Spider Man: The Man, The Myth, The Legend Of The Silver Age Of Comic Books

It is hard to find an American these days who has not at least heard of Spider-Man. Many might even be able to tell you a few details about him. Spider-Man first debuted in the Silver Age Of Comic Books in 1962. This comic book, Amazing Fantasy #15 (published by Marvel Comics), is one of the most sought after silver age comic books for sale of collectors today.

Spider-Man was created to meet a growing demand in the comic book market. More and more teenagers were reading and buying silver age comics for sale in the early 1960s. Writers thought it would be a great idea to invent a superhero with whom adolescents could identify. Up until that time, comic books portrayed teenagers as sidekicks to the main character in the story. Superheroes would watch out for and protect these sidekicks. Spider-Man was depicted as the main character in his story, with no superhero mentor. Teenagers could relate to him because his alter ego, Peter Parker, was just an average, everyday boy like them. He dealt with the same problems as his readers: self-consciousness, school, peer pressure and of course, girls.

Peter Parker was not born a superhero in  the Silver Age of comic books. He was on a school field trip when he was bitten by a radioactive spider. This bite endowed Peter with spider-like abilities such as being able to scale walls without falling. Like many other superheroes, he became incredibly strong, fast and agile. He could even sense when there was danger, a sixth sense that was known as his “spidey-sense.” Peter Parker was an intellectual type that excelled in the sciences, especially chemistry and physics. He used this knowledge to build many of his own villain-fighting devices including his mechanical web-shooters. This device aided him in several ways, most notably its ability to shoot a single strand from which Spider-Man swung.

Swing by Cosmic Comics sometime and have a chat with Jolly Jim to learn more about the Silver Age Of Comic Books and be sure to pick up the latest Spider-Man movie, out today, The Amazing Spider-Man (Three-Disc Combo: Blu-ray / DVD + UltraViolet Digital Copy), starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone and as always, #getyourfix at Cosmic Comics! in Las Vegas!