We all know the line. With great power comes great responsibility. But it wasn’t always that way. In fact, Spidey’s motivations in his earliest stories were pretty self-serving and mainly revolved around him trying to make a quick buck. He even (very) fleetingly fantasises about a life of crime; however, his moral compass, coupled with the fact that “it would break Aunt May’s heart!” if he were to be caught and imprisoned, swiftly puts paid to this notion. It’s not until Spider-man’s sixth adventure in Amazing Spider-man #3 that he actively goes out of his way to become a crime-fighting superhero.
For me, these early stories encapsulate two aspects of Spider-man which make me love the character. Firstly, that he is a reluctant hero, a theme which makes him incredibly relatable and one which the writers would return to time and again (perhaps most notably in the hugely influential ‘Spider-man No More!’ storyline from five years later). Secondly, that he grows and changes throughout the stories, keeping the character fresh and interesting.
Upon discovering that a radioactive spider bite has granted him incredible powers during his debut in Amazing Fantasy #15, Peter Parker muses: “I-I’ve got to have time to think! I’ve got to plan what to do with this unbelievable ability which fate has given me!”. However, he seemingly doesn’t need all that much time, as it is only “A few minutes later…” that he decides to enter a wrestling match for a $100 prize. Then, in part 2 of the same story, he appears on TV, now clad in a homemade red and blue costume, to wow audiences with his amazing powers. Even after Uncle Ben’s death, Peter returns to a TV career in the hope of attaining fame and fortune in the first story presented in Amazing Spider-man #1, only to have his attempts thwarted by the fact that no bank will pay out a cheque made out to ‘Spider-man’!
This theme continues throughout the second story of the first issue (‘Spider-man vs. the Chameleon’) with the web-slinging teen attempting to join the Fantastic Four in the hope of earning a steady salary, only to give up on the idea as soon as he is told that they are a non-profit organisation! He is later drawn into a trap by the Chameleon on the promise of financial gain after receiving an anonymous message asking to meet and ensuring him that “it will be very profitable” for him.
In addition to trying to monetise his powers, the main thrust of both stories in the first issue is Spider-man attempting to garner good press and restore his reputation after being branded a public menace by J. Jonah Jameson: first by rescuing astronaut (and son of jolly ol’ Jonah) John Jameson and later by confronting the Chameleon who has stolen Spider-man’s identity in order to frame him for a series of crimes. Again, this is purely self-serving and is more about his own image than heroism.
Amazing Spider-man #2 again contains two stories (it was common in the Silver Age for characters to feature in shorter stories, even when they had their own book). In ‘Duel to the Death with the Vulture!’ (which, it should be noted, is pure comic-book hyperbole as neither combatant dies!), Peter hits upon the realisation that “Magazines pay big money for hard-to-get photos!” and embarks on a mission to snap photos of the Vulture for the Daily Bugle. Then, in ‘The Uncanny Threat of the Terrible Tinkerer’, Spidey only accidentally becomes embroiled in the action when he takes his radio to be fixed and stumbles upon an alien plot to invade the Earth!
While Spider-man undoubtedly does heroic things in these stories (saving John’s life, defeating various costumed villains, and saving the Earth from alien invasion!), he doesn’t set out to be a hero; he’s just a guy trying to make his way in this world and pay the bills. As well as helping to promote the new title, the introduction of the altruistic Fantastic Four so early in the run of Amazing Spider-man helps to cement this theme by providing a foil which enables us to better see the differences between Spider-man and more conventional superheroes. The colourful quartet do what they do because it is the right thing to do, not for any personal gain (in fact, F.F. member the Human Torch will later be pivotal to Spidey’s arc of becoming a fully-fledged hero in ASM #3).
What’s also great about these early stories is that they do so much to build up the world of Spider-man and introduce a number of tropes which will remain familiar to readers down the years: down-on-his-luck Peter Parker trying to make ends meet and support his ailing Aunt May; the hostility of J. Jonah Jameson and his public hate campaign against the ‘masked menace’ that is Spider-man; and Peter the photographer selling photos of his crime-fighting exploits to the Daily Bugle (he even uses his belt-mounted mini-camera for the first time in issue 2). But, most importantly, they take Peter Parker on a journey from self-centered teenager to reluctant hero over the course of their telling, setting Spider-man up for the next part of his story.
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