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Cierra Castellanos Ms. Bell English IV 1 September 2013

Spiderman

History of Comic Books Comic books dont really interest everyone out there, including me, but there are a few facts about Marvel characters and writers that truly caught me were some including where the first comic book was made and how. In newspapers and magazines, weve always had the Funnies but soon changed it to the terms "comics" and "comic strip", which came into common use in the United States around 1900 but in 1827, Switzerland's Rudolphe Tpffer created a comic strip and continued on to publish seven graphic novels. In 1837, "The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck" was published by Rudolphe Tpffer and it is considered the earliest known comic book (About.com). I dont know about you but comic books arent the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Switzerland. Another fact I found interesting is that on June 19, 1940, "Brenda Starr" the first cartoon strip written by a woman was published in Chicago. Men were still dominating even when it came to drawing silly cartoons. Comic books have quite a history of ups and downs and new artists, etc. Out of all the Marvel characters, though, my favorite would have to be Peter Parker, also known as Spiderman or WebHead. His background story interests me the most I think because its based on a kid my age who is already worried about more than enough insecurities instead of your typical man

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in a cubicle who lives a secret life in tights. Im not bashing on any of the legends like Superman or Batman but Im just saying I cant relate as much. History of the Character Peter Parker, also known as Spiderman, is your teenage Marvel character. He was designed by Chris Arrant and martin Goodman in 1962, when the first Spiderman comic was released. The first Spiderman story wasnt intended to be anything bigger than a one-shot experience. Goodman almost didnt want to publish it because he feared that the public would find a spider hero distasteful and vulgar. The suit made for him is red and hints of blue with webs all over and a spider emblem in the middle of the chest. I personally like how Spiderman was motivated to start fighting crime, due to his Uncle Bens death. It shows heart and determination. Despite his efforts though, he was still sometimes viewed as a criminal and those of society were suspicious of him. As I stated before, Spiderman was your average, awkward boy in high school who was head over heels for a young girl who didnt even know he existed, typical high school movie plot. The twist? Radioactive spiders. Im sure Goodman was just doodling and messing with ideas when creating Spiderman but he did a great job. Just like any other super, WebHead was made into costumes, movies, TV shows, you name it. The Spiderman movie starring Kirsten Dunst and Toby McGuire had a great story line, including fights, deaths and romance. Peter (Toby M.) was in love with MaryJane (Kirsten D.), a popular girl who didnt even know Peter. Peter took advantage of his powers by getting rid of his specs, building up and having a secret life in a spidey suit, in which he fought crime in. He did not only fight crime in this though, he also used it as a disguise to get closer to MJ. I love the romance in this movie because it is in high school, no not every nerdy high school kid gets to have super powers, but like I said before I can relate to certain situations.

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Biography on the Writer Stanley Martin Lieber, also known as the co-creator of Spiderman. Stan Lee was born on December 28th of 1922 in New York, NY. Stan not only created Spiderman but also Fantastic Four and other fresh comic book characters of the 1960s. Stan created so many characters but his most diverse, Spiderman, was born in 1962, assisted by Steve Ditko. Stan started in the Marvel Comics business not to long after he served in the U.S army during World War II. Lee entered into the U.S Army in the early 1940s & served stateside in the Signal Corps occasionally writing manuals, training films, slogans or cartooning. The Marvel Company was looked down upon by DC Comics, home of Superman. That is until they came up with more unique characters like the Hulk, Dare Devil and the Silver Surfer. Stan Lee won multiple awards including The Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame and Jack Kirby Hall of Fame, also nominated for a few, like Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation for Spiderman 1 and 2. He was married to Joan Clayton Boocock Lee and had two children with her. They were married on December 5th of 1947 & had two daughters, J.C Lee born in 1950 and then Jan Lee who died just three days after birth in 1953. Stan had a fulfilling career and collaborated with several artists who helped him thoroughly share the complexity of these superheroes. In the 1950s, he had teamed up with his comic book colleague Dan DeCarlo to produce the syndicated newspaper strip, My Friend Irma based on the radio comedy starring Marie Wilson. By the end of these ten years, Lee almost quit doing business in this particular field, becoming bored with it. Lee subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large corporation (Infoplease.com). Making Stan sound even better than he already does, the Stan Lee Foundation was founded in 2010, focusing on literacy, education and the arts. Its stated goals include supporting programs that somewhat improve access to resources. Also,

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Stan Lee has been donating portions of personal effects to the University of Wyoming multiple times between the years 1981 and 2001. Lee was a good guy in my opinion. Summary on the Comic Read The comic book I read through was The Amazing Spider-Man #265. This book mainly talks about The Fox and how it came back. The black Fox drops a smoke bomb and jumps out of the window but that causes him to twist his ankle. Peter Parker is at the hospital with Harry and his newborn. Mary Jane stops by to see the baby but seeing Mary Jane cause Peter to think about all of their past memories, so he leaves to swing on his webs to clear his mind. While out on his web, he comes across men shooting at the Black Fox. Peter fights off the men and the Black Fox gets away. What he didnt realize is that he just let the Black Fox get away with a priceless jewel. Once Peter got back home, distressed and disappointed in himself about the getaway, he decided to try out the new suit the Black Cat made for him and get back out there. Spiderman was being followed by a rather large helicopter sent by Silver Sable to spy on him. Knowing this, Spiderman attached himself to the bottom f the copter, taking him straight to the Black Fox. Getting to the Black Fox before the men in the suits could, he hears him out. All the Black Fox was trying to do was get out of the country and back to his loving family. Spiderman, the good man that he is, helps him escape once again but before he takes the beautiful jewels back. He takes the jewels back to Sabel as an apology for freeing her target. This Comic shows how much emotions can bother someone. An example is that once he saw Mary Jane, he had to leave because his thoughts about her were going wild. Leaving the hospital though, brought him to see crime so emotions arent always a bad thing to have and deal with even though nowadays, everyone makes them out to be the worst.

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Personal Review on the Comic What I thought about this particular comic book story was that that I stated above. Emotions can get the best of you but can also bring you to see and feel certain things. Mary Janes and Peters relationship has always interested me but any love story interests me, Im sappy like that. That part of the reason I chose Spiderman in the first place, relating to his average teenager problems. Honestly, if I would have chosen any other character I probably wouldnt have been this interested or interested at all. The comic itself though, was a bit slow but it showed how much Spiderman cares about home lives and how much emotionally attached he is to certain things. Mary Jane seems to be his main concern when it comes to love life. All in all, Spidermans my favorite.

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Works Cited

"About.com." About.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Sept. 2013. "SuperHeroStuff." SuperHeroStuff. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Sept. 2013. <http://www.superherostuff.com/>.

Infoplease. Infoplease, n.d. Web. 02 Sept. 2013. <http://www.infoplease.com/>.