Why do I love Spider-man over any other comicbook character (pt.4 of 5: Spider-man movies)

Spider-man as a movie took actually quite a long Journey of close to two decades before seeing light. Spidey had already had enjoyed a lot of small screen time going back to when he was created in late 1962. In fact the first animated spider-man cartoon called simply Spider-Man the '67 collection for those looking for it on DVD was comprised of cutouts of the comic book itself to use as animation it had 52 episodes and ran on ABC network I think? But the one thing it had going for it was it's theme: "Spider-Man. Spider-Man. Does whatever a spider can. Spins a web , any size. Catches thieves- just like flies. Look out! Here comes the Spider-Man! Is he strong? Listen, bud. He's got radioactvie blood. Can he swing from a thread? Take a look overhead. Hey there! There goes the Spider-Man! In the chill of the night, at the scene of a crime, Like a streak of light, he arrives just in time! Spider-Man. Spider-Man. Wealth and fame? He's ignored. Action is his reward. To him life is a great big bang-up, you'll find the Spider-Man!" Then in the later 70's Spidey had two live action shows.
Those two shows were in the latter 70's were when he was Spider-Man he would never talk it was just plain action, action, action, one of the shows was called The Electric Company which didn't originally start with spidey on the show but by season four (1974-75) there was a short spidey segment in comic fashion, but like I said he never spoke they used word balloons to carry the point across. I saw these after having that coloring book like I said in the first part of "Why do I love Spider-man over any other comicbook character" feel even more in love with the character because it aired on PBS right after Sesame street & Mister Rogers. Then a couple years later on the CBS network when Marvel was making live action TV shows about their characters they had "Captain America", "Doctor Strange", but the most successful one was "The Incredible Hulk" which became a series after it's pilot and ran from (1977-82). Which starred Bill Bixby & Lou Ferrigno (with me being a big fan of the hulk I also have that series as well on DVD of what's out so far....). "The Amazing Spider-Man" TV show ran two seasons but both were so short you'd think it was one. Marvel made a cartoon of Spider-Man in the early 80's called Spider-Man and his Amazing friends which had him teamed with (X-Men members Fire star(which looked a lot like Mary Jane from the comics) & Ice Man. The Amazing Spider-Man & his Amazing friends was narrated by Stan Lee. The show was paired with a cartoon version of The Incredible Hulk on NBC & aired after the Smurfs at 11:00 on Saturday mornings. So I had my weekends filled I'd watch the Incredible Hulk & The Dukes of Hazzard on Friday nights & have my Saturdays filled as well.
In 1985 it was announced in the "New York post" that come the following Christmas Spider-Man was going to be made into a motion picture by Cannon Films. This of course turned to be false. The idea of a Spider-movie may have started way back then, but a great many things kept occurring that put the webhead's movie debut on a continual hold: Marvel comics the company had been sold back & fourth many times in the late eighties, Movie companies that had the Spider-Man movie treatment or bible as any movie project is called before any script is made kept going into bankruptcy. At one time in the mid nineties James Cameron & his "Titanic" cast of Leonardo DiCaprio was to be Peter Parker & Kate Winslet Mary Jane, while this fell through because of how Cameron's script was so lacking in any "origin" included. Marvel productions on it own made one more Spidey toon around this time. It had great stories & stay true the history of what was established in the core comic book "The Amazing Spider-Man". With the success of "Blade" in '98 Marvel knew it finally had found that Hollywood could handle making movies of their properties with great care, but the movie that really punched through was Bryan Singer's X-Men in 1999. Marvel again wanted make Spider-Man movies but who would be a perfect director that knew Spidey's Origin & wouldn't screw it up Enter: Sam Raimi. Raimi had started making films in the late seventies, but like me he has had a great love for Spidey since he was a child. Raimi had made horror films the early 80's like "Evil Dead" & "Army of Darkness" but he'd also had super heroes foothold as well in 1990 for Universal pictures he directed his own creation of "DARKMAN."
In 2000, Sony Pictures & Marvel came to an agreement to make the webslinger's first movie. The movie starred Tobey Maguire, Kristen Dunst, & Willem Dafoe the movie had everything that a Spider-Man movie should have in it, especially a cool line from Aunt May that touches any comic fan(s) heart. "Your not Super- Man you know" she tells peter in the movie trailer. Speaking of the original "SpiderMan movie trailer", they pulled it just a week after letting it be trailered (I happen to be lucky enough to see it on Final Fantasy) the trailer included a scene where Spidey webs these bank robbers helicopter between the Twin Towers in New York city. A few days later 9/11 had happen, so they edited the whole scene out of the movie & reworked the trailer so it didn't have that in it, to play it safe the movie wasn't released till May 3rd 2002, (I'd happen to seen the movie Nine times in the theater is that dedication to my childhood hero or what?) TV Guide put out five Spider-Man movie covers when the movie was released each one was by a different comic artists.
In 2004 Spider-man 2 they had him face Doc Ock which is known as Doctor Octopus in the comics. This one also starred Tobey Maguire, Kristen Dunst again but instead of Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin they had Alfred Molina play Doc Ock. This movie was almost without it's star Maguire because while he was filming Spider-man 2 he was also filming Sea Biscuit where he had a scene where he was thrown pretty hard, so when we see him with renewed strenght & faith from Aunt May's words he falls while getting back into the websling & his line "Oh my Baaccck" is both funny in the movie but very painful for Maguire none the less. I also saw Spider-man 2 nine times at the theater too. In between Spider-man 1 & 2 Sony put a short cartoon on M-TV to bridge what happens between those two movies. Spiderman 2 opened June 30th.
In 2007 on May 4th Spiderman 3 opened this one had added two villains like the Batman films of the late ninties had done. The two villains were Raimi's favorite Sandman & comic fan boys favorite Venom, they also added more girl problems for Parker in the film by introducing Gwen Stacy. In this one Peter was going to ask Mary Jane to marry him as he did in the comics "pre ONE MORE DAY'S" slashing of spidey comic life which is just sick I believe, but also like in the comics he get a new costume which feeds on him & changes his personality till he gets rid of it. Stan Lee makes a cameo in each of the three Spider-man films as well.
Hey I figured while I been talking about Spider-Man movies you like to know where they rank as a possible quartet (Did I just say a fourth SPIDER-MAN movie is coming out, more on this in a quick minute). My favorite superhero movies are as follows Superman the movie, Spider-man, Iron Man, Dark Knight, X-Men2 better known as X-Men:united, the new Incredible Hulk movie & finally for the list right now any way the 1980's version of Flash Gordon that old Queen song gets me every time. I was looking in a old magazine of Time and earlier this week and saw that they had a section called Briefing in the September 22,2008 in the "predictable part" it says I quote "Tobey Maguire considering two more Spider-Man films, two more summerhouses" then later this past week on Fox news 9/30/08 I saw a sip nit of a Spider-Movie set to hit theaters in 2010 or 2011 with all on board as far as I know.
To be continued in "Why do I love Spider-man over any other comicbook character pt:5 of 5 "Spidey at a party & lots more"

Why do I love Spider-man over any other comicbook character (pt.3: Spidey's Wedding to Mary Jane ) of 5

How do you know love, when it hits you straight up?, does it matter who you love?, how do you know that other person knows you love them? Well when Stan Lee created Spidey not only did he make him a guy who had to learn (With Great Power, Must come Great Responsibility with him gaining the powers of a spider, yet failing to stop his uncle Ben's murder before it occurs even though he had the chance a week before: This is in part 2 of 5 of "Why I love Spider-man over any other comicbook character: Spidey's Motto"), another aspect Lee put on the character was he had problems with the ladies. Whether he was working on an class project for school, working at the Daily Bulge as a freelancer photographer to earn money to provide for his & May's everyday living expenses, & of course running off to stop the villains running about in New York. He'd thought of dating Betty Brant from the Daily Bulge whilst working there he even did for a short time, till her brother was killed while he was being spidey trying to stop a crime. She'd always like Peter Parker but resent his heroic persona of you know who?, There was also at that time while he was seeing Betty there was Liz Allen who he knew from high school, Who liked peter as a friend mostly at first, when he found out the Motlen man was Liz's half step brother things were simply ended between them at least in the romantic sense of things.Then in his first year in collage he met the only other Woman besides Mary Jane he'd ever love her name Gwen Stacy she was known as Peter's "true love" & she liked neither Peter or Spidey at first she liked Flash Thompson before even noticing Peter at all, But she to came to resent Parker's alter ego as well for she thought Spider-man killed her dad George Stacy who was a retired police captain, when he was fighting Doc Ock. What had happen really was Peter used a chemical in his webbing to make Ock loose control of his mechanical arms & ock's arm hit a brick chimney loose that almost kills a young boy,luckily George Stacy saves the boy from harm but is hurt very badly & spidey tires to get him to a hospital only have George tell him he knew who was under spidey mask & to take care Gwen then he died. Then of course there's Mary Jane who because she knew of Parker's secret avoided meeting the young man her aunt was setting her up to go out with on "a date with" Peter on the other hand was just starting to like Gwen a whole bunch, and resented anyone his dear aunt would want to set him up with.
When Stan Lee went on to other things & left the Marvel universe & it many characters to other writers he didn't know that a writer by the name of Gerry Conway a young new writer in comics would cause one "VERY BIG" rip in the hearts of Spider-man fandom, by killing Gwen Stacy with his own approval of course. They then realized their mistake at Marvel so instead of trying to fix the said problem they made it worst. How?, With Conway two years into his spidey stories came up with the idea of a villain obsessed with Gwen decided to clone her to torment who he had believed killed the girl that he loved, but as if that wasn't enough this villain known as the Jackal had created a clone of Spider man as well. During this time in the story Conway may have pushed things too far as other writers are concerned by having Peter & MJ kiss for the first time while he was off to Paris on an assignment for the Daily Bulge. Anyway how the "first" clone storyline ended was Peter dumped his clone down into a smoke stack not really knowing if he was real or the clone. Some years passed with stories of Peter not Graduating from collage because of all things he failed Gym class because of fighting villains all the time during classes. He thought at this time in his life he wanted to settle down, so he proposed to Mary Jane for the first time with a box of "Cracker Jacks" with a real diamond ring inside the box ( I want to do something that way, when I propose to my girlfriend). Of course Mary Jane's response is a flat out "NO!"
At this time it was the late 70's Stan Lee had started writing "The Amazing Spider man newspaper comic strip & Marvel comics had created Debbie Whitman a co ed student in the collage scene for Peter & Felicia Hardy a villain at first known as the Black cat but later reformed as replacements for the missing Gwen love interest, since at this time in the story Mary Jane was off to California & Florida pressuring her modeling career. Also at this time Peter made aunt may very mad with him for he had decided to quit collage altogether. When Mary Jane paid a surprise visit to Peter's apartment during the Roger Stern stories boy did she ever get a surprise herself when she found Pete smoothed in lipstick from a fellow freelance photographer Amy Powell, she went back to her modeling gigs once more for a short time, while Peter was whisked away to the Beyonder's world with other heroes & villains where he got a new Black & white costume.
When Peter returns from the "Secret Wars" he finds out that his new costume is alive & it wants to bound with him permanently. He & the Black cat team up from time time but she likes his heroic side of the hero instead of his plain ol Peter Parker, Mary Jane returns & tells peter that she's known his secret forever & she also tell him that she's never truly faced the problem down or her own problems either. She tells him she's always running away instead of facing her guilt, Pete can relate to her in this way for that is why he knows he must be spider man. Spidey goes to to fantastic four for help in removing the alien costume since they were on the Beyonder world during the secret wars as well as he they remove the suit, but for a while Peter can't find the courage to return to the ol' Red & Blue just yet so he has the Black cat make him copies of it in cloth.
In 1987, Stan Lee wanted Peter to get Married in the newspaper strip, but he knew that he had a BIG problem yet again, how to do it with him married the in newspaper but NOT in the comic book. So Stan called Marvel's editor in chief & told him what he wanted to do with his creation. What had to happen because the way a comic book comes out & how a newspaper strip come out are very very different, they had to plan months in advance to get it right. So while Stan was finishing up his lead in story in the newspaper Marvel released a three part lead in on the annual coming out that summer in the regular "AMAZING SPIDER-MAN" title of comic books, (see also there were two other "Spider-man" titles running in Marvel's line of Spidey books at the time). So everything was set because not only were they going to do the marriage in both the Comic & the Newspaper strip but in New York on June 5, 1987 at SHEA STADIUM N.Y. Mets game (that's baseball for you who know your sports very well) they had a "live wedding of the webslinger & his beloved red haired gal officiated by Stan Lee himself at the game's halftime event (I wish I could've been there I know it would been fun for sure oh yes I do know that).
Marvel was fine with their flagship character being wedded,at first they let it be. Then they thought it was suppose to be a "gimmick" to boost their readership oh & how did it ever so when they put a Canadian comic artist Todd McFarlane on "Amazing" with issue #298 boy Marvel had a Grandslamer of a catch for new & old readers alike. Then Todd wanted to write not just draw comics so Marvel gave him their 4Th book of Spidey simply titled SPIDER-MAN, (at this time I & many other spider-man fans wanted Peter & Mary Jane to have offspring in the story). Little did we as fans knew that would pay off at least a little bit in Marvel's "first attempt" to reset the Spider man storyline in the "Clone saga", Yes I said clone saga, Marvel thought with the unfinished story from the 70's it could push spider fans to liking Spider-man being single again, but with overpopulated sales of to many comics & other related deals Marvel Comics faced bankruptcy.
In 2,000 Marvel had hired new editor in chief Joe Quesada, in September he'd help the company out of bankruptcy by BIG changes in bringing most of the company's characters back to basics. Joe is not a bad person at all I know or think in his benefits that he brought with him when he came to being Marvel's EIC he has connection to hollywood writers that can bring about more readership to ANY book that they write, But this Blog isn't about Mr. Quesada at all. It's about Spider-man's wedding to Mary Jane, Mr. Quesada unfortunately is very involved in the issue of Spidey wedding by how HE wants it to be that Spidey should be single & never having the past 20 years, NEVER HAVE HAD BEING EXISTED so he wants to say I write the character not you Stan Lee. The one thing to Quesada credit was a year after becoming editor 9/11/01 had happen he was kind enough to keep Spidey Married, when the world needed to see fictional heroes along side real heroes in dealing with people coming together with their families for dealing with fear in the Untied States after terrorists try to impose fear in our hearts & minds. Joe wants to show from the end of "One More Day" that no family is important to him. In "One More Day" Peter is desperate to save Aunt May's life after being shot by a bullet meant for him at the cost of making a deal with the Devil to save her life and the price to let May live the "Marriage" of he & MJ should this have ever happen in a science fiction based book Magic to resolve the issue. NO I think that in today's view of Marriage people also need heroes including GOD to strengthening that if you have problems dealing with everyday life there's always hope, whatever the problems maybe & so if you have fictional characters showing this what does it really matter in the long run? Do you the reader of this blog agree that family is most important in every way or form to you? For me family is what matters, what matters to me in fiction is constancy. Especially comic related fiction, so no what matter what happen to Spidey's future I know that he'll always be responsible in his love to Mary Jane his best friend in the world. To be Continued in "Why I love Spider-man over any other comicbook character pt.4 Spiderman movies"

Why do I love Spider-man over any other comicbook character (pt.2: Spidey's Motto: "With Great power must also come Great responbitily", of 5)

How is it that we can recall something so easy of a good movie we love, a great book because of how it made us feel while reading it or a phrase that we all know so simply. Like for example: "Space the finial Frontier", Mr. McGee, Don't make me angry, you wouldn't like me if I get angry, or how about a favorite scene in a book that your reading. I remember reading a two part story back in the late nineties called Probe & Counter Probe here were a few scenes I recall from both story & won't ever forget. In Probe Just after she's found & taken to a hospital by two cops she protects herself from them when they come to ask her questions by psychic throwing them both out of her room through the window. Later when she and an doctor are on the run he asks her can she change her appearance she show him she can by growing a beard in a matter of moments of his asking. In Counter probe when another probe is again examined she makes the said Doctor pay with someway that's NOT printable I'll let you the reader decide, what that can be unless you want read the books.
Well when Stan Lee wrote the Amazing Spider man's Origin he put a very powerful sense of truth in the message of a high school book worm that got powers of a spider after being bitten by a radioactive arachnid then let a crook get away when he had a chance to stop him. Later this same crook shoots his beloved uncle Ben dead, he checks to make sure his aunt okay at their neighbor's house, her name is Anna Watson & yes her niece Mary Jane is with her and sees an enraged young boy go after his uncle's murder. Peter chases him to an abandoned warehouse catches the crook only to realize that he could have prevented his uncle's death if he would have taken action any kind of action just a few days earlier. So Peter Parker learned that "With Great power, comes Great Responsibility", so the character of Spidey is driven by his own guilt to do what is right even if he can't.
When Stan Lee wrote Spidey's origin I wonder if he did or didn't probably know how profoundly his new character was going to change comic book readers view of respect not only for themselves but for others as well. When Spider man was created back in 1962 Stan put his story in a magazine that Marvel comics was going to ax anyway named Amazing Fantasy # 15, he wanted to quit the comic book writing biz. He and a relative were at odds about releasing a character with the name of Spider man then nine moths later back then it took time to get responses on a comic book's sales back to the company. That same relative that was at odds with Stan had completely changed his tune, & told Stan to write Spidey as a monthly book, so behold then a legend was born. Peter Parker is everyone in a way, can we always pay the bills on time?, can we be where we are needed most in times of helping others? Who doesn't have an ailing relative that they want to help no matter what the cost, because they love that person?, Peter knows he will always have a chance to help others that need his help but rather than always knowing if he's respected or despised he'll never truly know. The best way for him to do this is putting on his ol' Red & Blue costume & have fun while knowing he'll never forget "With Great Power, comes Great Responsibility" for he knows what happens very personally if he does... a quick question to you the reader do you sometimes feel like a Peter Parker because I know from time to time I Matt know I do?.......To be continued in Why do I love Spiderman over any other comicbook character (pt.3: Spidey's wedding to Mary Jane) of 5

Remebering 9/11

On this morning of 9/11/2001, I was getting ready for work listening to Dee Jay Rick Dee while showering at 5:30 am. At 6:39 the show was turned toward what was happening in New York at that moment when a plane crashed into one of the towers it was chaos beyond anything I'd heard so I knew this was really happening. It was NOT an Emergency broadcast at all like they run from time to time on the radio.When I was going to work on the bus I was talking to other passengers & the driver, it was a day when everyone was wanting to speak about what was happening and why shouldn't they What was happening was affecting them/us to our very core. Should we ever forget these heroic acts of the heroes that were everyday heroes. I know we can't forget so why do we want to forget as a nation why 9/11 happen I ask you?
What I'm asking is why are so many people like 9/11 didn't happen seven years later? Don't they remember all the fear they felt upon hearing what had happen that morning, do they care, I know they do. So what I want to know is why can't we all take a moment of today just to remember 9/11 wasn't just about an attack on America but was God's way of reminding us selfish humans one day our time will come to be with Him, so be ready. What I just wrote was part of a song that was like a famous Christmas song right now I don't recall the name of. Please if you read this think of all of those you know in your life & those you've never met at all & maybe just maybe remember you can share how you felt on 9/11/01, but also please remember to share your praise with whoever your with by giving every fellow American a hug to let them know they are loved.

Why do I love Spider-man over any other comicbook character ( pt.1: Spidey & Me of 5)

How is it that I Matt can like/love one comic book character over all others?, Well here's why I that I feel comfortable sharing. I grew up with Peter Parker, that's Spider man for those of you who don't who he is? the character is really 10 years older than me but to me that doesn't matter I still love him more than ANY comic book character. I mean sure don't get me wrong I like all comic books & their characters. It's that Superman, Hulk, Batman, Spawn, & all the rest still can't in their own way affect as Spidey did/does. I was first introduced to the Spiderman character in in 1976, through a coloring book as I've talked in another one of my blogs. When I was living in Georgia in between living in Highpoint North Carolina & Washington state we were going to see my mother's brother Norman & his family in Savannah Georgia we stopped at a K-Mart all the kids on that trip got to choose something to keep them entertained while there visiting. One other memory I have from that said trip was riding with my cousin Brad he was 14 or 15 at the time on his motorcycle in their backyard. I then can remember a in '79 when we living in Washington state & visiting in Georgia there was a new mall opening there & they had pics with you know who? while my sister was afraid of you know who I let him take me & Choke hold his unbeknowtest fan for a Polaroid photo. Two or three years went by without me not knowing spidey in very small ways I remember playing with the Mego Spider-man toys in '81 with the girls across the street, (their mother I think or maybe it was me that picked up Amazing Spider-man the comicbook when I went shopping with them once). I remember watching "Spider-Man & his amazing friends" back then too. I'd known a small bit about the newspaper comic strip when it ran in Seattle. I even remember the very short lived Live Action Spider-man with Nicholas Hammond & yes also I watched Spidey on the Electric Company as well. I even recall having a gaint black & white reproduced comic panel of Spidey vs the Fantastic Four's main villain DR. Doom to color when I was in the third grade. I know that in 1985 just after my mother had remarried I saw at PAY N" SAVE a Spider-man secret wars action figure this was the first time I seen him in the New Black & white suit, that would be very important in the story years laters. We then moved to Maryland & then & then I had really gone into a Spider Man overload . I started collecting comics later that year, but not right away with the wall crawler,one of spidey's many nicknames by the way. I think what drew me back to Spidey as a comic book collector was that in the Newspaper strip he was going to get Married to his girl Mary Jane Watson.

LOST as you are I guess we'll have to wait and see..

Hey LOST fans,
I'd like to tell you all about a little show called LOST,well really it's a BIG show in many ways. It was created by J.J. Abrams (he created another show before this called ALIAS, which stared Jennifer Graner as Sydney Bristow, which I will blog about soon). Lost is the story of these people stranded on an island after their plane crashes on it's way back from Sydney Australia to Los Angeles in the states, What's really neat about the show is that yes I believe that the Island itself is a character like the car of the Dukes of Hazzards show I'd hope you all know that car's name by now. But to prove my point about the Island isn't it weird how it gives some people a Chance at Redemption & still "others" it punishes for what they have done to it. The show will soon be starting it's 5th season now I know many of you want to know when that starts right?, Well it's a secert no more I found out late on the Internet on 9-3-08 it will premier on January 1st,2009 and the title of the episode is "Because you left" I wonder how that came about? don't you? Well I will have a lot more Lost story points coming soon ah before I go I also found out the DVD release of season 4 will be on December 9th, 2008 as you can see I also included a photo of the DVD box set.