Spider-Man Returns To His Roots in “Spidey”
By C.T. Smith
“Before he was Amazing… he was Spidey.” Marvel’s tagline sums up the essence of upcoming comic “Spidey,” which brings Spider-Man back to his teenage years in high school. Sure, in the All-New, All-Different Amazing Spider-Man, Peter Parker is CEO of his own company Parker Industries, a seasoned veteran of the heroic game, and ready to take on the globe as an international, quip slinging, Spider-Mobile driving, Villain webbing phenom, but he didn’t start as one of the greatest heroes ever.
The story of Peter Parker’s time as Spider-Man in high school may sound familiar, as many consider the high school years as a definitive era of Spider-Man, representative of a down-to-earth hero who has to juggle heroism with school work and relationships. We’ve seen it in two blockbuster movies, we’ll probably see it again in one more, and Spidey’s long history in Marvel comics has portrayed this time in Spider-Man’s life multiple times, from Ultimate Spider-Man and Marvel Adventures, to Spidey’s first appearance in Amazing Fantasy and the 30 issues of high school during the Lee and Ditko run. While this may not be treading into new territory, this throwback comic comes at an apt time as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s reboot is known to feature a young Spider-Man still in high school.
In an interview over at
writer Robbie Thompson of Silk makes a good argument for going back to Spidey’s younger years once more saying:
"“I’m paraphrasing here, but I think Axel Alonso put it best at the Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends panel at SDCC — everyone has a FIRST Spider-Man comic book. And there are a lot of people who know Spider-Man from the movies, or the animated show or video games — but not all of those folks have tapped into the source code of the character: the comics. Our hope is Spidey can be a gateway to new readers, inspiring them to dig through the endless Spider-Man comic lore — whether it’s the classic stories of Lee and Ditko, or the epic world hopping stories to come in the pages of Dan Slott’s Amazing Spider-Man. And we also hope to bring in lifelong fans with a trip down memory lane, harkening back to the types of stories those of us who grew up reading Spider-Man remember.”"
As many times as we’ve seen Spider-Man’s origin and school years, there’s always new fans. New comic book readers, people getting introduced to the Web-Slinger through the movies, or a kid stumbling upon an old issue of Amazing Spider-Man stored away in his parent’s storage. And it’s not exactly a “re-telling” so much as a deeper look into Pete’s younger years, a love letter to that classic era. Each issue will start with a visual recap of Spidey’s origins, and each issue is a standalone story start to finish, so readers can jump in at any point and still get a fulfilling story. This is a book aimed for everyone, easily accessible and filled with the youth, struggle, and fun of Peter’s early wall-crawling days. The art comes from the ink of Nick Bradshaw’s pen, who worked on Wolverine and the X-Men, and will hit shelves during the All-New, All-Different Phase of Marvel.
I’m all for a Spidey run that returns to the one-and-done fashion of the old days, and it’s content should complement the upcoming movie well. That being said, there is an insane amount of Spider-Verse related comics coming out, and this series just adds another to my ever-growing list. What do you think? Too much nostalgia for the younger years, or a welcomed returned to the good ole’ days?