2+Story+Summaries

**Story summaries**
Amazing Fantasy #15  Ultimate Spider-man volume 1, Power and Responsibility Spider-man (animated cartoon) Spider-man (the movie) Comparison



**Amazing Fantasy #15**
This is Spider-man's debut. He is the first full-fledged teenage hero and is not just another hero's lesser sidekick. The story is laid out in eight or nine panels per page, and to provide as much story and information as possible in the twelve pages of the issue, there are many captioned panels. Most of the closures are action-to-action, subject-to-subject and scene-to-scene. (Figure 2. Amazing Fantasy cover, n.d.)

The story introduces Peter Parker, an orphaned high school boy who has been raised by his elderly Aunt May and Uncle Ben since he was about six years old. He has a good and loving relationship with May and Ben as is shown by Ben tousling Peter's hair and joking around. Captioned panels tell us that Ben thought Peter to be "a pretty special lad" (Lee & Ditko, 1962, p.2) and that May "thought the sun rose and set upon her nephew" (Lee & Ditko, 1962, p.2). The teachers at Midtown High think highly of Peter, their "clean-cut hard-working honor student" (Lee & Ditko, 1962, p.2). Unfortunately, Peter is not popular with students at his high school, is frequently called a 'bookworm' and is mistreated by classmates. Girls are more interested in handsome boys like Flash Thompson who are part of the bullying 'in' crowd, and we see Peter being rejected by one of the girls. After failing to convince other students to attend an exhibit at the science hall, Peter goes alone. There is a display of radioactive rays and during the demonstration, a spider, descending from above, is caught in the rays and somehow transformed, as we gather from the glowing lines around it. The spider falls and lands on Peter's hand, biting him as it dies. (Figure 3. Peter is rejected, n.d.)

(Figure 4. Peter Parker gets bitten, n.d.) Peter has a mild immediate reaction to the bite, but feels a little dizzy and has a need to get some air. In his slight daze, Peter is almost struck by an oncoming car and leaps out of the way. His jump lands him on the side of a building and he begins to explore his sudden ability to climb walls. Reaching the top, he accidentally crushes a steel pipe that he has grabbed for support. Peter discovers that he can also walk along cables with ease. Peter decides that he must do something with his new powers and notices an advertisement to wrestle Crusher Hogan for one hundred dollars. Looking to test and cash in on his new powers, Peter rushes home to change, and to disguise himself slightly, just in case he loses he won't be identified. Peter wins the match easily and is an instant success. A television producer offers to help Peter make a fortune with his 'act', so he decides to continue wrestling for money and fame. During the next few days, Peter develops a web-spinning substance and apparatus that he can wear to create sticky spider webs. He also creates a more professional red and blue outfit for his role as Spider-man the wrestler. While leaving the studio after his first show, Peter chooses not to stop a fleeing robber, explaining to the policeman that it was not his job and, tired of being pushed around, he was going to look out for 'number one'. One evening, as Peter returns home from a performance, he discovers that his Uncle Ben has been killed by an intruder. Peter seeks vengeance and, as Spider-man, manages to catch the man at an abandoned warehouse, where he discovers that the intruder is the same thief that he let get away earlier. Distraught at knowing that he could have prevented Ben's death, Peter comes to a realisation and here we see the first appearance of the ongoing theme in Spider-man stories, "with great power comes great responsibility". (back to top)

(Figure 5. Basic disguise, n.d.)




 * Ultimate Spider-man volume 1 Power and Responsibility **

This book has a variety of panel sizes and shapes. Most panels have distinct borders but many are borderless bleeds. Repeated panels and bleeds are used frequently to indicate longer time periods. Most of the closures are subject-to-subject, action-to-action and scene-to-scene, but because there is no restriction on publication length, there are numerous aspect-to-aspect and moment-to-moment closures that help to set a mood or tone, and in fact, this newer version takes about ten times the number of pages for Peter to be introduced, get bitten and realise his new powers than in Amazing Fantasy. The paper is glossy and the images are richly coloured.

(Figure 6. Ultimate Spider-man, 2009)

This more modern issue opens with scenes in Osborn Industries labs where experiments with genetically altered insects and animals are being conducted, and where one of these experiments, a spider, escapes from its jar. Peter Parker is introduced studying in a school cafeteria becoming the target for a group of bullies throwing food, but the he does not resist or react. Mary Jane and another girl are talking nearby. Later, this same group trips Peter in the hall, but another boy, Harry Osborn, convinces them to stop harassing him. Harry looks out for Peter only because Peter does Harry's science homework for him. Harry Osborn is a rich boy whose father pays him little attention and does not seem to involve him in his life. Peter lives with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben and has been in their care since his parents died in a plane crash. Peter's haven at home is the basement, where he has set up his own small laboratory.

While on a field trip to Osborn Industries labs with his science class, Peter is bitten by the escaped spider. It is a painful reaction that causes Peter to vomit and lose consciousness. After a visit to the hospital for tests, Peter falls into a deep sleep at home. Fearing a lawsuit, but also wanting to keep an eye on Peter to see what happens to him, Norman Osborn, Harry's father and head of Osborn Industries, pays the hospital bill. Everything seems back to normal at school the next day, with the bullies taunting Peter about his reaction to the spider, but a close-up shot of Peter with lines radiating from his head give the first indication of his 'spider sense' as he foils a bully sneaking up to attack. Shortly afterwards, Peter loses consciousness once more and ends up back in the hospital. A nurse takes a blood sample but it is switched by one of Osborn's thugs so that Norman can analyse the sample himself. It appears that Peter is going to die from the bite so Osborn arranges to have him killed, so that his death can't be traced back to the spider bite, but Peter's spider sense kicks in and he leaps up and over the oncoming car destined to run him down. (Figure 7. Ultimate bite, n.d.)

Peter starts to realise that the spider bite has changed him, indicated by a change in panel border and colouring. His interactions with his aunt and uncle become more tense and Peter displays anger. At school Peter continues to be taunted and, in self-defence in a fight with Flash Thompson, he breaks Flash's hand. Flash's family sues the Parkers, who are not able to easily pay. During some excursions on sleepless nights, Peter discovers that he can climb walls, and that he has superhuman strength as he tosses around old cars in a junkyard. Peter decides to wrestle Crusher Hogan to make money for the lawsuit and anonymously leaves it under the Parker's door. The wrestling show producer gives Peter his 'official' Spider-man costume. Norman Osborn has discovered that the chemical composition of the spider combined with Peter's DNA has resulted in a performance enhancing substance so he decides to make some modifications and test the substance on himself.

Things go awry in the lab and there is an explosion, killing some and injuring many, including Harry who happened to witness the beginning of the test. After another performance at the arena, Spider-man is accused of stealing the night's receipts and runs away. Out on the street, Peter ends up in the path of a fleeing thief, but chooses not to stop him, claiming that he has his own problems to deal with. A confrontation about failing grades and an argument about using one's strength and abilities responsibly sends Peter running away from his aunt and uncle. After wandering around and thinking, Peter resolves to explain exactly what was happening to him because of the spider bite. However, when Peter returns home he discovers that Uncle Ben has been killed during a burglary. Peter sets out to catch the killer in an abandoned warehouse, only to discover that the murderer is the same man, the thief that he failed to stop in the street. Peter resolves to use his power responsibly and begins fighting crime with the addition of a web producing substance and apparatus. J.J. Jameson, the editor of the Daily Bugle newspaper, doubts the hero in Spider-man and insists that he is really a villain and a menace.

In the meantime, a strange creature roaming the city burns down Harry Osborn's house and Harry's mother dies in the blaze. The school is bombed and Spider-man comes to help. He meets and, over many pages, battles the monster that has planted the bombs and that somehow knows Peter's name. The army comes and the monster is shot and falls in to the ocean. Peter/Spider-man wants to try to save him, but the soldiers begin shooting at him so he escapes. Harry reveals that the monster is his father and that he had come to kill Harry.. Peter is convinced that Norman Osborn was actually trying to eliminate Peter Parker along with evidence of the genetics experiments. Bubbles rising up from the water in the last panel lead us to believe that the monster is not dead and will return. (back to top)

(Figure 8. Spider-man cartoon, 1967) **Spider-man (animated television series, episode 21, The Origin of Spiderman, 1967)**

The scene is a high school and two boys need a third in order to go for sodas with three girls. They ask Peter Parker, but he declines in favour of attending a radioactivity demonstration in the lab. One of the boys calls him a 'bookworm', establishing their opinon about Peter's character. Peter is convinced that one day he will get even with those boys. At the demonstration, a spider, descending from above, gets caught in the radioactive rays and is transformed or affected, as indicated by the white 'glowing' lines around it. The spider drops and bites Peter on the hand as it dies. Peter instantly feels different and a little dizzy, with out of focus shots accentuating this, and he leaves to get some air. Peter feels that his whole body is charged with some kind of energy. He at first dismisses the idea that the radioactivity could be a factor, but soon realises that increased reflexes and strength must have some cause. As he ponders this development, Peter is almost hit by an oncoming car and leaps out of the way. He lands on the side of a building, continues crawling up the side of the building, and then explores leaping from skyscraper to skyscraper and crawling along cables. Peter starts to question his sanity and decides that it's either a "crazy psychedelic dream" or the spider's radioactive venom which has affected him. He thinks about how he can "cash in" on his new powers and make some money giving so that he can pay back his elderly aunt and uncle for looking after him all these years. Peter works on creating a web substance and creates a "doohickey" to shoot the adhesive from his wrist, then makes a costume to "look the part" for show business, possibly as the "answer to Ed Sullivan's prayers". Peter, as Spider-man, heads off to a television studio to impress them. As he is walking down the hall, a thief runs past him but Peter doesn't stop him. When asked 'Why?' by the police, Peter responds that catching the man is their problem and that after being pushed around so much, he is only looking out for number one, himself. Upon returning home, Peter finds out that a burglar has killed Uncle Ben. Peter decides to go after the burglar to avenge Ben's death and heads to the abandoned ACME warehouse where the man is holed-up. Peter/Spider-man catches the man and discovers that it is the same thief that he didn't stop days earlier when he had the chance. Peter realises now that "with great power there must also always be great responsibility". (back to top)

(Figure 9. Spider-man movie, 2002) **Spider-man (the movie)** The movie presents the basic story as presented in Amazing Fantasy, but interweaves a story of Norman Osborn and his transformation into the Green Goblin, a super-villain.

Peter Parker narrates the movie and introduces himself. He is 'nerdy', wears glasses, and is not well liked by his peers. Peter lives with his guardians, Aunt May and Uncle Ben, and they appear to have a very good relationship. We get a sense of how he is treated at school by the bus not stopping to pick him up, students throwing things at him once he boards the bus, no one wanting him to sit beside them, someone tripping him and everyone mocking him. His greatest tormentor is Flash Thompson. Mary Jane Watson, the girl next door, is Flash's girlfriend. Peter has loved her since the fourth grade. Harry Osborn, a rich boy and son of Norman Osborn, head of OSCORP, also attends Peter's public high school, after being expelled from a variety of private schools. Like Peter, Harry is an outcast, and the two form a friendship.

(Figure 10. Norman Osborn, n.d.) Norman Osborn's company has been developing possible defence machines as well as a performance enhancing drugs for humans. Poor clinical tests with animals threaten funding for the project and the pressure is on to do human testing. In desperation, Norman arranges to test the enhancing vapour on himself, but the results are negative; Norman becomes highly aggressive, violent, and super strong. He kills his partner, but does not recall events the next day. Norman develops a split personality and becomes the evil Green Goblin in order to eliminate anyone standing in the way of his company or son's success.

On a class outing to Columbia University Science Department, Peter is bitten by a genetically modified spider that escaped from its container, after it descends from above to land on his hand. There's no noticeable reaction at first, but by the time Peter gets home, he is exhausted and shows signs of dizziness, fever and chills. After a deep sleep, Peter no longer requires his glasses to see, has well-developed muscles, discovers that his hands stick to things and that he can suddenly shoot out a sticky web-like substance from his wrist. He ends up in a fight with Flash Thompson, and knocks him down the hall with one blow. Everyone, including Peter, is surprised at his power.

Peter's aunt and uncle notice that Peter is undergoing some emotional changes and Uncle Ben tells Peter that in growing into the man he will be for the rest of his life, he must understand that with great power comes great responsibility, the ongoing theme for Spider-man.

Peter decides to buy a car to impress Mary Jane and sees an advertisement to wrestle a professional to win $3000 for three minutes in the ring. Peter puts together a quick costume with a mask, is announced as Spider-man and ends up in the ring with Bone Saw, a crowd favourite, who he easily beats. The fight promoter only pays Peter $100, reasoning that Peter didn't fight for the whole three minutes. When Peter points out that it isn't right and says how much he needed the money, the promoter responds that he "missed the part where that's [his] problem". Peter leaves and another man enters the office to steal the money. When the robber runs down the hall, Peter doesn't stop him and lets him get away, using the promoter's own words to respond to why he didn't intervene.

On his way back to the library, where he pretended to be, Peter discovers that Uncle Ben, who had come to pick him up, had been shot by a car-jacker and dies. Peter, as Spider-man, follows the police chase to trap the killer in an abandoned warehouse. Spider-man catches the killer and recognises him as the thief that he let get away earlier. Peter is remorseful, knowing that he could have prevented Ben's death.

After graduation, Peter revises his Spider-man costume and begins fighting crime. No matter how hard Peter tries to prove himself a hero, J. Jonah Jameson, editor of the Daily Bugle newspaper, believes that Spider-man causes the situations that he fixes in order to make himself look good to the public. Jameson is determined to prove Spider-man to be a menace and advertises for photos of Spider-man. Peter manages to sell some photographs to the newspaper and so begins his career as photographer.

The Green Goblin attacks members of the OSCORP Board of Directors that leads to a battle with Spider-man, who wins that day and saves Mary Jane from a fall. Later on, the Goblin tries to convince Spider-man to join him, but Spider-man refuses. In an ensuing battle, Peter is injured by one of the Goblin's blade devices and this leads to Norman Osborn's discovery of Peter Parker as Spider-man. Afterwards, the Goblin strikes at Peter's heart by injuring Aunt May and while she is in the hospital, Peter realises that no matter what he does, the people he loves will suffer. Mary Jane is the next target and Peter has to choose to save her, or a cable car full of children. He manages to save everyone, but the Goblin catches him and flies away with him. During a fight, the Green Goblin reveals his identity to Peter/Spider-man, but in a twist of fate, the Goblin dies by his own flying glider. Peter takes Norman's body home to protect him from being found to be the Green Goblin. Harry sees Spider-man with his father's body and believes that Spider-man has killed him. Harry vows to avenge his father's death. At the end of the film, Mary Jane professes her love for Peter, but as much as Peter longed to tell her he felt the same for her, he must keep her at a distance in order to protect her. Peter has realised the great responsibility that comes with great power. (back to top)

Comparison

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The basic storyline is the same in all sources, with some minor differences or extensions that I will discuss further. Peter Parker is an intelligent, although awkward, teenage boy in high school. He typifies the brainy eyeglass-wearing nerd (except in SC), interested and excelling in science. Peter is mistreated by fellow students and is picked on and taunted, primarily by Flash Thompson. Peter lives with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben, because his parents died when he was very young. Peter is bitten by a spider with altered DNA while on an outing and afterward develops heightened senses, strength, and unique abilities. With these newfound abilities, Peter seizes an opportunity to make some money wrestling, wearing a disguise.  One evening, Peter chooses not to stop a fleeing thief. Unfortunately, the same man later shoots and kills his Uncle Ben. The robber is chased by police and ends up at an old warehouse. Peter, seeking revenge, becomes Spider-man and catches up to the thief. Peter recognizes the killer as the man that he let get away and realises that he could have prevented his uncle’s death. Peter, distraught, vows to use his powers to atone for his error. He realises that “with great power comes great responsibility” the ongoing theme for the Spider-man.======

These points remain the same in all sources and this is where the story stops in the Amazing Fantasy comic book, to be continued in Spider-man's own series. Among the sources, minor differences occur in the particular modes of peer torment, the building location of the spider bite incident, the people that accompany Peter to the science exhibit, Peter's reaction to the bite, and the reasons for needing to make money.

The Amazing Spider-man vol.1 (AS) continues on after Ben's death with Peter wanting to help Aunt May pay the rent and bills by returning to the wrestling show business. It is also in this book that we see Spider-man start to fight crime and do good deeds. He even saves the astronaut son of J. Jonah Jameson, a newspaper editor, but even with that, Jameson of the Daily Bugle newspaper is determined to prove that Spider-man is more villain and menace than a hero. It becomes more difficult for Spider-man to continue his crime-fighting without risking arrest. He attempts to join the Fantastic Four in order to earn a paycheque and some respect, but learns that they don't make any money, so he rejects that plan. In the second part and second story of the issue, Spider-man meets his first super-villain, the Chameleon.

In Ultimate Spider-man vol. 1 Power and Responsibility (USPR), the main storyline is interwoven with the story of Harry Osborn and his father, Norman Osborn, of Osborn Industries, who has been conducting genetics experiments. This is the only print instance that I found where Harry is part of Spider-man's origin story. Peter inadvertently becomes Osborn Industries' first human test subject and Norman decides that by tweaking the chemicals that were injected into the spider and injecting himself, he could test a potential performance enhancer. As the test begins, Harry ends up at the lab and Norman orders him out. Before Harry can leave there is an explosion at the lab and many, including Harry, are injured and some are killed. Norman becomes a huge angry monster that sets out to kill Peter.

The Spider-man animated cartoon (SC), episode 21 The Origin of Spider-man, follows the storyline and events almost exactly as written in Amazing Fantasy.

Spider-man the movie (SM), also interweaves Peter Parker's transformation with a story of Harry and Norman Osborn. In this version, Norman is head of OSCO RP, a company that has been conducting research into possible defence equipment as well as performance enhancing drugs for humans. Needing a human subject in order to secure funding from the army, Norman tests the performance drug on himself and becomes a violent, aggressive and extremely strong man who becomes the evil Green Goblin.

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In AS, USPR and SM, Peter becomes a hero helping to fight crime, but there are those who distrust his motives and J. Jonah Jameson, editor of the Daily Bugle newspaper, is most determined to prove that Spider-man is a villain, not a hero.======

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Introduction Adaptation to Film Characters Critical Story Components What makes a Spider-man? Additional Spider-man Information Bibliography

Source codes: AF (Amazing Fantasy #15, 1962 debut); AS (Amazing Spider-man, vol. 1 1963); USPR (Ultimate Spider-man, vol. 1 2009, Power and Responsibility); SM (Spider-man movie, 2002); SC (Spider-man cartoon, episode 21, 1967)