Issue 54- "Risings"

Words, Pics, Inks: Heath P. Lail

Many times, people have asked me why I love comic books. They say that comics are bad for children because of all the violence, but my response to that is simply, "well if parents paid more attention to what their child was looking at, perhaps they could come to a more clear-cut decision about what really affects their kids." Comic books have a rating system these days...if Johnny is 7, don't pick up anything with a Explicit Contents box, or you might be suprised what is in these funny books these days. I personally feel that comics do make a much greater impact on the population than most credit it with. I have read Spider-Man comics since I was nine years old, and today I began to wonder if I should continue to purchase all of the titles. I mean, it takes up a great deal of my personal income each month, and sometimes the stories are not all that interesting...I guess the Veitch and Moore runs on ST ruined me, but with the average price of a comic being $2.25 or more these days, sometimes I just don't feel like I'm getting my money's worth some months. Today I picked up Amazing Spider-Man number 509, the title that I have collected more issues of than any other book I've ever read on a consistent basis. The original title ran for 441 issues, roughly forty years, and I have collected roughly 210 or more issues of that series. They renumbered the book with issue 1 around 5 years ago, and when the time came, they switched back to the original numbering with issue 500. Anyway, I opened the book to see the new artists' rendering of my favorite characters, and I was pleasantly suprised...by the writer's story. A guy named J.M. Stracynski writes the book, and you may or may not remember him as the guy who was the brain-child of Babylon 5, a sci-fi TV epic a few years back. His stuff has been terrific so far, but I was dissappointed that my favorite artist on the title was leaving with 508, so I guess I've just been reading for the sake of reading. Get yourself strapped in kids, cause I'm fixing to spin your heads around. Wayyyyy back in issue 122 of the original run, Spider-Man was dating Gwen Stacy, a blonde bombshell. Well the Green Goblin was zipping around on his glider and knocked her off a parapice on the Brooklyn Bridge. Spidey tried to grab his beloved with a piece of web-line, but when he pulled her up, she was dead. There has been arguments as to whether the Goblin killed her, or Spider-Man snapped her neck by pulling the web-strand to stop her descent. Anyway, he was extremely upset over Gwen's death, and 123 ends with the Goblin dying, impaled by his own glider. Peter Parker loved Gwen Stacy like no other...she was his first true love, and he would have gladly died in her stead if it were possible. So with issue 509, someone sends Peter a page of a letter from Gwen, written before her untimely demise. It ends abruptly, just as she is about to tell Peter something very important. Human emotion....that is why I love Spider-Man. Because somehow, deep down inside, I can connect with the character of Peter Parker, and the trials and tribulations he faces month in and month out.  He was picked on as a kid, and so was I. He has had rather tough girl trouble, and God knows so have I. He is intelligent, and so am I(I would like to think). There are a multitude of things connecting me with Spider-Man, and that is why he is and will be my favorite character. Everyone has been picked on as a kid, everyone has had girl-boyfriend problems, everyone has felt responsible for letting a important figure in their life down. Spider-Man could easily have been called Every-Man, and sold just as well. There is a human factor to these great characters, and that is their staying power. I just finished reading the new Captain America series issue number 1 again. It too reminded me of the power of comic books to convey principle and force all-too-much human pain to a person's surface. It deals with the aftermath of September 11, 2001. It shows Cap standing in the rubble of the World Trade Center, helping search for survivors. These characters do what they do not because they have to, but out of a sense of obligation...they realize that they posess abilities far above those of Joe Schmoe, and they choose to use that power to ensure the contiuation of the triumph of the greater good over the forces of evil. The storyline really touched a chord inside of me, forcing me to look at the horrible atrocities that we can inflict upon each other with little to no regard for human life. At the same time, Captain America reminds us that we can stand against evil...not in the same way as he does, but each of us posesses the will to live, and we should be willing to fight for that right for those who are unable to themselves fight. I hope next time you think about comics, you will see that there is more to them than spandex-clad heroes in tights.

H