Created by Bill Mantlo in 1977's "Spidey Super Stories #25", Web-Man is a duplicate of our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man! Never mind Ben Reilly or Kaine or Doppelgänger, this guy was the OG clone. But before we talk about Web-Man let's talk about the comic he premiered in. "Spidey Super Stories"? Never heard of it? Well, if you grew up in the 1970's (not like I did) you'll remember a PBS TV show called "The Electric Company". Well, one of the reoccurring skits on the show was a series of shorts where the kids of The Electric Company would team-up with Spider-Man.
While writing this I actually took five minutes to go on Youtube and watch an episode of "Spidey Super Stories". Electric Company's version of Spider-Man doesn't talk-which is be bizarre given Spidey's motor mouth-but rather he talks by presenting word balloons. This was done to test the viewer's reading skills. Scene transitions were done with drawn comic book panels while the actual scenes had dancer Danny Seargen as Spider-Man. Spider-Man never threw a punch for obvious reasons, but he could shoot a digital web effect that would turn into a standard, black rope net to catch folks. The show isn't super entertaining for a 22 year old man, but definitely something a toddler could enjoy. Morgan Freeman even narrated a few episodes.
There were twenty-nine episodes of "Spidey Super Stories" spanning from 1974 to 1977. From 1974 to 1982, Marvel Comics published a comic book series of the same name with each issue featuring three stories each. Every issue also featured another Marvel Comics hero who would team-up with Spider-Man. And in issue #25, a new, one-time Spider-Man villain was created. Full circle back to Web-Man!
In his premier story, Web-Man was created by the nefarious Doctor Doom! Using his special mirror, Doctor Doom created a copy of Spider-Man with the hopes that this "Web-Man" could defeat Spider-Man and allow Doctor Doom to take over New York City. Why did Doctor Doom need a clone to defeat Spider-Man? Why would Doctor Doom want New York when he owns an entire country? Was this mirror a tool of science or sorcery? How would defeating Spider-Man assure New York would be ripe for the taking? These are all questions that have no answers! As you can see, Web-Man is an inverse of Spider-Man. The blue and red are swapped, he is evil, but he is also inexperienced. Spider-Man had to make a lot of mistakes before becoming decent at being a superhero. When Web-Man leaps into New York to find his better half he ends up slapping into a wall. Spider-Man and Web-Man are equal opponents, but Spider-Man is able to make Web-Man vanish by smashing the mirror that created him. Doctor Doom escapes, Spider-Man makes a one-liner, and the day is saved.
Web-Man is not in any way an interesting character. At first glance you may think some kindergartner colored a coloring book wrong or some guy on Deviantart created his Spider-Man OC, but for a 1977 one-appearance bad-guy for a three part issue adaptation of a reoccurring skit on a children's show? Decent villain. The Electric Company Spider-Man shorts all made it to DVD and in the event "Spider-Verse" there is a conversation between two alternate versions of Spider-Man who mention "a Spider-Man who kept trying to teach me English" so it's not like Electric Company's Spider-Man is forgotten. And neither is the idea of an anthology featuring Spider-Man teaming up with other heroes, there was a title called "The Avenging Spider-Man" which did that and currently a series called "Spidey" which even uses the same font from "Spidey Super Stories". Web-Man, however, is another failed attempt at baking the perfect Spider-Man clone. Though for as simple as Web-Man was, I got to admit that having a clone who's origin isn't frustratingly offensive, confusing, and drawn out is pretty refreshing!
Thanks for reading!
Have you seen "Spidey Super Stories"? What did you think of them? Comment below!
While writing this I actually took five minutes to go on Youtube and watch an episode of "Spidey Super Stories". Electric Company's version of Spider-Man doesn't talk-which is be bizarre given Spidey's motor mouth-but rather he talks by presenting word balloons. This was done to test the viewer's reading skills. Scene transitions were done with drawn comic book panels while the actual scenes had dancer Danny Seargen as Spider-Man. Spider-Man never threw a punch for obvious reasons, but he could shoot a digital web effect that would turn into a standard, black rope net to catch folks. The show isn't super entertaining for a 22 year old man, but definitely something a toddler could enjoy. Morgan Freeman even narrated a few episodes.
There were twenty-nine episodes of "Spidey Super Stories" spanning from 1974 to 1977. From 1974 to 1982, Marvel Comics published a comic book series of the same name with each issue featuring three stories each. Every issue also featured another Marvel Comics hero who would team-up with Spider-Man. And in issue #25, a new, one-time Spider-Man villain was created. Full circle back to Web-Man!
In his premier story, Web-Man was created by the nefarious Doctor Doom! Using his special mirror, Doctor Doom created a copy of Spider-Man with the hopes that this "Web-Man" could defeat Spider-Man and allow Doctor Doom to take over New York City. Why did Doctor Doom need a clone to defeat Spider-Man? Why would Doctor Doom want New York when he owns an entire country? Was this mirror a tool of science or sorcery? How would defeating Spider-Man assure New York would be ripe for the taking? These are all questions that have no answers! As you can see, Web-Man is an inverse of Spider-Man. The blue and red are swapped, he is evil, but he is also inexperienced. Spider-Man had to make a lot of mistakes before becoming decent at being a superhero. When Web-Man leaps into New York to find his better half he ends up slapping into a wall. Spider-Man and Web-Man are equal opponents, but Spider-Man is able to make Web-Man vanish by smashing the mirror that created him. Doctor Doom escapes, Spider-Man makes a one-liner, and the day is saved.
Web-Man is not in any way an interesting character. At first glance you may think some kindergartner colored a coloring book wrong or some guy on Deviantart created his Spider-Man OC, but for a 1977 one-appearance bad-guy for a three part issue adaptation of a reoccurring skit on a children's show? Decent villain. The Electric Company Spider-Man shorts all made it to DVD and in the event "Spider-Verse" there is a conversation between two alternate versions of Spider-Man who mention "a Spider-Man who kept trying to teach me English" so it's not like Electric Company's Spider-Man is forgotten. And neither is the idea of an anthology featuring Spider-Man teaming up with other heroes, there was a title called "The Avenging Spider-Man" which did that and currently a series called "Spidey" which even uses the same font from "Spidey Super Stories". Web-Man, however, is another failed attempt at baking the perfect Spider-Man clone. Though for as simple as Web-Man was, I got to admit that having a clone who's origin isn't frustratingly offensive, confusing, and drawn out is pretty refreshing!
Thanks for reading!
Have you seen "Spidey Super Stories"? What did you think of them? Comment below!
No comments:
Post a Comment