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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132231
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| Posted: 22 September 2016 at 8:39am | IP Logged | 1
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There dont really need to be any "influences" in the creation of Spider-Man beyond spiders themselves. Just look at them! What a cool collection of "powers."Mind you, since most people find spiders creepy, their traditional "casting" has been as bad guys!
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Matt Hawes
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 16428
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| Posted: 22 September 2016 at 1:05pm | IP Logged | 2
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Paul Simpson Simpson wrote:
| ...When I started this tread the furthest thing from my mind was to portray anyone as a villain. I apologize if it seemed that way... |
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Your post didn't come across that way to me. But, too many other people who get involved in the discussion (and I mean everywhere it happens, not specifically on this board) do seem to want there to be a "bad guy" in the history. While not everyone agrees on whom created what and when -- not even the creators themselves, sometimes (!!) -- that sort of thing doesn't necessitate that there need be a villain in the matter.
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Matt Hawes
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 16428
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| Posted: 22 September 2016 at 1:11pm | IP Logged | 3
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Brian Floyd wrote:
| ...I wonder if the Golden Age hero the Tarantula had any influence on Spider-Man's creation?... |
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I don't think it's too hard to believe that mixing spiders with the superhuman concept might be something of a thought that anyone could have came up with. To me, it's simpler to believe the actual critter known as the spider itself was an inspiration. And the fact that Tarantula, The Spider, The Silver Spider, all existed before Spider-Man and yet none that made it to publication made the splash that Spider-Man did shows there was something more to that character than the spider motif.
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Harri Jokinen
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 11 May 2014
Location: Finland
Posts: 49
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| Posted: 22 September 2016 at 2:25pm | IP Logged | 4
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Is it possible to read Ditko's articles on Spider-Man online? I've only ever found second-hand information.
I know later on Ditko plotted and drew everything, but does he say how much input Stan had on the earlier stories? Or who came up with all the villains, supporting characters and personal drama?
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Jason Czeskleba
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 30 April 2004
Posts: 4548
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| Posted: 22 September 2016 at 7:23pm | IP Logged | 5
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Harri Jokinen wrote:
| I know later on Ditko plotted and drew everything, but does he say how much input Stan had on the earlier stories? Or who came up with all the villains, supporting characters and personal drama? |
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Ditko's articles on Spider-Man are not available in their entirety online. They are not even available in one single publication, but were appeared in a variety of self-published magazines and pamphlets. You can find excerpts online, but that's it. This long series of articles excerpts a lot of Ditko's comments, but of course you have to wade through much speculation and editorializing by the author to find them.
From what I gather, Ditko is not clear about Stan's exact contribution to the earlier stories. Regarding the first story, he seems to suggest he plotted it by himself, saying that all he received from Stan was the five-pages Kirby had completed, and he worked from there. Regarding other early issues, he says that he drew the stories from written synopses provided by Stan, but he is unclear about whether Stan came up with these synopses entirely by himself, or wrote them up after verbal plot conferences with Ditko (both methods were employed at times).
It's also unclear when Ditko took over as sole plotter. We know that he began receiving credit with issue #25, but he has said that he began plotting the book entirely by himself before then. But he has not said exactly when.
Regarding the personal drama, Ditko has said that in the early issues Stan objected to too much time being spent on Peter's personal life, asking for more action and more pages featuring Spider-Man. Ditko says he responded by creating the iconic half-Peter/half-Spider-Man image as a way to give Stan more Spider-Man without actually reducing Peter's scenes.
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Greg Kirkman
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 May 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 15775
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| Posted: 22 September 2016 at 9:45pm | IP Logged | 6
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Y'know, considering how fleshed-out and interesting Peter and his supporting characters were, I'd be happy to visit the alternate universe where the comic book was just PETER PARKER, a series about the life of a nerdy high school kid.
And, purely as a "What If?", it would be fun to speculate just where Peter's life and relationships would have gone, had he not been bitten by that spider. Ben Parker still alive. No job at the Bugle. No coming out of his shell and dating Betty Brant. He would certainly have still met Harry, Gwen, and Mary Jane, but where would his life have gone, without Spider-Man to shake things up?
After all, Peter arguably came out of his shell, after that fateful spider-bite. Would the shy, bespectacled Peter of that first story have ever had to confidence to date a knockout like Mary Jane, once he got into college? Or, would he stil be the science nerd who'd get picked on by Flash Thompson and ignored by the ladies?
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Jason Czeskleba
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 30 April 2004
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| Posted: 22 September 2016 at 11:01pm | IP Logged | 7
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Uncle Ben would have died regardless, wouldn't he? The nonexistence of Spider-Man wouldn't have prevented Ben's death, it simply would prevent Peter from having had the missed opportunity to save him.
Edited by Jason Czeskleba on 22 September 2016 at 11:01pm
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Greg Kirkman
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 May 2006
Location: United States
Posts: 15775
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| Posted: 23 September 2016 at 12:58am | IP Logged | 8
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Dagnabbit! This is what I get for writing this stuff late at night!
Yeah, of course the burglar would still have gone to the Parker house. And, since Peter wouldn't have been out making a personal appearance as Spider-Man, that means he probably would have been home when the burglar came. And might've been killed, himself!
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Andrew Saxon
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 June 2016
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 337
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| Posted: 23 September 2016 at 1:10am | IP Logged | 9
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And might've been killed, himself!
Or an extra light might have been showing in the Parker home making the burglar think twice about breaking in and potentially taking on more than one person?
I like to think that Peter would have gone on to great things even without being bitten by that spider. Actually things might have worked out better for Pete. Though he wouldn't have been inspired to create web-shooters and webbing, Peter would still have the brains that invented them. Who knows where that genius would have carried him.
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Paul Simpson Simpson
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 07 April 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 939
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| Posted: 23 September 2016 at 2:03am | IP Logged | 10
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Is it possible to read Ditko's articles on Spider-Man online? I've only ever found second-hand information. ********** I read the article reprinted in the Alter Ego section of a very early issue of Comic Book Artist published by Twomorrows Publishing. It was reprinted from a issue of Robin Snyder"s "The Comics"
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Paul Simpson Simpson
Byrne Robotics Member
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| Posted: 23 September 2016 at 2:47am | IP Logged | 11
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Found the article. It's in Comic Book Artist volume 1 number 3
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Mark McMurray
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
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| Posted: 23 September 2016 at 11:56am | IP Logged | 12
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Is it possible to read Ditko's articles on Spider-Man online?
********************** The following essays related to his contributions to S-M were serialized in THE COMICS and not, as yet, collected elsewhere:
“A Mini-History”
THE COMICS v12 #5 [2001] - "A Mini-History - Some Background" THE COMICS v12 #7 [2001] - "A Mini-History Part 1 - The Green Goblin" THE COMICS v12 #10 [2001] - "A Mini-History Part 2 - Amazing Fantasy #15" THE COMICS v12 #11 [2001] - "A Mini-History Part 3 - The Amazing Spider-man #1" THE COMICS v13 #1 [2002] - "A Mini-History Part 4 - The Amazing Spider-man #2" THE COMICS v13 #4 [2002] - "A Mini-History Part 5 - The Amazing Spider-man #3" THE COMICS v13 #5 [2002] - "A Mini-History Part 6 - Spider-woman/Spider-girl" THE COMICS v13 #8 [2002] - "A Mini-History Part 7 - The Amazing Spider-man #4" THE COMICS v14 #2 [2003] - "A Mini-History Part 8 - Others, Outsiders (OOs): Complainers and Complaints Against Betty Brant" THE COMICS v14 #4 [2003] - "A Mini-History Part 9 - The OOs and Aunt May" THE COMICS v14 #5 [2003] - "A Mini-History Part 10 - The OOs and JJJ" THE COMICS v14 #6 [2003] - "A Mini-History Part 11 - Further Complaints and Influences of the OOs" THE COMICS v14 #7 [2003] - "A Mini-History Part 12 - Guest Stars: Heroes and Villains" THE COMICS v14 #8 [2003] - "A Mini-History Part 13 - Speculation" THE COMICS v14 #9 [2003] - "A Mini-History Part 14 - The Mistrial" THE COMICS v14 #11 [2003] - "A Mini-History - Wind-up"
More recently Ditko has written the following essay which was published last year.
The Four-Page Series #9 - "Why I Quit S-M, Marvel”
As far as I know, this is still available from Robin Snyder
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