable lesson: "With great power, there must also come great responsibility".
And thus, a pop culture icon was born.
Perhaps you didn't need my personal history lesson, but the words in the above paragraphs just felt right. Sure, it may not be necessary to educate the many members of SHH on the history of Spider-Man, but I also feel that it would be a crime for me to review the historic Amazing Fantasy #15 and just glaze over it without mentioning all of the things that make this story a landmark in comic book history. I told myself that if I was going to do this, I was going to do it right.
The first thing that jumped out at me was the incredible artwork of Steve Ditko. Taking a quick glance at the artwork a few issues down the line, I can tell that things get a bit more detailed and fine-tuned after this first story, but make no mistake about it, the art here is a wondrous thing to marvel at. One thing that is difficult for me, when reading old comics, is the dialogue. Much of it is very corny. That having been said, I allow myself to realize that this was the '60s and that I have to see past all of that and look at the story, which is top notch here.
I've loved superheroes since I was just three years old, but I have to admit that I have always found myself more interested in the moral parts of stories where life lessons can be learned much more than the action elements. I feel that this story is, morally, perfect. There's a reason that the words "With great power, there must also come great responsibility" have become so legendary. Reading this story, especially, just gives me a wholesome feeling. That is a feeling that is hard to come by when you're an adult living in the world of today.
There's not much more that I can say. The bottom line is this: as I was reading this story, I got a special feeling. The same special feeling I get whenever I see a panel from this first Spider-Man story or the cover of Amazing Fantasy #15. That's what it comes down to. Having this story in your hands - experiencing it, taking it all in, respecting it - is special.
