How was your view of Spider-Man shaped?

[godisawesome]

There’s been a few posts about “generational” views of Spider-Man in other threads, especially in regards to stuff like OMD and such, and while I sort of think that *does* apply, I also couldn’t help but think that your first media experiences with Spider-Man also played into it. And since we keep arguing with each other, and since the character has over 50 years of history, I thought it might be more productive to talk about what exactly our individual backgrounds with the franchise were.

For instance:

Generation - I’m a Millenial from the far off year of 1990. That means that, yes, as I was gaining my reading skills, the Internet, book stores the library, and antique stores became more reliable ways for me to get ahold of comic information. The “Comic Crash” happened before I ever had access to a comic shop and well before I had disposable income. So pretty much all my first comic experiences were either collections of issues in TPBs from libraries or from Antique shops, with a lot of raw information from the internet and from the “Essential Guide” by Tom DeFalco.

It also means that Peter’s high school history was very much in the distant past for me, he was married before I was born, and the first real run I had the ability to read on a weekly basis in middle school/high school was JMS’s run… and in particular the reunion with MJ issue. It also means that for a good chunk of my pre-teen to teenage years, almost every major hero I was into was hitched, and frequently to a suspiciously high number of red heads: Spider-Man, Cyclops, Superman, Luke Skywalker… seriously, there were a lot of gingers with well written romances to heroes at the time - or in the case of Wally a west, a ginger hero with a well written romance.

But probably more importantly…

Media Experiences - The Animated Series obviously defined my early experiences with the franchise; Peter was, again, well removed from his teenage years, an experienced hero, and MJ was “the one.” The Raimi series followed shortly afterwards, and while I’m nowhere near as high on it as others, it probably reinforced my love for a traditional Green Goblin and that MJ was “the one” for a major romance part of the franchise (even if I didn’t particularly like Spider-Man 2).

And yeah, being a Millenial also means that a lot of the internet discussion about comics was freely at my hands. So One More Day was sort of doomed regardless, and since Millenials and Gen Zers have more access to old comics, I’ve never been as pressed to buy the monthly issues as older generations might, because I can spend the same money getting digital access to older ones.



So I’m naturally inclined to think of Peter as older, more experienced, growing consistently, and who has one “designated love interest” rather than a soap opera… and I’m not inclined to be a monthly buyer either, and to mostly just “trade wait” or even just “library wait” or even just “ignore until it get good ‘again.’”

[Jman27]

I was born in the 90s and my introduction to the character was thru toys and the ps1 game watch the animated series when I could. Only read three issues of his comics that I can remember. Watch the Tobey movies. Read on the internet that he gave up his secret identity and did a deal with devil. Watch all the animated cartoons/movies and played his games just read his wiki page to see what else he is doing occasionlly. Heard the news of his death by Doc Ock but honestly what finally convince me to read his books was hearing that Superior Spider-Man was about to be Venom and was interested. Then I thought wait can't I read comics like I read manga online? And thats what I did until I had a job and brought the issues

[Tapioca Blitzkrieg]

I'm of the same millenial generation that had the animated series as the number one source of reference for most of the spidey mythos. I did enjoy the first 2 Raimi movies very much, but at that point i had Spider-Man's general mythology pretty much defined in my head without ever having touched a comic book. Important to note that Unlimited left a lasting impression on me too, mostly the idea of AU and where you could potentially go with such high concepts and still have it be Spider-Man. It's funny to me that the most jarring thing in unlimited was the brunette doctor as the faux love interest in place of MJ, back then it was akin to him having a hispanic aunt Claudia and a one legged Uncle Hughes, MJ was that entrenched in my mind as ''the one'', even if personally Felicia was the more interesting one since i have a soft spot for Hero couples.

High School Pete was nothing but a historical footnote before i picked up my first issue of Ultimate Spidey, that was my entry into hero comic books in general along with civil war. I binged Ultimate for a month and casually checked out a few of ASM more classic stories while simultaneously reading the current monthly issues, but it seemed so distant, with so much baggage and references, it was way less appealing to read than Ultimate and going back to the 60s to read it all from the start seemed too daunting, like One Piece.

Years go by and all the new adaptations and changes to the mainline books, OMD, the Slott era, i feel that all of that rocked me way less than the old school fan from the 20th century, but as i grew to understand the history of the character and read more back issues i began to see the way OMD and the general aproach to writing Peter did in fact change for the historical worst as it related to character development. The Anti-MJ agenda with random love interests, being a perenial loser and nonsensical status quo soft-reboots started to diminish my enjoyment of ASM till Spencer, whose run i enjoyed quite a bit, brought it back for a few years and then Wells just crapped on everything good about it.

So i guess that would be it, Ultimate, TAS, Raimi trilogy(mosttly the first 2) and video-games to a lesser extent are probably the main sources for me. It still amuses me to see many old school fans on here go ape-**** for Ben Reily lol, i mean, i think he's awesome, i dug him in TAS, but before this forum i had no earthly idea he was so beloved by so many hardcore fans to the extent that he is.

The Gwen as ''the one'' thing i also did not see coming, even though i did read TNGSD and understood how she was the one back in the day, i still cannot fathom pining for her overtaking MJ at this point after so much history and her being EFFING DEAD for so long in most media lol, but to each their own.

[Daibhidh]

My first exposure to Spider-man stories that I remember is eighties cartoons: Spider-man and his Amazing Friends and just Spider-man. The latter had Betty Brand as the love interest, and the former had Firestar. So when I first came across Mary Jane, my first reaction was to ask why has Firestar got a different name and no powers?

[Spider-Tiger]

So I was born when the 90s show was already in full swing. I vaguely remember unlimited, but I didn't really enjoy that show as a kid. It was the re-runs of the 90s show on Toon Disney in the early 2000s that really resonated with me and I had the Goblin saga and the Venom saga on DVD. That was the first property that I was really a "fan" of. Also saw re-runs of Amazing friends somewhere but I didn't care about that show. Felt incredibly dated and boring.

Then, I'd say from 2000 to 2005 I had a lot of other sporadic influences. I saw the Raimi films and played the games but wasn't really a "fan" until the second one in 2004. Remember seeing that one in theaters with family, and that was one of the first games that I played all the way.

My earliest comics were those cheap trades they used to sell at Target in the early 2000s. No one in my family was into comics so I wouldn't step foot in an actual shop until I was a teenager. From those trades, I had a few early ultimate comics, one that had all the big Superhero origins from the 60s like Spidey, a Spidey Encyclopedia, and few others I can't remember.

I had a full set of Ditko era Marvel Masterworks from around 2004-2005. Got them as a gift. I treasured these (still have them) because they were the nicest books that I owned, but (believe it or not) didn't enjoy the stories as much because the supporting cast and Peter’s characterization felt so disconnected from what I was used to in most other media.

A story that had a big impact on me as a kid was ASM# 122 which was reprinted with the Marvel Legends Green Goblin action figure. (This was a genius marketing tactic that they should do with the toys today.) Around this time is when I started looking at the other trades in bookstores like Barnes & Noble whenever my parents would go. I had a couple Black and White Essentials books from the late Lee-Romita era to fill in the blanks and was briefly obsessed with Gwen Stacy (who was this beautiful blonde bombshell that never appeared anywhere??)

One of the most important things that I owned as a kid was a CD that I got around 2006 which contained a ton of Amazing back issues in PDF format. This is how I read (and fell in love with) most of the JMS run. Around that time, I was subscribed to Marvel Adventures Spider-man. I didn't switch to Amazing until a year or two later AFTER OMD (but I obviously knew about that story at the time.)

I distinctly remember reading OMIT thinking they might bring back the marriage (lol..I wasn't privy to all of the behind the scenes shenanigans.) I stayed subscribed to the book until about 2014-2015. Then, I just started checking in and out depending on what interested me. This was also around the time that I started checking out the online discussion.

So my earliest experiences with the character really were all over the place from a variety of eras and adaptations: teen Spidey, College Spidey, Single Spidey, Married Spidey, Spidey with MJ, Spidey with Gwen, Spidey with Felicia, Spidey with Betty, Spidey with Carlie, Spidey with no one, etc. But also my perception as a kid was that Spidey's history was very much this one big evolving saga rather than a bunch of random status quos. Peter became less geeky, finished high school, developed friendships and lost some along the way, dated around and married someone he had really grown with and grown to love, etc.

[CaptainUniverse]

My first exposure to Spider-Man was the Clone Saga comics. High School, Gwen's death, and College...it was all in the past and none of it concerned me as much as what was going on in the present and in the present Peter and Mary Jane were married, expecting their first child and dealing with the machinations of The Jackal. There was also another Spider-Man running around who called himself The Scarlet Spider. That era of comics really shaped my view of Spider-Man and it was MC2 that firmly cemented it into place when I discovered Spider-Girl while looking for comics with Venom in them. As a result of this, I wasn't a big fan of the Raimi Spider-Man movies simply because he felt too different from the Peter Parker I knew and loved, his goofy Spider-Man persona was about the same just...lamer? IDK, the jokes in that movie didn't really make me laugh. I also read JMS, of course, and making Peter into a teacher was a concept I really liked as well, so I guess that was kind of folded in later on into my overall vison of Spider-Man.

I did also play the games and watched TAS, which is where my love for the Spider-Verse originated from, but those really only just further established in my mind that Mary Jane was "The One" (as opposed to shaping my vision of Spider-Man himself). No one else, especially not Morbius' girlfriend Felicia Hardy or that one blonde girl played by Bryce Dallas Howard who died in the comics long before I was born. So it should come as no surprise to anyone that I stopped supporting and subscribing to the mainline Amazing Spider-Man when One More Day happened. I came back for the Captain Universe part of The Gauntlet and Spider-Verse, of course, but I didn't stick around. RYV and Spider-Man 2099 were probably the first Spider-Man ongoings I had subscribed to in years, but once they were gone, I was too. The new direction of the Spider-Man comics didn't appeal to me at all. Marvel's obsession with Gwen Stacy being "The One" and their numerous attempts to tear Mary Jane down turned me off completely.

I have been going back and buying Spencer's run though, I was a bit busy when it came out, so I am trying to rectify that mistake. I have all of Beyond except the final issue as well. All of those were back issue purchases though. I obviously do not have any issues of Wells current run and refuse to support it. Minis like Lost Hunt and Ben Reilly: Spider-Man, however, will always get my money.

[Huntsman Spider]

The 90s animated series and several back issues of 1980s-era Spider-Man comics, as well as an issue or two of Todd McFarlane's Spider-Man. Issue 6, I believe, with Peter trying to sneak out of his apartment to go web-slinging and crimefighting, only to run into his wife Mary Jane Watson, who was much more annoyed than surprised, much to my own surprise at the time, as it indicated she already knew who he was and had married him regardless. Blew my mind reading that for the first time as a kid, and the first comic I bought with my own money, such as it was, was an issue of J.M. DeMatteis's Spectacular Spider-Man post-Clone Saga, the final part of Alyosha Kravinoff's introduction as the new Kraven the Hunter, which was also where I found out Peter's Aunt May had died (didn't last, obviously) and where Mary Jane, fed up with her Aunt Anna's accusations of Peter being unfaithful to her, spilled the beans on Peter's secret identity (which I would later find Aunt Anna didn't take seriously at all, sadly).

Yes, I did grow up with the Clone Saga, thanks to friends or classmates of mine collecting the comics and sharing some with me, which was how I found out about Scarlet Spider/Ben Reilly, about a year before the 90s animated series finale, and having the foreknowledge of Peter and MJ being married in the comics made TAS's "The Wedding" episode a lot more gratifying for me, since I wasn't even a year old when that wedding had first taken place in the comics proper. Those were my formative experiences with Spider-Man, and to this day, Christopher Daniel Barnes is still who I hear in my head as the primary voice of Spider-Man (as well as his clones and his alternates).

[godisawesome]

So… is anyone not a Millenial here?

[Spider-Tiger]

So… is anyone not a Millenial here?

Lol I think there are some older. It would be interesting to hear their experiences.

I mean, im closer in age to Gen-Z than someone born in 1985. Give it a couple years and maybe you'll see more Gen Z-ers.

[Jman27]

So… is anyone not a Millenial here?

according the definition I'm consider one

[clonegeek]

according the definition I'm consider one

I'm gen Z, born December of 2003

[Frontier]

Cartoons, movies, games, comics...I'm a millennial, by the by.

[evolutionaryFan]

Born in 1978. I first watched the 60s serial... then the 80s serial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z32KJlpz42M

Then Spiderman and his Amazing Friends.

Then in 1989 I got my first spiderman comic. Spectacular spiderman 158, Spidey goes cosmic.... the Acts of Vengeance storyline. I remember at the time there were rumors of a Jim Cameron spiderman movie. Ah here it is:

https://spiderman-films.fandom.com/w...James_Cameron)

Reading comics on and off since then.

[godisawesome]

It definitely seems like most Millenials and Gen Zers would naturally have been maybe “injected” with Spider-fandom from cartoons and movies a5 an early age and only later gotten to comics; little kids can be shut up if you get the right show on or pay for the right movie ticket.

And I think that given how continuity heavy the movies and two biggest cartoons in the 90’s and 00’s for the character (Animated Series, Spectacular) were, it sort of follows how many Millenials and Gen Zers think that progress and growth is the key to Spider-Man, and how much a solid, multi-POV romance is a key to the franchise. Not all, of course; plenty of people will always be there more for just a weakly dose of fun.

But the Animated Series expected you to keep track of Kingpin’s Number Twos and his family, 4+ part arcs, and an overarching arc leading to Spoder-Man becoming a multiversal savior, while Superior Spider-Man remains probably Greg “These kids love continuity” Weismann’s most well-paced story.

Unlimited and Ultimate almost certainly also had their fans, too, and the youngest Gen Zers probably claim MCU Peter as “their” boy, and might be much less likely to poo-poo his Iron Man connections… but I don’t know.

[Venomsaurus]

I'm a millenial, Grew up in the 90's and early 000's, where my first introduction I believe was the 90's cartoon. My memory is rather fuzzy on which came first, the comics or the show, but I'm fairly certain I watched the show first and then when my father heard I was a fan gave me a bunch of comics.

My first comic I ever read was at the top of the stack, Peter Parke, the Spectacular Spider-man Issue 1. Changed my life forever.

I got quote the mix of Spidey comics, along with a bunch of other stuff like random Superman, Hulk and Ghost Rider comics. I mostly got stuff from the early 90's, but plenty of 70's and 80's comics in the mix too. It was a rather random collection of issues. I sometimes think he would just stop by a comic and buy a bunch of stuff from the quarter bin before coming to visit me because it's that kind of random collection of issues. Half them in the middle of stories I never got to read to completion because when I was little, I didn't know about local comic shops and where to go. I read random issues from the Clone Saga, Venom and Carnage, Doc Ock fights, back when Aunt May was on her Death Bed and the first issue Peter finds out MJ is pregnant. I very distinctly remember reading an issue of Spider-man with Blade in it that I thought had the coolest dang cover and I took it to school to show all my friends.

From there the Sam Raimi movies were pretty formative for me. I still distinctly remember my teacher trying to download the teaser trailer for me on his old school computer. Spent all day trying to get it and it only ever loaded the first few seconds.

One of my first comics I ever bought myself was a random issue of Manga Spider-Man. I saw the design, was into anime at the time and thought it was super cool. Of course I had no idea what was going on, but I still loved it. I read plenty of random issues, lots of 90's stuff because that was always cheap and easy to get plenty of. Tons of random issues with Ben Reilly as Scarlet Spider and Spidey.

So for me, my most formative Spider-man is that one who was a bit older, married and all around more mature. For me as a kid it was aspirational. It was so cool to see that Spidey would make it work with MJ and get some happiness in between the chaos of constant fights. I've since read a lot of stuff, but there's still TONS of Spider-man I've never read and have to catch up on.