Comments on: John Seavey’s Storytelling Engines: Spider-Man, Part One

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 02 May 2007 17:59:21 +0000

I’ve often heard that the significant early changes in part were a result of a ‘how long is this gonna last?’ mentality. Perhaps it was recognized around the time Ditko left that Spider-Man had a role to play as a flagship publication and money-maker for the company for years to come, and it was decided not to risk the comic’s readership by upsetting the status quo. This may have been more an economic decision than a creative one; Ditko leaving might have had less to do with it than it appears.

By: Paul C

Paul C — Tue, 01 May 2007 23:08:00 +0000

Nice article and I have to agree and say that those early issues were genius. The beauty of them is that they were all done-in-one stories, yet they got so much crammed into them.

By: Mark Guttag

Mark Guttag — Tue, 01 May 2007 16:21:44 +0000

Although I would agree there was much less creativity with respect to the super-villains post-Ditko, I think the Spider-man’s supporting cast became more interesting post-Ditko. Compare Lee-Ditko’s Betty Brant to Lee-Romita’s Mary Jane for example. And characters that were fairly 2-dimensional for Lee-Ditko, become increasingly 3-dimension for Lee-Romita: Harry, Gwen, Jonah, etc.

Don’t get me wrong, compared to any other comic being published in the early 60′s, Lee-Ditko’s Spider-man was a truly unique book that stood head and shoulder’s above most of DC’s and Marvel’s output. I just don’t think that we would have seen some of the interesting character development had Ditko not left. I

I also think Peter’s character would have become increasingly problematic had Ditko not left; Peter’s character was becoming almost unlikeable around the time Ditko left.

By: Rohan Williams

Rohan Williams — Tue, 01 May 2007 12:50:12 +0000

God, those early Spider-Man issues are brilliant. Thanks for throwing the spotlight on them! I love how those early issues seemed to feed off the energy from the tension of two genres- superhero action and soap opera romance- being forcibly thrown together, before that became the norm.

I also loved how, regardless of how crazy everything got throughout the issue, Lee and Ditko’d nearly always find time to throw the hopeless romantics a bittersweet last page about Peter and Betty or whoever. The page where Pete and Betty are sitting underneath the desk after the Vulture fight inside the Bugle offices is a favourite of mine.

I agree with most everything you wrote there, except I’d possibly say that the fact that Peter and Gwen could believably break up at any time, and Harry’s gradual mental instability, stand out to me as examples of the status quo not being overly rigid, post-Ditko. Lee and Romita definitely found a particular groove they liked staying in, though.