Why Spider-Man Matters and Why Geek Culture Loves Him

With the new Spider-Man man franchise kick starting just around the corner, I thought it would
be a good time to dissect our favorite arachnid and figure out what makes him tick: what works; what
doesn't; and why he's so easy to relate to.
More than any other hero in comics culture, Spider-Man is easily the most identifiable, because
he's the most like us. Forget the fact that he was gifted with the proportionate speed, strength, and
senses of a spider. Forget the fact that he swings on webs at impossible heights and exhibits acrobatic
feats the likes of which any Cirque du Soleil gymnast would envy.
Concentrate firstly on the fact he swings on webs of his own design. He concocted those webs
in a home made chemistry lab because he's a science nerd. He's a straight A book geek: a card carrying,
wedgie infused, picked upon, laughed at, member of his high school science club, with more brains
than brawn, which alienates him from the peers he so desperately wants approval of.
The thing about wanting the approval of peers that largely don't accept you, is that you can learn
the wrong lesson in seeking it. Which is exactly what happened to Peter Parker. The minute he started
thinking selfishly; about wanting his due, at the exclusion of others, is the minute the first of his great
tragedies befell upon him.
The thing is: who can blame him? What picked upon geek with his nose in Tolkien novel even
as paper ball went flying towards the back of his head, can't relate to a desire to make things right? To
get their due? To show them all that the thing they love is not so bad, and that loving it makes them a
better man or woman for doing so?
And given the chance: to make fools of them all; to score the winning touch down; to cash in
your chips a winner at a Las Vegas casino; wouldn't you take it? Sure you would. And it wouldn't be so
bad, so long as you didn't step on anyone to to do it. Peter Parker's a good guy. He didn't step on anyone
to make his money early on. But he forgot it's not enough to not step on people. Sometimes you have to
get involved. Sometimes you have to stick your foot out and jam it in society's door and say, “Wait a
minute! This is wrong! We can do better. And we should.” And that's where the phrase, “With great
power, comes great responsibility” comes in. But that phrase, succinct and perfect as it is (thank you
Stan Lee), however much it should be emblazoned on every town hall, every municipal government
building, every corporate share holder's meeting room, doesn't begin to describe the tragedy of Peter
Parker's life. What describes it perfectly, is that he didn't listen to it.
Because he didn't listen to it, he didn't stick his foot out. Because he didn't stick his foot out, his
uncle Ben died. No more powerful reminder of his civic duty could exist. No greater lesson can be
learned. It's why I wish more people read Spider-Man; certainly more people in positions of power. I'll
bet you anything the Occupy Wall Street movement is filled with Spider-Man geeks.
Peter Parker is a tragic figure in comics. There are many: Batman and Daredevil to name just
two. But unlike them, Spider-Man lost his father figure at roughly the age of fifteen.. The age where a
young man needs his father most. It's a hormone driven rebellious age where you think you know all
the answers because you think your parents are out of touch with the world. You need a firm hand to
tell you, “You haven't got it ALL figured out yet kid. What you're going through now is as old as time.
You need to stop: and consider. Because who you decide to be, whether you become him or not, will
have its reverberations throughout the rest of your life; in ways you can't imagine.”
Peter got that lesson the hard way and his uncle Ben died. But here's the thing: and it's the thing
I can tell you with absolute certainty. Because my own father died when I was fourteen. Because I still
carry the weight of that every day I wake. I'm 48 years old, and there isn't a day that goes by when I
don't think, “What would my father have made of my choices?” He wanted the best for me. He
nurtured my curious mind. He didn't care that I exhibited an interest in comics, so long as I was
reading. My mother saw them as “funny books”, and beneath me.
At one point, my collection grew so vast (they took up so much room, and that musty smell I
still love, permeated the house so strongly) that she made me take them out and store them in the shed.
In Florida weather, storing them in a wooden shed, is putting them in a breading ground for mold. To
top it off, my uncle at this time decided to keep pigeons, and the only place he could store them was in
the shed. This was before plastic bags. This was before a collector's market. This was before anyone
had any idea how valuable comics could become.
So one day, in a rather depressed state of mind, I bemoaned the state to which my comics had
fallen, to which my father asked me, “Why didn't you say anything before?” “Because I didn't feel I
had a choice.”
And this is what he said; what I will take with me to the end of my days: If you don't stand up
for what you love, then your love is insincere.”
At the time, I thought he couldn't be more wrong. But this is a man who at the height of the
Cuban/communist revolution, got my mother out; got her daughter out; got his sons and wife at time
out, and himself along too. He must have begged, cajoled, threatened, and bribed to make ALL THIS
happen. Forget Spider-Man, my dad was the Batman of Cuba!
My point here is, no matter what I do, I imagine I will always fall short of the expectations I
feel my father would have had. If this is true for me, what must Peter have been thinking on the day
Gwen Stacy died?
Gwen Stacy, Peter's first love, died for no good reason at all. She died because the Green Goblin
wanted to hurt him. The Green Goblin, at the time, was the only villain besides Ra's al Ghul, who knew
his nemesis' secret identity. But the Green Goblin (at the time) was very much a Jekyll and Hyde figure.
He only knew Peter was Spider-Man as the Green Goblin, and the rest of the time he was his best
friend's dad.
He couldn't help but minimize the threat, and he couldn't help but feel sorry for both him and
his friend Harry.
But that's me cutting Peter some slack. As he dove off that bridge and webbed Gwen's ankle,
inadvertently snapping her neck, what must Peter have been thinking? The time honored adage, “With
great power, comes great responsibility”, can be interpreted a number of ways. It was the worst day of
his life, and he still keeps on swinging.
It has become fashionable in the comics these days to cut Spider-Man some slack. He has a well
paying job in which he gets to dictate his own hours (how cool is THAT), he has a spider suit for every
occasion (much like Batman), he's in every non mutant super hero team and suddenly New York loves
him! As someone's who's grown with Peter, I couldn't be happier for him. But it's a little bit like that
indie actor you see who's made a career of making off beat choices and taking risks. Then, one day,
Hollywood sits up and notices and starts casting him in high profile movies. Finally, he's making real
money, and you couldn't be happier for him. But it seems like he's cast in the same two or three roles
over and over, and he's just sort of costing by.
It bodes well for me that Gwen Stacy is an important character in this next, new franchise of
films, because it seems to me to indicate they want to get back to Spider-Man's roots. The Spider-Man I
knew struggled with rent. He was a photographer for The Daily Bugle (and yeah, it's a bit ridiculous
that someone with his science acumen would be a free lancer – not even a salaried employee with
benefits) where once a month he'd bring in photos of Spider-Man fighting some major super villain.
With the rents being what they are in New York City, I can't imagine it was ever enough.
But he got by. Sometimes by sharing rent with his friends; sometimes by the skin of his teeth. I
can relate. That's the thing about Spider-Man: you can relate. Because like you, he's been through his
ups and downs. Because like you, he struggles to get by. Despite that, he always finds the humor in
every situation whether it's being pummeled by bad guys or teeming up with another hero. He deals
with adversity through humor and refuses to see the darkness within. He has something relevant to say
to all of us and that is, “Cheer up! It's gonna be a hard day, but today's the day you just might get to
make a difference. Today's the day you just might become the hero you've always wanted to be.
Sometimes all it takes is for you to stick your foot out.” Such is the way great journeys begin.