Favourite Spidey send-ups?

[AnthonyO'Brien]

Here's one from the Kenny Everett show :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if-rQcLnYK4

Also, there's that Don Martin strip where Spidey shows the waiter that there's a fly in his soup. The waiter apologizes and puts MORE flies in.

Others?

[Revolutionary_Jack]

One I can think of from the top of my head is Brown Widow from The Venture Bros.:



And of course Spider-Pig from Simpsons, and I especially liked this homage to Raimi's Spider-Man 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdStZUUVG5Q

I can't think of anything else to be honest.

This is something I've been thinking of for a while. When we think of superhero parodies/satires/deconstructions, somehow Spider-Man never gets involved. Like Superman has been spoofed and deconstructed to death, from Harvey Kurtzman to The Boys. Batman hasn't been done as often but Pat Mills' Marshal Law with its "The Kingdom of the Blind" storyarc is the definitive deconstruction/satire of the character. Other characters have been spoofed here and there, with Fantastic Four spoofs abounding all over the place (last week's Rick and Morty spoofed Namor).

But neither Mills nor Ennis nor Alan Moore ever deconstructed Spider-Man. There was Peter Bagge's The Megalomaniacal Spider-Man, a non-canon spoof one-shot but that's just not an effective satire, it doesn't address aspects of the character and story that a regular reader recognizes.

To some extent, Into the Spider-Verse in the Peter B. Parker character is a spoof and deconstruction of Spider-Man

[Huntsman Spider]

One I can think of from the top of my head is Brown Widow from The Venture Bros.:



And of course Spider-Pig from Simpsons, and I especially liked this homage to Raimi's Spider-Man 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdStZUUVG5Q

I can't think of anything else to be honest.

This is something I've been thinking of for a while. When we think of superhero parodies/satires/deconstructions, somehow Spider-Man never gets involved. Like Superman has been spoofed and deconstructed to death, from Harvey Kurtzman to The Boys. Batman hasn't been done as often but Pat Mills' Marshal Law with its "The Kingdom of the Blind" storyarc is the definitive deconstruction/satire of the character. Other characters have been spoofed here and there, with Fantastic Four spoofs abounding all over the place (last week's Rick and Morty spoofed Namor).

But neither Mills nor Ennis nor Alan Moore ever deconstructed Spider-Man. There was Peter Bagge's The Megalomaniacal Spider-Man, a non-canon spoof one-shot but that's just not an effective satire, it doesn't address aspects of the character and story that a regular reader recognizes.

To some extent, Into the Spider-Verse in the Peter B. Parker character is a spoof and deconstruction of Spider-Man

I think the reason you don't get that kind of deconstruction all that often with Spider-Man compared to Superman or even Batman is that Spider-Man doesn't feel nearly as much like an unattainable power fantasy as Superman and Batman do. I mean, Superman is a nearly godlike alien who just happens to have been raised with human values and a human moral compass, and Batman is an orphaned multibillionaire who funnels his wealth and grief into pummeling criminals to make his city safe for decent people. On a superficial level, it's hard to relate to either of them, so it's easier to deconstruct or otherwise poke at the darker subtext of their characters than it is with a character like Spider-Man, who feels more like either "us" or someone similar enough to someone we'd be acquainted with or close to in our real lives, even if he, too, is a fantastically fictional figure. Great power and great responsibility aside, a lot of his problems and issues feel like (or are) problems any of us readers would have in our own daily lives, so it's harder to not identify on some level with him as a character, compared to Superman and Batman, the former being fantastically powerful and the latter being fantastically competent and skilled. Regardless, Superman and Batman are (almost) impossible as aspirational figures, so again, it's easier to deconstruct them than it is to do so with Spider-Man.

On another note, my favorite Spider-Man Send-Up is Batman Beyond, which did take a lot of inspiration from classic Spider-Man with regards to the protagonist and many of his rogues, although the cyberpunk setting of Batman Beyond also calls back to Spider-Man 2099, which similarly saw the return of a long-gone hero in order to fight back against a powerful and corrupt megacorporation responsible for the protagonist's recent tragedies and misfortunes.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I think the reason you don't get that kind of deconstruction all that often with Spider-Man compared to Superman or even Batman is that Spider-Man doesn't feel nearly as much like an unattainable power fantasy as Superman and Batman do.

Yeah Superman and Batman embody political and social power in a way Spider-Man doesn't.

That said someone doesn't have to embody power entirely, anything can be subject to deconstruction.

[Huntsman Spider]

Yeah Superman and Batman embody political and social power in a way Spider-Man doesn't.

That said someone doesn't have to embody power entirely, anything can be subject to deconstruction.

Fair enough. I was just explaining my perspective on why in terms of superhero deconstruction, Superman and Batman have become low-hanging fruit, since both embody and represent a level of power --- personal as well as sociopolitical/economic --- that Spider-Man usually doesn't enjoy. That's really what it amounts to in the end, interrogating the idea (or ideal) of an incredibly powerful being like Superman and/or Batman and questioning whether or not such a figure would really be a force for good like commonly portrayed. In Superman's case, there is the cynical expectation that someone on that level of power would use it to lord over the world or "protect" it in any way he sees fit, with no regard for anyone else's input. In Batman's case, there's just applying the sad reality that all too often, people with his level of wealth would and do use it only to cement their own power and status at the expense of the wellbeing and livelihoods, to say nothing of the civil and human rights, of everyone lower on the socioeconomic totem pole than themselves. Because Spider-Man feels more like an underdog when one compares him to those two titans of the DC Comics Universe, it's harder to come up with a deconstruction for him in terms of, "What would someone with that kind or level of power really do?"

There's also the issue that at the beginning, Spider-Man himself was a deconstruction of the superhero archetype represented by Superman and Batman. Modeled after (and empowered by) a scary animal like Batman, but everyone feared him, not just criminals. Wore red and blue like Superman, but didn't start off all that altruistically and was demonized by the very press outlet that employed his civilian alter ego. Not to mention, where Superman and Batman were (conceived as) full-fledged, wiser and more experienced adults when they first debuted, Spider-Man was originally still a teenager trying to figure himself and the world out, and as such was prone to making errors and stumbles magnified by the level of power and responsibility he now carried. More specifically deconstructing Batman, who was a wealthy man who funneled a substantial portion of his wealth into his crimefighting activities, Spider-Man on the other hand was poor and had to make do with whatever he could find or build himself, and while Batman had an aged parental figure who knew about and supported said crimefighting activities, Spider-Man had a relatively frail older aunt who feared his costumed alter ego and whom he in turn feared would reject him or die of a heart attack on the spot if she ever learned the full truth about him. Of course, since his popularity and success caused him to become a more modern superhero archetype in his own right . . .

[Mister Mets]

This one's my favorite.

https://kerrycallen.blogspot.com/201...gin-cover.html

[Revolutionary_Jack]

There's also the issue that at the beginning, Spider-Man himself was a deconstruction of the superhero archetype represented by Superman and Batman. Modeled after (and empowered by) a scary animal like Batman, but everyone feared him, not just criminals. Wore red and blue like Superman, but didn't start off all that altruistically and was demonized by the very press outlet that employed his civilian alter ego. Not to mention, where Superman and Batman were (conceived as) full-fledged, wiser and more experienced adults when they first debuted, Spider-Man was originally still a teenager trying to figure himself and the world out, and as such was prone to making errors and stumbles magnified by the level of power and responsibility he now carried. More specifically deconstructing Batman, who was a wealthy man who funneled a substantial portion of his wealth into his crimefighting activities, Spider-Man on the other hand was poor and had to make do with whatever he could find or build himself, and while Batman had an aged parental figure who knew about and supported said crimefighting activities, Spider-Man had a relatively frail older aunt who feared his costumed alter ego and whom he in turn feared would reject him or die of a heart attack on the spot if she ever learned the full truth about him. Of course, since his popularity and success caused him to become a more modern superhero archetype in his own right . . .

All that is true but over time there are stuff in Spider-Man stories and wider culture that sticks out, and it's kind of interesting how no one's tried to tackle that.

My sense is that I think people tend to underestimate or undervalue Spider-Man even if he's now a far more popular hero (his merchandizing sells more than Batman and Superman) and is the logo of a very wealthy corporation.

[Kaitou D. Kid]

There's also the issue that at the beginning, Spider-Man himself was a deconstruction of the superhero archetype represented by Superman and Batman. Modeled after (and empowered by) a scary animal like Batman, but everyone feared him, not just criminals. Wore red and blue like Superman, but didn't start off all that altruistically and was demonized by the very press outlet that employed his civilian alter ego. Not to mention, where Superman and Batman were (conceived as) full-fledged, wiser and more experienced adults when they first debuted, Spider-Man was originally still a teenager trying to figure himself and the world out, and as such was prone to making errors and stumbles magnified by the level of power and responsibility he now carried. More specifically deconstructing Batman, who was a wealthy man who funneled a substantial portion of his wealth into his crimefighting activities, Spider-Man on the other hand was poor and had to make do with whatever he could find or build himself, and while Batman had an aged parental figure who knew about and supported said crimefighting activities, Spider-Man had a relatively frail older aunt who feared his costumed alter ego and whom he in turn feared would reject him or die of a heart attack on the spot if she ever learned the full truth about him. Of course, since his popularity and success caused him to become a more modern superhero archetype in his own right . . .

Also, while we don't think of Spider-Man as a deconstruction anymore, the character still kinda looks cartoony with his lack of facial features and the way his eyes move to make different shapes. That and the character has a lot of self-deprecating humor. He can take a joke and laugh at himself better than practically any other hero. Some people have described Spider-Man as Deadpool for kids and I don't think they're entirely wrong. All of this arguably makes him a less likely candidate for spoofs, because spoofs usually target more 'serious' characters.

[Huntsman Spider]

All that is true but over time there are stuff in Spider-Man stories and wider culture that sticks out, and it's kind of interesting how no one's tried to tackle that.

My sense is that I think people tend to underestimate or undervalue Spider-Man even if he's now a far more popular hero (his merchandizing sells more than Batman and Superman) and is the logo of a very wealthy corporation.

Fair point. Could make a deconstruction in terms of how "unlucky" he really is compared to how unlucky he considers himself to be, given as you've said before, Peter benefits from a lot of safety nets or valves that others in his situation, in real life or even in-universe, don't possess.

Also, while we don't think of Spider-Man as a deconstruction anymore, the character still kinda looks cartoony with his lack of facial features and the way his eyes move to make different shapes. That and the character has a lot of self-deprecating humor. He can take a joke and laugh at himself better than practically any other hero. Some people have described Spider-Man as Deadpool for kids and I don't think they're entirely wrong. All of this arguably makes him a less likely candidate for spoofs, because spoofs usually target more 'serious' characters.

Maybe, although I'd personally invert that into, "Deadpool is Spider-Man for adults."

[K7P5V]

Maybe, although I'd personally invert that into, "Deadpool is Spider-Man for adults."

Awesome! Glad to know Deadpool is an appropriate choice for this thread.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Maybe, although I'd personally invert that into, "Deadpool is Spider-Man for adults."

Deadpool as adult Spider-Man is something editors have described but I don't see Deadpool as deconstruction. He's just straight comedy.

He's a Looney Tunes character in superhero comics just like Harley Quinn.

[Huntsman Spider]

Awesome! Glad to know Deadpool is an appropriate choice for this thread.

Nice art there. And yeah, Deadpool is often described as "ninja Spidey with swords and a penchant for vulgar humor as well as excessive violence and mayhem," so . . .

Deadpool as adult Spider-Man is something editors have described but I don't see Deadpool as deconstruction. He's just straight comedy.

He's a Looney Tunes character in superhero comics just like Harley Quinn.

Hmm, fair point. Spidey often ends up having to be the straight man to his antics whenever they're paired up.

[K7P5V]

Nice art there. And yeah, Deadpool is often described as "ninja Spidey with swords and a penchant for vulgar humor as well as excessive violence and mayhem," so . . .



Hmm, fair point. Spidey often ends up having to be the straight man to his antics whenever they're paired up.

LOL! Reminds me of "Spidey" being the straight-man for Daredevil (616):

[Huntsman Spider]

LOL! Reminds me of "Spidey" being the straight-man for Daredevil (616):

Ah, yeah. We were just talking about him in the other thread, too.