Web-Spinning Heroics Sample file This page intentionally left blank Sample file Web-Spinning Heroics Critical Essays on the History and Meaning of Spider-Man Edited by ROBERT MOSES PEASLEE and ROBERT G. WEINER Foreword by Tom DeFalco Afterword by Gary Jackson Sample file McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Jefferson, North Carolina, and London ALSO OF INTEREST In the Peanut Gallery with Mystery Science Theater 3000: Essays on Film, Fandom, Technology and the Culture of Riffing (2011; edited by Robert G. Weiner and Shelley E. Barba) Graphic Novels and Comics in Libraries and Archives: Essays on Readers, Research, History and Cataloging (2010; edited by Robert G. Weiner) Captain America and the Struggle of the Superhero: Critical Essays (2009; edited by Robert G. Weiner) Marvel Graphic Novels and Related Publications: An Annotated Guide to Comics, Prose Novels, Children’s Books, Articles, Criticism and Reference Works, 1965–2005 (2008; Robert G. Weiner) LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Web-spinning heroics : critical essays on the history and meaning of Spider-Man / edited by Robert Moses Peaslee and Robert G. Weiner ; foreword by Tom DeFalco ; afterword by Gary Jackson. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. SampleISBN 978-0-7864-4627-8 file softcover : acid free paper 1. Spider-Man (Fictitious character) 2. Comic books, strips, etc.—Moral and ethical aspects. I. Peaslee, Robert Moses, 1973– II. Weiner, Robert G., 1966– PN6728.S6W425 2012 741.5'973—dc23 2012014322 BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE © 2012 Robert Moses Peaslee and Robert G. Weiner. All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Cover illustration ©2012 Digital Vision Manufactured in the United States of America McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640 www.mcfarlandpub.com Acknowledgments The editors would like to thank Tom DeFalco and Gary Jackson for their support of the project and their generous contributions to it. Robert Moses Peaslee: This volume is dedicated to all the mentors who have guided me as a student and a scholar, and who have in the process refrained from steering me too rigidly way from the diversionary projects that have, in time, become my fields of study: Donna Berghorn, Patrick Anderson, Ann Page Stecker, Joe Kelly, Janice Peck, Polly McLean, Andrew Calabrese, Paul Gordon, Liz Skewes, Ann Hardy, Tim Oakes, Lynn Clark, Stewart Hoover, and Shu-Ling Berggreen. I would especially honor the memory of Dr. Donald Coonley, who first introduced me to critical media studies and, in effect, opened my eyes. Thanks to Brian Hamilton and Jacob Copple, whose generous and skilled assistance during the editing process was invaluable to bringing the project together more or less on time. Many friends and family members have stoked my interest in the topic of superheroes and their attendant milieu: among them I would mention TJ Davis, Jon Zimnick, the late Kirk Zimnick, Curtis Coats, and, of course, Rob Weiner. Rob, you are a scholarship machine, an encyclopedia, an expert, and a trueSample inspiration. Thankfile you for your overwhelming gen- erosity in all things, but especially in bringing me into this important project. Robert G. Weiner: This book is dedicated to the memory of my father Dr. Leonard Weiner, who always supported my scholarship and never once made light of my various projects (even as a forty- something studying comics and film). Thanks and love to Marilyn Weiner and Larry and Vicki. Thanks to Elizabeth Figa, Cynthia J. Miller, The Southwestern Popular Culture Asso- ciation (Ken Dvorak, Sally Sanchez, Lynnea Chapman King, Kelli Shapiro), John Cline, Flint Marko, KD, Jessica Drew, Ben Reilly, Tom Gonzales, Sara Dulin, Joe Ferrer, John Oyerbides, Ms. Conni Kitten, Dan Watkins, Dr. Sam Dragga, Marina Oliver, Shelley E. Barba, Kaley Daniel, Mr. Ryan Litsey, Lynn Whitfield, David Marshall, Fredonia Paschal and Dr. Peter Coogan. Thanks to Dean Dyal, Dr. Joan Ormrod, Dr. David Huxley, and the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. All my love to Rachel (you are my Sunday Morning Sunshine). v vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thanks to the staff of the Texas Tech Libraries and in particular the staff of Document Delivery! Thanks to my supervisor Laura Heinz for good advice always and to my colleagues in the Research, Outreach and Instruction department (Ryan Cassidy, Kimberly Vardeman, Arlene Paschall, Jon Hufford, Tom Rohrig, Minerva Alaniz, Brian Quinn, Jack Becker, Donell Callender, Sandy River, Innocent Awesome, Carrye and Jake Syma, Sheila Hoover, Ms. Cyn- thia Henry, Susan Hidalgo, ER, and Mr. Samuel Dyal). Thanks to my magical critters for always putting a smile on my face! I would like to give tribute to the memory of Sunshine, Remy, and Captain, who are missed. An honest dedication to those Spidey scribes who influenced me: Tom DeFalco, J.M. DeMatteis, Steve Ditko, John Romita, Sr., Alex Ross, Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, Brian Michael Bendis, Roger Stern, Gil Kane, Marv Wolfman, and Len Wein. And thanks to all the writers and artists who have ever worked on a Spider-Man comic. Finally, I would like to thank my friend, colleague, teacher, and co-editor Dr. Robert Moses Peaslee. Thanks for believing in this project, your eye for detail, and for so much hard work. You are truly a “gentleman and a scholar.” It is an honor to work with you. Sample file Table of Contents Acknowledgments . v Foreword: My Pal Pete TOM DEFALCO . 1 Elegy for Gwen Stacy GARY JACKSON . 3 Introduction ROBERT G. WEINER and ROBERT MOSES PEASLEE . 4 I. Historical, Cultural and Pedagogical Angles Donald Glover for Spider-Man PHILLIP LAMARR CUNNINGHAM . 22 Have Great Power, Greatly Irresponsible: Intergenerational Conflict in 1960s Amazing Spider-Man PETER LEE . 29 “Continually in the Making”: Spider-Man’s New York MARTIN FLANAGAN . .Sample . file. 40 Hegemonic Implications of Science in Popular Media: Science Narratives and Representations of Physics in the Spider-Man Film Trilogy LISA HOLDERMAN . 53 Teaching Peter Parker’s Ghosts of Milton: Anxiety of Influence, the Trace, and Platonic Knowing in Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 1 JAMES BUCKY CARTER . 63 II. Considering Specific Graphic Novels Weaving Webs and True Lies: Revisiting Kraven’s Last Hunt Through the Lens of Brooklyn Dreams DAVID WALTON . 70 The Hermeneutics of Spider-Man: What Is Peter Parker Doing in Elizabethan England? CHRISTINA C. ANGEL . 74 vii viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Strategies of Narration in Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s Spider-Man: Blue DEREK PARKER ROYAL . 81 III. The J. Jonah Jameson Problem Spider-Man: MENACE!!! Stan Lee, Censorship and the 100-Issue Revolution AARON DRUCKER . 90 J. Jonah Jameson—Hero or Villain? Spider-Man’s Nemesis Hard to Pigeonhole ANDREW A. SMITH . 101 Spider-Management: A Critical Examination of the Business World of Spider-Man MATTHEW MCGOWAN and JEREMY SHORT . 113 IV. Spider-Man and Other Sequential Art Characters Anti-Heroes: Spider-Man and the Punisher CORD A. SCOTT . 120 The Sinister Six: Anti-Villains in an Anti-Heroic Narrative RICK HUDSON . 128 Spider-Man and Batman, Disordered Minds: Friendship Through Difference PHILLIP BEVIN . 134 V. Trauma Textual and Extra-Textual The Loss of the Father: TraumaSample Theory and file the Birth of Spider-Man FORREST C. HELVIE . 146 Artificial Mourning: The Spider-Man Trilogy and September 11th TAMA LEAVER . 154 VI. Issues of Gender in the Spider-verse Three Stories, Three Movies and the Romances of Mary Jane and Spider-Man ROBERT G. WEINER . 166 Women’s Pleasures Watching Spider-Man’s Journeys EMILY D. EDWARDS . 177 The Incorrigible Aunt May ORA C. MCWILLIAMS . 187 Spidey Meets Freud: Central Psychoanalytic Motifs in Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 ROBERT MOSES PEASLEE . 195 Table of Contents ix VII. Under-Examined Spider-Texts Reinterpreting Myths in Spider-Man: The Animated Series DAVID RAY CARTER . 210 Finding the Milieu of the Spider-Man Music LPs MARK MCDERMOTT . 222 Games Are Not Convergence: Spider-Man 3, Game Design and the Lost Promise of Digital Production and Convergence CASEY O’DONNELL . 234 Afterword GARY JACKSON . 249 About the Contributors . 251 Index . 255 Sample file This page intentionally left blank Sample file Foreword: My Pal Pete TOM DEFALCO Peter Parker, better known to the rest of the world as the amazing Spider-Man, holds a very special place in my heart. I first encountered him when I chanced upon a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15. The year was 1962 and I bought all my comic books off the spinner rack at my local soda shop. (No, I didn’t live in Riverdale, but Pop Tate-style soda shops were where you bought your candy bars, comics, magazines, malteds, vanilla egg creams, root beer floats, lime rickeys, hamburgers and even school supplies back in the day.) I spied the cover to AF #15 on the rack and couldn’t resist a chance to read the introduction of Spider-Man. Why not? I was already a loyal Marvel fan, having begun on the day I purchased Fantastic Four #3 and #4 and every succeeding issue. Needless to say, like many a comic book fan, I immediately identified with Pete. He wasn’t a geek or a loser. He just liked to read, had trouble attracting girls, and wasn’t the most popular kid in school. He was the first comic book character who shared a lot of the same problems I did. (Robin lived in a mansion, Archie was surrounded by Betty and Veronica, and Superboy was, well, SUPERBOY!) In many ways, I would have ended up a lot like Pete if the radioactive spider had bitten me.