SPIDEY SUPER STORIES

I was a huge Spider-Man fan when I was a kid. I was the kind of boy who walked around humming the cartoon theme song and swung my Mego doll around on a thread until his arm fell off. I collected old Silver Age comics at tag sales and flea markets and regularly checked the local pharmacy magazine rack for current issues. Peter Parker's life as a nephew, photographer, and superhero had me in constant suspense. Collecting was super fun, but also something I took seriously. So when my hero appeared on the Electric Company TV show and in tie-in books, I dismissed it all as too "kiddie". After all, I was reading the "real" Spider-Man! But these vintage covers caught my eye recently. They hold a certain charm. The people in the scenes look like the people I knew back then. And the whole project now seems like a loving tribute to Spider-Man as a universal -and relatable- hero. I can finally embrace this iteration of Spidey for what it was: honest, inclusive, and fun! Here is a sampling of covers and ads for the Spidey Super Stories comic (1974-1982). Enjoy!